SCOUTER

Walb! to the club! We have all gone thru this nasty problem... Top coat finishes of all types tend to BLEED the dyes when applied to heavy... I've done it and still do it! The best way to apply the first coat or two is with a fine spray (air brush or air sprayer) like mentioned above a fine (mist) coat or two and then you can go heavier... However, if you go past the magic amount (that nobody knows) you will still penetrate the base coats and bleed your dyes! This is why so many people don't top coat with acrylic finishes. Good luck!

Wow Tina! The carving alone would have been enough to WOW us but the creation of something useable! OUTSTANDING! Love it!!!!

Crystal! First off welcome to the board and the hobby... I must tell you that sometimes you learn MORE from your projects that didn't work out then from projects that did! You will be amazed at how fast you get better with this hobby! Not everyone can do everything but sooner or later you will find parts of this hobby that come easy to you! Good luck! Welcome!

Just to kick it around a little... I guess edge dressing is out of the question... Total 5oz maybe a wallet or something? 2 questions- 1- Do you want the edges to be Veg or Black? and 2- What type of projects?

Johann! Nice Wallet! You are going to like it here! We are happy to have you!

Beaver! Welcome back! That little hiatus seemed to improve your carving skills! Sweet!

Hello Leathercat! I think RUBY is one lucky friend! I think what you need is a cool "LEATHERCAT" wristband!!!!! Awesome!

Love the lacing work! Beautiful dying and the carving on the inside of the belt really sets it apart! Beautiful workmanship! Over half the world lives on less then 2 American dollars a day!

OUTSTANDING! Semper Fi!

The Eagle, Globe and Anchor... You HAVE to love it! Semper Fi... Ask him why they call us LEATHERNECKS!

Hey Traditionaltools! Welcome and thanks for posting... Thats a fine looking saw! The case will really add to it's appeal! I'm sure you will find lots of people here with similar interests... Like me! This is a tool-chest I made to house some of my antique tool collection...

Sorry for the title scare but the fact that you are here shows that you are ready and willing to help someone and in my book you deserve a reward... Well, here it is- The other day while ordering some tools from Harbor Freight, I found this puppy. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=96259 It is listed as a Carpet Triming knife and the Stock # is ITEM 96259-0VGA But we know this as a head knife. (Carbon Steel to boot!) Now I ordered one and I have to say that for $9 you can't go wrong. I will post this again in a couple of days but I just want to thankyou for taking the time to help... The knife is not Osborne quality but sometimes you are rough cutting and don't want to dull your good knife...

Whitehead- I always hated contact cement... Never thought it was strong enough and very tempermental. Have you ever tried Fieblings (white) leather cement? That stuff is awesome! STRONG as heck!

Chocolate- Looking at those beautiful pieces, it made me think to myself for a moment "I hope they can appreciate what they are getting". For us leatherworking buffs- we look at those items as Craftsmanship, Time, and Soul. Every piece to be treasured... Some recipients will really cherish something like that "just for what it is" but it is even sweeter when someone knows what kind of Blood Sweat and Tears went into it. You really went the extra mile on those items! Beautiful!

Coffee, My only vice. Luke I tried the presses but just didn't work for me... Roo- 45? I thought you were 21! I have to go with Johanna on the "Like it hot" quote. For a few years my ritual was to stop in to Dunkin Donuts on my way to work and sometimes on my way home! I soon started to realize that my day would reflect my first cup of coffee! Bitter-Bad day, Great-Great day! The problem was that DD was not consistant! I ordered EXACTLY the same way everyday yet my brew was different half the time! I looked on-line for a good coffee maker and believe it or not the original Mr. Coffee always rated high. The one day at Target it was on sale for $18- Well, I gave it a try and it is one of the best investments I have ever made! Now my Coffee is exactly the way I want every day and I saved a boatload of money! The way I get over the "not hot enough" problem is after adding the cream and sugar it goes into the Microwave for 45 seconds and I am in Coffee Heaven!

Tim! Glad you found us! You don't have to be good with computers to hang here! Just gotta love Leather! We would love to see your projects! Again Welcome

I am looking for a supplier of QUALITY hardware... I love Tandy but if I am going to invest 50 hours in a Fancy Holster I don't want a buckle that looks cheap. I am looking to make a fancy Hollywood holster rig (em for my nephew ) I want a quality Buckle and -Are they called Spots or Nailheads? (They look like domed rivits) Thanks!

Warren, OUTSTANDING!

Wow, I wasn't sure anyone would feel the same way! The funny thing is that I live here in a part of Queens, N.Y. that used to have lots of open space. The space is long gone but we still have lots of Raccoons, opossum, squirrel (Black and Grey) and anything else that wanders by. My house is a sanctuary for any animal that stops by. They all seem to know that and all get along! One day the motion-light outside my bedroom window went off and this little guy was more then happy to pose for a picture! This Opossum was born in my Garage and loved to finish off the cat food!

I know this is off topic, but I don't know how many of you have ever seen a baby Pigeon before... This little guy/gal is almost three days old. (This is when the bands are placed on the leg) They grow quite fast- in one month it will be as big as the parents! Interesting pigeon facts at http://www.fbipigeons.com/PIGEON%20FACTS.htm

This is crazy- I made a couple of stamping tools and just wanted to try them out so I made this raccoon really fast and when I was thru with the test, I threw the little guy in the scrap pile to be a test subject for my next dye job... Well, all week long, everytime I passed the pile there he was looking up at me. It got to the point that I had to "save" him from the pile. (guilty?) Go figure!

Luke, Outstanding! All very different and nice examples of classic styling! Thanks for posting!

I have so many blunders that I should be called "lucky" One of my fondest is when I was a kid I was cleaning up a tool on an old electric motor with a large wire (wheel) brush... I was all proud of myself because I was wearing eye-protection. Well, almost in slow motion I saw the bottom of my flannel shirt that I was wearing outside my trousers, come up and just touch the bottom of the wheel... Well, the next thing I get sucked into the wire brush until the motor stopped and was just humming (or laughing) real loud. I could not move, but somehow got my hand on the power cord and yanked it from the outlet... The funny part was seeing me manually reversing the wheel so that I could get free... I was un-injured except for about 200 pinholes running up my stomach and chest and yes chin. All I could think about was how happy I was my father didn't see me. "Who needs those safety guards anyway"

Spider! Aren't you so happy when the dye job comes out great! I always take a pic before the dyes just in case... Looks GREAT!

Roo, The eye detail, the way they "pop" and the Hooding effect are awesome! I like it off Derryn's head better... Looks very artistic! Very nice...