terrypen

Ditto!

Welcome aboard and looks like you're off to a good start!

Oh yeah Van, what Bob said!!!! I did some college but not enough and waited until it was too late.... Get out there and use that GI Bill.... you earned (and payed) for it!!!

I just posted your video today in LeatherWork Conversation threads, before I was told you had this one here! First things first! Thank you for your service! Sorry it ended up a medical. What was your MOS? Army I assumed! I was a 67N20 in the US Army, did 8 years as an aviation softie, on UH-1H or Huey helicopters. I never served in combat, thank the Lord, but thankful for the guys who had to! Second thing, dang those leather plaques are cool! Especially drawn to the military ones, those are the things that military guys cherish! Do you have a FB page? Link didn't work on website. You need to add your website link to your profile and/or signature. As far as posting pictures. Click on the down arrow next to your name at the top right corner of the page. Select My Gallery Then it's a little sketchy to me... haha Click on the Upload link. Create a new Album Then click choose files while your new album is selected. You can upload a few at a time Then you have to Review and Publish (where you can add information to the pictures) Then you click Publish at the bottom of the screen... Then when you are editing your post, you click on My Media and select Gallery Images and select the pics you want displayed. Hope that helps!

Thanks Karina. I did not see that, it is very difficult to find time to view all the posts in this massive forum! I gotta ask... are you a VW owner? or is there a different meaning? and Panama City? Panama or Florida? I've been to both...

Hopefully, this kind of thread is OK here! I seen this on Facebook today and thought I'd share the link to the video. This vet is doing some pretty cool items that he is selling! https://youtu.be/2Ab-Yc1rjIM It's from the Associated Press for a story they did on Veterans and unemployment after their service commitment. As an ex-Army 67N, I always want to thank the vets for their service!

I kind of like the vision in my head of a kind of burly guy sewing a tiny little mouse hide!!! LOL

I've heard that the black dyes are all like that and need more buffing than the other colors. I just took a small piece of leather and marked lines on it and labeled them for different finishes and number of coats. I tested Resolene, Resolene diluted, Tan Kote, and Tan Kote diluted with water. This started out as a test for a resist for lettering, but you could do the same for using them as a finish. I really don't like Resolene, pure Tan Kote is really shiny especially after 2 or 3 coats. The diluted Tan Kote left me with the lightest color. I will probably have to do this again to verify my findings. Does anyone else have any test strips they have done with finishes? Would be interesting to see.

Does that first one fit a spark plug? I have had motorcycles that had small tool kits come with them and they had similar items in the toolkit. I would lean towards part of a motorcycle tool kit!

What I did with the Finesse chisel from SLC was to do a layer at a time but don't take the first layer off before adding the second layer. Then do the third layer either with both 1st and 2nd still on the chisel or take off the second layer. Does that make sense? I was just "playing around" and did that with three layers.

I am just starting leather work but I personally had never even heard of Horween leather before I started looking at getting into doing something in leather. I say that because I'm just not sure how many people do searches for bifold wallets using the word Horween. I'm guessing it is lower than other words or phrases. I would guess that there is a way to figure out how many people are actually searching for that word on Google. You need to find out what words people are using to do searches for what you are trying to sell. As an example, I have a 1965 Ford F100 pickup and while it has been a while since I have done any editing on that page, I still get hits on it. If you do a search for "My 65 Ford F100 engine" it is the first image that Google displays http://terrypen.w5nra.com/images/65ford/65Ford_Engine.jpg It matches that search almost exactly by the page name and the image name. It takes some work to get it up there and keep it there, you have to keep editing and make it relevant by studying search engine data. It's still a work in progress BTW.. I have too many hobbies I think, and not enough money!

Montrose? I drove through there once via 114 at Saguache, heading up to Utah. I was driving a semi, only for a year, and passed on through. No links? which editor are you using on the forum? which browser?, which Operating System? Does it look like this? http://prntscr.com/6nwclo Or is your copy/paste function not working?

I'm guessing you meant Rockler and not Rockwell.. BTW the Rockler name is a link to the clamps!

I got mine in the mail today and yes they need a little tender loving care. I did use them on my first pay project, I'll be posting pics of it in a couple days in the Critique my work section. I also got one of those cheap belt end cutters and the adjustable v gouge, need to sharpen these somehow. Where are the instructables for sharpening tools? I also am a new proud owner of a Barry King 1lb round maul.... give me a moment.....Yeah, it is THAT good!

I would start with whoever you've already purchased thread from and tell them your problem and ask for some samples.

Just thought that maybe those dollar store table placemats would work pretty good too!

Great looking tutorial writeup! I'm not sure when I'll get around to them... have too many projects lined up now... LOL I need more leather... and rawhide, and leather!!! Terry

This is definitely a subject that cannot be put into a particular shaped box. As far as having talent, we are all born with no talent except to fill a diaper and squawk when we are hungry! I'm fairly certain not one person on this forum came out of the womb with pencil and paper or a stamp and leather! It is ALL learned! Now, there are some people that have an ability to learn very rapidly, either they get "it" or that circuit in their brains are short wired. It is what I call God given talent, but it is something that even they have worked at probably with zeal that you didn't see all the crappy stuff that was thrown away. I don't think any of this can't be learned in time, whether it is 10,000 hours or 1,000 hours or 100,000 hours you can learn it. It all depends on how much it will hold your interest which will directly influence the waking hours spent learning. As an example, I am a computer tech by trade, but in 1992 you could put all my knowledge about computers in a thimble. In 1994, I was in the Army and became a Training NCO for a company that had a network engineer. The exiting Training NCO told me that we had to add all PT scores using a calculator and divide by the number of PT tests to get the company average. I asked why he didn't use the computer, his answer was "we can't, we have to add them this way!" Ummmm, OK... I asked the network guy how to do it with the computer, he gave me the DBase IV books and said "when you get to a point you can't figure out come back and tell me!" I studied those books so I could do that one task that "couldn't be done on the computer!" One week later, while the Training NCO was improving his calculator skills, I ran my program and in 15 seconds had the printed output of the information he needed. To his bewilderment, after double-checking my math, he asked how I did that and I told him for the last week I've spent ALL my hours figuring out HOW to do it. To make a long story short, if it is something that truly interests and/or captures your interest you WILL devote the time needed to learn the trade no matter what it is. But YOU WILL have to devote as many hours as it takes to get where you want, some people never stop striving. Some will think "that's good enough!." or I don't really want to learn it, I just want to do it. Back to my computer knowledge, I do not have a degree but have hands on knowledge from spending every waking moment working on computers and just doing it. It did not happen over night it took a couple years before I landed a job as a computer tech and even then kept eating, sleeping and breathing computers. I have had people ask me to teach them how to do what I do on computers... ++blank stare++ It has taken me almost 20 years to gain the knowledge that I have, I can't "teach" you to do what I do. I can give you tips and pointers, but in the end YOU MUST DEVOTE THE TIME to learn your trade. Now relating to learning art and/or leather crafts, all the guys and gals that have been doing it for a few years can give you tips and pointers but in the end it is still up to you and whether it is interesting enough for you to devote the time and continually strive to be better. Strive to be better than the Bob "hidepounder" Parks of the trade, you will probably fall short but keep trying and keep asking for critiques of your work and work on that stuff. Also the people that learn trades in 1,000 hours are the ones that... make me sick... LOL OK Jealous! Some peoples brains are artistically wired and they immediately grasp the 3D images and how they should look. Some of us take a little longer in that department. I have also dealt with those 100,000 hour folks in other fields and at times wondered if they'd ever grasp the task. Sorry for the long winded approach, Terry P.S. hopefully it is mostly coherent.. composition was my 25 hour subject... hated it.. haha