CitizenKate

Thanky, sir! Ah, I see what you mean - I was not familiar with the Weaver setup you mentioned. I am very grateful for that little tidbit of know-how. I used to think a really slick edge was more work than it was worth. I could get an edge like this using wax or gum trag if I was willing to take all day and a bucket of elbow grease to get it done. I just wonder why more people don't use leather soap??? Kate

The topic of edging came up once again, and when Bob Park (who does the most perfect edges of anyone I've seen) posted his procedure for burnishing edges, I was all over it! (The topic is here if you missed it earlier.) Bob uses glycerin soap and yellow soap for burnishing, which I'd never heard of before. I've used various waxes and gum trag, but never thought to use soap. I can't get that stuff locally, but I wanted to try something different, so I went and got some plain old saddle soap (which has glycerin in it). He hand-burnishes with heavy canvas, but my elbow tendons don't like me to do that. So I used the rosewood burnisher I got from DeuceTrinal (Scott) instead, but other than that, pretty much followed the rest of his procedure. WOW I just had to share this, because the saddle soap made a huge difference! Don't think I'll be using gum trag anymore. See below... Kate

This may be an obvious question, but since you don't mention it... are you sealing the dye with anything? Kate

Neat logo! There are a few good stamp makers out there who do custom makers stamps. Harper Mfg. is one I know about, and some here have had stamps made by them and they look great. I've had several custom stamps and stamping plates made by Jeff Mosby, a.k.a. Grey Ghost Graphics, and highly recommend his work. I know there are others - maybe someone else will chime up and mention them - those are the two that come to my mind. Kate

That's quite a bit better than Fiebings, then. I'll have to get some and test it. Thanks! Kate

I'll pick up a diamond stone on my next trip to the hardware store, but meanwhile the sandpaper mounted on a flat stick did the trick! Point well-taken about working from the back end vs. the front end. My splitter is working great again. This sure was a lot easier than it sounded in the manual. Thanks for the tips, Bruce! Kate

Okay, got the sandpaper, and some allen wrenches to get the blade out. Can someone give me some pointers on the best method to sharpen this puppy? Also, what kind of oil should I be using for this machine? Kate

Yup, that's heirloom stuff there. Beautiful work, Art! Kate

Here's one for you splitter experts. I bought a used Landis 30 a few months ago. It arrived in good working condition - well adjusted, blade was nice and sharp, etc. It has worked flawlessly until today. Now, it's starting to have problems feeding and splitting consistent thicknesses, so methinks it is time for me to learn how to sharpen the blade. I found this thread elsewhere on the board: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...+model+30\ in which the original poster had a host of other problems with his splitter that may or may not have had anything to do with blade sharpness. But there were snippets of discussion about sharpening the blade. I'm pretty sure I just have a blade going a bit dull, and after reading the - *ahem* - manual, I decided I'd better get the complete scoop from you guys on the best method to sharpen these hollow-ground blades. There was some mention in the other thread about 1000-grit, 2000-grit, and 20 micron sandpaper. Where does one find such stuff? I sure don't find it at Home Depot! Thanks! Kate

LOL! And here, I was thinking that was just your artistic style! I didn't say anything about it because I thought the marks were intentional. Kate

Good luck on your new product line, Josh. Look forward to seeing the photos. Kate

I've considered trying it, but have yet to get an answer to the question: How well does the color hold up in sunlight? I discontinued using spirit dyes because they fade in sunlight, and it doesn't have to be direct sunlight, either. They look great when you put them on, but how are they five years later after being exposed to normal indoor lighting conditions? By the way, beautiful work on those holsters, Scott. I'm not into holsters, but I always appreciate fine workmanship. Kate

Do you have any stamps that look like these? These are called bevelers. After cutting the pattern lines with your swivel knife, you use a beveler to tuck down the leather on the outside of the carved object to make it stand out from the background. It looks like you did a little of that on the letters, but I can't really tell from the photo. Kate

I really like the distressed look in leather, and you have achieved that very nicely! And that's a pretty good job you did on the lettering for your first attempt. In my own work, I like to see more depth in the beveled edges and the background. I also like nice, crisp edges around the carved objects. The photo looks like you did mostly modeling around the outside edges of your skull. If that is the case, you might consider beveling your edges instead. I also put a little more emphasis on backgrounding nearest the edges to enhance the relief effect from the beveling. Look forward to seeing the finished wallet! Kate

Eric, here is a photo demo I did a while back on how to do block dying. Duane's piece appears to have been done with a similar method. Basically, you wash the piece with a lighter color of dye, and get it to penetrate thoroughly, then go over the raised areas with a darker color using a cloth loaded with dye that is wrapped around square block. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...ic=2712&hl= You can also just use a cloth folded flat, and wiped flatly over the raised areas to create a different effect. Kate

I've been thinking about doing something like that. I really like your design, it's very original. Kate

This may help a little... it's not in English, and it's not identical to a biker wallet, but pretty similar. But the pictures really help you see the construction techniques. It helped me figure out how to make a good biker wallet. One day I will post a photo demo with all the fine points to make the pattern I posted earlier, but in the mean time, I hope this helps... http://www.kurokawa96.com/seisaku.htm Kate

Glad to help, although I'm not sure how I missed this thread earlier - guess I've been a little preoccupied the last few days. Does this mean I get a smooch? You're a schweetie, Josh. There's probably more about this to sort out. I'm hoping to have some time to play with this feature more so we can help members get the most out of it, but this should get you started. Kate

So is it finally official? Elvis really is dead? ;-) Nice bag! Kate

Thanks for the feedback, Tina. Is this something you notice all the time, or just at certain times? Also, when you notice it, have you visited other sites in the same time-frame for comparison? Thanks, Ray, I appreciate that! Kate

Different layouts have different considerations, Ray. Your site looks great, but having a left side menu lends itself very well to inserting ads below the menu without affecting the layout of the main content. In our case, we have no such structure to make a "natural" open space down the page for advertising on the left. We certainly can put ads along either side, and still haven't ruled that out (or any other change, for that matter). But our original thought was to have site content be the first thing you see on the left. If anything gets pushed off the page in browsers operating at very low resolutions, it should be the ads, not the site content. Kate

Good for you, Josh! Keep up the great work! Kate

One of the lessons I learned the first time around, is that one way or another, in order to grow, you have to get other people involved. Not only do you need people you can delegate tasks to, in order to better leverage your own time, but you also need others who have a vested interest in your success. This doesn't just have to be employees, either. There are vendors you can partner with, resellers, other skilled artisans that you can outsource the parts of your work you'd rather not have to do.... Kate

There's a gem of wisdom, for sure. Kate

I guess I should weigh in here... I started my business in early 2003, when I decided to make and sell leather game boards. My customers loved the boards, but I sucked at running a business, so I ended up having to take a day job about a year later. I worked in a very successful business, and learned as much as I could about how successful businesses are run, while continuing to work my own business part-time. I also got myself out of debt, and saved up enough money to pay the bills for several months. In late March, I was laid-off. I'm especially grateful that I have been nurturing my business along all this time. I now am very happily dividing my time between leather work and freelance web development, two of my most favorite things in the world to do! As Bruce mentioned, doing a lot of custom work really forced me to expand my capabilities, and also the need to convert a growing mountain of perfectly good smaller pieces of leather into income. I'm still working up to a full income, but there is a great abundance of opportunity out there! Don't believe all that crock about a "bad economy". Things are certainly changing, and for people who don't want to change, I guess that's bad. But some things are changing very much for the better. I've made it my job to see the "better" and be in a position to take advantage of it. One thing I see that is getting better for those of us trying to make a living with leather work, and Ray alluded to this briefly, is the resurgence of the consumer market's interest in hand crafted work. There is sort of a backlash to the Walmart generation starting to happen, as evidenced by the huge success of sites like Etsy and other similar sites, and new events and businesses springing up everywhere that offer things handcrafted. And at the same time big business is crumbling all around us, small businesses are starting to have a greater role in carrying the economy. That's YOU GUYS. Kate I refuse to participate in the recession!