billybopp

Backing this sort of rived with a piece of leather or a leather washer as pictured is a good ides. The edges of the male or post piece are pretty sharp and can easily cut through material when stressed. Bill

Very nice work! I'm in the process of making a guitar strap as a gift for a friend, and LOVE the idea of deer-tanned hide for the lining. I know that he sometimes plays shirtless, so that's something I've taken into consideration, but I hadn't thought of deer-tanned. I bet that feels like buttah against your skin! Thanks for sharing! Bill

While making a test piece for an upcoming project this morning, I somehow managed to make hole in my rubber gloves without noticing and got a nice big dye mark on my hand. Off I trudged to the bathroom sink to see what I could do to remove it, muttering words that I dare not type on here. On the way I remembered that in a former life working with ink, we used to use a product called Dye Gone II to clean up, and went on a quest. There was still some Dye Gone lying around, so I tried it and it works great on leather dye too! It does leave a slightly funky smell on the hands that lasts a few hours, but takes the dye right off! I did a little searching online to see if the stuff was still around and gladly it is. One of the places that I found it is inksupply.com at $12.55 US a tube. Hopefully that will help with what I have no doubt is a common frustration for many of us leather folk. Bill

Word to the wise: If you intend to get irons in different sizes, stick with the same brand ... Or check them out carefully. I recently decided to give irons a try, so bought some cheap ones from China to see if I'd like them, and I did, although the quality was OK but not great. Then, I decided I wanted something in a little less SPI for other types of stitching, so ordered some Seiwas from GoodsJapan. When I got them, I tried them out and they are a different style and better quality. But I soon realized that something was odd: For lack of proper words to describe it, the holes in one set leaned forward, and the other set leaned backward!! I was floored .. It's just something I hadn't given any thought to! While I can adapt my stitching to work with either of these as long as it's consistent, it's a pain to try to adapt between projects!! On another note, I've bought a few things from GoodsJapan and have had good luck, however, you'll probably want to pay for the "standard" shipping rather than the free "economy" shipping. I've waited for more than a month with economy shipping, as opposed to a week or so for standard. Bill

Really nice work! How do you do the leather covered snaps and were can I find 'em! Bill

I make something similar to this in a smaller size as a beer can cozy. In my case, I use a French edger to bevel the edge of the round, and the bottom edge of the side part to about 45 degrees. It makes a very nicely finished piece. Full directions for this are found in Al Stohlman's "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather" which can be found at Tandy and other places.

Mike! Thanks for asking about this! It's something that I've been struggling with as well for some time. Bruce, I'm looking forward to your tutorial! Something that you might want to consider adding to it, or making another tutorial about is choosing and buying edgers / bevelers. There's a tremendous variety of types and sizes out there, and it's quite a task figuring out which one does what and which to use in different circumstances. Thank you both! Bill