MADMAX22

Good choice if its anything like my dads rigs. Just info for ya, his first f350 with the 351Windsor did 200k miles between engine rebuilds. He did that twice, sold the truck with 500k miles on it. We beat that thing up pretty good and it towed horse trailers between wyoming and cali for some time. He replaced it with a 02 f350 fifth wheel 7.3l diesel. He rolled over about 250k miles and had to get the front end overhauled and the fluids changed. It still purrs like no other and I am sure will get many more miles out of it. All I can recommend is changing the fluids and watch the front end bearings and you should be good to go. Enjoy.

Rough guess since I have only made a few wallets. Around 5oz for the bodies and say 3oz for the interiors. Give or take an oz. Thats what I would start out with and go from there. I would say try some kip for the interiors and regular vegtan for the bodies.

Great looking belt Ed. The colors go together very well. Your edges look very good as well. I have a question. I cant see the stitch line on the cobra portion, was wondering how you attached it. Over all looks very professional. I think personally and I say this humbly, that a silver or stainless belt buckle would look really good with the cobra, that or a brushed stainless look. Either way it looks great.

I would look into maybe the mortor they use for laying tiles and such. Or if anything the glue you use for tiles that are glued to walls and such. I think if the granite is layed rough to rough this may work.

I always thin my dyes so what I do is taking the canning jars and add the dye then add the thinner. This gives you a nice sized jar to not spill over. The canning jars are pretty cheap. Another one I like are the natural peanut butter jars. They have a one piece lid and are glass. Once they have been thru the wash they make the best dye containers IMHO.

I must say I do not really agree with you, there needs to be some kind of oil or atleast conditioner applied to the leather. Also feibings pro oil dye is very good. You just have to know how to apply it. Once the dye is buffed out you shouldnt be able to get much rub off anyways even before you seal it. I think along the lines with Petes statement. Lightly oil it and then go back if you need more and lightly oil it again. Make sure you let it sit overnight after oiling it.

I use this stuff My link and I use a rosin/bees wax mix. It lightly waxes and makes very tacky the thread. The thread holds like a gem once tugged and is very easy to work with. Springfeild leather also carries as many others do the harness needles. I beleive tandy does as well. These are the best ones to use IMHO. Plus make sure all the other basics are covered to make your stitching easier. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18307 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16552

Thanks for the kind words guys and gals. Just a big thing to remember is this is a work in progress. I had my idea and started working with it and it has changed a little here and there. If you guys use the design be sure to try and see what works best for you and to improve upon it as you can. Ofcourse be sure to post your results. One thing I found is that the side panels with backing piece only needs to be stitched at the top half of the circle, the miter joint keeps the rest combined with the glue in place very well. This saves having to do that internal stitch line which saves alot of time when hand stitching.However that being said if you do it this way it is guaranteed to last thru just about anything you could possibly throw at it.

Thanks Kate. Yeah she wore it to a meeting today (she wanted to show it off lol) and it got many praise from her coworkers so I was really happy with that. I know that us leather workers tend to be a little critical of our work especially our own work since we spend to much time looking at our mistakes after we make them that we dont tend to be as happy with the end result as we should be. Dubs that was using a airbrush, I sprayed the whole thing dark brown then I sprayed the outer portions cordovan which is really dark. I then antiqued the whole thing but it really just shows up on the carvings. The thread was also dyed with cordovan. Hope that helps, oh and it was using the cheapo airbrush from harbor freight. Not the best thing by any means but it does ok for overall color patterns.

Thanks guys, Funnygirl its still a work in progress, I am working on trying to improve the design everytime I make this particular one. I think I made a how to in the how to section on the earlier style but it will give you an idea of how its built. It may be the exact or similer design as this. Here is the link I found it http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=24467&st=0&p=155389&hl=purse&fromsearch=1entry155389

Well been some time since I have completed any leather work to show off so here is the latest creation. Its the same purse design I have made before construction wise. About 7oz body lined with suede splits. Lined the strap as well. Everything hand stitched and such. Used dark brown for the overall color and cordovin for the edges to bring in the two tone effect. Then used a little antique paste over the stamping to fill that in. Sealed up with some wax/oil based stuff. Enjoy and feel free to critique Oh and yes the chicago screws on the strap are black and not antique like the rest of the hardware. I just didnt have any to match so I gotta find some antique brass chicago screws if I can and then I will replace them at that time.

Well not exactly. Tazers can drop you, these can put you out of commission for a while or permanently depending on how they are made and used. Hence why overzealous adrenaline pumped cops use to get them selves in trouble by accident or on purpose so they decided they were a bad idea. Great self defense weapon if used properly and if you know what your doing. Its just the legal aspects in todays society that tend to get you in a heap of trouble if your not careful but Ill leave that topic at that since this isnt really the place.

I commented on your gallery but will do the same here, thats freaking cool. Great job.

I only know a little about all this stuff from what I have learned from others and from experimenting. Chuck Burrows besides being amazing at making era style leather works is also the most knowledgable person I have noticed in the area of vinegaroon and similar things relating to doing leather work from the time areas he has studied. There are several post of his that he goes into great detail on the vinegaroon processes and such and is well worth checking out if you can search for his post.

Some things I learned is that make sure the baking soda rinse is just that. A good rinse then rinse it off with clean water. If you leave it in the baking soda to long it isnt very good for it. After I oil it once or twice with neatsfoot oil and it has thoroughly dried I will do a coat or two of something like sno-seal or picards or montana pitch blend or similar. Once that is done I have not scene any kind of transfer of the reaction to anything else. There shouldnt be a transfer except to maybe other leather since its a chemical reaction and not an actual die. One thing I noticed is that sometimes the leather will come off do to the flesh side being exposed and could possibly look like rub off.

Agree with Dave on everything for the most part. One thing about the benches and such, IMHO I like to make them to a good height while standing at the bench. Then get a chair that is adjustable in height or of the correct height to make things comfy. This way they will work both ways and save your back.

Yeah maybe if you know someone it could be pretty cheap or free. I got mine at Joanns where it comes in a pretty good sized brick. Its still pricey but far cheaper then the individual cakes ecspecially when they have it on sale. Its in the candle making section. Come to think of it any candle making section of a hobby store of sorts should have it cheaper then the "specialized" cakes you get for leather working and such. Be sure to look online also. There are places that sell just bees wax and related items for far cheaper.

By no means am I totally experienced with this stuff but I have really liked using snoseal, picards, and aussie wax. I like the idea of keeping the leather protected and being able to clean with some saddle soap and reapply once in a while. I do this with everything I make now. I think I will try the MPB when I run out of other stuff but more and more I am relying on my own home brew stuff. Its just bees wax, parafin wax in equal parts with some neats foot oil thrown in. It comes out like somewhat hard butter but melts nicely when you rub it in with your fingers. Has a really nice mellow finish that buffs out real well. Once this batch is run out I may try the mix with some pitch or rosin in the mix and see what happens. I know it is easier to just buy the stuff but alot of fun to use something I made on my own.

I got a couple of things, just didnt know about it till I got the magazine and by then over 2/3 of the stuff was sold. Thats alright I would have spent to much money anyways.

Sorry for late response but yeah your right its the braiding book. Hope you got it all figured out.

IMHO the two best leathers I have tried so far are herman oak and wickett and craig. WC is a nicer tooling leather IMHO (not to experienced compared to some) because it seems like the leather is almost fluffier in a way, it has a nice depth to it when you start carving. Now that being said HO is outstanding for carving as well just in a little different way. Christian (xianleather) uses HO top grade leather and as you can see from his work it is amazing and tools fantastically. For my inexperienced self it seemed easier to get depth and relief with the WC. The HO is a little firmer tannage. The WC is a little softer overall feel, not saggy feeling like some of the import tannages that you can get but softer then HO. This is where it pays to know what you will be making and go for what you need. For things like holsters and such I think I would personally recommend HO but for the other stuff WC but then again either works great for anything you wanna make in the end. Either way you cant go wrong. Now as far as the price increase, in the last 4 years to my knowledge I have not scene a price increase from them from what I remember so that seems fair to me to increase price to cover inflation which seems to be about 2% a year for the most part. If you raise the price of your work by a dollor or half dollar and depending on what you make you will easily recoupe the cost of the hide increase of 5 or 7 dollars. EDIT> ok after reading the actual pdf I guess I was just about right that they have not raised prices in 4 yrs so that seems about right.

I agree with the sno seal type stuff for the natural protection. You can use a hair dryer or similar to get it to soak into the leather. I also made my own formula that I like which is parafin, bees wax, and some neatsfoot oil. It looks very similar to sno seal and does a great job of weather proofing as much as something natural like that can.

Sorry for the late response, the 99 is like the 77 but is more industrial strength. It works very well but so does 77 so if thats what you can find give it a go. The only thing that it doesnt work as well on is things like foam where a specific spray for foam works a little better. For just leather it works great though.

Grab the book the encyclopedia of lacing, it is a wonderful book that will show just about everything related to lacing of most types. It is money well spent.