billybopp

I use 50/50 neatsfoot and beeswax with a few drops of eucalyptus ... Just because I like the aroma. I use a mason jar to hold the ingredients in while melting in a water bath in a crock pot. When melted, pour out into some cupcake papers and there you are. A very nice finish. Not too shiny, not too dull, just right.

You can find some pictures of complete plough gauges on Bruce Johnson's website. They can also be found new from Vergez Blanchard for around $450.00 US. I've recently seen plough gauges .. missing the blades you show ... on eBay, but can't seem to find the listing at the moment. Bill

Suggested books would depends a bit on what sorts of things you want to make! However, as stated above, the Al Stohlman books are an excellent place to start. I'd call these two essentials. There's not much in the way of project designs in them, but I still refer to these references now and then: Leathercraft Tools covers most of the tools used, how to use and how to sharpen / care for them. The Art of Hand Sewing Leather covers one of the essential skills of most types of leather work. Many of the other books, such as the case making books, are dated in terms of designs (when was the last time you used a Kodak Instamatic camera with a flash cube?) but the design principals and techniques are still valid, and cover just about anything you may want to make! Another good general reference is Valerie Michael's book. If you're interested in braiding leather .... Don't forget about internet resources as well ... LWN being one of the best, but also Kingsmere has tons of info on a wide variety of subjects. There are also a ton of good videos on Youtube ... Some better than others, some more concise than others. But that's another subject. Bill

There is a lot of really great info about ... well .. just about everything leather, including tannages, usages and such on the Kingsmere website. There's quite a bit about types of tanning and usages here. The website is a bit hodgepodge, but the info is excellent reading. Bill

What bikermutt is talkin' about is something like this, a shop press / hydraulic arbor press which some folks have modified with a plate top and bottom to make a clicker. There are threads about it somewhere here on LWN .. Here is one of them. Apparently, with bottle jack power, it's not all that fast, but no doubt still much faster than cutting by hand. Bill

It's not as nice as tiger thread. Not nearly as heavily waxed and not as plump as tiger. Closer to .8mm than to 1.0mm. For all that, you can afford to have a full spectrum of colors for around the same price as a single roll of tiger. All in all, it's not bad! Bill

Looks great! The flames work well, and fit in quite nicely with the colors and style that we usually see from you. I'd love to learn how you do flames so well! Well done. Bill

The yoke on mine has a slight amount of play, but it's not enough to cause any problems, and isn't a factor at all when there is a little pressure on it, as when it's in use. Bill

Beautiful work, as always.

Looks good! And yeah ... Letters can be a bitch. If you miss your cut or tooling just a little bit on flowers and leaves, it's just a little natural variation like you meant it to be. On a letter, everybody knows better. Getting bevels done around those really tight parts of your letters kinda sux too, you just have to do the best you and and use a really small beveler. I'm convinced that when it comes to casing your leather, it takes a good deal of time and experience to figure out what is exactly the right amount of moisture. It takes a good deal longer to develop the patience to learn to wait until your leather is at that moisture level before you start working on it!! You're off to a good start!

Kinda funny really. Seems like they are working hard to get rid of loyal customers and at the same they are stepping up marketing to potential future customers ... I've been getting more and more emails and mailings from them though I've never ordered from them. You'd think they changed their name to Tandy or something.

Really nice work, again! Bill

It'll still make a decent knife if a bit on the big side, which is not a problem as long as it fits your hands! Just sharpen the daylights out of it. You might find it more comfy to hold if you wrap the "handle" with some electrical or friction tape. Bill

I agree with Halitech. Study a bit with some of the good videos around and then practice .. A lot! One thing that can help some with practice is to glue up some scrap in the thickness you'll mostly use and then put a heavy line or stitch groove on BOTH sides, then mark your spacing in your preferred way. If you can mark spacing on the back to match the front pretty precisely, that can help too(not easy to get them lined up the same front to back). The line on the front side will help you keep that line straight pretty easily. The line on the back gives you a target to aim at top to bottom, and the spacing marks a target front to back. Once you start getting it right .. you begin to find that your arm is always in the same position, awl in the same position, and work in the same position! That seems to be the key to repeatable results. A stitching clam, pony, horse, clamp is a huge help too. Keep the stitching line down relatively close to the jaws of the clamp to minimize now much it flexes around. A good VERY sharp awl is essential. A wine bottle cork of some other backer that the awl can go into is helpful on thinner leather (keeps it from flopping around as you try to hit the target). Just remember, a cork from a RED wine bottle ... So that you can let it breathe while you use the cork and then drink it AFTER practice. It will not do your stitching much good to drink the entire bottle before. You might also find that hand sewing leather is in general a skill that needs a little upkeep practice. After not having made anything for awhile, last week I made a sheath for a head knife that I recently bought. I dove right into sewing it with no practice, and the backside holes were all over the place but got much better as I went along. I should have glued up some similar scrap and practiced first. The skills degrade with time, but come back quickly with a little practice. Getting the skills initially just takes more practice. At least that's how it goes for me! Bill

Congrats on your new machine!! I'm not a sewing machine guy, but I read this post might get you headed the right direction ... http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/42187-ll-vs-lr-needles-stitch-patterns/ There's a LOT of info there about leather needles, so be sure to check out the links in that thread. You also might want to poke around on the Schmetz needle learning center, there's a tremendous amount of info there, Who knew there was that much to a seemingly simple needle! Our own Cowboy Bob at Toledo Industrial has a great chart on their website for sizing thread/needle combinations. As mikesc mentioned above, right twist thread is relatively rare, and I remember somebody saying it's now used only on a few special machines. Right/left twist is also known as S/Z twist, and there's a bit of info about it on Superior threads website. Superior threads also has a LOT of great educational articles. Searching the web for S Z twist might reveal even more. Like I said, I'm not a sewing machine guy (yet), but I do find 'em fascinating so read lots on here to be ready for the day I find myself with one! I'm sure that at some point one of the real sewing machine folks on here will chip in with more info that I could ever provide. Bill

I live right in Philadelphia, and don't have need of a car. PA is a big state, and Curwensville is 250 miles away, so getting there is a challenge. It's on my to-do list next time I visit family out that way, tho (if I can convince them that a tour of a tannery is a fascinating thing). Maybe a bribe of leather goods would help!

It may sound silly, but a good source of drawings for leather is ... Coloring books! I've used a number of "adult" coloring books for patterns and inspiration in tooling leather. Particularly useful has been a Celtic book with a number of knots, animal designs and other. They can be reduced in size (or increased if need be) on a copier or scanned and reduced. Works great! I'd draw my patterns myself, but somehow leather stick figures just won't work so well. Bill

A crepe eraser works well. They often come with liquid latex for just that purpose, and will work well with most adhesives that do not penetrate. Bill

My supply is getting pretty low. I'm in for some when you have a price. Can't wait to try tooling some good quality leather! Bill

Those numbers are awfully thick to be ounces. I suspect they may be mm without the decimal. So maybe 1.5 to 1.7mm. 2 to 2.2mm. Etc. Those sound like more usual leather thicknesses. Bill

Very clever!

Despite being the computer/networking consultant for a number of engineering firms for awhile, I never really learned to use CAD. Having had some drafting classes in school doing things the old fashioned way with a board, T-square, triangles and compasses, tho, I had a pretty good idea what they were trying to accomplish. The drafting board still comes in handy for laying out leather patterns that are larger and need a little more visualization. For smaller and simpler projects, I use an antiquated version of Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator works great for some things, the drafting board for others. It all depends on what you're trying to do! Also, GREAT video Tinker. I had forgotten some of those techniques.. Bill

I cheat, and intentionally cut the gusset a little long, then dry fit it and cut to the correct length. Works every time. I've also recently started cutting the top of the gusset round at the top to help support the flap when it's bent over the top, and also that helps support the top flap to keep it from getting smushed down. Bill

No fair. You had help from a storm trooper.

Fiebings grey dye was really more paint than dye. But it worked well ... which is more than I can say for their white!