BillB

Everyone, Thanks for the comments. When I get it completed, I will post pictures of it.

Shawn, In the 1950 and 60s I went to a boys camp on Rainy Lake on the Minnesota/Canadian border. Canoe trips went all through canada and lengths up to 21 days. Most sheath knifes were in 5-6 ounces leather. Even the sheaths for axes were in the 5-6 ounce range. These sheaths were light in weight but provided the necessary protection of the blade and the wearer. These were typically 6 to 12 inch blades. I just checked my 10 year old Buck Knife and it's pouch is out of the same weight leather. At the beginning of each camping season we would apply neatsfoot oil. The sheaths I made and used are simple two piece. One piece for the back and belt loop, the second is the front. I recently made a sheath out of buckskin and made an insert out of 3-4 ounce leather so that the buckskin did not get cut. This was, however, for a friends Dance Regalia and was more show than function, e.g. 12 inch fringe. The important thing is to have leather that is flexible enough to allow the blade to slip easily in/out yet be sewn/laced tight enough at the edges so that the cutting edge does not get to the thread/lacing. On some very thick spine blade, a space may be necessary to allow the blade to move in and out, but I have never used a space on the cutting edge side. I hope this helps.

Tom You are correct. The letters are from Al Stolman's How to Carve Leather, Page 48. I used Craftool E 294 series for the internal pattern. Hear are the close-ups of all three letters and of the Totem. At this close inspection, I can see my mistakes and areas I would do differently in the future, e.g. better use of the E tools to match the interior cut lines, smoother beveling of the outer lines, attention to detail at the points. As a software engineer there was a saying that the software would be done when they pried it from my dead cold fingers. Oh, well, time to let it go and get on with the project.

This is an interesting question and similar to the one my wife and I asked ourselves as we looked towards retirement: Where to retire. Being an Engineer I followed the engineering process of defining the "requirements" that would determine our decision. This included such things as cost of housing, cost of living, support for our hobbies (leather work for me, weaving for my wife, motorcycling and fishing) and most important was how close to grandkids, e.g. close enough to see them and they see us, but not close enough to become baby sitters. Once we did that we were able to do a benefit trade on the various locations we were looking at. In the end we bought lake front property (1 acre) on a 400 acre lake 60 miles southeast of Fargo North, Dakota near Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Good summers for outside activities and good winters for inside activities. Youngest grandkids are in the Twin Cities, 3 hours away. You could do a similar process. The real trick is deciding on what requirements will drive your decision.

Ron - Welcome to the forum. More than happy to help a fellow traveler on this path.

Robin - Welcome to the Forum, you can't find a better group of folks addicted to leather.

Shawn - Welcome to the forum. I used to make knife sheaths, mostly from scratch, e.g. made my own patterns. I usually start with a trace of the blade by laying the knife on the edge of the table so the blade lies flat on the paper. Once I have a trace of the blade, I added enough around that to allow for the lacing or stitching depending on your tastes. I then use more paper to build the Belt Loop section to determine how I want the knife to hang. Once I have a paper pattern the way I want it, then it is a matter of tracing on leather, cutting, tooling, staining, lacing/stitching, final preservative and then the final test of slipping the knife in. It may sound complicated, but it really isn't and from what I saw in your sample, you should take a deep breath and jump in. That is how most of us started.

RVM - Welcome to the Forum. Ask away. The folks around here are not shy.

I thought you might like to see my latest project. I am doing a Left Handed Bi-Fold Note Pad. The Initials are actually on the front and the Bear Totem is on the Back side. It will open left to right with the note pad on the left side. I will be leaving it all natural.

Roo - Nicely done. I have always enjoyed seeing your masks. I have not seen one I did not like. Again, nicely done.

Have you considered sending a picture of your work to the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden? Beautiful work.

You might consider submitting it to The History Detectives on PBS. It would make an interesting research item and maybe a good show. A conservator at a museum would be best. I bet it will be some type of oil like Neatsfoot Oil. I used it back in the 60s and 60s to revitalize old leather (notice I did not say restore). The time period that this is from they may have been using Whale Oil on leather. It will be interesting to hear what the museum folks say.

If the intent is to have a set of leather cuffs similar to the gauntlet on a set of gauntlet gloves, and you want to make the edge closest to the elbow a curve, then the line that is drawn on the flat template can be anything some a simple arc to a parabolic to a hyperbolic curve depending on the amount of curve one wants to have one the final project. Some of the old Western Gloves used in shows had an extreme curve on them. In some cases I have simply started with some heavy drawing board, and started making prototypes. A lot easier to cut and a lot cheaper than leather.

Richard, Welcome to the forum.

Ariel, Welcome to the forum. You will find that we all traveling the same path, just in different ways. But we are all willing to help and to learn.

Kevin, Welcome to the forum. Hope you fine what you are looking for.

Alternative B: Go down to the local Motorcycle Shop, buy a pair of gauntlet gloves that are close to if not what you what, disassemble and use as a pattern.

Mike D. There are some companies that will recover data from a "Dead Drive". If it is only the electronics and the "Heads" did not crash onto the recording surfaces, then the data should be recoverable. If the "heads" actually crashed on to the surface while the platters were spinning, then the areas of the crash will be un-readable. Depending on how the data was stored on the disc, this could wipe out a large section of a single file or pieces of several files. It will all depend on how much you want to spend on recovery of the data. In the future, consider backing up the primary data on a secondary drive.

If your are referring to the pattern of the leather pieces, I use a rotary knife to cut the leather into the pieces that will be assembled into the final product. If you are referring to the design pattern that will be tooled into the leather, then I use a swivel knife with a carbon steel 1/4 inch angled blade.

Ryan, Welcome to the forum. Life is an adventure and the long road of adventure starts with the first step. Welcome to the world of leathercraft, explore it at your own pace.

Here are my latest two Totems: Sun and Moon. I have no modified the guidelines that I had earlier in this thread. I have now combined what Bob does with what I have do. The basic guidelines go like this: 1. All Form lines are beveled away from except where form lines merge or run next to each other (Black next to Black) 2. In the case of form lines running next to each other, the separation line is enhanced with a modeling tool and edges are rounded off. 3. All White ares are beveled into. 4. Where White areas are separated by a thin black line, then both sides of the line are beveled into the white area. 5. Tool the White areas first. I am still working out what to do with the tertiary areas and lines. My best guess is that these areas are left up to the artist to resolve depending on the totem they are working and the "Look" or "Feel" of the overall totem, e.g. use a shader, figure, or matting tool and is it textured or not (depends on if the final totem is colorized) I don't want to have a set of guidelines that then inhibit creativity, but I do want to try and keep the Art Form but expanded it from a 2 dimension art form into a 3 dimension art from that is available on leather, similar to what the Totem Pole carvers did. Let me know what you think.

Sorry for not sending these sooner. I use simulate sinew for all of my hand stitching. This sequence of pictures shows how I: 1. loop the sinew back over the tip of the needle; 2. Move that back across the needle and eye to form a closed loop; 3. The last thing I do is to hold both runs of sinew while rotating the needle to twist the loose end around the sewing length to help lock the needle in place. I hoe this helps.

Welcome to the forum. Nice looking eagle.

Dallas - Welcome to the forum. Back in the 60's I canoed that area. My last trip in 68 started in Raindeer Lake.

Collin - Welcome to the forum. Great group of folks here. Look forward to see your work