YinTx

Do you subcontract? Could use a lil help here, too. YinTx

It's done, where do I send it? YinTx

None needed, I get that things are lost in translation when typing on occasion (see my own comment clarifying that I did a freehand drawing on paper, not a free hand cut on leather! didn't want to mislead folks myself), so I didn't take any offense. I do appreciate the positive comments and clarification tho! YinTx

I have purchased a snap and rivet setting tool, and I plan to review it here when I get my learning curve sorted out. Suffice to say, yes, if you are setting these things, get a setting press, much better results and faster. @blue duck, I'll check out the pull the dot regular snaps as well. @Leatherbutt, thanks for the stainless snap source pointer, I should have thought of that! YinTx

thanks much! I had never planned to do tiny, but it keeps cropping up... Was pretty stoked with being able to draw it out myself... so yeah, happy about that. Always room to improve myself tho.. Was thinking to invest in one myself... I hear those over the head magnifiers are good for leather carvers... Lol, all you'd see is my ginormous paw in the way the whole time, and me rocking my head back and forth trying to see under said paw...and thanks for the compliment. You are right about the flat spots. Mostly happened along the sides, where I had originally wanted to do a beaded border and have the vines sort of collide with the border, if you know what I mean, but then changed my mind later about the bead, resulted in flat disaster. I'm sure I'd do it without the altered plan, and I try to convince myself a smaller knife would help, but I know you are right, it is the practice that will correct the flaw. I have seen so many fine examples of detailed finger carvings to know I have a long ways to go! Thanks for the pointers and compliments all! YinTx

Weaver Leather has sold some higher quality solid items, they are pricey compared to the cheap cast zinc or plated stuff, but nice - definitely a case of get what you pay for. YinTx

I just woke up from a much needed nap, and realized some might be thinking I freehand cut that thing. To be clear, I freehand drew it, on paper, then transferred it to leather as always. My bad if I mislead anyone! YinTx

I'm tryin... bit at a time! Thanks! Would love to get a CAD package, but I haven't made enough $ on the carvings to justify buying a smaller knife, so for sure wouldn't justify the software! I couldn't draw a stick figure as I always say, but necessity is the mother of invention, so either I learn to draw or I learn to program... I ain't saying I'm great here or anything... it took me well over an hour to get the sketch knocked out, but it was useable! Appreciate that!! I'd say you are pretty right there. Leather prolly a bit dry, and my hand a bit shy... knife is pretty sharp, no dragging. I tend to make wreckerative cuts, and this thing was so tiny I was afraid I'd do worse than that. More practice to come then, I'll try and get em a lil deeper...I was going to background, but the areas I was going to are designed to have holes punched in them (this will be a dog collar) and I wasn't sure how that'd look.. I opted not to for now. Maybe the next one, and I'll be able to compare looks. I am fascinated by those that can do very detailed tiny work, it is difficult for me, but I keep getting tasked with it, so there it is. Coming from the master of detail himself, I am humbled. Thank you. YinTx

I like the dragonfly, and the green came out well. Can you share a close up photo of the closer clasp? YinTx

Pen for scale. It is about 3/4" wide at the widest point. Drew this entirely myself, freehand, no tracing. A first for me. I think it came out ok, despite the use of a huge knife. Someday I'll get tiny tools to go with these dang tiny toolings. Enjoy, also open to constructive criticism! YinTx

YinTx “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee Your practice is showing. Nice.

Those are fantastic! By all means, please stop lurking, share those things! Awesome work, very inspiring. YinTx

Thanks for the reminder. Finally got mine carved and tooled... time for dye and finishing... YinTx

this is definitely cool... YinTx

Welcome back. Perhaps you can teach some of us a thing or two now! YinTx

Fantastic work, and it is a lot, I'm all happy when I finish one thing in a month lol. YinTx

Those are crisp! Nicely done. YinTx

I'm just going to be quiet now until I get enough sleep to speak intelligently. YinTx

Very cool. Thanks for sharing the process pics. YinTx

Don't see braided holsters very often anymore it seems. Those came out pretty good! YinTx

Thats pretty cool! YinTx

Fantastic work, colors are spot on! YinTx

Just understanding how a splitter works would suggest that it should be flat on one side and beveled on the other (single bevel blade). Unless you have two rollers guiding the leather into the blade. I would think you would have a difficult time getting a thin split with a double convex blade. Good luck with the info search, and let us know what you find out! YinTx

Lots of questions there, Tom has great suggestions. We all seem to do things our own ways, and a bit differently. Here's my take: Pro dye still dries out my leather to some extent. Always add neatsfoot oil (NOT the compound) after a dye job, also it makes the colors more lustrous imho. I usually cut before I dye. If you have a large project, you could dye a whole side if you have a large horsehair brush to help keep it all even. Sometimes I dye the flesh side, sometimes I don't. It is difficult to get even, to say the least. Airbrushes help there some say. I usually punch holes, and mark stitch holes after everything is dyed and glued up. This alleviates the situation you had of dye going through holes. After dye, as mentioned, oil it, then consider Aussie, or dubbin made with oil and wax as Tom mentioned. You can apply Tan Kote, straight or diluted 50/50 with water, I find this gives a nice semi gloss finish. You can even apply both, but make sure to wait sufficient time between applications, like a day or two, to allow oils and waxes to fully penetrate, and acrylic finishes to dry thoroughly. Which order is up for debate and your own experience. Water resistance can be obtained by applying an acrylic finisher like resolene, or a laquer based finish like neat-lac. Wax finishes help but don't seem to be as effective in my experience. Hope all this helps. YinTx

This doesn't make sense. Why would we want to charge a higher price? This would cause our sales to go down. This is the reason countries place a tariff on goods: so that other countries have a harder time selling there, and cause the consumer to buy local. In other words, it isn't the company charging more, but the country the item is being sold in adding fees and tariffs/taxes. In order for the company to make the same margin, they end price is higher. This is what folks in the US are upset about: other countries charging high taxes/tariffs on goods from here, while we have not always done so on goods imported to here. We have been swamped with low cost subsidized goods (how else can I buy an item for $0.01 with free shipping from China on Ebay?) driving local business out of business - I can't even ship an item across the city in an envelope for less than $0.48. Now when we place tariffs on imported goods, the world gets upset. Go figure. I think in a decent free market, take out all the gov't manipulations etc, it would all settle into a happy medium. But, sadly, everyone wants the upper hand and do what they will to get there. YinTx