Sheilajeanne

Welcome to the board! You will find a lot of information here, and some very helpful people! My first efforts at leather tooling were on a latigo rounder that fell off a saddle at a local dude ranch. I carved a 4-leaf clover into it, using homemade tools. It turned out pretty well, considering I'd never done leatherwork before! I kept it on my bedside table for many years, as a coaster, then one day it disappeared. I think it may have fallen in the wastebasket, and been thrown out... Look forward to seeing your quiver! (Yes, I'm into archery, too.)

Just curious to know what weight of leather do you used to make these collars? :D

Translated from Portuguese: Good evening to all, I am Adriano Claro and I live in Santa Abdullah/Brazil. I acquired a machine Dürkopp Adler 69-572 and I can't get a manual. Would anyone have one to make available? What's the difference from a 69-373 to the 69-572? Thank you all. I loved the site, it's helping me to know all about machines.

Do they have all their parts? When you say they 'need some work', do you mean cleaning and lubrication, or a major overhaul with replacement of parts? Also, how hard is it going to be to ship them? Are they the massive stand-up machines?

And I am also interested in getting a stamp made, and can't access the site AT ALL!

Crandom, thanks! Their Canadian website doesn't state load ratings. I'll have to make sure I'm ordering the same product. Shelta, leash size is strictly a personal preference. People who show dogs have leashes that are so thin they sometimes break! I'm fine with 1/2" but my dogs are extremely well trained and don't pull. It can be hard to find the larger snaps for 3/4" leads. Lead shanks for horses are usually 1' wide. I wonder what the load rating is on THEIR snaps??

You can get latigo strips for a reasonable price. That's what I used for leashes and collars, and am going to use them to make a protection harness for my dog.

Everybody probably has their favourite treatment for finishing goods that are going to be exposed to the weather. in my riding days, it was saddle soap and neatsfoot oil, but for collars and leashes, I prefer to use oil based dyes on veg-tanned leather, and finish with Eco-Flo Super Sheen. Of course, using latigo leather to start with is a good idea, but the colour range on that is pretty limited! What are some of your favourite finishes?

I've never made a lined collar, as I don't have a leather sewing machine, but would like to give it a try. Any tips on cutting the lining to get it to exactly match the collar? I assume and edge beveler is the best tool for getting an exact match, once the lining is stitched or glued on. And how do you finish the edges afterwards? My one attempt at slicking the edges on a lightweight leather was disastrous! It bunched up, and damaged the grain side!

The other day, I was looking for trigger snaps for dog leashes, and went into TSC. Their 1/2" snaps are only rated for 35 lbs. but a large dog like a German shepherd can weigh twice that! Tandy doesn't say how heavy a stress their snaps are designed to take. Anyone know of a manufacturer for snaps that DOES make a snap guaranteed to not break when a large dog puts it to the test?? I'd hate to have someone buy a leash from me, and have their dog get injured or killed as a result of snap breaking! The type of snap I'm talking about is the one in this photo

Bellies are uneven in thickness, stretchy, more likely to have scars or insect bites. The backside of the leather is more furry, too.

Lovely story! I'm going to share that with my friends!

STRONGLY agree with this! We did experiments on the toxicity of different plants in botany class in University, and walnut hull extract was the only plant that killed EVERYTHING!! Walnut wood shavings have killed horses if used for bedding for their stalls. Those that think the label 'all natural' means 'safe' are forgetting some of our deadliest poisons (arsenic, botulism toxin, ) are also ALL NATURAL! The species of walnut may also affect the shade of the dye. We have black walnut here in Ontario, and having hulled these walnuts to dry and eat the nuts, I can personally tell you about the lovely dark brown stain that stayed on my hands for a number of days afterwards. The inside of the hull of the nuts was black in colour, and produced a very dark brown juice. In the end, hulling the nuts for food really wasn't worth the effort. The nuts (which were also nearly black on the outside) were almost impossible to crack, and the nut meats were disappointingly small, once we got them open. We soon decided the nuts made better cat toys than food! The royal walnut, which grows further south, and is the one sold in stores for food may produce a lighter shade. I'm just going by the lighter shade of the outside of the shell, though.

OMG, OMG... an original Singer stool! I've never even SEEN one before! You lucky sonofagun!!

I bought a marble tile from Home Depot for $10. It's only about 5 mm thick, but if it breaks, replacing it will still only cost me a fraction of what Tandy charges for a quartz slab!

Yes, my local Tandy store has a Tippman boss all set up so people can try it out, and see if it's the right machine for them.

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!