battlemunky

@chuck123wapati, I haven't made a canteen, yet, but have made several mugs with just beeswax and what I do is I put the mug in a food saver bag with beeswax and then seal it. In a pot that can accommodate it, I use a silicone oven mitt and start submerging the mug in the very hot but not boiling water until all the beeswax has liquefied and has coated the mug. Once you are sure all the leather is impregnated with beeswax, take it out of the pot and out of the bag. Ensure the shape is what you want it to be and then let it cool. Keep the beeswax in the bag and submerge it to keep it liquid and once the mug is cool enough, pour the beeswax back into the mug and slowly tilt it to cover the inside of the mug with the desired thickness of wax and pour out the rest. After the first one you figure out a lot on how to do it better on subsequent ones. I say all that to say when I get to making the canteen, I'll approach it similarly. Not sure how to keep the belly on the canteen though, maybe just pour in the liquid wax from the start? YouTube probably has some answers too.

Sinabroks. Sorry, I mentioned them in your craft beer caddy thread as well. I love mine. I don't have the punches but if they are anywhere close to the stitching irons they will make you happy.

Sinabroks make me smile. They aren't giving them away but man are they good irons!

That looks about as good of a fit as I've ever seen on a holster @tsunkasapa and the stitching and stamping look about perfect.

Hell yeah, man. That is some hooah stuff right there! Can't wait to see the final product.

Another beautiful piece! I used to live down by the mouse house...be careful about reproducing Disney stuff, they will drop a lawsuit on a child for drawing Mickey ears in crayon.

lol, that one on the left is suuuuuuper long. Don't get me wrong, the work looks just fine but I can't help imagining Clint Eastwood pulling out a long barrel like that during a duel.

*low slow whistle* That is super nice work @Danne!

Yet another exquisite design and execution @Marius Pirvu!

Looks classy af!

I've made a handful. They are pretty good pieces to practice carving basics too. Nice and flat, not too big, not too small, pretty easy to bang out.

I like everything about them!

That looks great!

I really like the wall too. Nice homage to your pooch!

Those are a lot of great questions @Davm! The answer to most of them are "it depends". As you do more you will learn how much pear shading you need to do for a given spot but in general, unless its a very tight spot or you are using the pear shader a bit outside of what they are used for, you should walk it. Whether you use a mallet or are able to press hard enough is up to you and the application. Again, usually, the camouflage tool gets used afterward to hide the edge of the work, camouflaging it up to the border. Beveling is still a bit tricky for me and I don't rightly know all the answers. Sometimes you bevel both sides of the "V" but most times you need to look at the work and think about the depth and then decide which side should be dipping under the other and then bevel accordingly. Remember, it's all about establishing the depth so whatever needs to be brought forward should be beveled to look that way. As far as how far away from the cut goes, you want the toe of the beveler in the cut. Regarding angle, in most circumstances you want the tool as perpendicular to the surface as you can keep it. As you gain more experience you'll know when you can and should get away with angling the beveler to suit the application. If you haven't seen @immiketoo's video on beveling on YT, you need to. Search for "cut less, bevel more" and you will get some wisdom.

The depth on the carving is quite deep just outside those loops Mich and it looks awesome!

Thanks!

Yeah, you gotta figure out how to post pics and then we may be able to help better. Iron will blacken most leather depending on tannage, but without seeing it, its hard to say with anything close to certainty.

Looks great!

That looks super cool. I've no idea on how to make that happen fast though.

If you want a long and wide oblong hole in the middle, I'm sure you could have one made but I just use a half round punch and then connect the punch holes.

Another great piece @FrenchMich! Good eye @YinTx.

This forum SW really needs a like button...interesting post as usual @RockyAussie!

Another nice piece @Stewart! Great use of the mulefoot for the border and feathers, I'd never have thought to use it like that and it fits the piece well.

I couldn't agree more aside from all of the different skills you have to employ to make the flowers as opposed to the Celtic knots. There are just a lot more chances to learn other than straight line cuts and beveling doing flowers. Once you nail them down never do them again unless someone wants to trade you some money for them ;) but take the skills learned while making them and apply them as you desire. Same with other Sheridan style stuff...I don't care for the motif but I'm trying to learn the styling so I can employ those techniques when making stuff I actually want to make. By all means though, as Klara suggests, do what YOU want to do but there are skills to pick up from some of the other techniques out there.