bikermutt07

I would go for option 3.

Also, if you can sock away some cash, do. You never know when an awesome deal on Craigslist will pop up. Earlier this year I was looking for a splitter. I found a weaver master splitter in excellent condition for 250.00. When I met up with the kid he brought boxes of stuff that he had accumulated in prison. All marked with his name and id number. I only had 350 with me. He let me have it all for that 350. All told I think I paid less then ten cents on the dollar. He was happy, and I was beside myself. So, it could be handy to have some cash on hand for deals.

Again, really bang up job. Be proud.

Great job, Matt. The lines are really clean looking. I love the flow of the top of the holster. Belt looks great too. I'm sure your dad will be proud.

Cool and rugged looking. Nothing wrong with that. Welcome and keep having fun.

Welcome back partner.

When you do buy tools, save some money by not buying leather specific tools. A cheap dead blow mallet, pliers, or razor knife will work as good as anything in a leather shop, to a point. A fork can be used to mark your holes consistently. You can even make your own dye if you have access to useful trees in your area. A really sharp chisel can be a great leather knife. If you use a nail to punch your holes run it through that wax to keep it from sticking in the leather. Use a butter knife as a backer to keep the leather from pulling up with the nail as you remove it. Sandpaper is cheap to true up the edges and I have seen edge bevellers made out of flat head screw drivers. Just remember people worker thousands of years with leather before their was a Tandy. Just get creative. Keep having fun.

Looks great..

Thanks guys.

Dwight, you think a table spoon would serve as a mold template?

Hey guys, I'm needing a working pattern for an everyday use eye patch. A kid at work put out his eye pulling a nail. He's going to need something that he can use day in and day out. Thanks.

It all looks great. But I gotta ask..... Is that a Batman and The Penguin inspired sporran?

In my experience a single layer of uncut non stitched leather will last a cow a lifetime.

Thank you, Jim. Just found this and it will be a big help.

I'm also interested.

That holster is awfully speedy.

I lucked into the weaver master splitter for 250. It was used, but plenty sharp. I did have a small learning curve about pulling the leather slightly downward. If you don't it will just slice the piece in half.

Beautiful stuff.

Ha! Angles. My technique kind of slowly develops a convex edge. It's not a very precision process I'm using. Appreciate the help.

I always learn stuff from your posts. Your previous post,told me I was probably getting my pocket knives too sharp. I'll back it down and see if the aus8 will hold up a little longer at work. I'm thinking 1000 with stropping after? Or 800?

Your daughter will love it and I'm sure your wife is proud to see you moving again. My wife and I lost a baby boy in 2014. I had always wanted to do Leather Work and starting to do it brought me back from the bad place. Making small items got my hands moving again. Funny how a simple hobby can have such an effect. Our loss also propelled my wife into taking her painting more seriously. She has done her best works in the last two years. Carry on friend.

I have a tristone that I play with as well. I started out using the sharpy, sandpaper, and mouse pad method. Then I graduated to the quartz and sandpaper. It seems to me that on the tristone the fine rock is only 400-600 grit. With the sandpaper (or the stone) I pull away from my edge turning it up just enough to grab the paper. After awhile you just get a feel for it. I work through my grits and then strop with the green compound from Tandy. This is obviously not a master technique like Art would use (lord only knows what he's capable of), but it does work for me.

I use sandpaper and a piece of quartz for most of my sharpening. For decades I gave up and threw knives into a drawer thinking I just can't sharpen knives... Then a few years ago I dedicated some time to learn from videos. I watched a ton of them. Two videos stood out the most. The first was a kid who used a cinder block and a red brick to get a pocket knife shaving sharp in about three minutes. That was frustrating to see. The other was from a fallkniven distributor in Canada. He showed me how when you sharpen a knife for the very first time it takes longer. Everyone's hands do something a little different and you are putting your personal edge on to the blade. After this initial sharpening later sharpening won't take nearly as long. It was like a light went on in my head. It all made sense. I wished I had seen that video first. Long story short, anyone should be able to sharpen a knife if I can. I'm also learning that aus8 steel isn't quite tough enough for my every day use at work. I may need to step up to some 154cm. Good luck.

That is some fine looking stuff.

It looks pretty good to me. If you tap those stitches down it will make them lay down and look even better.