Wedgetail

Another latigo project, this one for a client. It's a slip lead, for a small dog that will pretty soon become a large one! (german shepherd puppy) The construction is pretty simple, being just a 1" wide burgundy latigo strap with a couple of turn backs and an O-ring. The handle end and the turnback for the cast brass O-ring are skived to half the thickness, and secured with two solid brass rivets. The smooth burnished edges are dyed with mahogany dye, and burnished with water and beeswax... burnishing that much length took about an hour by itself using my pro-edge burnisher. How does it work? You use it instead of a choker chain. The O-ring slides freely up and down the lead, tightening when the dog or handler pull on the lead. When not being pulled on, it returns to a loose position, in the same way as a standard choker chain. There are a couple of advantages for this over a choker chain though. Firstly, it is softer on the dog because the 1" wide strap spreads over a wider area than a choker chain, yet it still achieves the same purpose. Unlike this free floating O ring, choker chains have linkages and can often remain tightened after the dog has been corrected. Also the absence of a chain means no uncomfortable hair pulling for the pooch. I hope you like it! I am sure my client will get as much satisfaction from it as I have done with my own for the past 2 years... The sad thing is, this lead will survive longer the dog.

That's a solid effort! Yeah mate, it should soften over time.... could be a long time or a short time depending on the leather, but there are ways to speed that up if needed.

I made a belt for a guy at work from this latigo, no bleeding in about 6months... he wears white shirts. My key fob in my pocket gets pretty hot and sweaty here in summer, but hasn't discoloured the inside of my pocket at all either. Yet all over the place other people are having experience with it bleeding horridly. I dunno, maybe I just got lucky with this side I bought... Like I said though, with the stuff I got, it's not struck all the way through. Cut it open and it's still natural colour in the middle. Whereas some latigo is well struck through.

It's really nice to work with! I haven't had much trouble with bleeding, having made keychains, dog leads, and coffee sleeves from it. But this tandy stuff isn't struck all the way through. That could be why?

Just a simple dog collar I knocked out on the weekend for my border collie. He seems pretty happy with it! Latigo leather from Tandy, about 3.8mm thick (9-10 oz). Solid brass hardware, and solid brass rivets. Only the best for my boy!

I haven't tried tiger thread yet, though after much frustration with other poly threads I did splash out and buy some Slam thread, after I watched an Armitage leather YouTube video comparison of Slam thread and Tiger thread. Both were expensive to send to Australia, but the Slam thread was at least 'close' to my price point! I would say it is leagues better than the other poly threads I have used... really nice feel, and a joy to use by comparison. I couldn't say how it is better or worse than waxed linen, as I have not used the stuff in my limited experience. Though I can say it's affordable and a good starting point if you want to test the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff.

Stunning! Excellent work. What is the leather you used?

I have been buying from other well known retailers previously whom shall not be named, paying more, and generally finding that whenever I order at least one item is not in stock... and it's usually the one item that I needed most and that prompted me to place an order in the first place! I have placed 4 orders with Adelaide Saddlery and Leather over the past couple of months, and they have been great quality, cost effective, quick, and delivered awesome service. I called up one day to ask about their leather straps to see if they would be suitable for what I needed. They weren't, but the guys were super helpful in pointing me in the right direction for what I needed. And how quick? Well, I just placed an order at 11:02am. At 11:20am, I get notification that my parcel has been dispatched... from previous experience, the package will arrive to me in QLD next week... and that is why I decided to post here today. If you're in Australia, I recommend these guys to you! Let me put a disclaimer out there. These are my experiences up to this date. I am in no way paid by or affiliated with Adelaide leather and Saddlery. I just reckon they are awesome and wanted to share it with you all, as is what we do in this place: sharing our experiences and information about good places to find good products. If not a suitable post, admin can go ahead and remove it with my apologies.

Looks great to me Jason! Better tooling than I can do, even after a couple years. Haha

That looks mean... I like it!

Good idea, they turned out pretty nicely My scrap leather keeps accumulating... but then I use it for R&D projects. Those "I wonder if you could...." moments. Lol These look a lot better than how most of those projects turned out, I'll admit

Epic! I love it. I can see where that would have given you some trouble... so many non-organic shapes, and the perspective angle too... you made a great job of it!

Good feedback Michelle, thanks. The edges are bevelled and burnished with gum trag, though I did not edge dye them. It was intentional, to see what the product looks like when finished with contrasting edges... which is similar to a lot of my other projects, where I take extra care to ensure the backs are left natural with no accidental dye marks or smudges, and finished with a waterproofing sealant. Then i burnish the edges natural as well for a seamless transition... with something like a phone wallet, the contrast looks really nice. As for belts, it's an experiment... the brown belt, I like it in some ways, not in others.... probably not as much as my other projects! The black certainly could use a little more dye though. Here is an example of some of my other projects with natural edges:

I'd have to agree, that looks great!

Great tips! You've got a few on the go there too, I see.

For a pile of leather in the scrap bin, I'd think you would have to be pretty happy with that! I had a crack at making a wallet with turned edges like this recently... it's back to the drawing board on that one, and I'm not in a hurry to start again. I know what you mean about it being a pain!

Looks great! I haven't tried much in the way of lacing, but that looks really well done.

Yep, that's a good test case! Haha Better than I could do swinging off the end of it from the clothes line! Camping, now that's a great idea. Need to do that more often.

Hahahaha! Well that's positive That's all the destructive testing evidence I need!

Hmmm. I tell you what, I'd love to see if anyone has done some destructive testing to see just how much difference it makes to the strength.

Very nice!

Thanks for the feedback, Lois. How would you go about stitching in a metal keeper like this, if not across the width as I have done here? I know I could rivet it, or use chicago screws, but I really prefer the aesthetic of stitching.

Thanks mate, will be hard for me to get to at those times... but may be worth a shot! I'll have a look.

Thanks mate, I'm still experimenting with these things and trying to find products that I'm happy with both the durability and aesthetic. I am always looking for more hardware though! So yes, that would be great. I can cover shipping costs etc to Brisbane if that's an option? Thanks for the feedback, and the supplier details.

Hahaha, worse I'd say... you'd have to pay the Australia tax, where everything costs 30% more than it does anywhere else in the world for the equivalent money. Take tandy for instance. Convert the USD to AUD for the same product in the states, and you get an AUD equivalent. Then we add about 30% more on top of that. It holds true for a number of items there I have compared. Then we add GST (another 10% tax) and then finally we get to the shipping fee as usual. Shipping from Oz is ludicrous too. I sent a bookmark to the UK a few weeks ago. Cost me $27 for standard post. And that was the cheapest I could find.