Sheilajeanne

Those are gorgeous, Tim! Your daughter is a very lucky lady!

Wow, that is AWESOME!

Good for you! Best story I ever came across about buying handmade crafts is this one:

Wow - just totally INSANE!!

That is absolutely CRAZY! So, did your customer get the item eventually? How long did it take?

Okay, maybe that's the standard for leather coats. I was just thinking pockets in general! The only leather coat I've ever owned was a sheepskin parka. I seem to recall it had patch pockets, with the edge decorated with an embroidered ribbon.

Re: the pocket question - there are SO many different ways to do pockets: patch pockets, zippered pockets, pockets inserted into the side seam of the coat..the list goes on! You mention going to your local Thrift store to get 'templates and hardware' for bags. Maybe you should do the same for pockets - at least look at the coats there, to see the different styles, and how they are sewn, then decide which style best suits your needs.

That would work, too. I think horn is even harder than bone.

This just totally blew my mind. Apologies for the swearing - but hey, we're all adults here! 50,000 years, and still the same tool... Blowing up the important part of the article so it's easier to read!

Dwight, that's wonderful information! Thank you so much! Yes, I've had splotchy dye jobs, and had to do multiple coats to get a good finish. This could save me a lot of time and effort!

Sorry - it was such a wonderful straight line, I couldn't help myself...

Only if they're REALLY sharp...

I know someone who paints pictures with coffee, but you're the first person I know of to use it for dyeing leather! That turned out quite nicely! It will be interesting to see how it lasts over time, with regular wear and tear. Did the leather take its coffee black, or with cream and sugar?

Battlemunky, I realized that every store is a little bit different. Fortunately, my experience with Tandy has been mostly positive, though I certainly realize they're not perfect.

Fortunately for me, that was not my experience with Tandy! The man who taught the beginner leatherworking course was quite up front if he considered a non-Tandy product to be better. And he REALLY knew his stuff! Also, I haven't experienced the other staff in the store trying to upsell me, or push Tandy products either. The just show me where the item I'm looking for is. My instructor also didn't take advantage of the course to push their products. If you wanted to know how to do something he'd show you what to buy, but you had to ASK first! The guy who actually managed the store was useless though. I remember he had to ask my instructor (who was on his lunch break) where to find an item I was searching for! What are you doing managing a store if you don't know where your products are located?? There's someone different there now, but it took quite awhile for the change to happen. The lady managing it now greets me by name... :D I also value being able to pick out leather in person to be sure I'm getting a good piece. The worst leather I've had has come in some of their kits.

Fred, Definitely some truth in that! Yes, some errors have happy endings! I once covered up a an edge bevel that went wrong by adding lacing to the edge of the pocket! And fortunately, the one major dye spill I've had missed my project. It got just about everything else in my work area, including my shoes, but thank GOD, the project was okay! It was one of those last minute touch-ups where you're in too much of a hurry to take the usual precautions with the dye...lesson learned!

Oh yes!! We've all had those moments! Chris, like your fortune cookie proverb - too true!

Jcuk, if I was involved with racing horse as you are, or a high end show stable where the saddles cost £2000, yes, I'd expect a better repair. But we're talking a stable with 20 school horses, where the tack is ancient, and the students are mostly beginner or intermediate level, and spend most of the lesson walking and trotting, or doing really low beginner jumps. In the 15 years I was involved with this stable (riding and teaching) the only serious accident I saw with a saddle was when a horse lay down and rolled while the kid was cooling the horse out! I never saw an accident involving a girth giving way. Six billets on an English saddle - what are the chances of 3 of them giving way at the same time? Not very likely! Bridles broke frequently, as runaway horses would often step on them. With that many horses and students, any damaged tack had to be repaired quickly as a missing saddle meant one had to be borrowed from another horse, and may or may not be a good fit.

Toxo, I REALLY wish we had a 'like' button on this forum that I could hit! Yes, very true, and you made me laugh!

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask, or ask after you've already bought something that's not suitable! I fully understand you wanting to think ahead, Biker! It's just that most people aren't thinking about lining something this early in the game!

I'm having trouble with this. Right now, there's a number of pictures of a belt bag posted by GrittyRustic. Obviously, there's a photo of the belt bag he made at the far right of the pictures, where only a small section of the picture is visible. But, there's an arrow on the picture, which obviously you are supposed to click on if you want to see the older pictures in that section. Problem is, the ARROW DOESN'T WORK! Also, I recall that previously, you could scroll through these pictures, and go as far back as you liked. I can't do that anymore. I can only view one photo at a time, and I have to close it before going to the next one. Can someone fix this, please? Or am I just not doing it right?

Back in my riding days, a quick and dirty way to fix the billets was to cut off the broken/worn ends, and sew new ones to the top end of the straps. There are 3 billet straps, so if one breaks, you are likely not gong to hit the dirt. And the tack at the stable got cleaned daily, so any dangerous wear or raveled stitches would be caught and fixed before anything worse happened. I'd be far more worried about a western cinch breaking, with the single strap on most of those saddles!

Lobo, wish I had a drill press! Have tried using a regular drill for burnishing - didn't work very well! If I were handier with woodworking, I'd likely be able to make a stand for the drill, and that would make things easier.

I use popsicle sticks for spreading glue! I also use a dried up ball point pen for transferring patterns from tracing paper to leather. Handstitched, that's what you call a Biro, right?

Al Stohlman started out with home-made tools, and look what he achieved! But from the sketches he made during the war when he was stationed overseas, you can see the man already had considerable artistic skill. I have a few friends who are artists, and even THEY say how so much of it is due to practice and persistence. They have seen many artists more talented than themselves give it up and fall by the wayside, while they continued to draw and paint and enter their work in shows.