TwinOaks

The Kevin King tutorial explains and shows how to make pockets for the interior of the wallet. The one I put up has the measurements on it. Would you like someone with a clicker to cut out the pieces and mail them to you?

Or, contact the store in Hoover, Al and talk to Chance. He's one of the good ones, and a pleasure to deal with. 1845 Montgomery Hwy S. #215 Hoover, AL 35244 USA Phone: 205-982-4490 Fax: 205-982-4493 Toll Free: 800-936-3214

I find it somewhat cumbersome and more than a little distressing that anyone should have to explain the essence of a "Tall Tale". The lesson to be learned is not in the particulars of the tale, though therein may lie some lessons, but is instead in the telling of the tale. And though this story has circulated around the internet for several years, there's no need to debunk the tale, or decry it as false. Here is the lesson: Sometimes things need not be true and verifiable to be enjoyable. Keep that in mind. Life's more fun with some imagination.

Okay, my bad....I didn't verify the link in that last post o' mine. It was supposed to link you to: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16830&st=0&p=107705&hl=+hipster%20+billfold&fromsearch=1entry107705 post #8

I understand that you are a loooong way from the U.S., the comment was to convey that the dealers will go out of their way to provide the service that has earned them their reputations. I spoke with one of them (I think it was Neal from Neal's Saddlery) on the eve of a holiday several years ago. He apologized profusely that his signal was fading out and that we'd have to continue the call at a later time, but the chartered fishing boat he'd boarded while talking to me was getting too far away from shore to get a good signal. The guy was answering my questions while on his vacation. I've also had another dealer call me pretty early in my day, which is in the central time zone here in the U.S. That dealer (Cobra Steve) is on the west coast, 3 time zones away, and had made the time to get up very early to make the call. I've also spoken to him while he was driving a truck to a trade show. These guys have earned their reputations. As to what the dealers are doing: Yes, they take a factory head and modify the drive mechanisms, primarily through a motor change and pulley ratio reducers. They also sew with the machine and tune it to the size thread and thickness of leather you specify. Though you will probably change it a few (thousand) times, the machine will be pretty close to "ready to sew" when you get it...as in "mount the head and motor, thread the needle, plug it in and you're ready". There's always some fine tuning of tensions required by the user, but these dealers do all they can to make it a simple process. And yes, there has been a thread about a dealer in Oz for the Cowboy line. I'll do some digging and see if I can find it. If anyone else knows where it is, please don't hesitate to go ahead and post it. Also, I believe UKRay bought a Highlead machine from a dealer in the UK, facing similar shipping/customs issues that you are. He was able to acquire the materials to alter his machine from the dealers, and do the work himself. That depends, of course, on your ability to work on the machine, time to do so, etc. You might check with him and see what it took, whom he dealt with, and what procedures he followed.

The machine heads are industrial/commercial heads, designed for factory work. As such, they're probably set up at the factory to run at 2000spm or faster. The suppliers of the machines do alter things a bit to handle slower speeds and increase the torque. Since I'm not a stitcher mechanic, I won't try to get into specifics. The short answer is YES, there's a good bit that they do to them, and for the second part - is the service worth it? Well, how much value do you put in the ability to call one of them on their personal cell and have them diagnose and help you fix your machine at 9 p.m. on a weekend?

Contact cement or spray adhesive, with binding at the edges- lace or stitch. It doesn't matter which side goes out (against your arm). Just wrap a piece around your arm one way, then switch it, and decide which feels better....there's your answer. Also, would you mind uploading a smaller version of the pic? 800x600 is the standard email view, and the preferred size for posting pics.

Take a look in the 'show off' section and see what you can do. Your profile doesn't list any specialties or interests, so it's kinda hard to know what to recommend....but off the top of my head...build a saddle.

Thanks Denster, I appreciate the go-ahead. As for the name, I was just looking to give credit where it's due. I try hard to not blatantly copy someone else's work, and if I do heavily use another maker's work as the basis for mine, I let my customers know where I got the idea. I'll get started on one tomorrow

Do you mind if I try the design? I've got a few people looking for something like that, and your solution seems to fit the bill perfectly. Also....your model name for it?

Feel free to ask questions as you need to, we'll help you find the answers: I, too, have directed members to the search function, primarily because it's easier than retyping 115 pages worth of info in a single post. Places to start: In the first segment on the main page, look at the "how do I do that" section, and reference the "pinned" topics. In " The Business", check out the sub-forum 'getting started'. That has some nifty ideas on what you can use in place of "leather working tools". Tips you can use to get practice very inexpensively.: Go to the grocery store and buy an aluminum (disposable/ one use) pie plate, and a box of paraffin wax (baking aisle). Melt 2.5 - 3 blocks of the wax in the pan on a double boiler set up. That is important because paraffin is flammable- keep away from open flame as it melts. Once the wax has melted and filled the pan, set it aside to cool, or pop it in the freezer for a bit. You now have a medium for your swivel knife practice. When you cover it with little cuts, remelt the surface and start over- indefinite shelf life.

Hi there, Bib.... Welcome to Leatherworker.net!!! I don't know the specific answer to your question, as I buy my leather from suppliers. However, I can tell you that there are several ways to tan leather...some of which may not be possible or practical for a DIY set up. Probably the easiest thing to use (though not necessarily historically accurate) is chrome tanned leather, aka chrome-tan. It is preserved with chromium salts instead of bark tannins. It doesn't take water like veg-tan, and won't tool in a traditional sense. You can heat form it, though. That seems to be as good place to start in your research as anything else. If you look at the top of the main screen, you'll see ads from some of our advertisers (they rotate through a slide show on each refresh or new screen). I recommend calling some of the suppliers listed and speaking to some folks in the tanning industry as they can give you a very detailed answer.

It really depends on what you are using to stain the leather. If you use spirit dyes (alchohol based) or oil dyes, then you'll need to buff it really well before doing anything else to it. That removes the unabsorbed color particles. With Eco-flo dyes, or acrylic paints, I think something like super/satin sheen or resolene is a good choice for the first step. After that, shoe polish can be applied. If you use vinegaroon, no additional finish is needed. If you only condition with oil and let it "sun-tan", then a coat of shoe polish could be the top coat.

Not to talk down about any brand of AB, but if you're gonna spray a finish, you might want to look into multiple ABs. You'll need to clean it between each use if you are going to spray oil and resolene....and I mean detail clean it. Not like spraying some water through it 'til it runs clear like you can do with acrylics, I'm talking full scrub. I found out the fun way that even spirit dyes can build up a residue inside the brush, and it requires a lot of scrubbing w/ steel wool to get it out. I picked up a badger, thinking the fine line would be useful, but pretty quickly went back to masking and spraying with the cheap Harbor Freight external mix brush. It's just easier to get everything clean- it's got 3 removable parts, including the lock nut. The air button doesn't need to be removed as there's no medium moving through/past it to gum it up. If you're going to be doing high detail, with a consistent medium type, then yes, go with a high dollar one. But if you're gonna be swapping, go with multiple guns, or external mix that are easier to clean. BTW, if you decide to use the little bottles instead of the cups, make some caps for them. Resolene will dry in the siphon tube, requiring a paperclip (unbent) or toothpick to push all the dried gunk out of the tube and head.

The band and the glue is probably to rebuild the hat band, if the leather is in bad condition around the inside of the hat (exposed to lots of sweat and salt, which could dry/crack the leather) it may need the band to prevent splitting the leather. Since the shop wouldn't touch it, it's probably on the verge of "too damaged to fix", but they gave you the materials if you want to fix the hat for nostalgic purposes. For the brim, Resolene is not a conditioner, it's a sealer. You can use olive oil, neatsfoot oil, etc. to condition the leather then apply the resolene to seal it. If you have a store that specializes in car care, look for Lexol (for leather seats) as it's a good conditioner in a spray bottle.

Best I've seen on this is go to youtube and look up Keith valley saddlery. ....and it doesn't highlight the tooling, it darkens everything else:)

Good looking rig! Something you might consider is Chicago screws instead of T-nuts...but that's just a personal thing. Trim the tab on the rear belt slot just a shade, and get it colored. One thing I can't see but recommend you do: Make a little clipped washer out of leather (clipped as in: it's got a flat side) that goes between the holster body and the loops. That gives you a tiny little spacer and helps with the fit over the fabric on your pants.

If you're still getting dye rubbing off, then you need to keep buffing. What's rubbing off is dye particles that didn't penetrate the hide. Applying a sealer or finish coat to it would 'glue' them down for a bit, but there will always be the risk of rub-off while the excess is present. When you are ready to top coat it, check out some of the wax finishes like Leather Balm, and Carnuba Cream, they both produce a mellow finish.

standard mulefoot, staggered rows, semi-overlapping.

I just peel it off.....along with the gloves I finally learned to wear whenever I even consider touching the spirit dye bottles.

I absolutely agree that the design shouldn't look mechanical. It's not so much " laying out a grid, planning a flower in every other sqaure, acanthus leading in.......blah, blah, blah." It's that your elements share a space, so that no one part becomes the focal point of the piece. That leads the eye to follow merging and diverging lines of the pattern so that the whole thing is more than the sum of it's components. Here, the flow stops or reverses between some elements. But, hey, this isn't in the critique section. You're just showing off a very nice piece that you did. If you want a good critique of it, it can be moved to the appropriate section, and then the members who do floral designs can have at you offer their input.

A minimum of 2.5 times the linear length to be sewn, maybe more. Thread is cheap, use some extra and cut it off. If you DO run short, leave yourself at least 6 inches of thread for back stitching, and start with another piece. If you're going to be sewing a LONG way, like a belt, it's probably better to use pieces of thread no longer than 3 feet. This is because the needle ends of the thread end up going through every hole on the way to the end, and that many passages through the stitch holes will leave the thread looking ratty. It's really simple to tie in more thread and keep it fresh looking....a whole lot simpler than pulling the stitches back out because they're ugly...then adding fresh thread.

ACK!!!! Floral pattern w/o Acanthus leaves.....what shall we dooooooooooooooooo???? Nice job, I like that you're using a non-traditional subject. The flow of it is just a little wonky, but, that's in comparison to 'traditional' floral design flows. The overall piece looks good but is missing the element of "one area leading the eye to the next". Still, a good piece, so don't forget to post pics after finishing.