KBCustom

A 4x2 ft European bend i am getting at $130.00

Hi Everyone, I have been slowly working my way into a better quality of tooling leather, unfortunately the price increases as well. I have been pretty partial to the European Bends from tandy. The quality of leather is very good with little to no flaws in the leather. My question is, i am looking for a comparable quality of tooling leather for a lower cost. What does everyone use for tooling leather? Thank you KB Custom leather

Hello everyone, I have been working with antique finish for a while and haven't quite figured out the best way to combine everything. I've been instructed to put a coat of oil as well as a coat of neat lac on before i apply my antique. I didn't have neat lac so i thought i'd try resolene since i had it on hand. The problem i'm seeing is that it blocks Way too much. I have just ordered some Wyosheen which im told is neat lac with a different name. My question is, is the Wyosheen going to give me the same results as the resolene or should i expect better results with the wyosheen allowing more antique into the leather? Thanks Kody

do you happen to have a couple picture examples of a finished product using spray dyes and finisher? I've been debating giving this method a try but have been hesitant because i'm use to the typical methods.

Thank you all for your comments. Unfortunately the piece was ruined last night so it looks like i get to start over again. Colt, what product are you using to air brush? Can you use resolene through it?

Thanks Bob, I've given the tan kote a try before as both a cutting agent as well as a finisher and it works great to cut with but im finding it has a similar affect as a finish.

Makes sense, is there anything that you've found that repairs the affected areas?

Hello everyone, I have been working a little with Fiebings Antique finish. I love how it applies and the overall color that it produces when all is said and done, only problem i am running into is it seems to be chipping away. I have attached a few pictures to better explain what's going on. The first picture of the portfolio book as a whole was before i applied any resolene or spray finish, the others are what i ended up with as the book was finished completely. I've tried applying small amounts of resolene (which i use with all other stains) but this seems to "wash" my color making it very dull and uneven. I then switched to a spray finish in small amounts to protect the stain, this seemed to help keep the stain in place so i could apply a layer of resolene to protect it overall. My question is, has anyone else had these issues with fiebings finishes? And if so, how might i go about fixing this problem in a way that i don't ruin this particular piece as it is " finished". thank you Kody

Thanks for your response Bob. To answer your question, Yes i am leaving the letters plain with no backgrounding. How would you recommend getting into the pin size spots for example, in the dead spots in the e's and a's? This is where i struggle the most i would say since it is very difficult to do anything with these areas without ruining the actual letter itself.

Hi Everyone, I have been having some troubles perfecting my beveling for very small objects especially letters. Can anyone give me some tips on how to better tool these areas? i am using the smallest beveling tool offered, and try smoothing areas out with a modeling spoon but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I think it still looks a bit sloppy. I've included a couple snap shots of the order i am currently working on. Thanks

Hi Everyone, I have been asked to start a photo album for an individual that has specified wanting it a certain style that i haven't yet dealt with. I am looking for some direction. I have included a picture of the color she is requesting. My question is, i believe i can use a tan or dark brown for this album, but she wants it to have a rustic old look to it. Any advice on how to achieve this look? thanks

Thank you! It's a gift for my best friend and his wife on their wedding day.

Thank you! I am happy with it.

Thank you everyone for the kind words, i really appreciate it! This is what i ended up with after finishing out the background areas throughout the entire piece. Now on to finalizing it!

Thank you! I am going to finish out the back ground and show Y'all what I ended up with. Guess this makes anyone learning experience :-)

One more thought. If I were to put in in the sun for a period of time, could that help the overall orange accent issues or make it worse?

I will give it a try tonight and report back what it looks like when i have darkened the rest of the background areas. thanks for the input, i greatly appreciate it!

I think im going to have to be happy with the overall look at this point and not try to remove the base layers of balm i applied. going forward, i just need to figure out what looks the best for the background and my thoughts are leaning towards the darker color like in the picture. Does that look good ( around the name area), if so, ill just need to darken the rest of the background areas to match. If it doesn't look great, i am looking for other options. It doesn't have to be "light" in color, i only wanted the surface color to be lighter, which it is fairly light i suppose.

I generally work with from hides that are anywhere from 6-9 oz. The only reason i have gotten in a habit of using contact paper behind each project, i was tooling a planner book and had used contact to that point. It wasn't until i was nearly finished tooling, that i realized my hide had stretched more than i could fix. Ultimately i had to pitch the project and start over. So, i just decided after learning about contact paper, that i would use that to ensure i wasn't going to be having that issue again. Hides are too expensive for stupid mistakes

i figured i wouldn't be able to get the contact paper to stick after it had been wet. Yeah i can try some different things and see what works better. thanks

To be honest, i haven't used a straight blade for a while so i don't remember if i had the same issues with it. i could do some test pieces to find out and report back. Since i have just started with this "new" casing method, i have only been wetting the front side, as i put contact paper on the back side to help from stretching the leather when i tool it.

What are your recommendations for background coloring on this particular piece. Right now as it stands, the album has an orange/red tint to the background, around the name on the spine. I put a darker brown to see what it would look like that way as well. Any recommendations?

Hi Everyone, I am having a bit of a problem with finishing a particular piece. After i had all of my tooling finished i applied a couple coats of Fiebings Leather Balm and let it set for 24 hours. I chose to use Eco-Flo Saddle Tan Gel Antique for this photo album. It seems to me that it's a bit too "yellow". I have thinned it out as much as it would take off with water and polishing it with a rag. Also i am having a hard time figuring out what to do with my background. I wanted to keep everything as light as possible, but not sure that's much of an option anymore. If anyone could provide some tips or opinions on what i could do to improve the overall appearance of this piece, i would be in debt to you!! Too many hours of tooling to be unsatisfied with it. Thanks for taking the time to read. KB Custom

Wanted to say I've starting casing my leather using this method and have been very impressed with the way the leather tools and works. I was wondering if anyone has any issues with mold forming on the leather though. I have a couple very tiny green spots forming and want to keep this from happening. Any tips? I keep the temp where i store the leather between 65 and 68.

Here are the newest pictures. I apologize for the delay on adding pictures. my phone was not allowing me to upload them last night.