8thsinner

Good work. I especially like the backgrounding and shading on the second one, and it perfectly suits the blue you have choosen.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SQ0eRaM1qsg/SChm_lmJeMI/AAAAAAAABCc/1NitVAphFvI/s320/giant-cow-404_670343c.jpg

Nice job, but a few people on here like seeing the knives too. More pics please...

Cool, taking on a reata as your first project shows some guts indeed, But I bet you learned a lot from doing it. Work looks great.

Bruce Grant's encyclopedia of rawhide and leather braiding will teachhim a wide range of the skills, knots and a few braiding projects forwhip making in very basic constructions. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-Rawhide-Leather-Braiding-Bruce/dp/0870331612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1262009271&sr=8-1-fkmr2 Ron edwards, I do not own, but are highly recommended and I do want some of them myself. heres another link http://www.shoemakingbook.com/Ron%20Edwards.htm Also David morgan does a few books on whip making which I have one of, but I do not think it's all that worth while compared to the others out there. Hope that helps a bit

Not exactly the works, there are a lot more experienced and knowledgable people on here than me, especially in this type of work.

I suspect it's a bush mans tool for digging up roots, it's kinda old fashioned and I love it. I think the leather your using is a bit hard core for it and will be too heavy but it will surely last. You might want to consider adding a small pouch for a cloth so you can wipe the soil off before it gets in and contaminates the integrity of the sheath though. As to the order, I think you should dye the edges before burnishing then wax them... Remember burnishing basically melts the edges into a hard reflective surface which resists moisture. It will also darken. Also the neats foot will not soak in through the wax. wax should be your final finish. I have heard many things about neats foot being good and bad for leather so I am not sure I would use it myself, For conditioning I have been experimenting with saddle soap and a natural beezwax base designed for furniture which when soaked in with a heat gun and burnished works very well.

Yes ray that has cleared things up a fair bit. Not sure I have much that would suit you though. Perhaps Quiver design Hunting satchel Tobacco pouch for belt Not even sure about them...

If that is what I think it is, it may look something similar to the following picture... The feather here shown was made by breaking sharply and quickly the end of a standard needle, Or it might have been a broken sewing machine needle. I can't fully remember as this was some time ago. I would just use a fine tipped awl for the same thing these days, using the burr of a sharpening to mark with.

I have always thought with BDSM gear that beezwax should be the standard line of protection, even on whips which I am leaning towards a coat of shellac these days then wax to seal it from the emelents it will be exposed to in clubs and private use. It can scratch easily but that shows you where the product needs attention. The products I have sold most of recently is notebooks, simple designs but good leather. And I always put an insert in the first page stating the name and care instructions and a few other details. I will soon be adding contact details to this paper though. But the instruction certainly should be catered for the item in use. and cater also for the type of finish used. As some leatherworkers use different finshes, the customer should understand that waxed finishes will resist alcohol more than pure shellac...etc etc I like the idea of selling little pouches with saddle soap and cloths inside.

What sort of plans are you looking for? Bags, Pouches, Quivers, Belts - structure/imaginative, Jackets, Seats, Shirts, Jeans etc etc Also are you looking for exclusivity of design or willing to tell your customers this is designed by such and such...available at such and such a place. When I worked professionally in leather manufacture, any design I came up with that suited the boss was judged according to how many sales he could get in the first 60 days of it going into the brochure and arriving at customers doors. Thus I never got much more than £150 for my best work (IMO) I do consider myself a designer more than a maker because usually I spend more time working out ideas than I do being able to make stuff because I don't have much money or a great source of leather compared to some. I have not actually seen much of your work, but I have noted your name, mainly because there is another forum I am member of where there is a similar name, not sure if thats actually you or not but, point is, what are you after? Braided goods patterns Stitched goods Hand stitched goods What genre? Bushcraft Equestrian BDSM General ware I probably have something in all of the above.

Well it's hard to really tell wether it is hand forged and well tempered, only really using it would tell you that. However, It does seem to be aged, given the state of the sheath. And well used given the state of the right edge being very nearly straight. The semi deep pitting can either show that it was well stored but left idle fora long time or that it was stored badly for short amount of time allowing rust to settle in. Either way rust has been removed quite obviously and the pitting will never really come out without reducing the entire edge down a lot. It looks to be a fairly thin edge so I lean towards older with slow rust/patina build up. the pitting will get in the way of perfect sharpening so it matters more wether you can deal with that fact. 70 Dollars, £45 Not for me, if I saw it on a vintage antique stall, I would offer £20 for it. And either get a mostly usable blade or keep looking.

We were lucky here, the 3D glasses are top of the range, but they have people with buckets waiting for you when you leave which is fair enough the ones they supplied would not be cheap in the slightest. And I am glad you agree. Really. I am.

It looks good. And the marked improvement throughout is tremendous. I can see the final twist you mention and it seems like that is all one way, so you are obviously pulling too tightly on the left side or too loosely on the right, so now you can work on perfecting that. The heel knot is great, I would be very happy with it. When it comes down to it you are the one who will see the most problems, take note of them and work on them. And tell us/me, whats the next project?

I would think most small ones are close to the right size anyway... If it was too thick, just stick it in a drill with some rough wet and dry and smooth it down slowly moving up the wet and dry grits until it's mirror buffed. FOrgot to say, I'm loving all these examples of good stitching.

Try some little rubbing alcohol with a dab of water, infact a fifty fifty mix shouldn't be too aggressive, almost like casing dab that on with a sponge and let it sit for a minute then pat dry. condition and wax it, or dye it condition it then wax it and see how it looks. You said you have a lot so test it first on the edge and see if it damages it in anyway. Also, in theory fabric washing soloutions can kill and remove the stuff, but it would have to be ph neutrel and have a high enzyme content.

I finally got around to seeing this today and I was absolutely blown away. Now if you haven't seen it there may be a spoiler or two here. Now the reason I wanna talk about this is that I was looking around you tube and other video sites like that guy with the glasses and such. And I am noticing some very marmite type responses to this film. People either do seem to love it or hate it. And it's pis n me off to be honest. Most of the haters responses are based on one of very few reasons. 1 - Not an original story What I say...look at fricken Dracula, do you think the 40th version is actually better than the 39th? A christmas carol? Hound of the baskervilles? Theres a limited number of ways of telling a story with a limited number of plots. Heres the run down for this one if you want to simplify it that much. Hero is conflicted in joining the peaceful natives or killing them as a soldier...It has been done about a thousand times. Guess what, so has nearly every holywood movie. Did these people miss the fact that it's how you tell the story that makes it different. It's told again and again because it inspires, pulls us in, makes us feel happy and sad, laugh and cry. At first it might be a little technology based and you have to make allowances for this especially in special effects action, and sci fi genres. Godzilla, Transformers, Dracula as I mentioned, end of the world plots, etc etc. Without going into the possibility of maybe holographic screens playing all around us and in light of technological boundaries of a flat screen projected from raw film. a 3D cgi movie is the best we can get, there is no effect we cannot make appear flawlessly real, there is nothing stopping us but our imagination. This movie inspires us to see the beautiful in things all around us, It's colourful, beautiful, epic, And my favourite film is the crow (NEARLY ALL BLACK) 2) Boring. WTF are you on, oh let me guess, two hotdogs, 2 litre can of watered down pepsi syrup, and a tub of popcorn so big you could get lost in it...Drink so much you had to go the bathroom ten times in three hours? AWH poor you. Not enough gore for your tastes? Cut your fingers off and eat them. I'm sorry, but if anyone here could actually be bored by this film, reguardless of how good your leatherwork is, I think my respect for you just went down a notch. I am so sick of sheeple in this society, closed minded idiots and stupidity so severe that we actually have documented TV awards naming the people the probably think that hamburger comes from ham which is made in a factory from a bean or some crap. GET a LIFE, get some education and wake up. You know what, I can't even be bothered to finish this rant. If you liked this movie chime in, if not, don't tell me "it's crap" at least formulate a reasoning for your dislke using some intelligence and I might actually respect it. I don't have high expectations, I don't think every ramantic novelist reader is going to like it or a thousand other stereo types I could mention but if you like sci fi or even something a little bit different try it out in 3D, you might be surprised.

Unless it's cracking and actually falling apart you could do a lot with most leathers. Surface damages can be tooled out, smoothed or lace/concho/button covered. If there are any damaging liquids or toxins soaked in you will probably find they won't take colours or may degrade from the inside out. Rotting and serious mold should be removed or avoided in use I think though. If you check out my post apocylaptic thread in leather conversation forum, you may also get a few ideas. Shops are selling stuff that wold pass for it. Anything you made to suit the market would be a lot more genuine than most. Infact if you have lots of it spare, I would not mind about three or four A4 sized pieces just to see what I could do with it...

WOuld either of these suit you? http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.strange-ideas.co.uk/ekmps/shops/redsun4/images/chopper-open-face-motorcycle-helmet-ch1-1094-p.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.strange-ideas.co.uk/chopper-open-face-motorcycle-helmet-ch1-1094-p.asp&usg=__hN9veSrK0dJnnKInJeXKw0Gbjvg=&h=551&w=551&sz=197&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=sz766ODxiCsgDM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmotorcycle%2Bhelmet%2Bopen%2Bface%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 http://media.photobucket.com/image/motorcycle%20helmet%20open%20face/facebook0909/36.jpg If your looking googles, have a look at these. http://media.photobucket.com/image/motorcycle%20helmet%20open%20face/facebook0909/36.jpg http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/army-surplus-uk/soldier-95-clothing/latest-issue-advanced-goggles-427961.html http://www.dirtbikexpress.co.uk/motocross_goggles/oakley_motocross_goggles/oakley_l_frame_over_glasses_goggles From those last three, top one is hard core second is cheaper but still tough bottom is look only but very wide. I think once you have either, fitting the strap through a long slot hole, wouldn't be a problem. Don't know if thats any help, but I will give it some though as to how they could go together.

I was in a few clothing shops the other night and noticed this look is actually very IN at the moment. One method of display seemed to be leather soaked beyond casing then wrinkled and sat on and dried. Stitching it together, burnishing the edges as normal and sanding the finish off in parts then scattering dye back on for a semi polished look. It was using about 5oz leather, possibly baked hard. I can't find the exact thing I saw in the shop but this was a good item too http://www.firetrap....der-PRODFMKS66/ Also almost suiting the stalker style are these boots. http://www.firetrap....n-PRODDABR126A/ Edit Oh, it was in a different shop, heres the image of a handbag that was actually very well made. http://www.allsaints.com/product/?searchtext=leather&area=&category_id=&sub_category_id=&sale=0&preorder=0&vintage=0&new=0&Size=&price_id=0&page=1&position=38&prod_desc_id=5051214488318&total=80 But check out the other stuff too, Some of the belts, waist cinchers and wallets, and even boots were cool.

There are a lot of these on youtube which might help yoo, you can easily download them with video downloader for firefox. Most of them don't go too high on the number of bights but they are worth looking at first before dolling out loads of money on dvds.

I picked up a big chunk of antler the other day, and I am wondering if anyone has had success using it as a smoothing tool. I figure much like burnishing, if I have a long piece flattened out and highly polished it could work. Question though, How much pressure is usually used in this work?

A friend of mine recently came back from africa and australia and brought a few ostritch wrapped gifts, I was handed an ostritch lighter, but she was also talking about prices of the ostritch products and the impression I got was that the stuff is not cheap, perhaps thats a tourist thing though. Still...thanks for sharing

Even an aussie suggested to me it looks like a camen, (like a fresh water croc) OOPS Well fair enough, it's good looking either way