TonyRV2

For anyone interested in doing designs on their computer, there's a company that offers a watered down version of their CAD program for free. And I have to tell you its a great program although I don't use it for leather work, I use it when designing knives. Much easier to me to layout knife sheaths on paper, which is my major reason for being into leather. Anyhoo....if you're interested in a great piece of free downloadable software, the company is Draft Sight, same as the name of program. Here's a link: http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/ I am, incidentally, in no way affiliated with this company, but I have enjoyed using this product. Be forewarned though, this isn't the sort of software you're just going to start of running with, there's a learning curve to it that's going to be dependant on your previous experience. Fortunately there are some youtube videos and online tutorials to help get you going. ...Tony

Someone resurrected this old thread today on getting rid of mold and mildew on leather. It would be worth a read....

All I can tell you is this...I've got a boat, a cabin cruiser with hard top. The top is lined underneath with leather. One year I left the enclosure up for quite a few weeks while there was high humidity and storms and the top mildewed. That was 5 years ago and I've been fighting that doggone mildew ever since, using primarily bleach based products. It goes away for a while but then always comes back, especially after winter storage. Now granted, a leather jacket is not subjected to the typically the same environment as a boats' hard top liner, but from what I know about mildew, its a battle everywhere I'd ever encountered it. You may want to consider having that jacket professionally cleaned somewhere, if anyone would be willing to give it a shot. So I've run on about this on two posts now....do we no for sure that we're looking at mildew on this jacket?

I'm fairly certain that neat lac is not compatible with acrylic paint, but you may be able to use something else...a black dye for instance. I don't use neat lac myself so I'm afraid I have no first hand experience for you. I'm just throwing it out there for talking points until someone that's done it comes along.

Judging from the green tint, this jacket appears to have gotten mildewed, which in technical parlance 'its going to be a bugger'. Do you know for sure what kind of stains your dealing with? Staining over mildew is not going to get rid of it. If thats what it is, you're going to want to give this a thorough going over with something strong, which may be potentially damaging (bleach based) so you're going to have to be very careful, especially around the fabric. If you think you're going to redye this jacket, then I wouldn't be too concerned about the leather itself.

My suggestion would be to paint the entire edge a color thats darker than the stain...even black would look nice in between the gold edge and the gold looking lace pattern.

I think Malone is going to like it. Question though...I've never made a holster and I was wondering what that loop is for behind the keeper. Decorative? Or does it have some purpose?

I think a tool like a pricking iron walks a fine line in terms of metallurgy. Too hard and its too brittle, too soft and the prongs bend and it won't stay sharp. I can tell you this though....I bought an inexpensive set somewhere....4 tools for around 10 bucks I think, a 1,2,4, and 6 prong if I remember right, and haven't had a lick of trouble with them, knock on wood. Ok...I went and grabbed a link.... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBRMRNI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 For a cheap set they had decent reviews, and at the time I didn't know if I'd like using this kind of tool or not. As it turns out, I prefer them over the stitching wheel and if I ever buy another set I may look for something more upper end, but so far so good with these.

You can't really tell much about the steel itself without extreme magnification. When something like this breaks, its not the grain that you see. Grain in steel is far, far, too tiny to see with the unaided eye. What you're seeing are the sheer boundaries in the steel. The little individual points that have been stressed to the point of breaking. Now here's the problem from a manufacturing standpoint. We of course want our tools to be sharp and to stay sharp. In order for that to happen, the steel has to be heat treated and then tempered with the end result that the steel is fairly hard. The harder it is, the longer it will keep an edge. The tradeoff is brittleness. The harder a steel is, the more brittle it becomes, which means that sheer forces (forces from the side) can easily break off one of the tongs of a pricker if your not careful in both how you strike it and how you pull it out. As far as this particular tool goes, it could very well have had a "grain boundary" issue that made it more prone to snapping. Things like that are impossible to control from a manufacturing standpoint, although proper heat treating tends to minimize the possibility. The bottom line is this...I wouldn't condemn a company's entire product line base upon one incident. This sort of thing could happen with anyone's tool no matter who made it or how much it cost. Now then, if several of us were to report the issue, or even if you had more than one of these break on you, then we might be on to something. Incidentally, I'm in no way affiliated with this manufacturer but I do grind and heat treat my own knives and know a bit about steel as a result...as limited as that knowledge might be, but we're all still learning something new every day. Otherwise, why bother, right?

I'm not sure I'm following what the problem is so I'll point out the obvious...why not carefully measure and mark where you want the holes to be as opposed to 'eyeballing'?

Just for giggles and grins, take a medium sized seeder and stamp the middle of each cross in order to make it look...well...not so cross-like, and see what happens.

In answer to your question about edge kote or dye, its because the edge is the most vulnerable part of the leather product. Dye will not properly protect it, edge kote however will help to seal it up so that its not prone to soaking up moisture.

A few tools!!!! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahah. Welcome to tool addiction 101 Risney!

I should have pointed out that I use what's called a saddle stitch when I sew and make primarily knife sheaths from 7 to 9oz veg tan leather. This requires that you use two sewing needles, one on each end of the thread. Look up 'saddle stitching' on youtube...there's a ton of tutorials on stitching leather there.

Start about 3 holes from the end of your stitch line and then stitch back those three holes to the start. Then go through the exact same holes as if you were starting from the very beginning of your stitch line. This will lock the start into place. When you reach the end then you basically do the same thing. Stitch back about 3 holes and make sure you wind up with both ends on the side of leather that you can't see. At that point you can just cut the thread, or melt the thread back, in addition to perhaps putting a little dot of white glue over the end. That last part is optional and something that I myself have never done, but others do.

Very informative Tinker...thanks!

Thank you. Those pictures were very helpful!

I think for a first project this came out quite well. The only change I would have personally made would have been to use a snap on the strap.

Do a google search for line art or line drawings for inspiration.

Just like tooling, it makes the leather softer and easier to cut. You don't want to soak the leather, I just use a spray bottle and spritz it. I should point out that I do knife sheaths and work with 8 or 9 ounce veg tan leather. I suppose like many other things it becomes a matter of preference. ymmv As far as sanding, I think you want to just leave the edges dry for that and then of course wet it down with something like trag or saddle soap for burnishing.

Are you wetting the edge before beveling? That, as well as a well stropped tool should help.

I read the post with interest when it was first posted, but alas, I do already have a sack of snaps.

Pulse width modulation only works with D.C. motors, so this is not going to be a solution. To control the rpm of an A.C. motor the simplest means would be to use a 3 phase motor and a variable frequency drive (vfd). That said, if I were setting up a single phase motor and wanted variable speed the simplest recourse would be to use a step pulley. These are widely available for the 1/2" shaft that the op is working width. A single pulley would even do the job if there is just the one rpm that you need to run at. I'm not sure about this particular motor since no data was given on it, but its surely either 3600rpm or 1800 rpm right our of the gate. Once thats known, a pair of pulleys can be chosen to get any rpm that you'd want.

Looks to me that you could do the same thing with a pricking tool.

I think you paid a fair price for those stamps, and if they bring your daughter and you a little pleasure I wouldn't sell them at any price.