HellfireJack

Luckily, wildrose, that's not actually what's happening. I agree with you and, if you look into the matter, so does the VA. The people who had to submit their speeches and prayers in this instance are the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion and the National Memorial Ladies. These are not family members. Of course this won't stop random Christians who want to press the issue, which is already happening. From the VA itself. "“The idea that invoking the name of God or Jesus is banned at VA national cemeteries is blatantly false,” said VA Press Secretary Josh Taylor in a written statement to Fox News Radio. “The truth is, VA’s policy protects veterans’ families’ rights to pray however they choose at our national cemeteries.” The idea that they've banned families from prayer is just a knee jerk reaction to not allowing non-family member organizations from injecting their beliefs into funerals without prior approval.

Oh I agree rdb. I wasn't really planning on drawing this out too much. Obviously there's more than one opinion here otherwise it wouldn't be an issue. I hope Lobo didn't take offense to me providing mine. You're right. Some people are rather touchy about their religion.

That looks spectacular.

LOL! Do you really think that a Google search that provides a lot of results for a controversial subject is any way to judge the accuracy of your report of it? The mere fact that there is a lawsuit says there are two sides to this coin. Since you're the one flabbergasted by this ordeal do you think maybe it's you who hasn't taken a step back to look at the whole picture? Are you sure your answer is the only one that can possibly be right? Really? Why ever is there even a lawsuit then? I'm not saying the news reports are inaccurate and I defy you to show where in my post I have. I'm saying there's a difference between censoring or banning something (as people are claiming) and merely controlling it and making sure it's usage is appropriate out of respect for the dead. To BAN something is to not allow it to happen ever. To censor is to suppress it from happening as well. Obviously this hasn't happened since prayer and the use of religious beliefs are allowed as long as permission is received beforehand. That's not banning nor is it censorship. I'm sure that's where the lawsuit stems from. eh? Get what I'm saying? I'm sorry but someone bringing their god into someone else's funeral when they don't worship that god can be very disrespectful and can even be traumatizing to the family of the deceased. Perhaps you might want a Muslim dancing on your grave when your dead but I don't. I don't want a Christian doing it either but that's neither here nor there. I guess you don't care about other people's beliefs. That's fine with me friend but don't expect me or others to not care as well. It doesn't make you gullible to have a different opinion than I do and it doesn't make me gullible because you have a different opinion than I do either. It just means I see things differently than you do. I can understand why someone would do this and I can see situations where this is beneficial. You can't.

I've heard that you should avoid lacquers over acrylic paints as the lacquer will not bond to the acrylic and cause it to eventually flake off. Anyone know if this is true?

They're not banning prayer at funerals. They're stopping a problem with people interjecting their beliefs into the funeral services of someone else who may not follow the same belief system. The only way to effectively do that is to get all prayers and speeches that include religious beliefs approved prior to the service. If there was a Christian soldier who fell in Iraq and a Muslim person demanding the right to come to his funeral and pray to and praise Allah and preach about Mohammed during the service I guarantee there would be a problem with it in most cases. But you can't just demand one sect or religion not be allowed to speak about their beliefs at a funeral. You have to treat everyone the same so this stops that from happening in the most effective manner for all people. It's not banning prayer. It's ensuring that all people respect the deceased and their family and loved ones,

You don't need a gouge to skive for a box fold. You can use a regular skive or even a french edger. Bend the piece flesh side up on the edge of a table or something and carefuly skive it down at the bend then use a bone folder to make a good crease. Have you considered wet molding it instead though?

I think the effect you're looking for is done by wrapping the leather in on itself around a core. Check this video at about 20 seconds in. http://www.bighousedaddy.com/making_a_leather_hat.htm

They look like black pearl garment snaps. You can pick them up at Tandy http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/1247-02.aspx

The video linked to in this thread shows the making of a tassel at about the 7:38 minute mark. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=23244&st=0&p=148555&hl=sporran&fromsearch=1entry148555

I haven't been there in a while but the Tandy Blog (sorry I don't have a link) had a few projects that use lighter weight leathers. Eyeglass cases and small items like that. Softening can be done with saddle soap, neatsfoot oil, glycerin or lanolin. I would clean the item with saddle soap first then oil it myself if I were concerned about how flexible it is.

I had the same issue when I bought the embossing wheels for that tool. A little gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers did the trick. Light squeeze, check fit, repeat as necessary.

Check the tutorials here on LW.net and then go buy "The Art of Making Leather Cases" Volumes 1 2 and 3.

You should join up at Brass Goggles and check their Tactile section. It is the number one steampunk forum out there. http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/

Don't worry Ray, it's normal. It's probably not the CP that's the problem as I did the same things when I started out. Who knew beating crap with a mallet could be so difficult? It's all practice practice practice. Don't worry if your tooling sucks. So does mine. I tend to shy away from pictorial work as those skills along with my knife work aren't up to par yet and I lean towards basketweaves and geometric patterns and I continue doing practice carvings to get close to decent with it. But even then there are other ways to decorate leather without carvings into it. You can use spots, spikes, conchos, dyes and stains and sewing and never once pound a tool into the stuff and still make a beautiful item.

I found this helpful with that border tool. I found that the easiest tool spacing that looked good was the length of the tool head. X><X http://www.slideshar...-stamp-tutorial This ought to help with the arrowhead basketweave question though I don't think it's the same tool. the alignment should be similar. http://leatherworker...showtopic=20177

If you're not wet molding then you're cutting pieces to shape and sewing them together. Just make it like one of the old leather football helmets. Do a google image search for leather helmet and you'll see a ton of examples. The easiest would be similar to cutting a circle into quarters and sewing them together using strips of leather.

If you mean these http://springfieldleather.com/store/product/22201/Stamping-Tool-Set%2CSLC-Basic-9/ then they're craftool.

There are a couple of discussion on mug finishes in the reenactment section. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=26684 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27554 I believe both come to the conclusion that a product called Salad Bowl Finish, found in work working stores and shops, is what people use but it's not perfect.

Did she find a supplier for the lace by any chance? I was hoping to find out.

Was this the thread? http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=28531&st=0&p=178974&hl=steel&fromsearch=1entry178974 Looks like just wrapping steel lace if you can find a supplier for the right size.

A starter kit is right so far. Do you have anything you want to focus on? It'll help narrow down any other tools you'll need to start.

The pattern from that site is just a rough guide. I'm pretty sure I know which one you're talking about. You would use it to create a custom fit pattern by altering the dimensions and maintaining the shape. Your arm is slightly conical so just making a cylinder will make it odd fitting. I've created my own pattern from lots of measurements but in the end the fastest way would be to use three strips of construction paper at least one inch thick. Fold one strip in half width-wise and wrap one around your wrist slightly loose and tape it at the angle it falls at. Make it so the taped part is on the top or spine of the bracer. Do the same at the widest part of the arm(WPA) (Or lower if you're not covering your whole arm) Tape to the spine of the bracer.. Tape the third piece connecting the two at the spine of the bracer. (should fall on the taped parts of the cross pieces.) Now cut through the folds you made (should be on the same axis as your arm) Now you should have an odd looking capital I with angled top and bottom bars. Lay that on construction paper and draw lines connecting the side bars and mark the high point of the spine and low point of the spine. You want to create a semi-circular line like in the pattern you saw that connects the sides at the wrist points to the low mark of the spine. Do the same at the WPA. Cut it out and wrap it around the arm. If overlaps on your arm trim the sides in a bit. That's it. You can round the edges if you want and fair it up to make it look nice. You can use lace. it's a pain to don and doff but it looks nice. Use the method above, create buckles for it, or the next one I'lm going to try is to modify the pattern with a dog ear of leather at the wrist to accomodate a snap. and then you permanently lace the WPA end and use the snap to get the bracer on and off.

They make mit conditioning oils but anything lanolin based is fine. That and some heat from the sun. I would Google "conditioning a baseball mit" and learn how to properly form the pocket and soften it.

Use poster board to mockup the item rather than leather. You can fold it and fit it to the clip you'll be using and make holes and whatever. Then that becomes your pattern. I'm not sure it's legal to post Tandy's stuff here anyways. I have a money clip kit here (no pattern in it) and Iit's just a rectangle of leather. It's about 2"x6" or so with holes evenly spaced out around the edge with a thin liner to match. The clip is magnetic though. You sew the halves between the liner and outer piece.