bikermutt07

Stitching is looking real good, other Matt.

You can get it at Maverick or Springfield Leather.

I don't have a template. But, maybe you could use this trick? Take a manilla folder and trace have of your pattern pieces on one side. Cut them out and fold the cut sides over and trace them. Then cut out the rest. If you take your time this will give you that symmetry you are looking for. Hope this helps.

Isn't it amazing how awesome something as simple as a box can be? That is some fantastic work.

Also, if you are looking in the Dallas area solar leather machines is a cowboy distributor. Alexander has been on this site several times helping new machiners.

I have seen them advertised on Dallas Craigslist, but that is the extent of my knowledge. They may be as good as any of the clones, but I don't know

I like the weldwood just fine. And now I'm experimenting with 3M M90. I am liking it too. You don't get as long of an exposure to the fumes with the M90.

This is the first I heard of that?!? And dang it, I just bought a 16oz bottle of neetsfoot oil.

Well that certainly isn't enough for my needs. Ha

That's for certain, Brother.

Haha, me too. The perfect LSU purple is easy to get, right up until you put neetsfoot oil on it.

AHA!!! So, I'm not crazy. Well, maybe I am but that is another thread entirely.

Yes sir, I did see that. But then the op talks about changing the blade"s". The cobra splitter only has one blade, right?

Thanks Fred.

Cool thanks

Hey everyone, like the title says this is for the staff at my local Tandy. Now, I have mentioned in the past Tandy's short comings, but that has always been more aimed at the corporate business plan. The staff at my store is really great. A few weeks ago the manager called me to let me know about an elite sale they were having. From Friday morning until Saturday closing they were offering a membership upgrade sale. Which meant being a gold club member I would receive elite pricing on everything. This sounded pretty great to me. And I was really impressed that they called me about it. But, I was busy with work and I didn't make the sale. I just had too much going on. Well, I walked in this past Tuesday evening. And, as always, I was greeted by name. I told them I was sorry I had missed the sale. Now, truth be told I wasn't going in to make any significant purchase. I was actually just looking for some unwinding time after work. A little more on that..... My wife and I went to a berieved parents retreat last weekend. And while it was nice being there for the other parents, we brought home a little more baggage than we first realized. We lost out little Eddie almost 4 years ago. He only survived 2 weeks in the NICU. It was very helpful for the parents who have only recently lost a child to see us carrying down the road. It gave them a little "light at the end of the tunnel" so to speak. But Monday my wife decided to stay home with our 5 year old son and have a "mom and monkey" day. All good so far. Tuesday she had a bit of a meltdown and had to stay home again. Luckily, the good Lord gave me some encouraging words for her before I left for work. Sha was able to overcome and snap back. By Wednesday morning she was gunning to get back to work teaching art to her middleschoolers. She is so amazing. So, back to Tuesday evening, I wasn't sure what I would be dealing with when I got home, so I stopped by Tandy. After apologizing for missing the sale I was wandering around to see if I needed anything specific. As I was doing this, the manager informed me that anything I purchased that day, I would get that elite pricing. They didn't know what was going on in my world, but they sure made me feel good that evening. I bought about eighty dollars worth of stuff and saved about 40 dollars. It was nice to get the sale price two weeks after the sale. Good on ya, Meghan.

That is really neat. Is it a folding\travelling chair?

Congratulations on your purchase. I'm sure this machine will out last you.

Listen to @fredk, according to another post he has been at this a long long time.

Ummm your picture is of a strap cutter?

I was told, add a light coat, and walk away for a day. I had the same problem with this stuff in the beginning. Over saturation makes everything dark brown. You might try dipping your dauber into a paper towel or rag before hitting the leather with it. This may retard the oversaturation (think I'm gonna try it to).

A circular pattern will help. A lot of folks opt for a larger applicator when doing larger pieces. A piece of sponge or shearling are good options. Also, after you buff and apply some neetsfoot oil the dye tends to blend together a little more. If you look closely a lot of pieces shown on this site have some degree of variation in the dying. Another technique ( I haven't tried) is block dying. Take a large block and wrap it in an old t shirt. Dip that into a pan of dye. Then take it across the whole piece at the same time.

Your list looks pretty complete. As far as stitching chisels, in the beginning the Amazon cheapys are fine. I still have mine. They will get you going. But as you develop you will want your stitching to improve. I look at this the way antique gun values go...... 95% of the value is based on the last 5% of condition. So, a gun that is rare but only in 85% condition may be worth 400.00 , but the same gun in 99% condition may be worth 12,000.00. So, eventually you will want to move up the food chain in stitching as well as cutting. You can get a long way with a rotary cutter, a razor knife, and a cheap clicker or le' dispensable type knife. I'm not knocking them by any means. But, I gotta tell ya, my purchases from Knipknives have been my most treasured investment in this hobby. A super sharp headknife will slide thru thick stuff leather like butter. This keeps the edges from bunching up and throwing your corners out of square. Now for someone jumping in to leather that isn't sure they will stick with it, I would say don't bother with the expensive knives yet. But, Terry Knipschield has no apprentice. And I'm sorry to say, he won't be around forever. So, once he retires, that's it. No more Knipknives. There are other fantastic makers out there, but I haven't used any of their knives. A few more suppliers you may want to look into are Maverick Leather, Springfield Leather, Weaver, Crimson Hide, Wuta, and Rocky Mountain Leather Supply. Maverick has always been good to deal with, as well as Weaver, and Springfield. Kevin seems like so much fun in their videos I just love sending him my money. I haven't had any dealing with Crimson Hide yet, but Rocky Mountain Leather has some really nice items you find elsewhere. Last but certainly not least (in my book), is Wuta. They have a wide range of templates and tools ranging from budget to higher end stuff. They are out of China but offer free shipping worldwide. It takes awhile to get here, but they have always been upfront about that in their descriptions. Now we have banged up on China (and for good reason) for a long long time. But when we are looking at higher price point items, China has stepped up in recent years. Wuta's higher end stuff is made of great steel. I can't remember the name of it though. Dc something rether. And on the same note (different category) Kizer Cutlery makes some precision awesome pocket knives. I have several and am happy with them all. Vg-10 or S35v steel with g10 or titanium handles. Really nice stuff at a price point way below market value in the States. Anywho, I hope all these ramblings are helpful. Now I need more coffee.

That looks great.

Here was a quick search for Washington State. https://www.google.com/search?q=leather+suppliers+washington+state&oq=leather+supplier+washi&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.13693j0j4&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8