MADMAX22

Yeah the chinese manual is crap. Ryan included a kind of manual basically a bunch of pictures and a few instructions which has been very helpful when I started. The chinese manual is only decent for finding parts incase you need to order something.

Looks great Ed as always. Know how ya feel, think I broke my hand about week and a half ago, still waiting for it to heal so I can properly push a round knife. Sucks when its your dominant hand that gets screwed up. What do you like to seal yours up with.

Looks great, what did you color the pattern with? Great forming also.

Great looking stuff, very clean.

Great looking stuff.

You dont require one but as others have said it makes it look even. All of my projects that I started out with out a back stitch are still working just fine today. As I mentioned earlier the only way the beginning stitch is going to come loose is if the thread is cut or breaks for some reason. I can see how it would look more even if you did the same thing at the beginning and end though. I will keep that in mind for future projects. Now machine stitching is another story.

That makes sense, just serprised at the quality you recieved. Ofcourse I have had to get my HO from other places besides them but the quality was still good for the most part. Too bad I dont have room or money to order the amount of hides I would have to get from them to cover my different uses. Back to the OP's question it would depend on style of belt you are making and personal preference, durability, and everything else. If your going to be tooling the belts then vegtan. Personally I would go with a back or depending on if you have other projects you can use the side for get sides and use the top portion for belts then the lower portion for your other projects. Double coolattas or whatever they are called are nice as well. If you are not tooling and want a nice durable belt that you dont have to dye then look at things like english bridel,latigo, harness leather. Again you would have to get some samples to see if it is where you want to go. Most tanneries will give ya some swaths to show you the leather.

Prices are about the same or very similar. I got a 4500 or whatever you wanna call it from Neels saddlery darn I think it was about 8 months or so ago. Its been a while. Great machines. No complaints so far but then again I dont use it every day. Go with which ever is closer IMHO but either way you cant go wrong with either a cowboy or cobra.

That is a very odd statement. Wickett and craig and herman oak are about neck and neck as far as quality and what not. Both are way better then anything Ive gotten from or scene at tandy. Are you sure you didnt mix up your leathers? Also why didnt you get ahold of WandC if the leather was that bad?

In my own experience both with doing art work like drawing and painting and now leather work, find and use whatever helps you to control the instrument the best. For me I have big ol hands and trying to accurately move a little barreled swivel knife around in the fasion that you need to just doesnt work for me. I have far better control by using the bigger ones and changing the blade size out as is determined by the carving. I will put those rubber things on my thinner swivel knifes to make my grip a little easier. Ofcourse this is like anything else, personal preference is different with everyone you talk to.

Thanks Dirtclod.

Was thinking of picking some of this up and trying it out. Was wondering is it dyed russett color or is that the tannage that makes it that color. Was wondering can you dye it different colors and such after tooling or is it pretty much gotta stay that color. Thanks for the info.

Ahh ok the cobbler wax sounds pretty good then. Thought it was just a wax or a wax mix. If it has the pine pitch then it is probably similar to what I was describing making. I am not entirely sure but I would assume the 12/3 is 3 cord but I could be wrong. 3 cord may be a little weak for your intended uses. I would think you would need 5 or 6 cord for that kind of work. 5 or 6 cord is some pretty strong stuff, sorry dont have the tensile strength off the top of my head but it has lasted many years of hard abuse with what I have used it for. Several of the belts I made with it are still in use in some pretty bad environments and they are a few years old.

I would be leary of some linen threads from various places. Not all linen is created equal. I use barbours thread and many others do as well. There are some other linen threads out there that are good also I just dont know which brands are recommended besides that. If you can afford it try a spool of 5 or 6 cord from cambell bosworths site. As far as the wax. Most that use linen will use a mix of bees wax and rosin with a little oil thrown in. Basically heat the rosin and bees wax with some oil till it is liquid and ensure it is mixed well then poor it into molds and let cool. Or you can poor it into water and as it cools form it into balls. I like sizes about the size of a golf ball for my hand stitching. By the time you get it mostly used up it will have picked up alot of the fuzz from the thread and this prevents you from wasting a bigger ball of the wax mix. Hope this helps.

usually with the white lettering you tool or stamp the letters. Then paint/stain the item. Once that is dry and you have sealed it with some kind of resist use a white antique to fill in the letters. Atleast that is how I have usually scene it done. Once sealed the resist may work (experiment first) with acrylics as well.

Think maybe you could get this moved to another section of the forum that is more suited to your thread. Show off is not really the intended place for this stuff.

Ive been using wickett and craig lately just because I think its great leather and I can get it two or three sides at a time. I love herman oak as well but both are great IMHO. These are wickett and craig. The belt is all natural style. It is oiled, coated with a beeswax and oil mix I have then it was put out in the sun for the afternoon. The burnishing is just moistened then bees wax and saddle soap. The rifle sling is same leather using feibings pro saddle tan, then a coat of oil, then the beeswax mix and I think that is probably it, may have a clearlac finish but cant remember. Anyways hope this helps. The saddle tan works pretty darn good. It comes out pretty light. I usually cut all my pro dyes in half roughly with denatured alcohol. Then I just apply more coats as necessary to get the correct color I am looking for.

Yeah thats the one. My back stitching was fine at first but that bold had loosened a bit and I was having a few issues but once tightened up the lever was tighter and more consistant and the back stitching was pretty much dead on.

It ends up being what works for you and also personal preference but one thing I can say is thinner is better to a point. To thin of a edge and it will round over for regular steel blades but overall it is better to have pretty thin blades to help get thru the leather. I personally never had too much luck with the box cutter type knives. Ill use my little exacto knives for very intricate cuts and what not but I have to be so careful due to my ability to catch an edge and make a bad cut. Hence why I dont really use them more then I have too. I agree with Art whole heartedly that you really need to keep that polished fine edge on your blades regardless of what you use. I use to have such a hard time with head knives first because of the quality and secondly because of my inability to sharpen properly. I got some better knives and also learned how to put an edge on and keep it on with the strops or your method of choice. However to each there own and matter of what you feel comfy with.

I think it was Bruce Johnson that was saying he takes all the covers and oils the various stuff under them once in a while. Most of the stuff in there gets oiled from your oil holes in the top and what not. I take a peak in there once in a while and add a little extra oil to any parts that look like they may not be getting enough. It cant hurt right.

Didnt catch this thread but I had a similar issue with mine. Sorry I dont know the names of stuff but on the opposite side of the machine from the stitch length adjustment lever (that you use for reverse) if you remove that cover there is a screw in there that on mine had started backing loose and thus was causing the stitch length in reverse to be longer then they were in forward and sometimes at odd lengths. I think Bob will know what I am talking about, I would have to look up the name of it but its pretty obviouse when you pull the cover off.

Great looking, love the style. The hardware goes perfect with your setup.

Good looking stuff, is that vinee or did you dye them black? Nice looking floor also lol.

Somewhat true, but if you could skip the junk stuff right off the bat and not waste your money with crappy thread that wont hold up and will be the weak point of your holster then why shouldnt ya. I am not saying its the only thread for hand sewing but if your going with linen (which just my personal opinion is the best for it) then get the good stuff, just like if you were getting the nylon wouldnt you like to not waste your money on a big roll of bad stuff. Design, molding, and customer service is great till all your holsters start coming back because the thread is not holding up, or worse it doesnt hold up when its really needed.

One thing I would add is that you really need to find a knife that is designed for cutting leather vice just a folding or fixed style knife that is made for general utility cutting. Atleast from the look of the SRM knives they are very cheap and probably not very good at all which translate to a very bad experience when working with leather. My favorite knives that I have so far are a couple of gomph knives that I have gotten from Bruce and a Dan Carlos and a Rose knife that I have picked up on the way. All of which hold nice edges and cut very well.