billybopp

Those doctoring bags are awesome! Like Firewalker said - Wish they could tell their stories, and wonder when they were made! If you'd like to see a modern version, Don Gonzales posted a video on Youtube making one - this one is a saddle-horn version but goes to show there's still a need for 'em today. - Bill

It's just awesome that your wife and you get to work together! The more I see the things that you can do with a 3D printer, and a skiver, and a sewing machine, and other tools the more I want them. Dang ... This is getting expensive! - Bill

The first thing I'd do is figure out exactly how much space you need for the car. Then you can plan around that and put items that need to be pretty much permanently mounted in front of that - things like tooling surface, drill press, belt sander, cabinets, laser, compressor and such (like maybe a sewing machine if you have one or plan on one). You may even want to consider a smallish utility sink and water tank - useful for cleanup but also for laser cooling. You might even consider water and drain hookups if it's going to be mostly stationary. Leather storage can be overhead in racks - either open or rolled up in PVC sewer pipe. I'm not sure how the laser will cope with being mobile, but I'd mount it as near the center as car placement will allow and also put it on shock mounts to help minimize bouncing around in transit. Laser and mirror alignment are critical, so bouncing may not be a good thing! You may have to re-align things every time you move the trailer/shop. Your cutting, gluing, and spray booth/dying area don't need to be all that heavy duty - just sturdy enough. I'd consider mounting the tables to the wall with hinges and hinged front legs and some way to lock them in place up or down, so that you can simply fold them up against the wall when not needed. I'd think that your ventilation solution won't be terribly thick and can probably live behind the tables when folded, although could require that you hinge the benches a bit offset from the walls. You can probably even work out a way to make collapsible sides for the stinky stations to make a sort of paint booth. Storage for dye and glue supplies need not be terribly deep and can probably go in shallow cabinets near those stations and high enough up to not interfere with the car. You'll also want electricity, some heating and / or cooling. Most of your electrical needs would be near the front where the power tools are, but you could also run some long power strips further back for miscellaneous needs. For heating / cooling, I'd consider the sort of units that you sometimes see on top of campers. Agreed with above that natural light is best, and you might be able to put in windows or skylights, but if that's not an option choose daylight balanced lighting. Just a few thoughts - hope they're helpful - Bil

I'm totally with you, Bikermutt!! I get this vision of a leather workers version of Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory diving into the ball pit at Chucky Cheese ... Popping up and yelling "BAZINGA!". - Bill

If it's all working, and I had the space, I'd certainly buy at that price! If it has a 1" shaft with 3/16 keyway, which is pretty standard for embossing rolls, they are available. The Tandy manual machine that I have is currently asking $300 + $50 shipping on ebay. Metal rolls are asking in the $100 - $120 range on ebay, but less expensive resin rolls are also available in the $30 range from seller "duckcreektraders". There are even folks that can make custom rolls on a laser cutter, although I've never checked on pricing. They are great for embossed belts, but there are other uses as well, such as the borders on these mug wraps which are a combination of embossed borders with tooled and stamped centers. :

Yup. Definitely an embossing machine. and an unusual design. Very handy to have, particularly as mentioned if it comes with additional rolls OR if the shaft is the standard 1 inch with a keyway. I have the old Tandy embosser with a bunch of rolls, and love it! - Bill

Fiebings Pro Oil Dye (now just Pro Dye) is an alcohol based dye, as is their regular leather dye (according to their website). The oil part of the name was used to denote synthetic pigments, made from petroleum. Synthetic pigments tend to yield more intense colors than do other pigments and can be more colorfast. I also use like the beeswax/NFO blend finish. It's not too shiny, not too dull. Just right for many things. Use more or less equal amounts of NFO and beeswax melted together in a glass jar in a warm water bath. I use my crock pot on low setting. You can adjust the proportions to get something a little softer(more NFO) or harder(more wax). It can be poured into cupcake tins, or even empty chapstick/lipstick containers for use, and sometimes include some with items that I make for folks so they can refresh the finish when needed. A little heat from a hairdryer and some buffing really help it to penetrate the leather. I've experimented a little bit with adding a little paraffin wax and carnauba wax, but haven't come to any decision on those yet. - Bill

That's quite a story and quite a collection of machines, Wiz! Which current or previous is your favorite and why? Thank you for sharing - Bill

Correct! And to take it a little further, champagne bottles have a much more pronounced indentation and much thicker glass to contain the carbonation pressure. Furthermore, that was one of the key developments made by Dom Perignon. Bottles tended to explode before he made the above modifications. - Bill

As Bikermutt said, Lisa Sorrell is a site sponsor and well known cowboy boot maker. She has a youtube channel which is really interesting to check out. It is more about cowboy boots, but may give you some of idea on what goes into making a boot. The videos aren't ALL about bootmaking, but generally entertaining in any case. She also has an online store, Sorrellnotionsandfindings.com where you can find lasts, tools, the DVD course mentioned(now $850), some leather, and lots of other helpful items. You might also check out Tim Schroeder's gallery on here, he's made some pretty awesome looking cowboy boots and work boots. He also has a few threads about boots like this one. This thread has some info on a work boot video series kickstarter. Hope that helps - Bill

If you look at the banner ads at the top of the page, you'll find "Leather Crafters Journal" .. I don't subscribe myself, but many do. If you search, you'll find (hope I get the name right) Russian Leather Craft, which is a Russian language online magazine which offers an English version. Sadly, traditional magazines are dying out. But at the same time, there's never been a better way for folks to share information than the internet and sites like this! - Bill

We've had a few thread threads on here asking the same question. The general consensus is that the Chinese thread is OK, but Tiger is better and generally worth the extra money. They are both a woven poly thread, and both are workable. Chinese thread tends to be a little thinner (what's sold as 1mm is closer to 0.8mm) and flatter, the color isn't always consistent, and it's waxed but not very heavily. It's still pretty decent to work with but I don't use it for really nice items - more for utility items. Tiger thread is thicker, rounder, and a bit stiffer, possibly because its much more heavily waxed. The color and consistency is spot on. So yeah, you get what you pay for. - Bill

Well done! You should be proud of that one! - Bill

Nigel Armitage recently put up a video for the Osborne 84 splitter .. Looks to be very similar to yours. There's a sharpening video too ... Hope that helps - Bill

If you're looking for the type of pricking iron that gmace99 is using, it is often sold as a "reverse" pricking iron but more properly known as a "portmanteau" iron. To the best of my knowledge nobody makes a diamond stitching chisel in reverse/portmanteau. And thanks gmace99 for this and your other videos! I had forgotten your "knot trick". Really handy to know! - Bill

I think that if I ever tried to count or calculate the number of stitches in an item, I'd never hand sew again. LOL. But, that said it eventually gets easier, faster, and even relaxing - you can listen to music or even watch some TV while you work. It's a lot like driving a car. Remember when you first started driving? It took ALL of your concentration every time you went for a drive. If you tried to change the radio station, you were likely to swerve all over the road. But, as time went by and you got more experience, you could relax a bit and sing along with the radio, change stations with ease. It all got easier and more automatic - you still pay attention to what you're doing but it's just not occupying your entire brain until you get to the tricky curve. You get to that point with hand sewing too, and it can be enjoyable! - Bill

If you look at the sponsor links at the top of the page, you'll see Bruce Johnson Leather Tools. Bruce is a member and sponsor here. Click on his link and give the site a little love! He has a tutorial page with instructions for sharpening edgers, including bissonettes. Just in case you're not seeing links, I'll post it here. https://brucejohnsonleather.com/files/1414/0658/3880/BruceJohnsonLeatherTutorialEdgeBevelerSharpening.pdf - Bill

Thanks Mjolnir! I knew there was a Norse equivalent Orobouros, but couldn't for the life of me remember - I even checked my Viking mythology books but couldn't find it at a quick look. There's even a Native American version and if I remember right a Hindu version. Commonalities in mythology throughout the world are a kind of startling at times! - Bill PS Please don't drop your Mjolnir on any airports when it's finished, thanks!

Unfortunately, there are a few instances of things that are pretty much leather only - edge creasers, bevelers, stamps, stitching chisels and irons, and a few others. Even with those, you can sometimes find a creative substitute. But fortunately there are also a LOT of tools and things that CAN cross over! Sharpening stones and strops don't much care what is sharpened on them - leather tools, straight razors, kitchen knives, woodworking tools - you name it. (now that I've learned to sharpen leather tools, I have to warn the family when I've been at the kitchen knives so as not to scare them). Cutting surfaces are more or less universal. Self-healing cutting mats don't care what's cut on them. While I wouldn't return them to kitchen use, a retired cutting board can be really useful. The same goes for silicone cutting mats - they're really nice for gluing as the glue peels right off. Retired silicone spatulas and basting brushes can be used for gluing as well and clean reasonably easily. Hobby knives (X-Acto) have too many uses to count. The usual #11 blade is a little too flimsy for leather IMHO, but the #2 scalpel blades work great. Same knife handles either way. Good for leather, wood, paper, fabric, even occasionally in the kitchen. For the most part, a ruler is a ruler is a ruler. Same for a square and any number of layout tools. I'm fond of combination squares, and have a few different sizes. They do excellent double-duty as square AND ruler. Being metal they are also excellent for guiding your knife as you cut. Utility knives have all kinds of uses, and most everybody has a few. Worth noting, however, disposable blades such as these and hobby knife blades are OK from the package but can be improved with some stropping! More or less, mallets, mauls and hammers can cross over easily. Same goes for chisels. So there are a TON of possibilities. - Bill

Contact cement of one sort or another is the way to go. As Mutt mentioned, Barge or Weldwood(technically a wood contact cement) will work very well. Some have been reporting very good results using Renia Aquilim GL and 315 which are water-based contact cements. It's a little hard to get in hobby quantities in the USA, but it's a German brand and may be easier for you to get there! - Bill

I've seen similar on eBay being sold as hole punches for leather. - Bill

Uh oh. NOW you've runed it! - Bill PS .. Lookin' really cool!

I've thought I'd give bissonettes a try, and they work nicely on thick leather, but not so hot on thin. They're kinda wide, and to get to the edge you need to prop up the leather on something. They aren't so easy to sharpen IMHO. So far, my favorite is an old unbranded set, similar to the round-bottom Tandys. I'm still looking for "the right ones" tho. - Bill

If you're using linen thread, you can run into some problems with really long runs as the thread will wear a bit with each stitch that you pull through and eventually will get ragged and break. With poly thread, such as Ritza, that's not a problem and you can do very long runs with a couple of caveats. The thread will wear a little bit around the knots where attached to the needles making it a bit harder to pull through the holes. To deal with that, just make your thread a couple of feet longer and re-thread the needle when it gets raggedy. Lighter colored thread can also pick up dye and dirt as you go along and start to look a little dingy, but that's not a problem with darker colors. Probably the hardest thing to deal with on really long runs is when the thread gets tangled and knotted. For that, it just takes a little extra time and care. Watch the thread as you pull it through and look for tangles and knots. They're not all that hard to deal with before they are pulled tight, but a real pain after! Taking a little care to keep your thread separated on each side of your work can help prevent the nastiest knots. It's also a good idea to keep your work area very clean where the thread lies on the floor or work surface to keep it from getting dingy. I've done several belts and guitar straps in a single run with poly, so it can certainly be done. Hope that helps! - Bill

I've been using ziplocks too ... 2 gallon for largish patterns, other sizes for smaller ones. Even for something as large as a briefcase, the smaller parts go into bags and bigger pieces get held together with punched holes and chicago screws. Bags then go into big plastic bins on a shelf. Bags come in darned handy for keeping already cut parts together for individual projects when working on more than one at a time. - Bill