Chief31794

I bought a side of leather that had been printed with a camo design from Sheridan Leather Outfitters, I wanted to try it out. I made a wallet today, I think it has potential, the cost on the side was very reasonable and I'm thinking wallets, maybe some belts and rifle slings, maybe even a guitar strap. There's a lot of leather here and it'll take me a while to use it up. I'm not sure what type of leather it is, it doesn't fee like Veg Tan, but I'm not sure what it is, it's softer than veg tan but not as soft as garment leather and it is about 5 oz. Anyway, here's what it looks like. Chief

Thor, I cut them by hand, a clicker would be nice but one large enough to do guitar straps and rifles slings wouldn't do my budget much good. I use templates from Black River Laser. The rifle sling template is one I designed, they sell them as well as some other types, in fact they are sending me a new Rifle Sling that is over 3" wide with 1-1/2" area for the sling swivels as well as a new Guitar Strap Template that is 3-1/2" wide. The Rifle Sling template I use is 2-1/4" at the widest point, so I cut a 3-1/4" strap from a single belt bend and cut two at a time out by reversing the template so the wide ends are apart and the narrow ends overlap, that allows me to save quite a bit of waste. I usually cut them out ahead of time so that I can fill orders pretty quickly. I have 5 cut out right now waiting on orders, this time of year I keep 3-5 ready to go. The guitar strap template is Black River Laser's GSTS which is 2-1/2" wide. I designed the Banjo strap template that they made me, and although I don't use a strap template for my dobro straps, I use their 3/4" ranger belt template to make the piece I sew to the front of the dobro strap to hold the adjustment buckle. Thanks for asking, I can't say enough about Black River Laser's templates they are time savers, I had them make me a wallet template as well for cutting out wallet parts and backs. Big time saver as they have holes for marking the lacing holes so I don't have to measure them everytime. Chief

Thanks Rohn, Thanks, there isn't a lot of room there for details, so I was pretty happy with it, get tired of carving the same old things all the time. Chief

I use gator from time-to-time, my only thing with it is: Edges, they're unsightly due to the scale heigth: My solution, I lace the edges of everything I make with gator except inlays. Sews okay. Doesn't need any type of sealer. The belly is a little easier to work with. I normally back gator for wallets, money clips etc with 2/3 oz veg tab (most things) Belts (Hard to get enough "Clean" gator (no holes, etc) and length for a belt, but if you do then I would back that with 6 - 8 oz leather. I wind up making lots of wallets, money clips, phone cases, etc. I have only been successful at getting enough for a clutch purse on a couple of hides. Hope that helps, Chief

Off the bench last week, Three Guitar Straps, a Banjo Strap, a Mandolin Strap for a F-Style Mandolin, and two 44" Rifle Slings all from Hermann Oak ©, the mandolin strap is from 4/5 oz, the Guitar and Banjo straps is from 7/8 oz and the Rifle Slings are from 9/10 oz. Mandolin players normally like a very light weight strap, the instrument itself is light. The first guitar strap has a carving of Hank Williams Sr., this guys wife says he's a real Hank Sr. fan, never carved Hank before, not completely satisfied with the carving, but she seemed to like it. Chief

It is lined with 4oz and the main strap is 5/6 oz . Thanks, Chief

Thanks, Thank You, Thanks, Chief

looks good, nice job. Chief

Really nice job. Chief

This is the time of year for rifle slings, between Christmas and the Beginning of hunting season, I get swamped. Got orders for four yesterday, and another one today. More coming for sure. These are made from Hermann Oak ©, 44" long. Chief

Lots of good advice here, only two notes, I would keep the razor knife and get a rotary knife, they both have their uses but I use the razor knife 90% of the time, the rotary 5% and a head knife 5%, the rotary is very helpful on lining and thin leathers. Also the blades are a lot cheaper for razor knives even with getting a sharpening system for the Olfa blades. The other note is in your list you have metal ruler, I would amend that to a metal ruler with cork backing, normal metal rulers slip bad when using them to cut straight lines and also will mark leather, cork backed rulers are a great tool in leather working. Chief

Thanks Rohn, Thank you Cheryl Thanks pm sent Thanks Bob. Chief

Banjo strap 2" wide attachment type strap with arrowhead basket weave design and a mandolin strap 2" wide with a floral carving and name. Banjo strap made from 7/8 oz Hermann Oak © and the Mandolin Strap is made from 4/5 oz Herman Oak with a 2/3 oz front loop, the front loop fits under the scroll on an F-Style Mandolin so it has to be thinner. Mandolins are light weight and mando players don't like heavy straps. Don't see many Banjo or Mandolin straps posted so thought some folks might like to see what they look like. Banjo straps come in two types, Attachment for attaching the strap to two of the J-hooks either directly or using swivel hooks and Cradle Type which circles all the way around the drum of the banjo (cradling the instrument) passing under the J-hooks. Not all banjos can mount a cradle strap, normally high end banjos can they weight 13-14 lbs because of the bell tone rings inside the drum but all banjos can mount the attachment type. Mandolin straps come in two types as well F-style and A-style, the F-style are the ones with a scroll at the top front of the instrument and the A-style are the "pear shaped" mandolins you see. The pear shaped mandolins mount the strap with a leather piece (boot lace) tied around the headstock just above the nut, the F-style mounts by inverting the loop and sliding the loop under the scroll so that it comes straight after passing under the scroll. One other thing the pins on the back of both types of mandolins is smaller than a guitar pin and we make them using a 3/16" punch as opposed to the 1/4" punch we use for Guitar Straps. Oh well, enough information on musical instruments. Chief

Thanks Bruce, that guitar strap ain't gonna make itself. Thanks for the comment on the dye/stain work, I have a method I use and like, as for soft I do use a conditioner (Feibings Aussie) on both sides of the leather and it makes my straps and slings feel very soft/flexible and actually makes them look better as well. I put it on a little heavy, heat it with an industrial heat gun set on a fairly low setting until it liquifies and then remove the excess with a soft cloth and buff with a sheep skin pad. This is a recent change for me, I'd always used Neetsfoot Oil but after trying this beeswax/oils/conditioner product I've just about stopped using Neetsfoot. Another benefit of this product is that it makes the leather perspiration/weather resistant (Musicians sweat a lot an hunters are out in the snow and rain). Oh well, off the soap box. Chief

Thanks I issue a permit with each rifle sling, of course that's after they've used their checkbook of course. Thanks Red Cent. Thanks, Chief

Thanks, Thanks Rohn. Thanks Wild Bill Chief

These went out last week. Made from Hermann Oak © 9/10 oz leather, measure 2-1/4" wide at the widest point by 44" long. The adjustment and attachment areas are skived to ~6/7 oz for a better fold around the sling swivels. Chief

You can get them from most any supplier, Tandy, Springfield Leather Company, OTB like Jackie said above, I actually prefer OTB for most hardware, to answer your second question it is called a Spring Clip it is used as a money clip. Chief

Contact Bob Park, his name on here is hidepounder. He has a book on sheridan pattern drawing and it is an excellent instructional guide for learning to draw floral patterns. Chief

Thank you, Chief

JLS, I was trying to figure out how to carve as well as you! I really like this piece, I'm old school, when I started, everything we did had to be floral carved or a scene of some type, modern leather work leans more toward Plain, which looks good, but I still like the Western Floral Carvings.'' Chief

Excellent work, really nice. Chief

I've used Master's Contact Cement for years, it works so I use it. You'll probably get lots of opinions on which is best, try a small can of Barge, Masters, Weldwood and decide for yourself. Mine works so I have no desire to look for anything else. Chief

I tried them before they came out with the "lines", they still have the ones I used. This is the one I used in Brown I also tried the black. http://springfieldleather.com/19020/Interior%2C6-Pocket-Dlx.Brn-ea./ Chief

I've used them, same comments as JLSleather. I bought a consew just for sewing wallet interiors, and I design my own on Inkscape. I prefer it that way. Their liners were ok, just not quite the quality I was looking for. I also tried the CF line they carry, nice but way too pricey and they are way to thick. I've designed mine to use minimal thin pigskin and use as much faille cloth as possible to keep them slim. Chief