battlemunky

How does the welt work? Is it layered such that the part that your foot goes into is laminated in between the other layers kinda like a welt on a sheath?

That is really clean and beautiful work Jeannie! You can't tell it isn't store bought.

I vote oroborus!

Bellies tend to have some stretch to them so keep that in mind. Anything that is going to bear weight or that you don't want getting distorted should probably wait for a different part of the cow. Cupholders and things would probably be fine, maybe a rifle butt sleeve? Basically any wrap application would be fine I'd expect. I made a sheath out of belly once and it worked but you got to pick the piece you are going to cut out right and I believe I also wet molded it and baked it, so it hardened up really well.

Hell YES!

Elegant and classy! Looks great.

Perfect! I'd be super proud if I could pull off something like that. It really is a work of art.

The pull up on that one is incredible @19klf80. That is some beautiful leather.

You may want to look on YouTube for "block dying" as well.

Is the hinge spliced in between the inner and outer covers? Any chance you have a close up of that? I'm with the Mutt....I think it looks great.

Yes, way less dye and pretty forgiving, yes. I think, with the coupns, I have all of $40 for my rig. It is the Harbor Freight cheapo jobber but so far, it is wholely and fully acceptable for leather working.

Airbrushing really isn't that much extra work. Cleaning up may take 5 minutes and use a few thimblefuls of isopropyl and a couple paper towels.

Mine. One of the @JLSleather patterns. It may be the best wallet I've ever carried. Simple, adequate and 3-4 oz vegtan so it's gonna last. I've been carrying it for about 6 months now and my pocket has burnished it to a really nice gloss. I've also restitched it with black but I quite liked the yellow too.

Idea! What if you heat it with a hair dryer and then add some beeswax or paraffin and sorta make some beeswax (or paraffin) and neatsfoot oil blend the hard way. I don't know how well it'll blend inside the leather but maybe getting some wax in the leather could push some of the oil out?

I never thought about a tie before. Your tooling looks really good and so does the stitching. I think @Northmount covered all the stuff I've seen lately about oil removal. Really cool idea and great craftsmanship @Rolandranch!

Throw me in the 40's bucket too. I'll be 43 in September. Your 40s are certainly one of those cool segments of life. I feel like I know enough to know I know way less than I thought I did. Glad you made this thread Mutt. Kinda cool.

Yeah, I forget how different being a kid today is as opposed to having been one 35+ years ago.

All of this^^^^

I think it looks great. I too am a fan of burnished edges over painted edges but those look really good. I've thought about getting some but have resisted so far opting for straight burnished edges.

You just made that kid's childhood. Remember when you were a kid and an adult did a stellar thing for you? You are that adult to your nephew right now. Awesome!

Great looking work! I'm sure it'll pull in a good chunk of change.

Man! Thinking I may need to stay off the net!

Your backgrounding work is stupid good. It all is great but with this belt and the tool bag, you're background work is what has floored me. Not to mention the color control too.

Sheaths, holsters, wallets, belts, lots of stuff, you can get a ton of benefit out of using a clamping mechanism. What exactly is it you are making? Most 3d objects out of leather start off flat. Not a lot of cubes occurring out of leather without a few flat pieces being sewn together somewhere. You really need two hands to sew leather well. Having something to hold them makes life a lot easier and your work a lot more tidy. Eliminating variation in your stitching will become a goal here shortly. Clams, ponies, and horses make that goal far easier to approach than freehanding it.

You either have to plan around it, make a jig for it, sew if flat and then shape it if practical, or sew it up without a clamping mechanism or using it to hold a different part of the work further away from the joint.