Thor

Okay, now I'm flattered. Thanks a lot.

I knew you would say that Thank you all for the nice compliments.

Very clean work. Well done!

Don't you think that this is a too vague look at it? Does it matter if they go home to their family at night? Hey honey how was your day? Not bad, survived and shot two drug dealers on the go... or wasn't that good at all, we were busting a drug lab and I didn't know shit about what to expect on site... Do you really think it's less stressful collecting body pieces when arriving at a scene? Or where's the difference between a FF in the military to a regular FF. Talk to a smoke jumper and tell him his job is not as important and dangerous as the one of soldier. Talk to the paramedic who got stabbed and put into a wheelchair for no reason while helping a drunk person. So in your own words ..."shows a significant lack of knowledge and appreciation for what it is like to service at the pointy end of the spear." With all due respect to the people which are serving or have served, it's very much appreciated.

Actually this was more of a how to for a leather worker on facebook whom I wanted to help out. So since this is right below my desk and I'm spending long hours on my desk as well, I'm finally having something to place my feet on. Also works as chair now.

Lifter, undercut, both are the same tool, just a different name. Pro Petal:

Same here. Thought it's a piece of mahogany. One barely finds a knot or cracks in them. Great job.

Looking pretty good. I think you could really make it stand out incorporating a lifter or a pro petal tool.

I see - told him to translate the site into English as well. Nah it was just really easy. It's just a few straps and bunch holes. It's really, really simple to make.

Thanks, but if you would see gmace this old Scottish saddler working you'd say I was terribly slow. But to be honest to learn building a saddle from such good instructor really helped me a lot with almost everything that's needed in the trade. You're right http://librienergy.com/ it's an energy drink my nephew with his soon to be wife and a friend of them invented it during their university time. All natural and it actually works and tastes great.

In the recent issue of the Leather Crafter's Journal (September/October 2016) is a pattern by Jan Cole. I had some scrap laying around and thought I'll make one to see if it would work for me. I identified a few things I'd make different if I would make some for sale. However, this is what it looks like after 2 hours in total including pattern making (printing and putting together).

That's small, but also common in English bridle work. I have been recommended Maxedge recently. Don't know if that's any good and if it's available in the US, but it's this stuff here http://www.leatheredgepaint.com/leather-edge-paint/maxedge-pro-leather-edge-paint/. Like Fenice it's from Italy as well, but a different company.

Weaver used to have a glossary on that, but I couldn't find it right now. Tandy has a brief description on it here https://www.tandyleather.com/en/leather-buying-guide.html

Sent you a PM on that.

What's the shank size and shipping cost to Germany?

Yin, did you use a pricking iron on that?

There's a lot of WAS in your post Dwight. I remember grass WAS greener then... FYI phillips isn't pozidrive. That's like using a phillips on a robertson or pozidrive on a torx. However a phillips can be used on a pozidrive screw well, but not the other way round. 10 acre = 4 hectares BTW even if a country goes metric most structural components are still measured in imperial. For instance all plumbing is measured in inches or the equivalent term of that country. Zoll for Germany. A 5/16 shank equals 8 mm and so on. http://www.hamuniverse.com/antfrac.html For clarification the leather industry standard worldwide is that areas are measured in square feet. European countries have to convert this into square meter by law. Thickness is measured by mm. Only the US and Canada still trade by ounces. That being said, I adapted to inches for leather work as well, cause really nothing in leather crafts has to be so precise that I can't squeeze it a mm or two. Inches is just good enough of a measurement. Not precise, but ok. Art, you're getting old

Looks good. Any pictures of the inside available?

Thanks Tom. He likes the portfolio a lot and praised the craftsmanship. That was the most important to me as it is very little to honor the work he does for the whole family and the families of our 100+ employees. We haven't really expanded to North America yet. How come you know the name?

Thanks all!

Made this portfolio for my brother-in-law's 60's birthday. He runs our family business and it seems to be his life, therefore the company's logo and a cross-section of one of our safety valves have been carved into the front. His name is on the back. Sorry forgot to take a picture of that The outside is 2 mm thick cow hide from Spain. The interior is made from suede pig skin. The binder mechanic is covered with suede and the whole unit can come out. I used 3 neomagnets for the closure. Not sure if I would do that again. Was my first portfolio so far and the valve did give me some trouble.

I guess I would make the thong piece from full grain leather, but then again knee pads on general purpose saddles are often made from suede leather. Since people won't only walk on the beach, but also on asphalt on the parking lot, down the road or wherever, yes, the leather and the thread will wear in time. Most manufacturers account for this and glue an extra layer of sole over the threaded piece. If you don't want to do that I guess you could make the groove deeper in the sole. If you're worried that the thread will wear, what about the tooling on your sole? I think people have to be aware that it's a shoe and shoes do wear off no matter how nice they look. BTW. I really like your flops.

Every practice is good practice, even if the final product could have been done different or better. There are definitely things you have to learn. We all have to. Some more, some less.

Don't know where you get this Pearson from, but you're maybe right and I have no clue what machine I was working on. I doubt Todd would use the patcher in his shop. Instead of just looking at pjctures, reading might help at times. He's selling 3 Singer patchers. BTW this is not even half of his shop you see in the pictures. Currently I'm in Scotland and will look up my pictures next week.

Once I'm back home I'll go find a picture of the old Pfaff the Bailey saddlery uses. It uses such a large needle. Don't remember the model but it's definitely a Pfaff and older than I am.