TwinOaks

My wife likes a short beard, but I think it's too itchy for the summer time. So we compromise and I wear a mustache (which has never been shaved since I started it) and goatee year 'round. I start the beard in mid to late October when it starts getting cool. It leaves in the spring time. As far as jobs go, if you need the job you should shave. If you have the job, you can try for a short beard as long as nobody cares; just don't look for promotions. If you don't need or really care about the job at all, grow your beard how you like it. You'll be happier, and that will reflect in your work. It'll also piss off the local managers, but impress the big money and you might find yourself promoted over your former boss. Don't ask....it's weird, but it happens. There's also hunting season to consider....for some odd reason, even the store managers around here think you have to sport a 5 o'clock shadow that it took you 5 months to grow, just to go out in the woods to kill something.

Hobby Lobby sells purse closure magnet sets. I think that's what you're looking for.

I'm really impressed with the boning on your holsters. Do you attribute it all to practice, or does the WC leather have a role too?

You can get them from Tandy, of course, but also check out Michael's and Hobby Lobby. They have assorted sizes and shapes, even some rolled magnets- all found in the crafts or jewelry sections.

Good reason not to use acrylic sealers on hard use items. On your next one, try neat-lac. I also thoroughly rub in carnuba cream from the back side. It softens the leather a good bit, but to me, the advantages outweigh any disadvantages of doing it....actually, I don't know any disadvantage, except it might be harder to tool after the fact.

I am SO glad other people have had this idea. I'm still playing with the attachment of the handle with mine, though. How much tang did you leave on yours?

That's still a color, right?

Funny (not) you should ask. My wife and her best friend are in the process of starting a riding/training/breeding/boarding stable. The facility is a 40 stall barn, with various arenas, and lots of pasture land. Last weekend I was up there helping prep for a tropical storm, tomorrow, I'll be there doing my electrician thing and installing a x-fer switch to hook my generator up to the well. The whole place is primarily steel construction, but if things look REALLY bad, we have an evac plan for the show horses. Other than that? Well, my wife's friend has run through a lot of diesel fuel going and getting horses that will be boarded for the duration of the storm. Her husband's a welder and has been doing little discreet things like welding the previously bolted connections to awnings and such. After that? Your guess, my friend, your guess. By tomorrow PM, the stable will be able to operate for about a week, completely independent of city power, the feed and hay is secured as well as we can, lockdowns will be installed, and security arangements will be finalized ( Security? For horses worth 6 figures before the decimal...you betcha. ). There's only so much you can prepare for, and if the situation gets worse than that, you improvise. Cattle owners have notified of a post hurricane barbeque for this side of the county....

Which soup indeed... Down here, you really become part of the community during a hurricane. When Ivan hit, there were several communities cut off by debris on the road. So what do you do when you have a bunch of people, lots of frozen food, and a limited supply of gas for the generators? You have one massive block party. As people ran low on fuel, they'd thaw everyting they had and send the remaining fuel down the street to keep that food frozen. As the 'freeze line' retreated, you'd have a family's entire freezer worth of food out on the grill. Everyone pitched in, everyone ate. They kept this up for nearly two weeks before the clean up crews could section and remove the massive trees that caused the blockade. Some of the better foods to keep on hand are grains, like rice, and dry beans. They keep forever if stored properly, and can be 'cooked' by just adding water. It isn't as good as some things, but lots of people live on rice and beans. Since I'm out in the county, there's no problem with outdoor cooking. And if it gets really bad, the neighbors won't complain at all about shotguns going off at night. They'll just expect a little portion of the deer. I stated before that I'm on a well, but I've also stocked up a bunch of 2 liter bottles. Instead of me typing a short book here, I'll just refer interested parties to check out M4040 (dot)com. The guy's got a pretty realistic outlook on things, and a common sense approach to solving problems.

Last I heard they sent Mr. Hurricane magnet to Shreveport. I think that he might be in danger of locals shooting at him.

Very nice holsters, Tina! I think you'd have to beat back the bidders with a stick if you showed up at a SASS meeting with those.- errors or not- (which isn't real evident by the way)

Howdy from the 'Bama coast. I was just wondering what all our Gulf Coast members are doing to prepare for our suddenly active hurricane season. I keep a somewhat stocked pantry anyway, so I'm not really sweating it, but I did have to do regular shopping yesterday. When I went in Wally World, I thought the place had been hit by a tornado! There were whole aisles completely stripped of their merchandise- things like water, canned meats, canned veggies, common sense......Meanwhile, it took me a little over two hours to get a few things on the weekly list. For the first time in my life, I actually encouraged the kids to scream, cry and run amok. I heard on the news that 'emergencies' are being declared in most if not all the coastal states, and EMA folks are setting up shop already. I can understand that after Katrina, everyone wants to be prepared, but I think they've gone a little punch drunk. Then again, it IS an election year, and appearances must be maintained. So far, I've fueled up two vehicles, checked the batteries, made sure the generator still runs, and bought some material to make a transfer switch for a well pump. So, if any of y'all are around Mobile and need some water, lemme know 'cause I'm on a well and I can make it work. This also applies to folks in southeast MS. presuming you can get over here. Just bring a little gas with you for the generator, because the lines here are ridiculously long. Y'all have a great Labor Day, Mike

Just remember the old saying: " Don't learn the tricks of the trade....learn the trade." You could save time by stamping only, but what if it didn't look right? Then you'd be cutting it anyway...and trying to work around stampings. As far as that kick in the britches, well, we all need that from time to time. Mike

Since you work primarily with bags and the like, you might want to check out some of the posts by member 'Snaps'. He's developed an adjustable snap closure, and it's pretty cool. I don't know if his company is in full production yet, but it definitely deserves to checked out. And in case he reads this....no, I haven't finished up that clutch purse I was working on.... so much leather, so little time...

Lilliputian Leather? Or does he have an inside track on how expensive leather's gonna be in the near future? Maybe practicing the scale we'll all be forced to afford?

Good find, Tom! Now I might be able to justify the purchase of some 'roo lace.

Okay, now he's just showing off.

Cool Codex, Tom. l like the idea of 'strangest' project, but I don't think it's really appropriate as a challenge. The idea, as I see it, is to have a uniform THING for everyone to try. That way, we get to see a lot of interpretations of a single thing. Simply posting the strangest thing you've done is a great thread idea, but it makes it a little difficult for everyone to make their interpretation of that thing. And yes, the challenge for the month should be completed in the month, just for simplicity's sake. There's no requirement to do them, no grade, no punishment. The reward for doing them is having a project to practice on, and being able to compare your work to other members. This is a really cool way to check your skills, ask questions, and perhaps develop new skills.

I can't really be sure, but it looks alot like a flattened out 'mexican basketweave' or 'roundbraid'. You can find instructions for the mex b/w here.

The diamond cross section awl is sometimes referred to as a saddler's awl. One reason it's used is that it's pretty strong, and needs to be to push through thick leather. It also (when positioned correctly) presents a 'flat' face for the thread to pull against. This is important because if presented with the corner of the hole, the thread could cut the leather. Having a fairly narrow, but long (when compared to thread diameter) allows easy passage of the needle, but also closes up nicely. I have the Osborne awl mentioned above. There are some places I'd prefer a smaller one, but I can't justify the expense. No matter if you use a commercial awl, a really big needle, a hardened and sharpened piece of wire, whatever.. it needs to be SCARY SHARP. Sharpen it to the point that you'll get most of the way through your finger before you know you stabbed yourself (experience talking) and regardless of the shape, it should penetrate leather just fine.

Of particular note, learn to splice in a new piece of lace. Beaverslayer once advised me to use shorter pieces of lace-say 3-4 feet max- instead of one long continuous piece. There's a few reasons for this. First, you'll spend an enormous amount of time trying to pull all that lace through every time. The other is that since most lace has a glossy side, that finished side will take a lot of abuse making all the trips through the lacing holes. You'd end up with pretty lace at the beginning of the run, but dull looking at the end. You can also run the lace across some beeswax to help lube it for the repetitive pulls. For your lacing holes, width of the lace should also be your spacing between the holes. Make sure your leather edges are well rounded and slicked down, as this will really help the lace lay down nicely.

Art, that's exactly why I started this thread. I used an online translator for Eng. to Spanish, and it just didn't look right. I remembered enough Spanish to be able to read most of what the translator wrote. An easy way to check it is take the 'translated' version and plug it back into a translator back into English. So, while I used the online translator, I went back and tweaked it to say what I meant to say. If I hadn't known any Spanish, the translation would have been horribly wrong, and probably VERY confusing. Having members that are multi-lingual helps solve part of the problem, because we can input the correct syntax along with the correct words. An example: The Spanish word for 'eggs' (as in scrambled eggs) is huevos. I DARE you to go to Miami, Phoenix, L.A., etc. and ask for 'huevos'. You'll either get laughed at, or propositioned. It would seem that the coloquial version of 'eggs' is blanquitos please excuse the spelling of that if it's wrong. It translates literally as 'little whites', so you see where knowing the 'slang' would be useful. Mike

That scooter looks like it might have some lineage tracing back to the Greater Wyrm. That is simply the best leather coat I've ever seen.

TOM!!! I live in The South. We have LAWS against that kind of language!!!! Speak like that around here and you'll face the Church Ladies!! ( and boy, can they swing a Bible hard!)

It's a credible effort and I don't know of anyone who just picked up a piece of leather and turned out perfection their first time. Take a look at what you'd like to change for the next one. Then, spend a little more time on layout of the piece. It's a learning process, and skill takes practice to aquire. Don't believe me? Check out jbird's work. He knew he wanted to improve from the get go and posted some work for critique. He took parts and pieces of everyone's advice and got better...but not overnight. Keep at it, and you'll see improvements. There's a really good reason why when you see masters' works, and read about them you find out they've been doing leatherwork for twenty years or more.