YinTx

I had them shipped to me by a friend in Taipei, he bought them from a store there. Hence the long wait... they had to get them in stock, he had to have time to go get them... I had to send the money... YinTx

Pretty excited, I've waited nearly 7 months for these to show up! I put an old Joseph Dixon iron in the photo for comparison. I have yet to use these, so they still have the protective plastic dip on the ends, but they look spectacular, almost mirror finish, and appear pretty sharp. I can't wait to have a project to try them out on! YinTx trying to upload a photo.. but getting blocked. I'll add it when I can...

I have a bunch of machine thread I don't expect to use, so if you want a great price on some let me know. I have quite the variety of colors and sizes. If you are looking for something specific, then the Thread Exchange gets my vote. They more than took care of me even though the shipping company destroyed the box, at no charge to me. Great folks. YinTx

I have wanted to say Made In USA on a lot of my stuff, but since some of the leathers are imported, I have not. So I have been trying to find a tag that says "Assembled in USA" or some such thing, but have not been able to find one yet. And interestingly, I think a lot of the "Made in USA" tags are imported as well, so there is that. So this topic came close to home since it is something I've been wrestling with recently, and I appreciate everyone's candid candor on the issue. YinTx

The Federal Trade Commission publishes the regulations. Directly from the FTC web page: (https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-made-usa-standard) " THE STANDARD FOR UNQUALIFIED MADE IN USA CLAIMS What is the standard for a product to be called Made in USA without qualification? For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be "all or virtually all" made in the U.S. The term "United States," as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions. What does "all or virtually all" mean? "All or virtually all" means that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content. " Your product contains content that is not of US origin, so it is not all or virtually all domestic origin. That is where my questions came from. But I am really surprised you would not highlight the fact you are using some really nice Italian leather, instead of trying to claim it is US content (leather). Thats all I was wondering. YinTx

I love the work, but I have a question. If it is primarily composed of Italian tanned French leather, how can it be stamped "Made in the USA?" I think there are some legal requirements to allow that moniker related to the country of origin for material content. Also, I would like to think someone using inexpensive chrome tanned leather imported from a country that has subsidized its production would not be able to compete with a product that is truly made in USA, and thus has supported American jobs and followed laws and regulations intended to protect the environment from gross pollution - by simply stamping it as though it were Made in USA. Likewise, if you have used expensive luxury Italian leather, why would you want to brand it Made in USA? Just things my inquiring mind want to know . . . YinTx

I like it, very clean like the rest of your work. Well done, thanks for sharing! YinTx

PM sent. YinTx

You requested images of the hides in question, which I sent, but have I not heard any response from you. If your email is not functional, I would be happy to post the images here. YinTx

Ray, I'd like to buy this lot. PM sent. YinTx

Ray, I'll take this set. PM sent. YinTx

Absolutely awesome. I love it! While some may lament the loss of a beautiful pair of vintage skis, I think the repurposing into something like this is fantastic as well. Now, off to find some skis.... YinTx

Thanks, Johanna. I did create a new "Activity Stream" to filter for unread content that I follow, I'll see if that does the trick. If you get back the views and downloads feature, awesome, but if not, I'll learn to live with it! YinTx

So I am gradually getting accustomed to the new site's functionality and looks, but there are some things I miss. One is in the gallery view, ability to see my photos in groupings. Also, being able to see how many views topics or images have had, helps me gauge interest in subjects and guides me on what I post or don't post. When I go to the drop down at my user name at the top of the screen and go to "manage my content" I am unable to see which topics have unread content, and I can't just jump to first unread post on those topics. Also, I am unable to see number of views and number of responses. Are these functionalities gone now, or am I missing something? Thank you for the time to answer, I suspect others may have similar questions but have not asked... YinTx

Man, I don't even carry a bag that nice, lol. Lucky 4 year old! Nicely done! YinTx

Now that is downright cool. Truly something to be proud of! Making a pair of boots I would presume to be a major undertaking, and those look top notch! I really like them.... YinTx

Anthony, I emailed you on Saturday regarding the condition and quality of the leather sides you shipped me. Please respond to my email. Thank you. YinTx

That borders on awesome! love the color combinations, really nice stitching, leather finish is great, edges phenomenal. YinTx

I've been using Aussie to finish the leather, gives it a slight bit of water resistance, a very nice hue, and smells great, at least in my humble opinion. Not as shiny/plasticy as the resolene, which I prefer - not so much into the shiny look on leather myself. You might try it on a small piece and see if you like the results. YinTx

I have not resolved my issue either, have not had time. But just a note, the photo in my post above was with the fiebings dye reducer. But not dipped. I did try just dipping into the 50/50 solution, no luck, just came out nearly black. YinTx

Oh man I had no idea that the Chromexcel would look so bad after such a short period of time. Will this be bad to use for a footstool or a leather covered seat? I had planned to make some note book padfolios and some totes out of the stuff I had ordered, now I'm afraid customers are going to be bringing all my products back to me in 6 months complaining it is worn out. Anyone have any long term experience with that type of stuff? Thanks for sharing! YinTx

Black Dogg, No problem, thanks for sharing and commenting and clarifying! YinTx

Yes, I watched that video too while I was trying to figure some things out, very cool. Wish I had matching thread and machine to match the stitch pattern in the LV pieces! Instead, I had to figure out how to do straight stitches where they were supposed to be straight... (not sure how to get this right side up, but this is the top binding leather) And do slanted stitches where they were supposed to be slanted... I think I did ok... learned a few things along the way. I like how they used leather for the lining, and I wanted to, but the customer wanted the material that you see... the original material is not leather, but instead a coated cloth that eventually gets sticky and peels off. YinTx

Thanks for that, Gmace99. As you know, making a video and posting it takes some time and effort, so I appreciate when others are able to pick up some tid bit from it. I have learned many things from your videos that I have not picked up in the hundreds of other videos I've watched on the subject of leather work! YinTx

Considering I had to line up all the original holes to stitch by hand, I did have to fight every stitch, but I think you are on to something there. The original appeared to use basting tape to hold the liner to the bag before stitching, and then the leather binding was added at the end. I did lightly glue the liner to the canvas, then stitched, then had to stitch the binder without glue in order to properly line up the holes. Not sure how I would do it differently, but I wasn't entirely happy with the way the binder seated - not as straight as I would have liked. If I could have figured a good way to glue it into place, I would have. There was a whole lot of trying to hold a lot of things in line prior to stitching, and not a simple task. Definitely a job for a machine and some glue, and not try to retain all the original bits! YinTx