MADMAX22

I use 1000grit sandpaper on a flat surface. Take it and lay it flat so that it is just at the edge of the shiny portion and draw it away from the tip (toward the handle) while raising it in its natural arc. Its kind of hard to explain for me but basically the shinny portion on the back, thats what you want to repolish, this puts the edge back on the cutting surface. Also same thing works for the french skiver they sell.

Welcome to the forum and great looking work.

Ford did the same thing as well. I still try to work on as much as possible but the computers,airbags,sensors,........

Thats the same method I use but it sounds like you need more steel wool. I used about 3 or 4 of the steel woolies in a gallon of vineger and I put it all in a big coffee container (plastic one). After a while the steel wool has pretty much all desolved with a few chunkies in the bottom. The solution is a nice black color now and as long as you dont have any wax or anything on the leather (wax acts like a resist) then it will turn my stuff a black to black/navy blue within a minute if not less. Once out I usually give it a quick shake in some water/baking soda mix. Then it goes under the water for a few secs to get everything cleaned off. After it dries off formed or not for whatever project your doing, I then have to oil it a few times. The process really pulls the oils out of the leather and gives it a waxy feel on the outside for a while. You really need to get some oil back into it. Also remember that depending on the tannery and what they use the leather will react differently to the DIP (as I call it).

Thanks Tina, I didnt know that and well worth the not using it then. I may have to line it with some chrome tan or something.

Great job on that purse, any pics of the inside by chance. Really nice lacing. On the gussets I have the same problem but I am just a beginner. About the only thing I can say is make it out of construction paper first and see how everything lines up.

OK so now I know what was meant by a ruby blade, I saw that one on ebay and was like what the heck. I didnt even realize it was a small portion of ruby used as the cutting edge. Thats really cool.

Thanks for the help guys.

Agreed about the glue and stitching. The double stitching lines and even triple is from the work force boots and clothing. Its from the fact that machine stitching once it starts to unravel obviously will just come apart. Hence if you have two or three of them the chances of your stuff coming apart are very slim. With your holsters they are not only stitched but also glued together and in alot of cases are saddle stitched which to be honest most general public people dont even know what that is. If I was buying a pair of say redwing work boots and they werent double stitched I would probably be a little peeved. However when I look at a handstitched holster with a single stitch I am not gonna get peeved because I know there are other factors that are gonna hold that thing together. Personally I would explain to the customer why its not necessary and maybe try to educate them a bit.

Hey guys Ive been tasked with making a dog collar for christmas present. Pretty straight forward Im using a latigo strap, some spikes and emerald inlay type rivets and some other rivets. Ill put a layer of vegtan on the inside to cover up the rivet ends and make a nice smooth color then seal it up. Its for a big ol dog so strength is all important. Now for the question, I understand how to cut the holes and slot for the buckle and the chicago screws or rivits to hold the end together. Now for the D-ring, does that get attached inbetween a couple of the chicago screws and thats it or do you need to sew it in to keep it from moving around. I know for keepers on a belt ya can just put them inbetween the screws and your good to go. But with the d-ring thats gonna have the leash pulling on it and such is there another method thats recommended. Thanks

Agreed that book is a great reference. I got so many good pointers from his books its not even funny.

It still amazes me some of these saddles. I love his 2005 saddle I think it is from Butch's link he posted. That thing is simply amazing (IMHO).

Very good looking finished seat David. Im sure that is gonna be another happy customer when they get that on there bike. Oh also when you say atom wax, is that the same as the leather balm with atom wax? Ive been using that stuff lately and I really like it, just make sure the dye is dry or youll be pulling most of it up lol. Has a lovely finish though.

Yeah sorry didnt mean to sound so rude now that I reread my post. Im sure if I had a laser I would either use it on leather or mount it on a shark ..... I think it looks pretty cool

Pretty cool, allthough not sure about the laser thing. I would feel kind of like I am cheating. Kind of like doing the engraving on a gun with a laser instead of by hand. It is nice that it makes it easier though. Nice looking watch bands. Is that a sub of some kind? I dont recognize the outline.Another question, can you adjust how deep the laser cuts into the leather or is it dependent on the power of the laser that you purchase? Guess Im asking is there a range of depth per power laser that you buy, say one can do 1mm to 3mm (just as an example) and another can do 1mm to 5mm?

Yep thats it, I just seemed to bunch up the lacing down in that area. I did however punch all the holes before hand so I may try punching the holes after I get them mated up together. I started thinking about it and may try widening out the bottom of the gusset just a bit to aid in making the job a bit easier.

That turned out really nice, definatly looking forward to the finished product.

OK so when you guys lace around a gusset corner how do you keep it from looking like a big ball of ..... On the inside run do you use less holes then the outside and just double up the inside lacing while doing normal on the outside? Or just make the gusset wide enough in the area so that you can do it like you would a normal corner? Here is a pic of the latest project that I got into trouble trying to lace and what Im talking about. Thanks for any help.

Ahh the secret comes out, lol just kidding. Its hard to find the time in a day to get everything done ecspecially when you have more then one creative hobby. Good job, simple but very cool looking. Oh and I think all leather workers got stuck in the midevil era, we just occasionally are forced to make a more modern piece of work.

Thats nice and simple looking. So its just two layers right, the inside the way its dyed makes it look like you have three layers in there. Nice stitching also.

Well the girlfriend decided she wanted a coupon pouch thing to store all her coupons in when we go to the store. Two pockets really one for all of them then as you get the stuff you put the ones your gonna use in the other pocket. Anyways ..... Its 3/4oz except for the strap which is 6oz, lined with pig skin. The center wall is doubled up pigskin. I used deluted light brown (feibings), then a shot of neats foot, then leather balm with atom wax, then antique followed up with leather balm, and finally a coat of oil and a final leather balm. Kind of a process in developement sort of playing around with finishes. The lion is one of the dover series designs, the vine things are just a little drawing I made up, just simple one liners. Now some issues I had 1)The gussets first time trying these and they were easy to make but a pain to get lined up right. Then I made a huge mistake of not tiying off the lacing slits every 10 or 15 which ended up getting my cocked over. 2)The lacing at the bottom of the gussets where the inner circumfrance is smaller then the outer one thru me for a loop. I could use some help with what people do for that type of lacing. 3) The lines form my pattern that I traced on ended up taking up the antique and showed up, partly due to I kind of went freehand on the leave/vine things. Plus the lines for my reference ended up staying. Kind of sucked but oh well. Oh and the lace is 3/32 dark brown tajas Criticism welcome and incouraged, thanks

Thanks for the input guys. Its much appreciated.

Chuck is right as far as how strong you can get that stuff by the boiling method, I played with a piece of 8oz just for fun and put it thru several stages of heated water. Stuff by the end was like a piece of rock, totally useless but you could throw it at someone and do some damage lol. That was a fun experiment. As far as holsters you have to think that someone once had one that collapsed on them so people started wanting a little stiffer or wanted to make sure that the holster they were getting was stiff enough not to collapse on them when they go to reholster. This probably led to sellers talking about this since the customers were "concerned" about it. So then one seller decides to put a weight on theres to show how strong it is then it snow balls into I can drive my f250 on my holsters. Its got merit in some respects it just gets going a little to far I think, ofcourse that is the nature of things nowadays, gotta do it just to get noticed half the time lol.

I think you did a very good job on this one.The sheath its self looks good and I like stamping. The bear head looks really good. Now just IMHO I am not to keen on the bear being attached via a seperate piece of leather like that.I think I would have put that in the sheath and stamped around it but thats just me. It all still looks really good and you did a great job.Oh and what color is that, it allmost looks like black with a red hue to it but I cant be sure,

Thanks for all the info and help guys. For now I am gonna try out the Henry knife, grabbing the one from Pete. A good deal and Ill get to try out something different. I think Ill save my pennies and after the holidays try and look into getting one from Leather wranglers.