YinTx

You guys are absolutely stunning with these realistic portraits in leather. My hat is off to you. YinTx

Yes indeed, spent 20 somethin years in NM, so green chile it is. The only way to spell it, the only one to eat. I do get Hatch shipped to me once a year, and I have started making Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas as a Christmas meal tradition. Done with the turkey by Thanksgiving. Love tamales, never learned to make them tho. Happy Holidays to you as well!

Eddie Q, Best of luck to you! I'm sure the card swiper will help out some. Not much time before Dec. 1! I'll be trying my hand again on Dec. 2 I think. Enjoy a green chile cheeseburger for me, they don't make 'em here! YinTx

Soo many choices out there. You asked about the Blanchard, decent blade, but you have to put some work into it as well. Barry King blades are pretty much Blanchards that have been worked over. It depends on what I am stitching as to which awl I pick up. My favorite by far is a 100 year old Racche blade. The round blade top dead center with the blueing is a Racche. YinTx

Appreciate that, I still have a ways to go I think. Looked through my tools, I do have that one! wonder what it is intended for... YinTx

Awesome! I like the border tooling. What is that stamp, anyhow? Not sure I have one... or if I've seen one. YinTx

Hahah, yeah, and it isn't even centered! I've tried many times with just the seeder, and the results are always hit and miss for me. Watched plenty of videos, looked at photos, read instructions, so far I just kinda suck at it. I imagine I'll eventually get that one down too. Thanks for the previous tips and the complement! YinTx

Thanks much! Lots of help from those on this forum to get me this far, along with a bit of practice! YinTx Thank you!

I'm hoping a stitch line will cover it up, if not, no big deal, I intend to use it as a tooling weight bag decoration. Thanks, I'm usually making wreckerative cuts, so slowly but surely improving on them. Long ways to go though. YinTx

That is awesome! Look forward to seeing the finished item. YinTx

I like how the theme of curves carries to the inside. Awesome design cue, and the color work around the brogue came out fantastic. YinTx

Not as straight forward as it might initially seem, so I had to make a second go at it to get it to be presentable. 3 oz Hermann Oak leather, about 3". Ignore the slip of the modeling spoon. Tried to rub it out, no luck. YinTx

kinda hard to see, but what I can see looks pretty cool! YinTx

Where are you located? Thanks, YinTx

Definite upgrade! Awesome work. YinTx

I still make hamburger with my bargrounders. One day I may be half as good as you! Nicely done. YinTx

BlackJoe, So what I am curious about is was the leather previously used, or did you cut it from a brand new side of leather? YinTx

I do the glass burnisher rub down on my leather before carving. It helps in my humble opinion. Seems to settle the top into a smooth surface, and evens out the compression of the fibers below. This makes it easier for me to carve, less fighting inconsistencies in the leather, resulting in a smoother cut. Here is a video from Alden's School of Leather talking about how to do this. I don't do my casing or glycerin bar work the same, but the concept is there. YinTx

And there was a guy selling a couple of sets of old craftools in the classifieds section on this site. Lot of times you can buy large sets for a good deal, ebay is a good place for that. If you have $150, you can probably get all the tools you need to start carving and bopping and they'd be the old better quality Craftool stamps. 30 stamps for $90 is like $3 a stamp, and there are better deals than that out there. They may look old and dusty, but trust me it is better than the chrome crap flaking off of the crummy new tools onto your work. YinTx

This looks like old leather that has already seen some use and has patina, especially noting the lacing holes and edges, and the fact that one side of the piece is light and one side dark where it appears to have been folded in the middle. Also looks like a finish has been added and worn off of one side. What are we looking at? YinTx

What type of work will you be doing? Tooling/stamping, or working with chrome tan? Trying to understand what tools you would need. YinTx

If you search on this site you will find a lot of posts with the question "Tandy has their splitter on sale, is it worth the price?" If you read them, you will find a mixed bag. They are not top notch splitters, the blades seem to need regular stropping, and others just opt to find a good splitter. That being said, if you really need one and don't have the money, they do function. Often times you can find a used one for a decent price. That is what I did, and mine works pretty well. I still have upgrade-itis, and may eventually sell mine to get a better version some day. But if I never do, this one does the job! YinTx

Heh. I actually have a sheath I made for a knife that I had intended to sew, and ended up not sewing, and it has been just fine for over a year now. I suspect this one will as well, especially since there really isn't a lot of room on the edge to sew without getting into the stamping. Sheath came out really nice! If it does ever separate, just make another with the room for stitching! YinTx

Stellar! How big is that bag? Great work on the dye, very even. YinTx

Fantastic work as always, love to see your stuff. Maybe someday I'll be as good! YinTx