CrazedLemming

I don't know a US vendor, but a few months ago I ordered some tools from another Japanese company at LeatherCraftTools.com . Ordered Nov 7th, shipped from Japan via EMS on Nov 9th, delivered Nov 12th. The "LC Diamond Hole Punch Pro" sets I got from them appear to be identical to the Seiwa diamond punches from GoodsJapan.

For spraying an acrylic clear, this cheapo harbor freight "airbrush" works pretty well. $10. Cleans easily. Mostly plastic. Several jars. Almost disposable if you can get a few salable projects out of it. Check other airbrushing topics for info on filtering out chunks that clog the brush. http://www.harborfreight.com/quick-change-airbrush-kit-93506.html If you're diluting your resolene with water, usually the bubbles will pop and settle before it dries even when sponging it on. Spraying it helps keep from smearing water based dyes and antiques.

Resolene and other acrylics seem prone to forming little blobs that clog an airbrush even when diluted. Making a filter bottle is really cheap and easy though. Here is an entire thread on spraying resolene: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=67014

I use a chunk of FRP wall board I had left over from a project. The back side makes a smooth, easy to clean work surface. Most dye wipes off easily with some alcohol and a rag. It does get a bit stained over time, but not enough to transfer to other pieces. (The only times I've had dye transfer to a later piece was when I was too lazy to spend a few seconds wiping the board...) I think this is the one I have: http://www.homedepot.com/p/4-ft-x-8-ft-White-090-FRP-Wall-Board-MFTF12IXA480009600/100389836

I grabbed the silver and the wood ones on amazon a while back. They each have problems, but for the price they definitely beat the old yellow poly mallets. The wood one is a little lighter than I would like but works. The finish on the wood was really cruddy. I liked the feel of the silver one but it started breaking down after a few months. The plastic head spins and rattles too much for tooling now so it's been relegated to whacking punches really hard when I don't feel like reaching for my deadblow mallet.

I just wanted to add that I've been using the electric Berkley fishing line cutter for a couple weeks now. It works great for synthetic threads. I use it to cut things up to the size of tandy's braided thread (roughly 1.2mm) without any problem. Smaller threads like 0.8mm tiger thread are like butter. I might get another to add to my tackle box.

Maybe a trailer mud flap? Something like this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/AEROPRO-AE2430-24-x-30-Eco-Flex-Rubber-Mudflap-Black/281535222734

Did you stick it in a container to keep it from drying? If all you did was dip it in water and let it sit on the table for 8+ hours, you're trying to carve dry leather. Try doing the simple way, wipe water on it with a wet sponge or rag and then cut when the color changes back to normal in a few minutes. It may not be proper casing, but it will get you practicing faster. Working with leather is an art. It takes time and practice to get a feel for it.

If you're a wholesale buyer, http://ohiotravelbag.com has a ton of stuff http://goldstartool.com http://www.buckleguy.com

It's a serious pain when paypal does weird things. Several years ago, they froze my account and spent 8 months insisting that I didn't exist. Paypal is its own company now. It split from ebay a few months ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal#Spin-off_from_eBay

Here's what is working for me. Plastic storage bottle from HF and a chunk of dollar store pantyhose screwed into the cap as a filter. I haven't had any clogs since throwing these together.

I just use a butane lighter, but there are things like these little burning tools that might work. Fishing line cutter: http://www.amazon.com/Berkley-BTHLC-Hot-Line-Cutter/dp/B004DIH2DS Bead/Jewelry cord cutter: http://www.amazon.com/BeadSmith-Cordless-Thread-Zapper-Burner/dp/B001HBXOUY

You might check Nigel Armitage's pricking iron reviews. I think he reviewed one of the chinese products along with a bunch of other brands. Here's his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Nordicbadger/videos And there's a free PDF version of the reviews toward the bottom of his shopping page: http://www.armitageleather.com/shop/4583584113

Here's a quick stitching sample from the Japanese diamond punches. Scrap 8-9oz / 3.2mm leather, Tandy braided thread (roughly 1.2mm braid). My punches are from LeathercraftTools.com, but the LC, Seiwa, and Kyoshin Elle punches appear to all be from the same factory. When I asked LC, they said theirs are from the same factory as Kyoshin Elle, and they appear identical to a Seiwa I already had. The 6mm set is closer to a 1/4inch stitch. 5mm is about 3/16inch

Yup. That was the direction I was headed - though I'm single so I had to buy some stockings myself... 1. I stumbled across these storage bottles at HF ( http://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of-3-8-oz-storage-bottles-with-twist-caps.html ) 2. Grabbed some cheap pantyhose at a dollar store 3. Mixed resolene and distilled h2o in a bottle 4. Added the fabric while screwing on the cap like this guy does with regular paint bottles 5. Filled the airbrush from the filtered bottle I ran about an ounce through the brush without any clogs.

Resolene is an acrylic and can be cut with water. I don't know about the others you listed. My first tests spraying diluted resolene the other day went well except for some chunks clogging the airbrush. I'm going to try filtering the finish on my next attempt. I was using it in one of the ultra-cheap HF brushes. The $10 plastic one that comes with a bunch of jars. I wouldn't use it for coloring, but I think it'll work well for shooting acrylic finish across a whole piece once the blobs are filtered out.

Like they said, wing divider and a rotary cutter. Both are extremely useful. Amazon has better prices on the rotary cutters than craft stores do. (The 60mm fiskars I use is $25 in craft stores or about $14 on amazon.) Even at full craft store prices, a rotary cutter is a good investment though. Clean, smooth, straight cuts and the blades generally last a fairly long time. Some kind of hole punches. Either single punches with a mallet or one of those rotary things with 6 punch sizes on a wheel. I would stay away from the sets that have interchangeable punches that screw onto a handle. The set I tried couldn't cut through soft butter. Small detail knife. X-acto, scalpels, etc. Mallet. It's just good to have for all kinds of things. The cheap plastic ones like tandy has are decent enough for starting. I wouldn't use the kind with rubber ends. For punching holes or setting snaps/rivets/gromets, a cheap dead blow hammer is nice. Cutting board. Don't waste a cutting board as a dying surface. There are a lot of cheaper options. You can put down wax paper or plastic like Jonasbo said. I like surfaces I can clean and reuse; cheap plastic boards like coroplast signs, smooth white tile board, etc. My current main dying board is a chunk of FRP wall board I had left over from a project. Harness Needles. The size designation depends on the brand. The 002 seems to be a common recommendation in the John James needles. If you deal with Tandy, theirs are marked sz 4, sz 0, and sz 000. Tandy sz4 = James 004, Tandy sz 0 = James 1/0; Tandy sz 000 = James 3/0. Tandy skips the 002 size which falls between 004 & 1/0. Some other brands have completely different numbering systems.

Loctite or similar bolt glues? Any hardware or auto parts stores near you should have something like this available. http://www.amazon.com/LOCTITE-37421-Heavy-Duty-Threadlocker/dp/B0028OJAIY

I've found that I fight with the needle a LOT less if I'm careful how it's oriented to the awl hole. You can feel the orientation of the eye & thread with your fingers, and spinning the needle to line up better becomes automatic after a while.

I'd probably avoid the 151. The cost would be pretty high for a solvent, and I'm guessing there's more than just ethanol and water in there since it has some color. (Maybe drip some on a glass surface and see what residue it leaves when it dries?) If someone was determined to use booze as a thinner, something like Everclear would probably be a better option than 151. I haven't played with the Angelus line, but I prefer 90% isopropyl when working with the few Fiebing's alcohol dyes I've used. I know the msds for the real reducer says it's mostly ethanol, but I like how the color behaves with isopropyl. Here's an example with fiebing's light blue. Denatured alcohol cuts the dye but after a point it just looks like greenish mud. 90% IPA keeps cutting it to lighter shades of blue.

Exactly what those folks said: -Money upfront for all custom projects. -Be upfront about production times and pad the time with an extra week or more just in case. You might know you can do something in two days, but it doesn't hurt to quote a week just in case something goes wrong. ----------------------------------------------------- There are a couple different ways of running custom orders on etsy: 1. Make a normal listing and mark it "Made to Order". Fill in all your item details. Depending on how complicated the specs are for the straps, you can either include a menu of specific preset size options ("60in", "60.5in", etc [sorry I don't have a clue what's normal for guitar straps]) or get the buyer to send you the details you need. If possible, I would rather have them pick what they want from a menu on the listing page so the specs are included in the order info and are required for them to proceed to checkout. 2. When people contact you about one of your listings, there's a "Make This A Custom Order" button in the conversation screen. Click that, fill in the details, they pay, you make the stuff. easy. ---------------------------------------------------- Other thoughts on etsy: -The fees aren't bad. For roughly 8%, you're getting payment processing and being in a high traffic environment. Back when I sold a lot of stuff on ebay, I counted on an average of about 15%. Selling things on consignment in local shops is running around 30% plus being at the mercy of their foot traffic. Running your own shopping website could be anywhere from 3% for payment processing to really expensive plus having to build your own traffic. -There are crafters on etsy who can't do math and price their items entirely too low. I've heard people complain that they sold a lot of stuff on etsy for 6 months and couldn't make money. It's like any other marketplace you have to consider supplies, time (production, dealing with customers, shipping, etc), fees, shipping supplies, and everything else. There are way too many people who just look at what they have invested in supplies. -It's a decent sized market. If you have something people are searching for, it's definitely a good way to expand beyond a home range.

What you're looking for might be closer to 6-7oz. Most charts put 6oz at 0.094" and 7oz at 0.109". 4-5oz is listed as approximately 0.063"-0.078". I recently saw a supplier advertising custom strap cutting services on their website, but I don't remember which one it was.

I've been using the premium ones from flasks.com. They don't sell them as Top Shelf, but they're branded Top Shelf Flasks on the bottom. There's probably some place to get the same thing cheaper, but I haven't found another seller that seems to consistently deal in them. Pros: -0.5mm 304 stainless...The extra weight of the thicker walls really does make a noticeable difference. -Nicer finish than average flasks -They just generally feel and look better than the normal novelty crap Cons: -Cost...The ones I'm using weren't cheap even when buying a 25 pack -The little arm that holds the cap is the same crappy plastic piece used on cheaper models. It's not necessarily bad, but it is a bit disappointing.

Uline tends to be a lot more expensive than other suppliers. Example: I sell a lot of little items and go through a bunch of zip top bags in a year. 4"x3" 2mil Reclosable Poly Bags [1000 per carton] + shipping to my zipcode Uline...$17 per carton + $13.54 shipping = $30.54 Papermart...$7.56 per carton + $8.56 shipping (+ $3 small package fee for an order under $15) = $19.12 Same specs but 37% less. Stepping the example to 2 cartons makes an even bigger difference. uline: $48.25 vs papermart: $24.04. Uline might have a slight advantage by having a warehouse that's closer, but most of the time I can wait an extra couple days if it means a 50% savings on packaging costs. And there are probably a few dealers on ebay that are even less if someone wants to go that route.

I've gotten a lot of different packaging from Paper Mart ( http://www.papermart.com ). I know they have a section or two with poly bags. Their pricing is usually decent. Shipping costs can be a little screwy at times, but you can at least get the site to calculate that before ordering to see if it's going to be ridiculous. I'd love to know what other bag and box suppliers people have had good experiences with.