battlemunky

I use Exacto, Olfa snap off, and Lenox blades in my utility knife handle. I rarely replace blades. You gotta stop 'em is all. They'll get ridiculously sharp with diligent stropping. I also have one of those cheap ass red handled Japanese skiving knives from Amazon and it is light saber sharp and works like a charm. Most of my blade problems go away when I strop them to stupid sharp.

Welcome to the forum. I like that 60's era lacing in general and think that duffel is a killer product. That tooling you did is kinda cool too, for a gym bad I could see that selling really well.

You certainly can depending on the size of your stamp; the bigger the stamp, the more force you need to get it into the leather. Practice first and see where that leads you.

What'd you use for brim and crown wire? I have the plans for this and was thinking of trimmer line but didn't know if it would be stiff enough.

I've not used KAMsnap but have used BuckleGuy many times and can say that if you don't find info you want/need on KAMsnap that BuckleGuy has good stuff.

Looks great! I love Tony's designs most times.

That Colonel guy, by any chance? Nice leather but it's all machine made if so. Which is fine and has it's place but when one of those $1,800 bags that took an hour and a half to make starts falling apart, it's done. You'll have a really nice pile of leather on your hands. If it's his stuff, I expected it to all be saddle stitched for the price that's being asked. I'd confidently sell that piece, assuming it's unlined and what we're seeing is what you're getting for $30-$60 here down the road from you. Anything crazier in the tooling department, lining, etc., and I'd add $20-$30 to either side of the range. Good luck figuring it out. Pricing is sometimes harder than making.

Beautiful rig for sure Sir!

I'll throw out Aquilum 315 as an option too but having used them both recently if I had to pick one for some deserted island leathercrafting it'd be Barge alllll day.

With that white core to it I'm betting it's chrome tanned. It looks like nice supple stuff but I have no idea how you find it's origin. Best of luck to you scoring more! Also, bovine is cow and milled is that grain on the hair side, the wrinkly parts. Milling usually makes the leather softer/more supple.

It is a pleasure just seeing that and thinking of the climb ahead of most of us to get to that level. Super nice work man!

But it was on the internet... :D

Man, thanks for the activity. I never doubted what you were saying and by no means was I calling you out or anything so I hope that wasn't what spurred you to action my friend! I'm still maintaining, though, that sewing is stronger than the double capped rivets and that removing them is pretty easy using needle nosed pliers. I've used the double capped rivets to affix straps to totes which is exactly the scenario you tested. They haven't failed (to my knowledge) but ever since I saw the video testing the ez rivets, bit/burr, and sewing, I've only used the double caps for aesthetics and have always used stitching as the main means to join the pieces. I did use them early on on the corners of the opening of a sheath for a Leatherman and they pulled away because that was the wrong use. But yeah, ever since, I have relied on stitching or bit/burr rivets. Also, I do use the correct length shaft but not always the setter and anvil, so that is a huge difference that I'm sure matters. I do whack em pretty good unlike a lot of the videos you see out there...I don't know how a lot of folks get away with some stuff. I love Corter's videos but seeing some of his double capped rivet work in them makes me wonder if he lets that stuff leave his shop.

I dunno man, I remove those ez rivets with a pair of needle nosed pliers more often than not. Prying/bending the cap off and then smooshing/bending the tube so it'll fit through the hole. It's quite easy that way. I agree with you on bit/burr, 100% has to be drilled out.

I saw a video on YT a few years ago that showed pull tests between double capped /ez rivets, bit/burr rivets, and stitching. Done correctly, bit/burr is super strong, stitching is too, and I only use double cap and/or ez rivets for decoration because they can pull apart surprisingly easy. I'll try to find the video and post it if I do.

Looks well executed and I love the diaper idea!

I'd say that your stitching is spot on. Whatever you did for that picture, do a thousand more times and you'll be good forever. Maybe make a lined belt now...plenty of straight line practice.

Mine work fine and I never touched them up even. Please let us know your thoughts after you use them.

I tend to like my awls a bit longer than they need to be and I sew up to maybe 9/10 mm at its thickest. I like around a 2.25" which allows for a bit of leather at the ferule to prevent marring if I am working with thick leather and bottom it out.

Yes, I agree @chuck123wapati. Beautiful stuff ya got there @TVvoodoo!

Those turned out quite nice! Just curious, where'd the strap template come from, I think I want to make a few of those.

Yeah, it is super kind of you to give anything away, let alone patterns of the quality you make. Having said that though, I don't and won't do facebook, no matter what they are calling themselves these days.

Nice contrast with the brown. Really nice accent to the bike.

That turned out quite well!

Others may come along with a better answer but if it were me, attempting to do that the same way, I'd be wetting the entire piece to keep the wetness the same on the piece so when it dries it is as uniform as it can be. You should just be able to mist the main piece while keeping the rolled edge a bit wetter.