TwinOaks

Just repeating others' reviews, but the consensus is "better than the current run of TLF, but still not as good as Douglas and Beard tools.......but priced affordably." Somewhere along the lines of the old (20+ yrs) Crafttool.

With a properly sharpened awl, you should be able to push the blade through SEVERAL layers of leather with no problems. Three should be easy, not just "doable". Read a few of the threads we have here about sharpening an awl, and invest in some rouge to make a strop.

I'd set the leather against a straight edge, mark the starting point you want to end the taper, mark off 1/8th inch, scribe a line and cut it. Then pick a distance on the outside of the belt 'X' distance from the end of the long cut you just made and cut (at an angle) from the end of the long cut to the point on the outside of the belt.

Select something from around the house with an appropriate radius to use as a template. I happen to have a circle template from drafting classes, so I use that. I've also used coins, washers, bottles, cups, etc. Since you're only reducing each side of the belt by 1/8th inch, you could even use a punch to make the radius. To 'eyeball' it, on such a small taper, probably the easiest way to do it is make a perpendicular cut to the right depth (1/8th inch) then make another cut out to a specific length....say 3/4th inch (a completely arbitrary number- you'll pick whichever length fits your design criteria) . Make the small cut, measure along the side of the belt, mark the spot, then connect the spot you just marked with the end of the little 1/8th inch cut. Be precise in your measurements and cuts and you'll have matching tapers.

The width of the cut can be varied by the depth of the cut, AND by drawing the blade at a slight angle.......think of cars "drifting" around curves. And you are correct- the cuts are either hi-lited or antiqued to darken them.

As I've said several times on here, your awl point should be sharp enough to get at least halfway through your finger before you feel it.

There is a stamp for making a 'rope' border. Is that what you're talking about?

From the pics, it looks like you need a little more room under/in front of the grip. But I didn't want to mention it because I could tell you were still working on the piece and had already considered that from the last time.

Don't over sharpen the sides of the awl. The shape pushes the leather out of the way when you make the hole, and then the leather closes up around the thread. If you cut the leather (sharpened sides) the hole won't close up as much.

Don't mold so closely to the little gaps in the accessory rail. I think if you look in from the muzzle end of the holster, you'll see some fiber tearing at that point. Dampen and smooth out those areas and see how it draws. The area of the trigger guard is large enough to be flexible, so it should give a bit. Molding the leather into those little gaps in the rail are what's giving you the probelems, IMO.

Welcome to Leatherworker.net, best site on the internet! Thanks for sharing some pics, you do some very nice work. We're looking forward to seeing more of your work and your unique perspective on the history of our craft.

I don't understand why you can't get the dyes there in Hawaii. It might have to be freight shipped (literally), but you get other things like gasoline there don't you? Board builders get finishing supplies don't they? Painters buy paint - even the collision repair people have to get some paint, and automotive paint isn't the friendliest of substances. Can you check with local businesses to see how they get their raw products?

Build a replica/duplicate, maybe....Joining the consensus, I don't think that is repairable.

I don't know WHY in the world I read that as looking for a finish.... Yes, you can use minwax stains, but it does dry the leather out a bit. It also doesn't penetrate nearly as well as dye.

I hate to hear about your experience, and hope you have enough to complete the orders. Give Springfield Leather a try, I've been continually impressed by them.

By thinning it at the edges, aka beveling it, the lace will lay down close to the laces next to it. Not beveling it will result in having the grain edge sitting in a raised position, which will 1. be uncomfortable, and 2. be more easily snagged by anything that rubs against it.

I think I read that minwax will crack if it gets built up too thickly. Have you considered Resolene? (yeah, I know...shipping) If you've considered it, you might try Mop-n-glo floor cleaner. I read of using it here for holsters (Thanks Katsass) and have tried it. It acts like thinned down resolene, and has become one of my regular finishes.

Honestly, I don't know.... I rarely use suede. There are several commercial products available, or you might call your local dry cleaner and see what they recommend.

I think it'd be 'okay' for some decorative braiding - 4 strand rounds, and maybe 4/6/8 flat plaits for wall hangers and such. But, if it's really stretchy, you could run into problems maintaining proper tensions, especially on pineapples. Let us know how it works out, please. If nothing else, you could brain tan it and use it for buckskins.

Granny, suede leather is produced by chrome tanning (or chrome-oil tanning), which varies quite a bit from vegetable tanning. The leather we use for carvings, holsters, sheaths, saddles, etc. is veg-tan leather, and is subject to absorbing moisture, then drying out and getting very stiff. To prevent this, we condition and seal it. Chrome tanned leather won't get stiff like veg-tan because it was tanned in a different way. Though it might need to be cleaned periodically, using a suede cleaner, you don't need to worry about sealing it. Also, most of the products we use as sealers ( like lacquer based, or wax based liquids) would cause the suede to lose it's soft feel.

Hey folks, it's a 4 year old thread.

Okay, I thought that was just deep beveling....may just be the picture. The way to use the lifter is to place the angled part flat on the leather with the tip against the edge of the petal, then push into the side of the petal. If this is what you did, then I can think of only two things that keep it from being apparent in the photo...1. The angle or light in the photo. Sometimes pictures just don't show things well. 2. Since the leather is lifted a bit with the petal tool as part of the tooling / carving......did you let the leather dry before starting on the coloring? If the leather was still cased and you rubbed over the petals while applying some finish, it's pretty easy to push the lifted section right back down to almost where it was.

Bob, For a straight answer, yes. Gear (pully) reduction to reduce speed should increase torque. And yes again to having both. My understanding of Wiz's comments were that the servo had plenty of torque just the way it was, even at crawling speed. The advantage of the servo was that the speed limitations of the speed reducer were omitted, allowing the user to increase the speed as needed. Now, on a serious heavy stitcher, I do think the reducer would come into it's own, but for a little flatbed like the 206 the motor has all the ummph it needs. I don't have one (yet) but have been diligently searching for what I can afford and trying to catch all the threads (no pun intended) on the subject. Wiz called it pretty well when he said that having the slow power is good, but for long runs of stitches having some speed is nice (I consider sewing chaps to be long runs). Currently, doing a long run on a belt at anything close to "speed", means several ibuprofens and a hot pad for the achy shoulder caused by "Boss-itis". I don't claim 'expert' status in the sewing arena, so if I'm off on my take of things please feel free to correct me, Mike

Go with the servo motor Wizcrafts raves about. He's cited some very good logic behind his reasons.