YinTx

I'd say not a wannabe. On the contrary, a more likely successful business model to have only the specific tools you need to create a fantastic item in a niche market. Nicely done! Love the shop, the website, and the product. YinTx

Thanks! I must admit to consulting my better half when I get stuck between 2 or 3 options, but this one was a no brainer. Fil Au Chinois Jaune. Also, I should be clear, the carving pattern is a pattern that Tandy has for free, that I took some liberties with and modified. YinTx Clean design. How long have you been carrying that one? YinTx

Ok, I'll play. Finished this one a while back, it is a prototype of a design I did last year. I've given a few away, and I'm testing this one out to see how it performs. All Hermann Oak 2 oz interior, and 3 oz exterior leather with a 1 oz liner. Fil Au Chinois thread, hand stitched as always. Wet after tooling: Skip ahead a few weeks, and 2 days into use: YinTx

Where are you getting it from? YinTx

Yes, I saw the 600ft2 min order line also. This leather looks superb, very even light color that just looks luxurious. I saw in their list of photos a scrap bin in their leather retail shop, would be interesting to work with a few pieces of that scrap to see how the leather behaves without having to buy 600ft2! YinTx

I'd say you did well with the graph paper then! YinTx

Thanks for sharing so many more photos, it is certainly deserving. Easy to see a whole lot of work went into that! Neat design too, did you do the design work also, or is it modeled off of something? YinTx

That is really neat! so much dimension to the two hands, came out great! YinTx

Cleanly executed. That looks like really nice leather! How does it burnish? YinTx

Neat wallet! I haven't seen the bison brown color. Cool! YinTx

Only advice I have is provide more photos! This is a stunning piece of work and deserves closer observation! YinTx

Close up looks better than a close up of mine would. Did you bevel before you textured/back grounded? I have a padfolio I made, that I have been carrying around for nearly 2 years, from a single layer of 5 oz leather. It seems plenty stiff enough for me, I can rest it on a knee and write in the pad without it flexing too much. 10 oz plus liner plus a stiffener must be like carrying a board around! YinTx

Also, surprised that 10 oz leather needed a backing board? I would have thought it was plenty stiff... YinTx

Man, that is sharp! You've got that basketweave going good! I like the color combos. Not sure about the cut marks showing up, might need to see a closeup for anyone to make a solid guess... YinTx

I just watched one of their work along tutorials, and was more than a bit surprised at the techniques being taught, such as marking stitches one at a time with a single point pricking iron, on a stack of leather on top of a marble slab with a giant dead-blow hammer. How could any beginner hope to get consistently spaced and angled stitches and not wreck their iron with this technique? Mike's comment about could ring true here. Please, OP, get some reading in on this site and watch a large variety of videos from very skilled crafts people before you go teaching this one. Unless, you just want to have some pre schoolers hammer some marks in round keychains. That shouldn't be too difficult to teach and let em run with! Just my .02, worth the price of admission. YinTx

Not sure if this is the type of template you had in mind, but https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com has a lot of stuff for free... and for sale. YinTx

I've ordered from them in the past, but only via phone call. You might try that. YinTx

That is fantastic! Love it. You create the design yourself? YinTx

That rocks! I don't think I could keep that basket pattern straight in my head, let alone on leather. Love the hidden pen holder and the blue liner. I like the finish on the spine: I thought it was bridle leather until I read your description. What color did you use to dye the body? Any antique at all? YinTx

Thanks for the info. And from what I am reading, if you are concerned about your metal, don't store it in leather. IE, if you have a nice pistol or rifle, don't store it in a leather holster? Stormcrow, I think I failed to mention: Nice roll! I tried to make one a while back, it was a complete failure. Haven't had a chance to try it again. But for sure I will take a look at your design and construction before I do! YinTx

I mentioned this to my brother, thinking veg tan would be better, and he just laughed at me. Proceeded to show me several of his pocket knives that were in decent veg tan sheathes, in a safe that has dessicant, and the brass bolsters were GREEN where they touched the leather. He said from now on it is kydex or nylon sheaths. So now I am confused. Which is it I should be using? Veg or chrome? Or neither for metal? YinTx

9tpi, Does the magnetic holder impart any magnetism to your tools? I must confess I like the idea of having tools neatly organized, in sight, and out of the workspace, which a magnet strip seems to do well. But the thought of having my tools picking up any stray filings and leaving them on my veg tan when it's cased has me stuck. YinTx

My condolences, Kiwi. YinTx

Picked up a plough gauge, spare knife, hammer, a bookbinder's leather paring knife, and a smaller paring/skiving knife. Spent the afternoon working them over with my stones and stropping them, they seem pretty good. Wish I had remembered about the round knife, I could have included it in the same shipment and likely saved some $$ on shipping. Not too sure how to use the paring knives, they don't really skive great - or I don't know how to get them to skive great yet is probably more like it. They all seemed to have about a 30 degree bevel on them, pretty rough but cleaned up ok. YinTx

I just got some other great stuff from these guys, but somehow missed they had a round knife. Anyone use it that can provide some feedback on how it well it performs? YinTx