stormdevil

Hi I'm also in the UK. I started a couple of years back. For tools there are some you really need good quality E.g. swivel knife), and some you can get away with the cheap and cheerful from China that you'll find on ebay. I'm still using my cheap Chinese maul, burnishers and slickers and some of my stamps (the ones I don't use a lot). For leather I started out with some small pieces from ebay, before I got to the stage of buying a whole shoulder or side. Qualities vary and it really depends on what you want to make. For videos I'd recommend Ian Atkinson https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLkCG-505-1t0rYlgBTSnpQ I've followed along with one of his knife sheath videos and the end result was pretty good.

Here is my latest archery quiver. A special request for a Game of Thrones dire wolf. Design carved and tooled, then pained with Angelus leather paints. I had to antique this to get the definition on the design. I'm reasonably happy with the result and the owner is delighted.

Absolutely brilliant. Well done :-)

Hi I'm using a laser for many things. Have used it to "engrave" patterns on leather, but also for cutting acrylic template patterns. You can create the patterns on the supplied software, but I find it better to create in Adobe Illustrator and then import into the laser software. Have made some nice belt end templates in acrylic. Laser is an LS3020 desktop laser: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=92 It's a hobby machine and not cheap - but my husband bought it for doing some wood work, so why wouldn't I take advantage of it :-) Showing an ebook cover I did with it

The one on the left is the correct one - it's the right handed one. Also the one on the right (the left handed one( has the retention strap the wrong way since I was thinking right handed.

That's the one that's wrong. It's a left handed sheath with a right handed retention strap (doh!). Doesn't really matter the person is right handed and gets the right handed one and the other as a bonus. It won't fit any other knife since the knife is hand made.

Another knife sheath. It was supposed to be right handed and I convinced myself when I cut the first piece I'd got it wrong, so I recut and happily made the sheath. It was only when I was showing a friend that I realised that it was wrong handed, so back to making a 2nd one - this one correctly right handed! Just shows you should check and recheck what you are doing.

Hi Yes the front and back are separate with packing at the sides to allow for the depth of the guard. That's one of the things you get from the Ian Atkinson video.

OK - Knife and sheath separately :-)

Here's the first knife sheath that I've designed and made. I'm really chuffed that it turned out well. Many thanks to Ian Atkinson of Leodis Leather for his videos - especially the one: Designing and Making a Ka-Bar Sheath - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkMSlgR-Yks If I hadn't watched that I'd have got the 3D aspect of the sheath wrong as this knife has an especially large guard. The video has 7 different ways for how to handle the "thickness" of the knife and guard. I used the "ramps" method (Method 2) to pack out the sheath to accommodate the knife.

Looks great. I've been doing some bits and pieces with my husbands laser. Do you engrave after you have dyed, or before?

I'd rather rivet than hand stitch :-) It wasn't too bad once I had everything marked out.

Here's my latest laser engraved offering - a vanity tray made for my daughter. Laser engraving done on an LS3020 desktop laser: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=92 It's a hobby machine and not cheap - but my husband bought it for doing some wood work, so why wouldn't I take advantage of it :-) Dyed first with vinegaroon, then finished with Fiebings black oil dye mixed with irridescent medium (to give it some shine) Dragon painstakingly painted with Angelus leather paint (pewter)

Hi Here's the final product. Well - actually two. I did a cartridge belt slider and a full belt. The slider was to make sure I had the spacing correct - (I did do a couple of loops on some scrap first so I was pretty sure, but didn't want to ruin the belt). Then I finished the belt. I went with military grade elastic webbing - which works well, and rivets.

Hi Dikman It's for hunting. The guy I'm doing this for is a game-keeper. He'll be out stalking deer etc. PS I don't even know what Single Action is ;-)

Hi I've been challenged to make a shotgun cartridge belt for a friend. I wanted to ask some questions of anyone who uses one. I've had a look at various pictures online, and have seen some quite nice belts. I've also seen some discussion on whether they are easy to use or not. So here go the questions: I don't have a machine for stitching, so was thinking of riveting the loops with brass rivets. Any thoughts whether that will be OK? I know you can make holes and loop the inner strip through them, but that probably needs a tool to make them nice and neat and even. Also I've seen in some forums discussion about how easy it is to get your cartidges in and out. One person had the loops done with elastic webbing, which seems quite a neat idea. I've seen some 2" military elastic webbing that would do the job. Any thoughts? How much bigger than waist size should I make it? I'm thinking about 6" with obviously some belt holes either side of that.

Hi Sam Ok - more details: Laser is an LS3020 desktop laser: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=92 It's a hobby machine and not cheap. My husband bought it for doing laser cutting / engraving on wood. Since we already have the machine, I've been experimenting with using it on leather. 1st attempt was OK, this is much better. You give the laser cutter your design (imported from Adobe illustrator or something similar), tell it how powerful you want the cuts and speed you want it to go, then let it get on with it. I'm using just about the lowest power and speed, otherwise it will burn right through the leather.

Here's my second attempt at an ebook cover using the laser to engrave the leather. The front is 3mm thick leather, the back is 2mm. The pearlescent blue is angelus leather paint, on a Fiebings Royal blue background. The laser cutting is definitely getting better. I'm quite pleased with this one.

Love the eagle :-) Your carving looks great.

Yes - we have an extraction system. It doesn't smell badly when cutting leather, but it does smoke some which needs the extraction. I use the laser on pretty low power. The software is what comes with it. We use Adobe Illustrator for preparation but any vector graphic software would do - the AI files can be imported into the laser cutter software.

I did try speeding it up by heating it (water bath with almost boiling water), and the window sill is room temperature, but it still took a couple of weeks to get to full strength.

Ok - more details: Laser is an LS3020 desktop laser: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=92 It's a hobby machine. My husband bought it for doing laser cutting / engraving on wood. I knew it was possible to use on leather - this is my first time trying. I used the newly made vinegaroon all over - instructions as given here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/73637-my-guide-to-the-best-vinegaroon-youve-ever-made/, but it took a lot longer to make than the thread suggests. I started it off in the garage, but at this time of year - it's cold, so I moved it into the kitchen. The thread says it reached full strength after a few days - try a couple of weeks! My second batch has been sitting on my kitchen windowsill for 3 weeks now, and from testing it's ready to use. I used the threads suggestion of neutralizing with bicarb of soda before dyeing the piece. That leaves gritty bits of bicarb all over, but I just washed it off. Applying the vinegaroon - I swabbed the neutralised solution on with a dauber - front and back - though I didn't need to do the back. The blue is Angelus pealescent paint - Pacific blue, applied after the vinegaroon.

Here's a set of firsts: 1st time using the laser to engrave a design 1st time using vinegaroon to dye the leather black. I did end up going over part of it with oil based dye. I've still got some experimenting to do with the laser, the 2nd cut of the same design was better - but I've still to finish that one off.

I like the bracers. I use eyelets on one side and hooks on the other - I find it easier to put on. Most bows you just need the arm guard to keep your clothing out of the way, but if you shoot an english longbow the bracing height is about 5 inches, so you get string slap and that's why you need a nice thick leather bracer :-)

Here's a quiver and bracer I did recently. The hardest bit was doing the wolf head design, since I'm not much of an artist. I think it turned out OK.