calanneh

I've found I can do a far stronger seam by hand with my needle and wax thread......

Thanks! hehe It was a gift for a DM with a God complex who is also a big Lord of the Rings fan. I felt it was fitting.

I heard back from Cat and there are 26 stamps in the Futhark set.

Love the seats Raleigh!! Especially the cow skull one...IT is fantasic!! Welcome to the board!

Looks wonderful Tina!!!!!

I had good results with Feibings USMA black and super shene, HOWEVER, each time I use satin sheen on the same USMC black, the sheen pulls the dye up and leaves blotches on my projects.... It never did it with the super, just the satin. At first I thought I was using too much satin, so I did a few test pieces and no matter how I did it, satin and the USMC black did nto work together..... My shop manager thinks there is still issue with the new satin sheen formula. I now use the Fiebings sheen spray. It is a satin finish and I have had no problems with it. By the way, Tandy just updated their website. You may try it instead of getting your dyes off Ebay. There are a few other sites out there to use for buying dyes and leather supplies. I would suggest looking around over using Ebay for this kinda stuff.

Tasha - No word from my friend yet as to the exact # of stamps in the set. For those not in the know, here is a pic of a leather box I did with Futhark runes like the one Tasha is trying to order. William

Hey Tasha, I will call my friend I borrowed the Futhark set from and ask her how many pieces are in her set. It was in the mid 20s, but I dont know the number exactly. William

No prob Tom, that's what we're all here for!! Can I ask what area of the country you are in? There may be a leatherguild or other local resources we can point ya to!

I dont think there is one central place, but there are lots attached to messages. Is there a certain pattern you are looking for??

Well said Dave! I loved teaching LW to the scouts at camp in Nov and I plan to keep doing it. I did have to plan certain aspects and make some desicions ahead of time to make sure they finished the merit badge at camp. I had them stamp instead of carve and I set the snaps and rivets for them. I also had them leave their project natural and used the Fiebings sheen spray to finishing the projects. This got them 6 of the 8 requirements under item #3. The minimum was 5. For boys in my Troop who want to go further, I set aside time at our campouts and bring all my tools and dyes with me. They have all loved working with leather. I could babble on byt I gotta run to work!

We all love to see pix of the kids doign their leatherwork Jamie so please upload soe if you have a class! I am a Scouter in TX and love teaching leather to my scouts. I have some pix posted in this thread from just a few months ago. Send me a message if you have any questions or want some patterns and stuff for yours scouts. William

Hey Barry! One thing I am needing that Tandy doesn't carry and I would love is a round end strap punch! We have the triangle one and the 'three edged' ones, but I want a rounded one..... What ya think?

Great program! I found it a few years ago and it is wonderful for jsut abotu any basic measurement converstion!

Hey Tom! I am not sure what you were unimpressed with but I love to help our customers. I work at a Tandy's but I am the first person to tell our customer's we ARE NOT the only place to get the stuff you need and if I know you can get something for less money elsewhere I'll point that out to ya! I don't post and push Tandy stuff normally, but since you've asked I am going to go with what I know best, which is Tandy product.... There are a few basic tools that most leatherworkers start out with, BUT everybody goes their own route. There are two 'basic' tooling kits sold by Tandy. One is 6 stamping tools with a swivel knife and the other is 7 basic stamping tools. Both run about $20. They are items #8170-00 & -99. You can view them on the website to see which tools the include. If you are looking for a good kit to start out with, the Deluxe Leathercraft Kit (#55510-00) is a good one to start out with. It even has a belt in it as one of the projects you start with. It is normally $200, but it is on sale for only $99 to the wholesale club members right now. IF you do shop at Tandy, spend the $35 for the wholesale club as it is well worth it!! Lotsa free tools and great discounts. As Tasha said, in some states the Tax ID # is free to obtain and it can open lotsa doors AND get you great discounts! Weaver's is a great place to get stuff. Springfield Leather is another good place I am told. I haven't purchased from them but their name comes up quite often. Maybe somebody else here can add firsthand input on them. The 'Belts Galore' book that mentioned above is a great belt pattern book. There are others but you mentioned you have some on order already. I hope this helps!

I love the new site! We didn't even know they were redoing it until the morning it went live and they emailed all the stores!!! They moved it to some nice fast servers and you can tell!! I even use it at the store now to look stuff up if I cant picture it off the # or description our retail system gives...lol. I am very very happy with the new site!!!

There is a great book by Tandy Leather that is made for boys. It is "Kidcraft Leathercraft Book", Item #66070-00. It has patterns and stuff that should work great! Let me know if you get it or if you want help coming up with more patterns. If you want, PM me and we can discuss things I learned (the hard way) about teaching leatherwork to the younger guys...LOL William

I have some 3-4oz vegtan I am making into wristbands and chokers but the backs are kinda fuzzy. They are a bit too thin to skive without risk of cutting too much. Whats the next best way to make the back look better? I have trimmed it with scissors and then 'painted' some with Gum Tag and that helped, but there are some pieces that are just too hairy...... What yall think?? William

I made a PSP case for my son's girlfriend as a late Christmas present. It is made from 10oz veg and lined with calfskin (maybe 1-2oz) and dyed inside and out. I tripleloop laced it with 3/32" Tejas black from Tandy. It didnt come out perfect but I am happy with it. I noticed I was off by one hole when lacing the sides in so it is slightly warped...LOL. And shortly after I started lacing I realized...THIS THING IS THIN....How am I goign to get my hand into the bottom and lace it as I go around? So I had to start and stop lacing in a few places to get the bottom laced up on both sides first and work my way up. It is also thinner than the lacing needles are long...so I had to stretch and pull in a few places as I laced. There is one place on the open pic that you can see the tie-in on two lacing areas just would not go together correctly. I will stitch the next one together, if I do one. I laced in different directions to try to give it a different look. It worked for the most part..... These "learning points" aside, I was happy with how it turned out (for a freebie). Molly loved it and is very proud to have it hanging from her belt. Let me know what yall think please. William

What resolution are they? If they are low res or have a small 'pixel size' it could make them small on the screen like that. William

Looks great Dag! I love your design and color. I plan to make mine as a 'toolbelt' around the waist. I will mostly likely be made from some pink upholstry hide I have. The smooth side will be out towards her clothes and the sueded side will be the inside of the pouches. So from the front, you will see both sides as it will fold up from the bottom to form the pockets. I need to tal to her to see if she prefers snaps or a buckle on the belt. I'm thinking a buckle as it will hold more weight. I will most likely put it on the side of the belt so she can get to it easily. William

Thanks Equiss! I take stuff to Anime conventions and Gaming conventions. I sell black studded bracers and such there mostly. Thanks Max! That was the first 'triple loop' lacing project I did. I was worried the two front corners would be too short for the pattern to really come out, but it worked!

Yes, it is Futhark. The stamp set said "celtic" but you never know who came up with that label.....LOL Thanks Southpaw!If you mean the inside liner, that is a piece of black upholestry hide that is real smooth and slick. The flash kinda messed with the color...William

That is the celtic runic stamp set. It is a discontinued set that I had to borrow from a friend. I beleive it was originally sold by Crafttool, but I am not 100% sure.

Hey guys! Been busy with orders for Christmas and stock for a show I just got back from.... Havent had much time, but I had one piece I just did that I was very very pleased with. I have never done a leather box so it was a challange for me. I posted last month with questions and I got several helpful replies here. So here it is! William