YinTx

Awesome! YinTx

You absolutely should recondition the leather with neatsfoot oil after applying dye. Dubbin is good too, it usually has NFO in it. If you don't it may also tend to crack over time. Also, purchase high quality harness or bridle leather helps too, as well as using thinner leathers as mentioned when going round bends. YinTx

Pretty dang good one then. still watching... YinTx

Thanks! Hahah I try to differ from my original statement also, but alas, here I am with too many and looking at others! YinTx

Definitely nice. Feel free to link your instagram page in your signature! And welcome! YinTx

this is fun... and looking like you know what you are doing, so far...but then, I've never made a shoe so...I'm here to learn and admire! YinTx

Those are pretty unique. I don't see how you could make them any "prettier." I rather like the look. YinTx

Hope it suits you well. The more I look at it, the more I like it. Even the wood grain in the handle is fantastic. Worked up a prototype sheath today, will finish stitching and send a photo tomorrow to see if you like it! YinTx

Those are really cool! What about the backs? YinTx

Thank you and yes, a lot of patience and steady hands - along with a lot of practice. I am sure there are others that do it faster, but I do mine on a 1200 grit diamond plate, followed up with Japanese water stones at up to 4000 grit, then stropping for the final polish. Depending on the condition of the blade, it can take me up to 4 or 5 hours to get a good edge that I am happy with. YinTx

Sometimes. Usually, I get to work on one when someone is looking for one. Usually takes several days to get one dialed in like this. YinTx

Top notch! Thread color on the left one is cool. YinTx

Awesome, I am glad it is working well for you! YinTx

Oddly no one commented after a year, but I'd say your set up is quite neat and seems pretty functional. YinTx

Thanks! These older knives really perform when you dial them in. Presuming it is pre 1906 when CS Osborne moved from Newark to Harrison, it would be 115 years old at least. Rings like a bell when tapped, cuts really nice. I have several of these that I have been working over, and selling off one at a time - I can only use so many myself! Do wish I could keep them all tho, this one is pretty nice. YinTx

Just wanted to show off a round knife I just refurbished. Lighting wasn't the best, but it gets the point across ok I think. Let me know what you think!

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