battlemunky

You and the missus are killing it @maxdaddy!

Let me put it to you this way...think in layers here: pro-resist tankote to lift off excess antique antique resist (pro-resist or tan kote) targeted/full dying stamping/tooling leather Tan Kote can be used to take some of the muddiness out of antiquing, which seems to occur sometimes. It brightens it up, for lack of a better word. If you search YouTube for "leather resist" it may help demonstrate what we're trying to explain in words.

Really cool!

Beautiful work from both artisans. I've wanted to try one of those backsewn sheathes for a while.

What color is that, aside from lovely? It's rich and light all at the same time. Like honey. Good job!

Yarrrr!

Couldn't stand it...had to make one. It's undyed, been contemplating tossing some color at it. In case anyone gets curious, that isn't a real bird. I'm a cube dweller when not working from home and have absurd things to make it suck less so I figured MacGuybird needed a plague doctor mask too. Nod to Tony See (dieselpunk.ro) for the hat and masks.

Well, its sold out on their website so that may have alleviated the issue for you. It looks a bit reddish though but easily more on the brown side to me.

Commenting so I can see any answers that there may be. I don't work with suede enough to worry about it but I'd never even thought in this direction before.

Yeah, I was drooling over that buffet thing as well. Beautiful piece of furniture.

Another classy bag @AndrewWR! I've made a case for the cargo area of my car for holding things and there was some fiddly sewing inside the bag there too, it's challenging for sure but you look like you pulled it off with relative ease man...beautiful job!

Yep, Mop & Glo. Should have it at Lowes/Home Depot/Ace/True Value/etc. It has a nice scent but it wears off whether you like the smell or not.

Good looking shop! Check out monument suppliers, I got a 24"x12"x4" finished but unpolished headstone for $20 just because it had an errant dark gray streak in it breaking up the uniformity.

Great looking first attempt. It looks clean and very functional. YouTube is your friend in leatherworking. Regarding the ease of punching through multiple layers, there's many thousands of combined years of experience on here and we haven't either. About the easiest is to use the chisel to either mark or punch through one side and then once glued, use an awl to got the rest of the way through the rest of the layers. There is no "easy" way.

Its such a fun puzzle though, hopefully :D

Also, there is no shame in just wetting it right before you go to work it. Traditional casing isn't required and the leather sure gets workable faster and having tried both I don't see the value in the long casing. Maybe for a larger piece so the moisture level stays consistent but again, I've tried both and see no real difference over the other aside from one being far easier on my lack of patience than the other. Also, using the backgrounder you won't see as much of a burnish as you will with other types of stamps like a shader or something, the main takeaway is that there is a lasting impression more than a burnish. The level of burnish also depends a lot on the leather. Hermann Oak tends to burnish up better upon stamping than Tandy and so does Wickett & Craig. I look for the stamp lasting more than I do for the burnish. That's just me though, others may look for burnishing over lasting to know they are getting it "right".

Made this the year before last for the office Halloween party and won. $20 Starbucks gift card and bragging rights for the entire year was super worth it.

Thanks for clarifying @Matt S!

Its corrosion. You will never stop it only limit it/clean it. The metals in the concho react with the salts in the leather when moisture is present, even humidity. Vinegar likely makes it occur faster. Oiling it may help keep it at bay. Try some baking soda/water solution to stop the reaction and then once it is thoroughly rinsed and dried, oil it with NFO or olive oil to help stop/slow the reaction over time.

It may not be as pretty as you want it to be but it still looks really nice and like you said, should hold up to all sorts of abuse. Your design is pretty cool too.

Looks good! Keep it up!

If you do have to go all black you can get some acrylic paint of your choosing and apply like antique to bring out some of the tooling detail lost to the blacking of the piece.

And unless I recall incorrectly, @JLSleather was very free with his designs but did appreciate being mentioned as opposed to complete intellectual theft. I could completely be thinking of someone else too. I miss the guy if I'm being honest. He's pretty opinionated but is also a solid leatherworking beast.

Pics would help us diagnose and guide you. If it is a typical store bought belt it'll likely be "leather" with some kind of paperboard core and some other "leather" enclosing it. You could do as you suggest by cementing a real piece of leather to it and sewing it all back together but a commercial belt is a commercial belt. The pics would help determine if that is so. If it is a real leather belt I am unsure why it'd be stitched if it isn't lined aside from aesthetics. Anyway, a picture or so would get you a lot further.

You can fluff them back up and reuse them a time or two more before they are toast. My main problem is keeping the browns separate so I don't use the mahogany in the chocolate etc.