MADMAX22

I posted some info in your other thread but wanted to add there is one holster I did a while back that also shows some pics of some weird results of vinegaroon. I ended up having to dye the holster black which with the vinegeroon made a odd dark blue color. It was really rather cool but not what I expected at the time. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...ic=4756&hl=

In my experience You may need to increase the batch intensity or let it sit longer. I know that I used about 4 or 5 of the steel wool for a gallon of vineger and after about two to three weeks it worked great. The first week or so it didnt do to hot. Some leathers will react differently. Test first. My method for using it is do my assembly first and tooling or whatnot then dunk it in and make sure it stays down for a good couple of minutes, then I give it the baking soda rinse. This is it, then I let it dry or do my wet forming and such. After this it will be a greyish bluish black kind of like what you have. Now I oil it pretty good. Far more then I would just plain leather as you have stripped alot of the oils out. It will probably take more then your thinking it should. Experiment first though. In my experiences glue, rubber cement, wax ( like bee's wax that has been melted into the leather) will act like a resist for the vinegaroon and it wont change the color of the leather. Redipping usually didnt work for me because most of this stuff has gotten into the leather itself so it wont let the vinegaroon in to do its job.

Thanks Tom. Now that I look at the pictures I realized that the one stitch that I pushed the awl too far thru really shows up. You can really see it in the top right of this latest photo. Ahh well. Heres another picture, I went ahead and finished it with some leather balm w/ atom wax. About the only finish I seem to be able to get a good result with. Gave it a nice shine.

Well tried another rifle sling this time using the proper thickness leather (8/9oz), I dyed it with british tan and chocolate, neats foot, lexal, then aussie wax. I sealed the back with tan kote and will probably try and seal the front I just didnt want too as I didnt want to screw it up like I usually do when I seal stuff, ecspecially stuff that flexes. The back has the 1/4" neoprene covered in suade. The design was a dover design. Also I apologize for the pics, I really need a proper booth (gotta build one one of these days).

Outstanding, thats a good start. Cool idea with the clip. On the first one I would recommend placing the strap off to the side as it will reduce thickness but thats just a suggestion. By the way nice gun, thats roughly my carry gun except mines black

I use to use box cutter style blades and the regular craft exacto's but since I got a head (round) knife and it is by far the best way Ive tried so far. It may not be for the tight corners and such but for just about everything else it totally rocks (IMHO).

Cool thanks, will be nice to see what it can do.

Thanks Kate, I fully understand and am glad for the different opinions. My issue is that with tankote/ resolyne/ and super sheen is that when I use them they tend to crack even if ever so slightly when the leather flexes. Maybe I am using it in the wrong applications. I like using waxes and have found that aussie wax and snow seal are my two favorites and give very nice mellow finish. I just wanted more opinions I guess on whether they can be used as the sealer. Totally agree with you on the lexol for the alcohol based stuff, it dries out the leather something feirce.

Hey guys I was wondering when using feibings dye is it permissible to use some lexol to condition and then say a few passes of aussie wax to get a good seal. Is it really necessary to use tan kote or similer. I just havnt had much luck with most of the sealers getting the results I want but if I just use lexol and aussie wax I get a great looking finish that is what I want to get but not sure how the longevity. Thanks for your inputs.

LOL we just elected one responsible for part of it. The economic mess has been more a result of more then just the government end of it. Many of the ceo's that ran there companies like the good times would never come to an end. Any company that was grossing as much as many have been for that many years should have some kind of buffer for economic roller coasters. So the bubble burst like it does every decade for the last hundred years (some worse then others) a company shouldnt all of a sudden be struggling after a couple of months, atleast not one as big as many of them that are. Sont get me wrong the government isnt helping and the current bailouts and such are just making it worse (imo) but alot of this were poeple that ran things on a non government level being stupid. Well I guess not totally stupid, I mean I wouldnt mind a 500k salary with million dollar bonuses or more lol.

Very nice. Everytime I see one of these seats I wanna try doing one.

Those are very nice, I like. As soon as I finish a couple of projects I gotta make one like those for my carry gun. Been wanting one for a while.

I wouldnt make them check the website because I sometimes people forget that kind of thing. Anyways I will say that every motorcycle show that I have gone to there has been drawings and you can enter these to win bikes, accessories, what ever and they allways have a little thing that allows you to send them newsletters/spam whatever you wanna call it, they can opt out by checking a box or whatever. Giving a guitar strap away would be a good idea like you said. Also make sure your business cards are readily available. If you can float it get a pic of your straps on the front of it like on your website, its more expensive but then people will be like " oh yeah that guy" or whatever.

Yeah go with a disclaimer since most poeple are use to the plastic coated leather junk they normally buy. I would say from my limited experience that I would include a card with a few leather cleaning/condtitioning hints. Like say after hard use (lol sorry) or every 6months clean with saddle soap and rewax with sno seal (just some examples). Then maybe provide those items on your website/store so poeple can purchase them with there leather.

those are really nice. Very cool color.

That is really sweet dude. Did you airbrush the colors to get that gradient effect? Sure he will cherish that for a very long time.

OK gotcha, thanks, you did a really good job on your edges.

Well thaks a bunch to Dave (DCknives) for his help with answering a bunch of my questions. Finally finished my first sling. Its 6oz (should of used heavier, will next time) dyed dk brown and british tan on the stamped portion. Oiled, then tan kote and finally a little wax. The strap is also the same leather dyed, gum tag the back and slicked it to make it smooth. I put a 1/4" neoprene under the sued in the body. Normally I would just cover that portion with the sued but I was trying to rienforce the leather a bit so ended up doing alot more stitching then I had hoped for. Thats allright need the practice. Next time Ill just cover the padding and call it a day. Theres only one big issue (besides I suck at stamping, cant keep them lined up) is that the strap I keep getting crocking of the dye. Im gonna buff it again and throw a little more wax on there. Im not used to using full strength dye I usually dilute it and dont have as much of a problem however the colors arent allways as nice when they are deluted. Ahh well. As allways critiques welcom.

Are those some kind of kydex clip under the straps or is that leather. Thanks

I think it looks great, nice contrast with the color and stitching.

Those are really cool. I bet Leatheroo would like to see that as I think she was working on those same shoes but had questions about the soles/

Looks good, that seat style is hard to cover. Ive got a yamaha cruiser with a similer style seat and am dreading when i finally get around to covering that beast. I saw your monroe and it looks really really good so far. I cant offer you any pointers as I have never carved a person before so good luck.

I think it looks really good. Not too much elephant for sure. The only thing is how thick is that guy. I know that when you get into IWB that sometimes its nice to not get too thick when you add up all your layers. Ofcourse that thing should last near forever. Good job IMHO

Well you never know, jsut because we havnt heard of it or dug it up yet doesnt mean that some group somewhere didnt do it. Unless we get a time machine we wont trully know everthing about human history. Anyways nice sheath, that turned out really good. One thing like the others the holes, if you wanna use holes to sew with use a (think its a 5/64) drill bit. Maybe a little larger if your thread is really big but I have used that size and it works out great and gives it a really good look. You wont really see the holes but you wont have that cant on each stitch it will just all be lined up.

Thats really good, nice stamping.