Kustom

Kate, I ordered some Bee Natural Finish, it should be here in a couple days. How do you apply it? I was thinking about spraying it like I do with Satin Sheen.

If it was "Axe Leather", now that would be really ironic.

With a cloth. I'm using the Skidmore's conditioner, not the waterproofing that's almost all bee's wax.

Thanks Kate I will give those a try. What's strange is the Skidemore's should work, it has Bee's wax in it. Maybe I need to let it set longer and give it two coats. Steve

I have switched back from spirit dies to eco-flo stains for my current projects and have been spraying them with satin sheen but the stain is not water resistant and comes off when I check them with a little water on a paper towel. What kind of finish should I be using? I tried carnuba wax and Skidmore's and it didn't help. Thanks, Steve

Your feedback please. I'm making some wallets and am using eco-flo dyes and stains, I use a dye bath to dye it then let it dry. I want to seal it, plus condition it to make it softer. Which order should I apply the satin sheen and the Dr Jackson's? Thanks, Steve

Lui, Your site and store looks very nice. Did you make the site yourself? I see you have vintage tools. I might be in the market for some old Midas stamps. Do you have a list of what you have? If so PM me. Thanks, Steve

Welcome to the board Jim, it's great to have someone with such a history in leatherworking. The Mighty Sampson is a magnificent beast, I wish I'd had a chance to meet him. I completely understand what you mean by "I felt like I lost my best friend." It's very hard to lose an animal that's part of the family.

Got my free copy in the mail today, August 2009 issue. That was quick.

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

Thanks for the post CambellRandall, interesting read. I always like to read business articles about the industry.

Here's a wristband I did a while ago that was a custom ordered by Jerry Dixon the bass player of the rock band "Warrant".

Lo-voc is a watered down version they sell in California, it has low fumes and doesn't work as well. Just use Barge All Purpose Cement in the yellow and red can. Scuff up the leather with sandpaper where you want to put the cement if it needs it, put contact cement on both parts, let it set up them put the two pieces together.

Very cool and creepy Spider. Do you have any art shows coming up in the LA area? I'd try and make it out if you did.

None lo-voc contact cement should work. Have you tried that?

I've never used white eco-flo on something that big, but when I paint flowers and such I always mix it with a little water for the first two coats to give it a primer then use it full strength for the other coats.

Some how I missed this old thread and found the free offer on my own when I went to check on getting a subscription. Anyway, this offer is still going on, they're mailing mine today. So go get yours if you haven't already.

You did call while I was there, it's a small leatherworking world.

Without a doubt Wayne is the man. I've been studying with him for over a year now. He's does more for advancing leatherwork than anyone else in LA that I'm aware of. Besides being a great teacher and teaching four classes a week plus private lessons, he also brings other masters out to LA to teach workshops at Standing Bears. So far I've taking a class with Jeff Moseby, Bob Beard, and I would have taken a class with Al Gould but he had to cancel because of and horse riding injury. If anyone's ripe for an Al Stohlman award it's Wayne.

rdb, When you come out to LA we have hang out! There's tons of farmer's markets out here, different days of the week too, not just weekends that you can sell at if you want to. Are you planning in specializing in a certain niche of leather goods? Steve

I am really digging it. Steve got here at 2:58, that's two minutes early. No one's ever early in LA. He didn't even have to adjust it to the leather I wanted to sew. It was a perfect stitch from the get go.

Thanks Tina, it's very cool.

John, I have been doing SEO/web marketing since 2001. A lot of people get caught up on back link building and page rank when in fact they need to optimize their site for the proper search terms. I checked http://www.jbcases.com/ for you and that is without a doubt why you're not getting the traffic you want. Hope this helps, Steve

So after much belabored researching I bought a new sewing machine today. I went down to Cobra in Highland and Steve answered all my question about machine sewing and thread sizes. I've never owned a machine before so I had a million questions. I ended up buying the Cobra 17 and Steve's bringing to my house on Saturday, I can't wait. The thing I learned from all my research is it's not worth buying a used industrial machine and converting it to a leather machine with a servo and speed reducer, especially if you don't know what you're doing.

Randy, That sounds like a class I'd like to take. I can't make it to this show but any chance you'll be teaching at Wickenburg?