YinTx

I have often pondered this topic myself. I believe it is too obfuscated and full of grey areas to succinctly define. So for my own purposes, I let my customers know what my definition of hand made or hand crafted is, thus addressing what I believe to be the true crux of the matter: avoiding deception. Items made en masse overseas and imprinted with a stamp here by hand and dropped into an Etsy shop as "handmade" are imho deceptive. I want my customers to know what I do by hand, the types of tools I use, and where I use a production style machine when I sell an item as "hand crafted." Or, I don't tell them anything and just sell an item and let my craftsmanship compete directly with everything else out there. Doesn't always work - Clayton English Bridle leather belts with solid stainless steel buckles I made - not selling at $39. Meh. Maybe I need to price it like a Veblen good. YinTx

Includes a copy of an original instruction sheet (not the original). Craftaid is in great shape, has a reddish color on the "Z" that is not on the leather side. Doesn't affect performance at all, price is low on account of this. Shipping is usually $3.50 or less for Continental United States via USPS. YinTx

I just bought some from The Buckle Guy. I don't normally tout their store, but he did have the magnet strengths on them. I bought some of the 6lb strength ones, and man they are strong. Makes me willing to toss the other ones I have in the garbage. YinTx

I really like how you did the bottom of the gusset. Are you willing to share how that is done? YinTx

It's a winner. Tho I must say I like the photo of the last bag (er, first one you made?) better...nice leather, contrasting colors and textures, nice flow to the pattern. YinTx

Finally found pearl glue, or "Hide Glue" which I presume is the same thing. Turns out there are a variety of strengths: 165 gram, 192 gram, 251 gram, etc apparently made for piano and violin repairs. And from who knows what to rabbit skin for the source. And $20-25/lb or so. Does it matter what variety to use? Will one get hard and brittle and crack, or not slick up nicely? Would suck to have a pound of glue I can't use laying around... but want to try this stuff out to see how I like it. Thanks for the pointers! YinTx

Looking good! YinTx

Thank you all so much for the advice and tips. I will apply them to Version 3 when I get to it, which for me may be months. Meanwhile, since I had already gotten Version 2 so far along, I finished it up last night. The toe looks prettier at least, but still not what I had in mind, and as usual, I botched the stitching with the machine. One day I'll learn that thing well enough to sew something worth selling on it. Second version used some Wickett and Craig belly leather. Big lesson here for me is don't tool Version 2 on a progressive design! Will be a lot of hours in the waste bin later! YinTx On the hip: View of funky shaped knife: over 1" thick, lots of curves. Side by side with version 1:

Don't tell anyone, but this is the fastest I have ever made something. Took me all of about 2 hours from blank paper to waiting for the top coat to dry. Used some very old very raggedy Tandy veg tan leather, even managed to stitch it on a machine without screwing that up royally. So it is already just a good lesson. Unfortunately, before I asked for advice and thought about how gun magazine holsters are made, I reworked the shape of the top, and tooled it out ready to go for version 2. That one will be a more painful lesson to learn! But I'll finish it out anyhow just to see how the design change affected it. I did have it wet already, and worked it over a lot trying to get a stitchable lay, but the leather is like 10 oz, so it was no way going to co-operate. Version 3 should come out a bit better, we'll see. As they say, fail - and fail fast, so you can have success sooner! @RockyAussie Brian, thank you for that input. I'll give it a go next time around, we'll see how well I can emulate your fantastic work! I had originally started with a flat pancake design, and wanted it to be more of a flat back design, then as I went along, I decided I wanted a closed bottom. Guess I should decide these things before I cut up leather, but hey, progressive engineering works too! YinTx

I'm thinking this is probably the way, but was hoping not. Yeah, I did, several times. And it was Pro dye too. But clear lac can lift a lot of things, have to be careful with it I suppose. If I sprayed it on would not be an issue. Wonder if it degrades the thread? That's a different idea, could work. YinTx

As the title says, I made a Flat Back holster sheath for an odd shaped pocket knife. I am wondering if it is possible to stitch across the bottom? I've seen magazine holsters that manage it, but I am having a hard time seeing how to stitch this together without getting a ball of leather in the bottom, or having the leather too long on the opposite side you start at, since the top piece is by design larger than the bottom piece. Is it wet molded first? Or can it be stitched together before wet molding? Here is the prototype I made, you can see the bottom is open, which I don't want. Also, I managed to ruin the stitching when I put the clear lac on after wards: smeared the black dye onto it. Can it be finished before wet molding to avoid this issue? Or will that prevent the leather from wetting and drying out properly? These photos are before the clear lac wreck. YinTx

IMO, wet with casing solution, and let set in a casing box overnight. The moisture and oils will distribute evenly in the leather and help it to carve better. YinTx

I've not used gum trag with the edge paint, seems counter productive to me. If you want it to be shiny, just polish with a bit of wax and rub after the last coat of edge paint. I'll usually use 150 or 220 grit for sanding. It needs to be pretty rough for the next coat to adhere well. I don't usually sand the final coat. I've used a soldering iron in the past to heat, but on low setting. Just enough to get the paint to melt into the leather, not to burn. First coat should go on rough sanded leather also, same reason: allows it to adhere well. Just my experience, others have more expertise on edges around here if they chime in. And for bridle leather, I've had good experience just applying dye to the edges, then slick/sand/slick using water then gum trag. No need for paint. YinTx

sorry, tho, that style I don't have. YinTx

What in particular are you looking for? I have quite a collection of used round and head knives, one rather old Blanchard as shown. The handle was in bad shape, so I am looking to put a new one on it. YinTx

Try Maverick leather. For sure they have the basketball leather, I imagine they have access to the football stuff too. YinTx

As I was typing it, the terminology evaded me. Dry distillation. For birch oil, as I understood it, traditionally done in a container without oxygen, and a fire set under/over/ or around the container of birch bark. As opposed to the steam distillation processes you were referring to. YinTx

This equates to "soggy" leather around here. I'd have to wait a week for that to dry out enough to tool. I can't imagine it being dry enough in an hour unless I set it outside in the sun on a summer day in the desert southwest. Try a bit less water. In fact, a lot less water. Don't even submerge it. Just spray it until it is plenty wet, let it soak in and even the moisture out a bit. It will begin to return to it's original color - it'll cut and tool much nicer that way. For me, that is a few hours minimum, overnight in a bag to really even the moisture out, and another hour or two on the table to get it right. And I am sure there are others that understand moisture content a lot better than I do with better methods. There is even the wet sponge method: wipe it on, let it soak in, wait 5 minutes, get to work. But sop it in a bucket of water until it stops bubbling? A bit much water in my opinion. Let us see the next version. Make small things, like 5 different squares of leather, with different stages of dryness, cut on them and tool/stamp them, and you'll begin to find what level works best for you. YinTx

I've used denatured to dilute Fiebing's dyes. Works well for me. YinTx

This in itself would seem to result in a significant price difference. Would we then have to cut the tar to enable application to leather? Tar might make a bit of a mess of things I suppose...but mixed with alcohol or beeswax or oil might make things interesting... Does the manner in which the tar is produced have a significant impact on the quality of the tar as it pertains to leather treatment? as in distillation process versus cooked over a fire? YinTx

3 coats seems pretty stout using dark brown dye! I would expect a lot of rub off from that. But I like the sunglass case design: what pattern did you use? I've been looking for something like that... YinTx

This is what I refer to as "progressive engineering" where a design is developed as the item is built. !! I like the idea of a drawstring combined with a separate flap over the top. It will look as though you built it that way intentionally. You could also just install a loop style metal closure, grommets and the trigger snap on a strap. I think military style duffel bags had something like this. YinTx

I have recently purchased a snap setter from Kamsnaps. The customer service is top notch. I had some issue with their new style die not setting the dome section correctly, they sent one of their old style and it worked really well. If you buy from them, request one of those when you order. Having a press of any sort that works is a game changer for sure. YinTx

Indeed, outstanding. Did you do the basket weave repair also? YinTx

Cool hardware, too. Stitching is nice but scary close to the edge for me. What kind of watch is it for? I've only made one or two watch straps, and have one half way done. They require a lot of finesse for sure, since they are so small! Nicely done, glad to hear you have improved on each one, look forward to seeing the next one! YinTx