King's X

Welcome to the forum!

Nah.....your family is beautiful and hats off to your leather craft as well!

Nice knifes you show here. Welcome to the forum!

The butt closest to the tail. A piece called a 'culatta' are sold specifically to belt makers for this purpose. Any supplier worth their salt should have a good idea as to what cut is best for belts.

Hello and welcome to the forum!

For this swivel knife collector.......very cool! Happy carving!

Welcome to the forum. First, both dyes come with their good and bad comments. I own both dyes and I am pretty sure that your local Tandy Store will also sell Fiebings dye. Unless it specifically states, Fiebings is spirit based and Eco-Flo is water based. That should be enough said. If I was in your position with what I know, it would what my application will be and more importantly how do I control it. My problem is that I do not like dyeing my work because I envision one finish product and I get another after it is said and done. Spirit dyes require a reducing type product to split or reduce the strength where water based it simply reduced using plain water. Also the upkeep of the accessories that go along with applying these products also require special handling and clean up. It is more easier with the water based products. Finally, the spirit dyes cannot be sold in certain states and according to Tandy, they have just jumped on the wagon a bit earlier by introducing a product that passes current EPA rules. My understanding is that Eco-Flo products are relatively new in the market whereas Fiebings has been around for quite some type. So they have not only the product, but the reputation that goes with it. I hope this helps a bit!

Ditto.....I believe he is a member on here.

I buy my belt strips from Tandy when they are on sale. The leather they have is quite fair in color, so I use these straps for dark dyeing color like black or chocolate brown. I have found that the flesh side is pretty nice and even, but it doesn't matter because I glue a liner on my belts. As for buying on eBay, I would be careful because you can be blind to what you get. I only buy leather on eBay if it sells for good deals. I also communicate with the seller my ideas for the leather and evaluate how they respond. Tandy is selling their 1.5" belt straps for $6.99 or $8.99 right now and I just purchased a half a dozen of them. I just store them and pull them when I need them. I hope this helps.

The book does show you how it is done with measurements. There are no cut and paste patterns per se. I used this book twice to make two previous project and I used the measurements as a 'general' idea for the size I wanted. I use poster board to play with the size I am looking at. I would recommend a good investment in poster board or butcher paper to cut out the size and see what will work for you. On a side note, I haven't really found many books that have cut and paste pattern pieces unless you buy a 'pattern pack' item. Good luck.

It looks good and even better if you are happy with the results. You also got far than I because I hate to color. I believe I must be color blind since my dyeing job come out ackward. Happy carving!

Welcome to the forum South Texas......and greetings from Central Texas!

There was a LCSJ article, but I cannot remember off hand the issue.

I would start with the truckers wallet with no tooling if you have little to no experience tooling. If you can get some basic tooling instruction than I would tooling your wallet. My first trucker's wallet had a simple skull and bones. As for the tandy set.......I never bought a set. All of my tools I bought were purchased one by one as I needed them. Good luck

Welcome to the forum. May I suggest a simple wallet or checkbook cover.

Welcome to the forum Sam! Try and google: Leather Crafter's & Saddler's Journal for the magazine question you had.

I use regular (cheapo) shelving paper, cost of a roll at Wal-Mart is about .99 - 1.99 a roll. If I am working on a belt, I will use regular packaging tape. I did use the white and blue tape before, but I found that it allowed movement/stretching of the leather, so I move on. Good luck

F.O. Baird used torn up newspaper. So I guess you can use anything. I am sure you that you have your leather shavings around. Hidecrafter's sell a large bag of leather dust for $2.50 if the shipping is worth it to you. Good luck

Bennie......Welcome to the forum!

Here is my .02 cents. I have owned every (new) craftool that they sell since I started in '08 (they have since been almost all sold since then). Really, every one of them. My results have been good for what I thought was good back then. Then, I went on a field trip to Hidecrafters about 9 months in to my tenure and met with George Hurst on a guild expedition. During our day visit, I asked George a lot questions about tools and quality of tools. From everything I heard, my interpretation.........tool quality comes down to what is put into the making them from the drawing board to the product that is used, to the process on how it is made. My understanding is that the current TLF tools are made from cast off of previous samples that they still have. I am not sure about this, but the quality (now that I have some experience) is less desirable than some other tools even at or equal tools close to the selling price. Interesting story that George imparted on me regarding his first run of Hidecrafter tools. They were made by a company in Boston and when they arrived, George destroyed them away because the quality was not what he had ordered. After the second round was much more successful, he quickly learned from his customers that he had something going here. This continued until he sold the company. In '09, I attend my first leather show in North Texas and had the opportunity to test run Barry King, Hackbarth, Horse Shoe Brand, Wayne Juerski(?), Chuck Smith, and Pro Series tools. You can definitely tell the difference in each tool makers quality and markings. I have heard and read complaints about every tool maker listed above, but I go off my own experience with each tool I own from these makers. There have been a few threads on here since I have been a member regarding tools qualities. In fact one such threads, I listed my own opinion in list form of how I rank my tools and the experiences, which I will do again. 13. Ivan.....................................................$3.99 12. Taiwan...............................................$3.99 11.Tandy Leather Factory......................$6.99 10. Crown Stamps.................................$2.99 9. Hidecrafter's......................................$9.95-up 8. Kyoshee Elle.....................................$11.95 8. Craft Japan........................................$15.95 7. Old Craftools (depending on face condition)....$9.99 - up 6. Clay Miller Tools.................................$25-up 6. Barry King Tools...............................$25-up 5. Chuck Smith Tools..........................$25-up 4. Horse Shoe Brand...........................$50-up 3. Wayne Juerski (?)............................$80-up 2. Barnes - Hackbarth..........................$35-up 1. Bob Beard Pro-Series tools...........$50-up This is my ranking on the tools that I own, have tested, tasted, felt and used. Others may disagree and that is okay..............it's a free country. On the old craftools, I would just like to point out that they are much better than others listed above them in their ranking, but it depends the quality of the face or areas used for the impression. Older craftools that I own have lost some of their impression value and will not be as good as others. It just depends. Final note: As for what I decide to buy and use will depend on many things. As a hobbyist, I buy what I can afford at the time. I must admit that I do not own too many Juerski or pro series because they are just out of my price range with two hungry teenagers at home. As for the Hackbarth, well you cannot beat their $145 starter set period. So, my advice to you depending on how you classify your level of leather work (hobby or self employed) buy and use what you can afford and move on from there as you progress. Any leather show is the best place to start looking for tools. The leather is free plus you can test run each tool with advice from the maker, which makes the best combination for any crafter. I hope this helps.

First, from a vet to a vet, thank you for your service! Secondly, we are glad to hear that you are on your road to recovery. I have to tell you that our guild does leather demos at our local VA hospital in Killeen, Tx several times a year. The staff and vets are wonderful people and our demos are usually packed. I have to agree with you. Rest my friend and may God bless you with a speedy recovery!

I would complete the top layer belt or item first to include any filigree work (cutouts). This includes any oiling and dyeing that I am going to do. Since I line all of my items to include my belts, I glue the exotic skin to the liner after checking the spot where I believe it will be going. I usually cut my inlay piece a bit larger to make sure the area is well cover and it does not come up through the cut out. Then I will glue the liner and project back with contact cement. I will put it aside until the glue dries (not shiny anymore) and carefully join the pieces together. Once the pieces have made contact, I will use a metal roller tool and roll the back of the project to make sure that all areas make good contact with the glue. I use Master's contact cement; you can use Barge or Tandy Leather Factory contact cement. I also use Contact Cement from Home Depot that is used for counter tops. This one is good for times where I don't have the opportunity to prepare a good ventilated area. Finally, Hidecrafter's has a video on how to inlay. I hope this helps.

I use a gum eraser that you can get at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. I am sure that any reputable art store will have it as well. Maybe even Target or Walmart? it works for me, but it will raise all of the flesh skin up. As for the card board, I have used my finger nails, scapel or skiving knife to carefully pull it up to remove and go over it with the eraser. Good luck