Chief31794

Looks good Rohn, Chief

Thanks Dave, I enjoyed making it, I hope she likes it. Chief

Looks really nice. I like the "no frills" look, shows quality, looks great, and what I like most about leather work is that it's made to be used, and the recipient will get decades of good service from that piece and it'll still look great then. Excellent job, Chief

Thank you, Thanks Halitech, means a lot to get nice comments from fellow leathercrafters. Chief

There will be a slight deviation in the lacing, barely perceptible. Once you've laced the whole piece, tamping the lace with a mallet will make it even less noticeable. But the wallet is thicker where the panels are so therefore the lacing can't be the same thickness. The wallet is going to be folded where the thinner lacing is which will make it even less noticeable. Chief

Thanks Brian. Thank you Ma'am. Chief

Thanks Rohn Thanks Eddie. Chief

One of the new members here, Longbowdave1 has a daughter graduating as a Registered Nurse in the Spring and he wanted a purse to commemorate the occasion to give her. I hadn't carved a Caduceus before, a little tedious, but I think it turned out okay. The last picture was a production progress shot I sent him after the carving and dying but before the finishing, hole punching and lacing was accomplished. Chief

The main thing I do to prevent rub off or at least minimize it to very very little is Buff, then buff some more, then take a break and buff some more. I use an electric car buffer with a terry cloth cover and buff it really well after letting it dry about 24 hours, then I apply 2-3 coats of either 50/50 resoline or 50/50 Clear Lac (cut with LCI thinner) depending on what dye application I use. But the main way to get rid of "rub off" is to rub it off and that's done by a lot of buffing. Chief

I agree with some, give em' what they want. It's the nature of custom. Guy wanted this couple of months ago. Chief

I've always used Barkeepers Friend, it will do the job. Chief

I use Resolene on Water Base and Spirit Based dyes, never had a problem, particularly not anything like the pictures here. That looks like something else all together. If Resolene caused that, I'd throw the bottle away, it's gotten contaminated or something. Resolene is water based itself. Chief

I order custom templates from them all the time and never have a problem. I send my design, she gives me a price, I pay the invoice and the template shows up a couple of days later. Couldn't be easier. Chief

I have Barry King edge bevelers. They are as are most of Barry's tools excellent. They cost a little more but the quality and the cuts you get are well worth the money. Barry's smallest will cut the edge off of the thinnest leather I ever saw. Highly recommend all of Barry's tools. I used Tandy's for years, some SLC after that, but comparing them to Barry's is like comparing a Yugo to a Rolls Royce. They cut clean, uniform and effortlessly. Easy to maintain and keep sharp as well. Chief

Tandy has a free craftool conversion chart on the stamp page of their website that you can download, it tells you what to use in place of what was suggested. However, a camo tool is a camo tool of the approximate size. The doodle pages and carving diagrams are suggestions only, not requirements. Here is the conversion chart from tandy. C940 isn't on the page with the pictures but it is in the back under the quick conversion lists. Chief CraftoolConversionChart.pdf

Looks very nice! What I like about leather working is that you are primarily making things to use, the decorative aspects are a plus. This sheath looks like it will do the job for many years. Chief

You can carve on just about any thickness of leather however, that being said, I wouldn't try it on any thing less than 4 oz, for me that's the bottom, I prefer tooling 9/10 oz but 4 is doable. In order to carve or tool leather it needs to be vegetable tanned. Most of the pigskin you buy is offered as lining and has not been vegetable tanned. You might be successful burning the impressions into the pigskin. Most of the stuff you see is put on with a hot metal technique or some type of foil stamping. If I were going to use pigskin to actually make a "pigskin", I would probably back it with some 4/5 oz leather to give it some durability and a better feel. Pigskin lining has a very soft hand. Chief

I get Hermann Oak from SLC about every other week, 9/10 oz 6/7oz and 4/5 oz and I haven't had any trouble what-so-ever. Chief

Very nice. Chief

Wizcraft, Detailed and helpful answers to questions like you've done here is what makes this site exceptional. I was pretty sure I'd get the info I needed from you, I was looking at some machines, and have picked up a Consew 206 that will be here next wee. I thought that was about what I wanted but your and the other poster's comments gave me confidence that I wasn't going to get the wrong thing. I couldn't be more grateful. Thanks and have a wonderful New Year, Chief

Brrrr, we have inclement weather here as well, it's in the 60's now and isn't going to get into the 70's till this weekend. I may have to close the shop!!! Chief

X2 Chief

Before I retired I was in business providing "Service for Fee" to the Department of Defense. They have very strange requests sometimes. One of my old colleagues told me once when I was fretting over something like this and it's been great advice in my life since, he said and i quote, "Find out what the SOB wants, and give it to them." It's not any easier than that!!! Doesn't mean I will put my maker's mark on it, but I'll sure sell it to em. Different people like different things, my dad told me once, "If every body in the world liked the same things, there would only be one flavor of ice cream." Sorry to ramble, I just like to talk, last piece of advice I got once and this is to me, "Never say Blah, Blah, Blah, when Blah is sufficient." Chief

Agree, the only thing I would add is I mark the buckle end and the tongue end the cut to length, then I skive the buckle end on a small splitter so that I'm not pulling it through the splitter after the dye job. Regardless of whether you skive it by hand or machine, it needs to be done. Chief

Thanks Twinoaks, I appreciate your chiming in. Thanks Wizcrafts, now I guess I just have to find a 111, or a 31-15, I don't plan to sew anything but pigskin lining into wallet interiors, this gives me some idea of how I need to go. Thanks, Chief