TwinOaks

I'm inclined to use smaller pieces, say 3 ft. max. The reason for this is just like lacing, repeated pulling of the thread through all the holes will make the thread start to look bad. As you get to the end of the project, the 'end' of a long thread will have gone through every single hole at least once and won't look nearly as good as the thread where you started. I use waxed linen thread, and it's a noticeable difference.

I'm not using a press, so I'm just speculating. My thought is perhaps the pads are developing a little memory to them. Or perhaps the pad doesn't fully return between compressions. That would give the leather a little room to scrunch as the pad pressed it, wouldn't it? I'm curious as to when the scrunched leather occurs. Is it at the beginning of a run, middle, or end; or does it occur if you press two or more in rapid succession? Maybe a cumulative effect on the pad?

As with all things, it's going to ultimately depend on the use you intend. The little tuffsews will probably handle some light chap work, maybe purses/bags/wallets(thin leather). It's not going to handle really thick stuff, like saddles, holsters, etc. Be very careful with the adds you see on Ebay (if that's where you saw it). Perhaps some of our machine gurus can chime in here with reasonable expectations of the tuffsew products. While looking for a sewing machine, the absolute best place to start is here. Click on the ad links and browse around their sites, that will give you a better idea of how a leather sewing machine is set up.

That's called marketing darlin' What I've done for my extremely limited holster work is to get in good with a local shop/range. I primarily work on an 'as ordered' basis, but have sold a few items on consignment, right off his display cabinets. I'm friends with the manager, and he steers work my way when he can. I return, his holster was 'at cost', as was his daughters. I can leave items for customers, they can leave payment, etc. Good business deal, and I make sure the shop gets a little bit of anything I sell because of them...usually just a cash tip, and everybody's happy. You might check with the local clubs to see if they will allow a similar arrangement.

dang....hadn't considered that. Good point Kate.

I disagree with Lobo's post. Bending a spring to the point of making a crease will weaken it, certainly, and repeated "maximum flexion" can damage it. To simply bend a spring doesn't hurt it.....otherwise it wouldn't be much use as a spring would it? Perfect example: I'm looking at a shedding blade we use for horses. If I unclasp the little thing on the handle, it straightens out. Refold and hook, repeat. No damage. While it's hooked at the handle, it's got a teardrop shape and resists squeezing pressure. I've been looking for some flat spring steel strips to use in holsters...not really searching, just keeping an eye out...for this very reason. As long as the spring isn't flexed to the point of failure, it should return to shape, or at least try to do so. Taking a piece of flatspring and folding to fit inside the mouth band is exactly what Andy Arratoonian (Horseshoe Leather) does. So long as the mouth of the holster isn't crushed flat (I'm thinking that good molding and multiple thicknesses of leather kinda help with that) the spring isn't damaged. As far as inserting the spring in the holster, well it isn't all that difficult. You simply sew the mouth band on three sides, then insert the piece of spring, then finish the stitching. No special forming to it. A flat spring tries to stay flat, and when encased in leather, will tend to try and make the leather flat. If it's sewn in a loop (mouth of the holster) it's gonna try to keep it open. Just like the shedding blade I mentioned earlier. Back to the question of the springs for purses....It's hard to say whether they'd work or not. The thickness of the spring is going to be the determining factor. If it's too thin, it won't provide much opening pressure, if too thick, you'll ruin it trying to bend it. Then there's the possibility of just sewing in a strip of plain ol' steel and when you form the holster you just bend the crap out of the steel and presto, it's steel reinforced.

More additional information: TK mentioned using sawblades. While you can make a blade from it, it is far from ideal. I made a small knife out of one and found the following: Sawblades are typically made from L6 steel. For its purpose as a sawblade, it's good. There's a reason that lots of sawblades have carbide tips though. L6 can be water quenched, and will take a dandy edge, but it rusts....very quickly. I haven't found a way around this, other than lots of oil, which is not so great for leather. L6, while hardenable, doesn't hold up like good tool steel. Other good steels to use for beginners are 1095 (very forgiving), and 5160 spring steel (common source: the rusted out jaloppy in the field). A search on knife maker forums will yield more info.

Hi all, I just received a pair of western reins that have been in a plastic bag in the back of a car for about a year. (Wife said, "I was wondering where they went...") They aren't in terrible condition, but they do have a little mold on them. I've checked the archives here and am proceeding with a vinegar bath to remove the mold. I'm also trying something a little different. To the washing mixture, I added some antifungal shampoo that my wife uses for her horses. I'm not too worried about stripping the oils from the reins because I'm gonna refinish with Aussie anyway. Thoughts and/or concerns, other advice?

Suze, that's what I was trying to say. Thanks for rephrasing for me. Sometimes, I get a little verbose.

Keep the suggestions coming! That's the way the admin team gets things better. I'll agree that it's a bit of a change, having the reading area smaller and all. However, to help with the costs of this site and hopefully ensure a very long run on the internet, it's something to which I'll gladly adapt. My suggestion along these lines is to split the ad spaces, running them along the sides as margins. It feels a little weird concentrating on the left most 7/8ths of the screen. Having the forum area centered is easier on my eyes. Plus, while smaller, you can fit more per page.

Monica, I just wanna see the gun that goes in that holster.......

Ahhh, I remember when he was just a wee strapling of a miskid....knee high to a grasshopper and learning to tool... Now the brat has gone and outdone himself!! Congrats, Josh, it's a good thing to mark the milestones. I can hardly wait until I can post numbers like that.

A sad, unfortunate accident. Not only is the sheath design to be considered, but also any activities in which the wearer may engage. Though the sheath was described as "defective", which could lead to serious problems for the maker, I have to wonder if there was simply enough force involved to destroy the sheath. After all, it says the two men were wrestling. I don't know of anyone who makes over the shoulder sheaths to be used during wrestling matches. There's more to this story than what's being told, I think.

Great idea there! We're all looking for ways to save some coins. There's only one thing I wonder about with this modification: It looks like the blade slot is cut at a slight angle, and I'm concerned that this would cause the leather to be pulled off line by the blade.

Those aren't difficult, provided you've got a sewing machine that'll handle it. If you're handstitching it.......condolences. Check out KK's tute on building wallet guts (http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=9940) and modify to your needs. Obviously you wouldn't be making long pockets, but you get the idea on making the credit card slots. One thing I did differently, is that for the slot pockets, I didn't double and stitch. My liner leather's a little thick for that, so I folded the top edge and secured with scrapbooking tape. It's about 1/4" wide, and double sided. That gives the slot pockets a nice finished edge and the tape is pretty much permanent after 24 hrs. That and you'll be stitching the sides of the pockets anyway when you attach them to the wallet back. I measured the width of the cards as they'd be positioned and added 1/2" to allow for the stitching. Definitely use a straight edge and pre-crease the leather where you'll be folding it. Note that you don't have to bind the edges just like KK does, but it sure does look nice. Just like Kevin suggests, I used 3m spray adhesive to line the leather. Works like a charm. Let me know if that helps, and I'll try to work up a pattern for the cut outs. Update: PM'd the pattern to you.

I agree with Sheathmaker. The cost of materials + the cost of labor to make what you got is probably a few bucks per item. It's incredibly profitable for them to say oops, our bad, we sent you the cheap stuff by mistake, here's some more cheap stuff. Even doubling their order, they've made money. If you're okay with paying $50/collar, $20/leash, and $15/leash.....well, okay. I think that's a better price than the original invoice. It sounds like you accept their refusal to refund your money. That's your business, but in answering your posted question, pretty much every leatherworker here has told you they'd return the merchandise, and why. If you're really okay with those prices for that quality, please visit my website and place some orders. I'd love to completely fleece work with some customers with more money than standards. Naw, nevermind. I won't send things like that out the door.

I'd suggest ringing the Tandy over there in the UK, and see what they have in stock. Here in the States, python and rattlesnake are available through them.

For holsters, it'll do. Some folks (Freedom, Lobo, are two that I know of) use only the oil for a finish. Others (BOOMstick, Shorts.....) use acrylic finishes. Still more use tan-kote/bag-kote. Personally, I prefer Aussie Conditioner, with a top coat of leather balm.

I use a very fine paintbrush. If you find the brush holding too much.....wrap a rubber band around the jar/bottle, with the rub. band going across the mouth. This gives you somewhere to wipe off the excess paint, and the drip/drop falls back into the bottle so you dont' have any wasted.

A little more info please. What type of leather, what application, what kind of expected exposure to the elements?

Easy way to do the slits- Mark a line in pencil (it'll be kinda hard to see, but will wear off in a short time) in the direction and length you need. Then push an exacto blade through the hole from the back, keeping the edge lined up with the mark. No effort at all! As you push the blade through, it will slice a very neat little line right where you want it.

I don't think we've had an attourney weigh in on this, but there IS a long discussion about it under the topic "Copyright Infringement". Worth a read. Short version: If you make something for yourself, based on the designs of someone else, it's more or less okay....most of the time. You can NOT take something, copy it, then start selling it as the original, NOR can you copy a product/design and market it as your own. Example: You could make a Harley Davidson style shield for an inlay on a wallet. You could NOT make the same inlay, stamp "Harley Davidson" on it and sell it as a HD product. It's pretty simple, really. Take a step back from the project and ask yourself if there is any way possible that using an idea/product/design could land you in court getting sued by lawyers who wear suits that cost more than your car. If the answer is yes or maybe.....don't do it. btw, buying something to take apart then reproduce is called "reverse engineering", and is typically frowned upon. Check the EULA on any software license, and in the fine print, reverse engineering is specifically prohibitted. Now, yes, very similar products do occur, and as long as you can document how you arrived at a design, then you might be okay. But if you go buy a holster, rip it apart to get the piece patterns, then start making them, or you start turning out products and using somebody else's name (which is considered counterfeiting)......lawyer time. Go read the topic on it as it covers way more than I have in this response.

I have absolutely no idea what they are, but I do have a question: Is there something you need/want to do that you currently can't? Or are you just trying to catalog the pieces as part of an inventory?

I suppose it's too late to suggest grabbing a cheap manual typewriter from a junk store and collecting the letters from it? Good advice on the metal stamping sets. Definitely clean them, and if you find you're getting impressions from their shoulders.....well, what are grinders for anyway?

I've never been able to rationalize jumping out of plane that wasn't crashing...... Sorry to hear you're having back problems, and I hope you can get them resolved. +1 to what Kate said. You don't have to have a new project on display just to come hang out with us. Spend some time reading and answering questions for new members, studying techniques, etc. Just don't let Johanna catch you lally-gagging....she'll put you to work.