MADMAX22

Thanks guys. Was scouring the web last night looking for info but didnt come up with anything. Found all kinds of stuff about the wood, history, operation and such but when it comes to the leather they always just say leather. I will keep the vegtan in mind and maybe look for some calf or something similer then try and find a dye mix to come close to what the color use to be.

Well finally got around to doing the tape measure sheath. Tried a little different style with the belt loop this time. Wanted to see how this works out. Not the best workman ship I have done but it turned out ok.

Here is a pic of the piece I took off of it. I know not much to go off of but the best I could do.

Hey guys need some help, a buddy at work has a old bellows kind of like the ones in this link http://www.fireplacescreenshop.com/fireplace-screen-accessories-bellows.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=bellows&utm_content=Bellows&utm_campaign=Fireplace+Screen+Shop The bellows itself is from around the 1920's - 1930's, sorry dont have a pic of it as cant take pics at where I work. It belonged to his dad I think and was used to fan the fire to say for making sand casts. What I need some help with is what kind of leather did these old guys use? I took a small piece that I will post pics of tonight when I get home. It seems to be about 2oz, reddish brown allmost a brick red color. The stuff is pretty much completely rotten so its hard to tell what it use to be but allmost seems like really thin latigo or something (Im probably way off). Any ideas or suggestions welcome. Found a pic that is as close as Ive scene so far.

My mistake, wish I had a better memory. Thanks for posting David and nice looking seat by the way.

HAHA thats pretty cool.

I really like sno-seal as a sealer on my projects. I dont know about using parafin and bees wax on anything other then the edges. With the sno-seal I usually apply one thin coat and let that dry over night and then buff it out, then Ill do another coat if the leather absorbed that pretty well. A hair dryer does a good job of helping it get worked into the leather. Only thing with sno-seal is you need to reapply everyonce in a while depending on how hard you use the project.

I really like that opposite color one. Very well done. Now just wait till he gets them then his friends will want one too.

The only thing I can suggest are things you probably already thought of, but try shelves and unique rack systems as much as you can to get things off of your tables if they are smaller ones. Also try fold away tables, something that is larger that can fold away against the wall (maybe attached via a hinge to the wall) so when you dont need the big work area you can get it out of the way.

That would probably work. Yeah David is the master with seats. If he gives you any advice I would take it. He has helped me when I did mine a while back. I just didnt realize he ever used antiques though. I could be totally wrong but thought all he did was very nice tooling and dying.

The barge works really well on the thick stuff but if you try to use it with the pigskin lining leather it will bleed thru and make the leather stiff and well crappy. The 3m stuff has some very good holding ability and doesnt bleed thru as long as you spray one nice relatively even coat thats not to thick. Just be careful when you are putting the two pieces together, once the two pieces get together you will have a heck of a time getting them separated again, not that Ive had that problem or anything lol.

In my limited experience any time you use anything heavier then the thin pig skin lining it will wrinkle up a bit unless you get the item preflexed in the position your gonna generally have it in then glue in the lining. This only works though in things that arent going to be flexing much like tool bags and such. The pig skin should lay nice and flat even when flexed around because it is so much thinner usually. I glue the entire area that Im lining with. Using the 3m 99 spray I hit up both surfaces and let it sit for a bit then carefully apply the pigskin. Take my glass slicker and run over it with that. Let dry and it should be good to go.

Anitque is not a good idea for seats. It can be used but after a little use it will end up on your pants and not on the seat. There are a few ways to use it. One is as a stain of sorts. This is harder to control in my experience. You would use this after oiling and before sealing. Normally antique is used after dying and first sealing, then antique, then seal some more. Generally I finish the item, clean with deglazer or something similer, dye the project let dry and buff. Then oil and let sit over night. Then follow up with a sealer of your choice 1 or 2 coats. This acts as a resist for the antique. Apply the antique then buff depending on type of antique. Then after thats dry seal it again with a your sealer of choice. However like I said with antique you gotta be careful with things like holsters and seats. Seats take a tremendous amount of abuse just from general use. Take a 250lb guy bouncing around on the thing with a layer of jeans rubbing on it all the time and its gonna put any finish to the test.

Make sure you head down to the stitching subsection and read thru that place for a while. Alot of good info in there. Ive been using the tandy awls for a while and have only broke two of them but that was on some double layer leather that had some rawhide spots in it. Get the point really sharp, I made a stropping block that had 800, 1000, 2000 grit sand paper and a leather side loaded with jewelers rouge. Remember with the awl you want the point sharp but the edges up higher just polished. Any of those little serrations and such will grab the leather. When you start stitching rub some bees wax on the blade then start a going, once you do a couple of stitches stab the bees wax again and keep going, this kind of lubes up the awl and lets it stab a little easier. Also keep the awl blade nice and perpendicular to the project. When you have the awl fully inserted give it a quick wiggle back and forth from flat side to flat side (not from edge to edge), this will open up the hole a bit and allow the awl to come out easier plus help with the needles passing thru. Oh and to steal Hilly's post from another thread "If you want a really nice awl, call Bob Douglas 307-737-2222. You won't be disappointed"

Very nice horse collar ... I mean dog collar. Great job on putting that together, it turned out very well.

"Encyclopedia of rawhide and leather braiding" is a excellent book.

I would order some kangaroo lace (Kevin at springfeild leather has some darn good prices). Just make sure you select the classic or glazed stuff and not the lmg or whatever it is that is the thick stuff.

Great looking mask, love the effect you managed to achieve.

What I have done and I picked it up here at LW is to use a dowel of some kind and tape this to the top of the gun along the site channel that you want. You can get some wood rods at craftstores and cut a length necessary to fit between the two sites. I do it after wrapping the gun in saran wrap then Ill tape the rod to the proper spot. Then wet form the holster.

I think with rivets it also depends on what type. For everyday leather work the rapid rivets while pretty strong dont compare to the copper rivets that you can get which take more time to set but are far stronger (as far as the rivet is concerned).

Looks very nice. Great work.

Looking great so far. Wondering what color your gonna choose with this one. I think this is the first seat you have done that I believe dying it will actually enhance how it looks (not meant in a bad way). Looking forward to seeing it finished.

I have done this on a wallet before and it turned out pretty cool. I used a light tan under coat, then dyed the motorcycle design a orange color (harley insignia with wings). Then I went over it with a black similer to that style. What I did was take a portion of cotton shirt, stuff the center with cotton balls and cinch it up nice and tight so you have a round over sized dauper made out of a shirt. Load this with the black dye and then run it on some paper towels to take some of it off. Now ever so slightly run this over the project and apply slightly more pressure where you want more black. I liked the overall finish but one thing to mention is that since its a wallet that gets used daily the dye will come off on areas. The guy I did it for likes it because it makes it have a real rustic look. I wish I had a pic of it but I dont. I may try and get one in the next couple of days if I can get away with it.

Sounds like an adventure lol. Great job on the design and tooling. I can see where that shape would be a real pain to work with to try and get it all snugged up properly. I think something to look into is when doing that type of seat try maybe lacing first then wrapping the cover around the seat and stapling/riveting it on then go about dying it and stuff. Thats what I had to do with mine and it turned out pretty good.