bikermutt07

Do you have a picture of the bottom of it?

And I only recently heard that.

That is awesome. You could always make a slot in your horse to accept this clam as well.

Good looking belts.

Excellent. The only critique I have is to show the top of the cap at the beginning.

Ha!

Snazzy!!! Did you paint the thread? I like the design.

It is a rolled edge. The back side piece is made long enough to cover the "t" pocket tabs. Then glued and carefully folded over. You will need a bone creaser and contact cement. Leodis leather has some patterns available with build along YouTube videos. You of course can just watch the videos, but they don't have much on instructions or dimensions.

It all looks great. We used to do rendezvous when I was a kid. It was a lot of fun.

Techsew is in Canada and they keep some used in hand. As far as buying one..... Think how much more you can charge for collars when they only take you ten minutes to sew compared to an hour. You will more collars once the convenience is available. I don't have a sewing machine and I'm only a hobbyist. This is my experience: I wanted to be able to do a little skiving or splitting for one or two projects I had. I lucked into a deal on a heritage 8 inch skiver. Next thing I know I'm turning to it daily. Having access to something in itself will cause you to get your money's worth. Good luck.

You can learn a bit of everything from this book. https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Secrets-F-Baird/dp/091828001X

I miss Deer Park. I had a great time living there.

Looks like you have everything covered. Don't beat yourself up, it all looks pretty good. You may want to sand your edges flat before you burnish them. You picked a great project to start with. Now make 10 or 20 more before you move to something else. This will help you hone the basics without a large amount of materials. I'm doing the same with bracelets.

Well, they should both last forever even if your knees and back don't.

Good job.

Hercules has landed. It looks great. After seeing your mark I remember the megabeast of a back pack you made a few months ago. You are going to be loaded down with gear, my friend.

Aren't they usually lined with shearing?

The palmgren .5 ton press has a 3/8 hole already in the ram. The Tandy dies fit in it fine. But you still have to buy the dies.

Steel??? Spell correct. Sheesh! Dremel

Al stohlman books I suggest are "The art of stitching" "Leather tools, how to sharpen them how to use them" These two books alone are pretty invaluable and retail for less than 30 bucks for both. I highly suggest starting with bracelets. You can use veg tan bellies that are cheap. You will develop a lot of basic skills doing bracelets. You can practice cutting, casing, tooling, staining, antiqueing, stitching, snaps, rivets, eyelets, burnishing and finishing. And if you mess one up your out .75 worth of leather. Someone suggested not long ago to pick one thing and get good at it, then move on. And then start working into the bags with small cases. Al Stohlman has has three volumes on cases. Good luck.

For lap skiving belts, I'm sure all three will do fine. But there is something to be said for getting the larger one. I was blessed to find the weaver heritage 8" splitter, similar to the osbourne 84. I don't think I would like not having the locking handle. It is really convenient. Once you have one, you find yourself turning to it all the time. I suggest saving for the locking handle style. I found mine on Craigslist for $250 in excellent condition.

I have a steel and I haven't really utilized it for leather yet. But I think I would try using it for skiving before sanding edges. Those little sanding heads are pretty aggressive. I was lucky enough to find a weaver splitter cheap enough to skive with.

We are our own harshest critics.

Cool. This is great guys keep them coming.

Sorry I don't have advice, but it looks way better than any of the tooling I tried.