DJole

That's going to be sheath that will hold up to hard outdoor use. Good construction and a well-though out design. What's inside the small external square pocket near the firestarter? a sharpening stone?

Nice crisp outlines, and pretty smooth bevelling down the lines on the compass rose. I like that reverse carving caribou, too!

Using a welt is a good idea, so the knife edge, as it's pushed into the sheath, won't cut the stitching. The bottom of the sheath, where the point of the knife is located, may need a rivet to keep the stitching from cutting or tearing. You might want to spend time looking at other people's knife sheaths, to see what they did with the point. The stitching does look like it is too far in from the edge -- it's more of an aesthetic problem rather than a design problem. It's a nice first project, though-- the basics are pretty solid!

Dyes: I don't like the water-based "eco-" dyes. They aren't as rich in color, and the colors bleed (not just when they get wet) unless you really get serious with the water-proof treatments. Fiebing's spirit based dyes are good. I also highly recommend Angelus spirit based leather dyes. Angelus manufactures a nice variety of colors with shades and tones that are different from Fiebing's dyes. For example, Angelus has a lovely Rose dye which is a vibrant pink; they also have some other reds I am fond of (Burgundy and Wine-tone, for example.) Just remember-- the dye will look different on your leather, so try to keep a scrap sample around to test dye colors on. If you're using a kit, that might be hard to do. I have a strip of leather with all of my sample dye colors on it in squares, as a helpful reference. Finishes: It really depends on what you like, and the purpose of the project: a slick, glossy water-proof finish? A matte finish? Something more natural? Whichever one you like, there's a different treatment to get it. A checkbook cover will need some kind of finish, because of how much handling it will get, but it probably won't need heavy waterproofing. I don't know much about how to get the results you might want-- I would do further research myself on this forum.

Good question-- It's going to be hard to give you a number because leather thicknesses and so on will change that. I used pigskin on my trifold wallet, and I eyeballed it rather than measuring and cutting to measure. I did the tooled leather outer layer first, then used a section of pigskin that was longer than the wallet. I folded it up with the pigskin inside, marked the amount that stuck out, trimmed off the excess, and went on from there. Then I attached the pockets.

How far away are you from the folks at Brettuns Village leather (website: http://www.brettunsvillage.com/) located in Maine? Perhaps you might contact them and see if you can get the leather quality you want. I haven't bought leather from them, so I can't vouch for their products or reliability.

Bible cover?! heh! I can see how this might appeal to some. That's some very nice figure work-- the shading on those skulls is delicate shading but you pulled it off. I wonder if it would have been possible to use two different reds at the same time on the roses for a stronger 3-D effect. They look a bit flat, whereas the skulls do not. As another poster mentioned above, a lifter might help those petals pop off the surface.

You've got good stuff going on there. I recognize a lot of the shoes and stitching techniques from various texts on early European shoes. A nice shot of your tool kit, too! I really like the alternating lacing on the yellow shoes in the 4th picture down-- it's a catchy design feature. Is there a historical shoe with that lacing?

So that's some kind of plastic bladder? Maybe one of these will work -- <https://www.google.com/search?q=plastic+wine+bags&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=950&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj10-72tfDPAhWpj1QKHXJ7CnIQ_AUIBygC>

Nice work! My own interests in design and style match what you've done here, and I like it. That knife sheath is lovely! As far as execution and workmanship, nothing seems to be out of place there, either.

I think this needs a lanyard, but maybe I'm more paranoid about dropping it and losing it. It must have taken you AGES to do all that stitching! ;-)

Message from Brettuns Village manager:

Like the double headed tubular rivets use a slightly dished metal "anvil," these ones would require a deeper hole to keep their shape. A quick perusing of Brettun's Village tool page shows anvils for the tubular rivets, but not for these. Hmm...I'll have to email them and ask them if they have such a thing. Maybe somebody else on this forum knows where to get the right tool. I never liked the look of the flat copper rivets myself (off center concentric circles? umm...okay...), but these fix that ugly problem. Burr side hidden inside, a lovely metal dome visible on the outside.

If people are willing to pay you what you ask for the complicated tooling, that's great! I hear you about stitching-- hand stitching sure takes a while, but I can't afford a leather machine. I have a new set of gauntlets i made which are long leather cuffs sewn to a cheap set of goat skin gloves from Harbor Freight tools. One person saw them and commented on the "machine stitching," and then she found out they were hand stitched. She probably thought I was crazy, but when needs must... ;-) I have used the copper post and burr rivets in my rapier helmet leather piece at the major stress points (there are two leather tabs sewn to the fencing mask, and the leather piece is riveted to those tabs with the post and burr. (I used double cap rivets elsewhere). The problem with those copper posts is that they are indeed plenty strong, but they normally don't look pretty, so they might detract from your pretty pieces. But I found an alternative with a quick web search-- perhaps these will work for you: One-Inch Domed Head #9 Copper Rivets and Burrs (from http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/parts/rivets.htm) I didn't know they made these with DOMED HEADS, so I think I'm gonna snag some of these for myself!

Ah, that makes sense as a drawback. I hadn't considered that, not ever having been inside the armor. I can see that it would be tough to find something decorative enough yet tough enough to hold up to the strain at that point. I have a somewhat similar problem with my metal rapier gorget-- it has 2 shallow angles at the front, which dig in right where the shoulder muscles meet the chest. This doesn't cause any pain, since I'm wearing a couple layers of cloth and a leather doublet underneath, but it does tend to shift the gorget out of position, and the points (even with turned up edges) have scraped and gouged my soft leather doublet which I wear as the outer layer of rapier "armor" over a shirt and doublet. The snapshot below is my leather coat-- it's a slick, somewhat shiny upholstery leather in a nice creamy white color. It was a close-out sale at Tandy, so I snatched up a roll of it, and I used a bit more than half to make this. On the left side, you can see it's laced together rather than sewn or riveted, because the lacing was speedy and flexible. The lacing is going to hold the strain better than stitching, and if the lacing breaks, it's very easy to replace. It also means that the leather won't tear, since there's a lot of leather between the lacing holes. The front ties have an oval reinforcement patch sewn on both sides of the leather. The grey leather on the upper left of the photo is a protective "patch" that is laced onto the shoulder, to protect the white leather from the gorget. Over on the other side, I flipped up the patch so you can see the scraped spot. When the patches start to wear, I'll just cut a couple more and lace them on. Some day I have plans to put short sleeves on this thing, and maybe even skirt pieces around the bottom if I get ambitious. As you can see, I haven't bothered too much to make it super pretty, since it's not tooling leather, and it gets stabbed and sliced all the time. It has some black scuff marks on it from rubber rapier tips, but it's still going great after a couple years of use.

It certainly can be easier to make cosplay/faire stuff, but it often has to be a lot artsier, so it's a tradeoff -- work to make it functional, or work to make it a pretty design. I certainly would be reluctant to spend a lot of time on tooling, dying and shaping to make a fancy, beautiful armor piece that's going to get sun, rain and mud on it, not to mention get battered and mashed by sticks. I wonder if I even have any 9/10 oz. leather around my leather stash. If it's thick enough, then it's going to spread the weight of a blunted weapon simulator pretty well, like you say, so there's little point in trying to make it rigid. I can see the weak point being riveted joints, as you say. Lacing might work-- both durable and flexible, thus less likely to pop out of the leather, but it's not as sexy and shiny as the metal rivets. I too share your frustration with the eco-flo dyes. I only keep mine around in case of doing leather stuff with kids. I have a collection of Fiebings and Angelus dyes because those colors don't run (to steal a phrase.)

Gabriel Rasa: What you said above about waxing/boiling etc. makes sense for heavy leathers over soft body parts-- hardening it may not be needed. Thighs and upper arms (for example) won't require much hardening, if any, if heavy leather is used. Of course, you could take a lighter leather and harden it, but yes, boiling and baking are touchy procedures. If that leather is meant to cover joints and bone (such as fingers, hands, elbows), and protect them from actual impact in SCA rattan combat, then a certain amount of rigidity is required. I am not an expert, and I can't say what will be rigid enough to protect those sensitive spots. That certainly makes the requirements of the armor different! You also have to be able to recreate existing pieces-- that's more than I would want to do! I was noticing on the breastplate/shoulder assembly picture you posted above that the big pauldrons are mounted UNDER the breastplate, rather than over. Now if that's an aesthetic choice, then it's working as designed! (That's some nice tooling and design work on those pieces, by the way!) I was wondering if it works as a functional connection, or if connecting them over the breastplate would make smoother articulation, and keep the points of the shoulder armor from digging into the chest when the arms are raised. What do you think, as the designer?

I love Pinky and the Brain, and I like the style you used here. You did some nice work with Pinky. The Brain image doesn't match the style, like you point out, but hopefully you can make them match. Narf! Poit!

Let me add my observations from the few times I've spent teaching Boy Scouts (not Cub Scouts) leather craft: As a whole, It's difficult for them to design their own pieces (i.e. make a design, transfer it to leather, cut it out, and tool it). Pre-cut leather projects and designs are the way to go. TonyRV2s advice about scrap bags and a capstone project is excellent advice. The basic foundations of tooling (beveler, backgrounder, shader, etc.) are good topics, but keep the designs simple.Your average learn to tool books seem to think that fancy, traditional floral work is the basics of leather craft. I remember doing that in 7th grade shop (back in the 70s), but I didn't really care for the style or understand how the tools contributed to the design. (I still have and use a luggage tag made from that class! I've certainly come a LONG way since then!) I don't have or use veiners or camoflage tools, but I would treat them as stamps for this group, and show them how the tool can be tilted and struck lighter or harder to change the look. I think that the time and care it takes to stitch leather pieces together(over 15 minutes) is too much for the average kid. You'll get the odd one out who can focus long enough, but it's a repetitive task that isn't very interesting. Lacing is going to be faster and easier, but both lacing and stitching are topics for older or more advanced students, or the one person who really gets into the work. Riveting, if possible, may be the way to go. I have heard advice that when doing leather craft with kids this age that it is better to not use brushed-on dye to color projects. Instead, use colored Sharpie permanent markers-- no spillage, a lot less cleanup, and easy/cheap to replace. I haven't tried this myself, so I can't tell you how well it works. I must confess that I have used a fine line black Sharpie marker on some leather pieces, to make very thin black lines. It worked just fine, and has been colorfast so far.

Thanks for the compliment. I like the way it looks (the design), but the little flaws don't matter-- it's not meant to be pretty! ;-) Next time I do one of these, I'll have a much better idea of how to get it right.

I can only claim very limited expertise since I've only ever done one piece in an oven, but I'll share my limited experience with you gladly. The leather in the oven gradually got harder as time passed. So I don't think there would have been a window (like you are asking about) when the leather can be pulled out and be warm AND soft enough for tooling. Plus, if the leather needs to be cased for tooling, it would have very little or no moisture left from time in the oven. So if it were able to be tooled, you'd have to wet it again, and it would cool down and lose its shape, I think. That's an interesting idea about tooling on the anvil horn-- I have no idea if it would work or not. Time for you to pull out some scrap leather and give it a try! I don't think I could tool with oven mitts on, but maybe others can. I don't remember how long my one baked piece was in the oven for-- I'd have to go see if I can find the directions I used from a few online sources. It wasn't as long as you might think, though. Too long = scorched, burned, brittle and useless leather. Let me put a couple pix of my armor piece up. It's hard to keep the leather from warping or wrinkling in unexpected ways unless it's fitted tightly around a rigid, oven safe form (which mine was not). The tooled monogram worked okay-- it's not too complicated and is mostly flat rather than a three dimensional design. The back strip joining the two halves together warped a bit, and you can see the left side (above and to the right of the monogram) has some wrinkles in it. I didn't really care too much about the looks, since (A) this was a piece only for me, not sold to anybody else, (B) it was the first time I had tried it, and (C) it was going to be struck and stabbed with swords, so it would get scratched and dinged.

I made a back of the head piece for rapier (it attaches to a fencing mask) out of leather. I don't have a photo of it, but it's 3 pieces (2 halves, left and right) with a strip linking them together. It also has 2 articulated lames at the bottom of the neck. There is a small bit of tooling (a monogram) on the left half. There is no way that I could have done ANY tooling after the leather was hardened, so any tooling has to be done before the leather is hardened. Any hardening will shrink, thicken, and darken the leather, so intricate tooling is likely not going to work well. Attaching thinner tooled leather pieces to the hardened leather piece might be the only way to keep that decorative work sharp. I'm not sure how you are going to take a HOT piece of damp leather out of the oven and expect to tool it. The leather has to be baked in the shape you want it-- I don't know if you can interrupt the process, lay it flat and tool it, and then return it to the oven. I hardened my head protection piece via oven baking-- and be careful with the temperature and time, because getting the leather too hot will make it brittle. It will snap when flexed (I know this for a fact, when I baked one of the lames for too long, and I had to replace it.) I've never used wax, so I can't say anything about it. If you haven't done so already, you should check out Marc Carlson's guide to leather: <http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/hl.html>. I got valuable information from his site. Boiling will certainly do this, and even oven baking will do this, as the steam from the wet leather is boiled out. This piece down in the photo below (the shell guard) was boiled to harden it (and that doesn't mean 212 degree F water! I kept the temp at about 180 degrees, as recommended by a few articles i read.) The boiling did affect the lines on the tooled shell, so they are less straight, and the beveling disappeared-- the beveling just became wider lines. After it was tooled and dyed, I dipped it in the hot water for a few seconds (I think 10, but I am not sure), and then I placed it into a form to mold it into the curved bowl shape until it was cool and dry. The gold is acrylic paint applied afterwards.

Well, water-based dyes will smear or run when the leather gets damp, so you need to find a water-resistant or water-proof solution. You certainly don't want that black dye all over your daughter's clothes! And that's where my knowledge ends! ;-) I don't have enough experience to help you choose a good sealing finish. I would recommend that you open up a thread in the appropriate part of this message board (probably the section about dyes or the one about finishing) and ask real experts about their experiences.

I like that "underwater" tooling. It's an unusual design which makes it stand out. That's pretty good tool work for just starting, also.

Nice work for a first project! What is the finish over the water-based dye?