billybopp

Awl blades very in width, length, and profile, and can affect stitching. Awl handle sizes can vary significantly, which is mostly important for how it fits your hand. Awl blade length, width and profile also vary greatly. The left is a Tandy 4 in 1, the right a Tandy 1 1/4" awl, and the middle three are three sizes of Seiwa awl. You can clearly see that the left awl .. sometimes referred to a saddler's awl or a wing awl has a significant taper to the blade and will make a larger hole on the entry side of the leather than on the exit side. It also requires precise depth control to maintain the same hole size on the entry side. The right awl is also tapered, but not nearly so much as the first. The middle three are straight sided and will make the same size hole through both sides of the leather, and are the ones I prefer to use. Also of note, the Seiwa awls arrived in a nearly usable state and required very little work to make very sharp. The other two required quite a lot of work to make usable. Hope that helps Bill

http://springfieldleather.com/40707/Calfskin%2CTooling%2CNatural%2C2-3oz/

I believe the Springfield leather will sell in small amounts. Check their website.

She will love it.

LOL. There are 1001 file extensions out there(and then a bunch more for good measure). And even us pros don't know what ALL of them are. If you don't know, don't delete it! Bill

It looks like skiving did the trick on the corners. The edges don't look bad either. If you wanted to finish them a little more thoroughly, you could experiment with edge coats. Fiebings makes a clear edge coat to which you can add dyes to get just the color that you want. Others have added dye to Tan Kote, I believe with good results. Those may be worth a try, although I have not tried them. I'd certainly experiment on a scrap piece first, tho. Bill

Very nice indeed!

It looks quite nice! For the top corners you might skive the strip and front/side down in the corners so that they are closer to thickness of a single piece combined. Bound edges would look nice too, but that would drastically change the look of the bag. Bill

Thanks to All.

I like the peg idea, Red Cent. Up 'til now, for me, the spousal unit's hands have served the same purpose as those when cutting thinner leather. I bet your idea is much cheaper in the end, and just as effective. Bill

Thanks! LOL ... There were certainly some brick walls hit on this project. Pictures don't really show the depth of the color on the rainbow, but what a time getting it on there. The acrylic that I used goes on very transparent, so there had to be a white ground beneath, and then two to four airbrushed color coats for each color. But it has the kind of depth that you see in a really nice car finish! Bill

Thanks. Lots was learned on this project. And lots will never be attempted again. LOL

Here are some leather mug wraps that I've recently made. Edges are done with an embossing roll, and then dyed / painted using artist brushes. The center, personalized parts are a combination of stamps and tooling with dying / coloring brushed on and usually some antique paste. Various types of dyes are used for the larger areas. Finish is usually saddle-sheen or resolene, front and back. The celtic beard pullers on Tom's wrap are a traditional celtic form that he really likes, and the lettering and tree are a silver gilding. I have to give props to BDAZ for his laser printer transfer technique for the beard pullers. I could not have managed the detail there any other way. Bill

Here are a few shots of a recently completed guitar strap for a friend of mine. You probably can't guess what band he likes. It's about 4 oz veg tan with a deer lining, and a pick holder on back. I bought the deer hide on sale, and it was just crap when it arrived. The grain side was terribly wrinkly and looked like it had been dragged through a coal mine. I kept it anyway and ended up using the flesh side for this and other projects! Props for the deer idea to Colt Knight. This feels like buttah against skin!

Wiz: I think the above post about needle systems would be a great addition to the pinned topic in sewing machines, as I don't remember seeing most of the info there. Bill

Good tools certainly make the job easier, and the bigger the job the more the difference as well. Bill