fredk

Thats really very nice TSes

a/ I never use resolene before using 'antique' b/ its supposed to be uneven - its supposed to give the leather a 'used' look. For an even coverage use a dye

Even they had sewing machines. As soon as a town was set up, even when the businesses were still in tents and half built wooden buildings, the newspapers had their presses, dentists had their foot-treadle drills, saloons had their ice-making machines. Do not think that just because it was the 1880s/90 they were 'backward'. In fact they were more advanced than parts of Europe. They embraced and used any technology they could

Most assuredly yes. Singer originally made his sewing machines for harness makers. If you look carefully at a number of the holsters you can tell which ones have been sewn on a machine. A great many holsters were made in bulk and sold by mail order direct to customers and to retail outlets. Only by sewing on a machine could a supplier be able to offer them at a cheap price 'by the dozen'. The military holsters from about 1858 onwards were sewn on machines, the first good sewing machine was about 1853

afaik 'skirting' is treated so its much stiffer than regular tooling leather. I have some thick side from Le Prevo and its very supple, a thinner piece I picked up [but did not buy] at Tandy was almost as stiff as a board. I guess that piece at Tandy would be like 'skirting'

I'm wondering if 'Artists Acrylic Medium' mixed with dye would work AAM is available in art shops. It usually comes in tubes or tubs. Available in gloss or matt. Its neutral in colour. Artists mix it with their acrylic paints to thicken them and give them body. It does sometimes take a time to dry. Although it dries 'hard' it stays fairly flexible. I use to thicken my model acrylic paints and as a gluecked Not DIY there is this stuff; a set of acrylic colour pastes. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Seat-Sofas-Vinyl-No-Heat-Liquid-Hole-Rips-Burns-Leather-Repair-Tool-Kit-Hot-/272961840219?hash=item3f8dcb245b I first came across them 25 years ago for repairing cracks in dried out dashes in cars, My Cadillac dash top was badly cracked and this stuff was mixed and pasted on. Back then it cost me about £25. I recently got some from China and the set cost under £3 - delivered. I tried some on a bit of leather. It took over night to dry but its remained flexible

1. Bridle leather is dyed thru and waxed on both sides so its smooth. Its usually about 3.5mm thick. Not necessarily 'soft' but more supple. Not too good for tooling or carving 2. Skirting leather is heavier/thicker at [usually] 4 - 4.5mm minimum, also dyed thru, but finished only on the grain side. Its stiffer than Bridle. Its good for tooling/carving and wet moulding Both are available as such from tanneries, but Skirting is more akin to your regular tooling/carving leather #1 would have been used on holsters which would get rough treatment and not much looking after care #2 would be used on the tooled/carved holsters were the owner would tend to look after it better NB; remember, in the 1880s/1890s a drover earned $13 to $18 a month. A basic cheap Mexican Loop holster cost about $2. Thats about 3 or 4 days wages. He would look after that holster

interesting

You really don't want horizontal [parallel] to the edge of the leather. Under any strain they act like the perforations on the edge of a postage stamp Angled or perpendicular to the edge of the leather is better. You'll find the multi-prong lacing chisels have the prongs at an angle 3mm from the edge. Distance between is commonly the same as the width of the lace. 3mm lace - 3mm spacing, 4mm lace = 4mm spacing --------- but you can do any spacing you want. I once made a copy of a medieval belt pouch; I copied the lacing pattern along the top. It was 3mm [1/8th inch] lace - out the front, across for 4mm, in towards the rear and the next slit was 8mm, out the front, across for 4mm, etcetera

The rig is called a Buscadero rig. The Buscadero is identified by the dropped loop(s) on the belt for the holster(s). The holsters are full-skirt Mexican loop style. It looks like the loop on the hloster is either sewn or riveted to the skirt so that makes it a Montana style Mexican loop

I get my oval punches from various Chinese sellers on ebay. The punches need a bit of sharpening when they arrive. Search thru the sellers as the prices can vary quite a bit for the same tool An example; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25mm-Rectangle-Leather-Craft-Belt-Hole-Lacing-Stitching-Hollow-Punch-Tool/173266496279?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49129%26meid%3Dd881b6471c6046bd8d73f025f03e0802%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D382330467556%26itm%3D173266496279&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 The order takes between 10 and 25 days to arrive with me, average is now about 14 days.

Dry the tools. Get as much of the rust off as you can. Apply your leather work beeswax mix. Do not put it on until the tools are dry otherwise you will trap the moisture on the metal and they will continue to rust. I used to put beeswax mixture on my woodworking hand tools to keep the rust off them

Those ones have only just recently come on to the market. At first their prices were high but they've steadily dropped There are also templates for key cases, wallets, card-wallets, small to medium sized shoulder bags and more

Normally I do rounded corners. I put a stitching hole in the centre of the curve the use a two prong tool to work away from that, then a 4 or 6 pronger up the sides to about 1/3 from the bottom. Then I do the holes from the top. As I get close to the holes coming up I check to see how many holes are needed and adjust the spacing slightly if needed A template idea is good. I do not have one yet but I'm going to buy one of these; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-Craft-Precision-Stitching-Corner-Zipper-Slot-Hole-Guide-Template-K6/292493934951?_trkparms=aid%3D444000%26algo%3DSOI.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D49129%26meid%3Dfb9c97fb84f245c887accbf245d58aee%26pid%3D100752%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D292493927666%26itm%3D292493934951&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982 I recently got one of these; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-Craft-Acrylic-Perspex-Cutting-Circle-Corner-Stitching-Template-4mm-K6/292493927666?hash=item4419ff24f2:g:58IAAOSwhsVas2Mb Both are available in 3mm and 4mm spacing Another thing you can do is run an over-stitch wheel over the stitching; its like a stitch marker but its blunt. It helps to make the stitches straighter

The clue is the word 'custom' You can order any style and size of tool when ordering a custom made one Others will be along soon and give you directions to custom tool makers/suppliers in the US

I do dip some items when doing Resolene but for the most part I just use a damp sponge, same for Super Sheene

Ikea has this https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/cookware/ovenware/koncis-roasting-tin-stainless-steel-art-90099054/ or https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/cookware/ovenware/mixtur-oven-serving-dish-clear-glass-art-80058761/

I got my stainless steel trays in a £1 shop. Might you have something like a 1 or 2 Euro Shop or a discount home goods shop any place near?

I was thunking the the same thinks Thanks, a very informative tute

As far as I've found Super Sheen is a better version of Resolene. With Res, diluted, it might take 4 or 5 coats to get a 'shiney' surface, but S/S only takes two and it doesn't seem to need diluting for application

To be honest I can not be 100% certain. It does not show up in the browns or green dye. I've used meths to thin white, red and yellow acrylic paints and it did not tint the paint

Last first; do NOT use anything like white spirit or turpentine - it will not mix with the dye and may actually make the dye colour separate out I use Methylated Spirits; it sounds like you 'spiritus'. Meths has a purple colourant in it - this has never tinted any dye or even acrylic paint I have used it in. If in doubt just dilute an egg cup full to see. I believe someone on here has pointed out that Fiebings Reducer is just a mix of alcohol and it is over priced for what it is. I take a bottle of dye and pour it into a new HDPE bottle. HDPE = High Density PolyEthylene. You can buy them cheap off ebay. I get them at £6.60 for 6 Fiebings comes in small 120ml bottles. The new bottles are 500ml. I add about the same amount of meths, ie about 120- 130 ml To dip dye I have stainless steel oven trays, they are about 35cm x 25 cm x 5cm deep. I pour the diluted dye in, dip the leather, hang the leather to dry, pour the dye back into the big bottle - easy-peasy For long items I just pull them through the dye in the tray; pulling to and fro a couple of times. I hold the the dipped leather over the tray for half a minute to let excess run off then I hang it to dry over some newspaper to get any drips >> Remember to label just what you have in the new bottle; not only colur but dilution as well No, no, no, no

Dampening the leather sure does work; it helps the dye flow through and penetrate the leather. I use Fieblings dye, its an acylic dye, I dilute it with methylated spirits - an alcohol Dilute the dye more that 1[dye] to 3 [thinners] and you can build up the density of the colour by the number of times you dip

Same treatment basically; dampen leather. This time dilute the dye. 1 dye to 1 thinners at least. Apply with a damp sponge or dip-dye. Some on here prefer to use a spray brush to apply the dye - thats ok if you have a spray brush and somewhere to use it. I prefer to dip-dye when I can as it gets both sides of the leather in one go

A most excellent tute