Sheilajeanne

Constabulary, I took it home primarily to do domestic sewing repairs. My current machine doesn't even have a 'reverse' feature on it, so this is a HUGE step up for me! No, it doesn't give the thickness of leather it can handle. I'm going to play around with it, anyway. Probably will work for wallets and chequebooks. For the heavier stuff, I actually kind of enjoy saddle stitching. I like it muchmuchmuch better than double lacing!!

My mom passed away in November. Last week, I was at her place, cleaning out her possessions to prepare it for the new owners of her house. I found a Simplicity Denim Star sewing machine, which looks like it's barely been used. She didn't sew much, but she was a very avid knitter, so the machine was just gathering dust in the garage. Tonight, I had a look at the instruction book. Hmm...it says it will sew light to medium weight leather with a 12/80 needle, and heavy leather with a 16/100 or 18/110 needle. It also has another very useful feature - it converts to free-arm sewing for doing sleeves and other hard-to-get-at areas. After reading about non-industrial sewing machines on this forum, I am quite skeptical of its claims re. sewing leather, but we shall see, we shall see... [rubs hands together] This was NOT something I was expecting when I brought it home. I knew it would probably do lightweight leather, but didn't expect anything more than that! It also does all sorts of really fancy stitches, and will even sew on buttons! No, not just sew buttonholes, but attach the buttons themselves!

You, sir, are a true artist! And the amount of work that went into that project - not just the stitching, but all the basket weave stamping, too! I can't imagine doing something like that! How big is the chest?

Picked this up on sale at Tandy's and am DROOLING over it! Can't wait to try some of the projects! https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/how-to-carve-leather-book The book is HUGE (12" x 16") and the illustrations are very detailed. I know I'm not Al Stohlman, but this book sure is an inspiration!

Okay, I'd like to make a really long leather leash for tracking with my dog. How would you cut something like this, that's going to be wider than a cowhide is long? I haven't quite decided on the perfect length - something between 12 and 16 ft. would be about right. I've got a strap cutter - just need to know how to get such a long piece, and still have a fairly uniform thickness.

Max, it's the OTHER end of the leash that's supposed to have the brains! Unfortunately, dog trainers these days are mostly out in la-la land, with this all positive crap, where if you correct your dog, or tell it 'no' for doing something wrong, you'll break its spirit! How do you teach your kids right from wrong if you never tell them 'no'? All-positve MAY work with little lap dogs, but get a really strong, courageous dog like a pit bull or a German shepherd, and they will be taking matters into their own paws as soon as they realize you don't have the brains to tell them 'no'!

Cute dog, BTW. Reminds me of the RCA dog, Nipper! http://www.ebay.com/bhp/rca-nipper

What do they want the harness for? There are different kinds for different purposes. And I'll warn them: walking a dog in a harness often encourages it to PULL, because that's what most harnesses are designed for! The special anti-pull harnesses restrict a dog's movement, and are much less humane than using a collar, and teaching your dog NOT to pull. But then, teaching a dog to walk on a loose leash seems to be a lost art. That's what I observed during my 6 years of running a boarding kennel...

My S_I_L has confirmed that is indeed the style of purse she wants. So, as soon as she tells me the colour, I'm going to make one up for her! It's not a thickness of leather I generally have on hand, but I did find one piece that was the right size and weight. If I want to make more of these purses, I may have to ask Tandy if I can borrow their splitter for a few minutes... Given how much stuff I've bought from them, they'd probably say 'yes', as long as I don't make a habit of it!

cjartist, that doesn't work if it's an INSIDE corner! Had a terrible time cutting a decent corner for the window on a cell phone case. That was when I found out about corner punches!

I just looked for Stohlman's book on Amazon.ca, and the only copy they have is a used one for $73.00!! The Tandy library has an e-edition available for $12.99, though. Or, with my elite membership, I can have my very own hard copy for $16.80! Choices, choices... :D Keith, this is the famous Al Stohlman round knife you're talking about, right? The one that won't hold an edge, because the steel is crap?

And I just made one out of paper, after printing up the template on my computer! Took me only about 15 minutes... had no idea it was so simple!

Found it! It's called a pinwheel coin purse: http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/68150-whell-coin-purse/ Looks like a fun design, and it doesn't use much leather, so if I foul up the first time around, it won't cost me much to try again! Thank you SO much!

And now, the link doesn't work! Do you have a patterns for it?

The squeeze frame was what I originally pictured, but from her description, I knew it must be something more like Halitech's second picture. Halitech, wow, that is something REALLY different! Going to check it out to see how hard it would be to make one!

My sister-in-law needs a coin purse. She tried to describe to me what it was she wanted, but I just can't picture it. It sounded like the sort of spring closure that has 2 pieces of steel forming each side of the top, and you just press on either end to open it. But then she said the purse 'gets taller when you open it'. Now, I am REALLY scratching my head! Can anyone picture what she might be describing? Oh, and it's small. I made this purse for her for Christmas, and she says it's too big: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/3-pocket-coin-purse-kit She said it was like the orgami things we used to make as kids. There were 4 parts to them, and you fitted a finger in each part. The parts came together at the top in a cross shape, but you used your fingers to open them from underneath. When open, it kind of looked like 4 orange segments, joined at the bottom, only the segments were square in the inside surface, rather than wedge-shaped. (The idea was you could move the segments back and forth with your fingers, while you went eni-meni-mini-moe, then the other person would choose one of the inner segments, and you'd lift up a flap that had something silly written underneath it.) Wish I'd asked her to draw a picture for me. The impression I got from the above was the purse was sort of flat, until you pressed the edges of it, then it would get taller and open up. I am guessing the opening was circular and had 4 parts to it?? If this rings any bells with anyone, please let me know!

All my stamps are Tandy, and i've never had one bow like that. I did have a beveler with a burr on the stamping face, and Tandy was happy to replace it for me. Take it back!

I save popsicle sticks to use as spreaders. You just throw them out if they get too messy! And Fiebing's Pro Oil Dye is LIGHT YEARS better than their regular dye! I found the regular stuff very very hard to apply evenly. It did help if the leather was slightly moist, though. Didn't have that problem with the oil dye. The regular dye also dried out the leather and made it curl.

If you're getting a lot of string slap, you need to work on your stance. Should look like this{

Biker, that bothered me, too! My husband was a HUGE fan of Ikea, and I still have a lot of the shelf units he bought there. Every time I move, a few more get left behind...but I still have lots! He was a bit OCD, and also a bit of a hoarder, so he was constantly buying more shelves to store his junk,...er, STUFF! They say 3 moves are as good as a fire for getting rid of stuff, and I've moved 5 times since he died. But still, lots of stuff...

Thought I'd post this for a chuckle... I've dipped my dye brush in my coffee at least once, and have had my rinse water half-way to my lips before realizing I had the wrong glass!

Amazing work! For those of you who haven't seen it, here's a link to Part 1! http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/73988-odin/#comment-485613

Something I'd like to add, as someone who owned and ran a dog boarding kennel for many years is that probably about 80% of dog owners have their dog's collar fastened much too loose. I'd find this out the hard way when I tried to take the dog back to the kennel, and it doesn't want to go, and it slips its collar right over its head... Some breeds are worse for this than others (e.g. pugs) because the neck is large in relation to the body. There's a very good reason I never offered dog-walking services, and my preferred tool for moving dogs that don't want to follow me from Point A to Point B was a noose, not a leash!

He meant Eco-Flo Satin Sheen, not Stain Sheen. The guy who taught the leathercraft course I took has been doing this for over 30 years, and he says it's the best. Resolene can crack and peel.