HellfireJack

5/32" single prong chisel. It's listed under the "You will need" section.

Looks good. I learned how to tie the cobra knot/solomon's bar using leather too but you can keep your warm fuzzies. I have no need for them. You'll want to finish the leather before tying these bracelets. I'd recommend you wax them pretty heavily. If you don't finish them first they'll get slimy when they get damp and then they'll turn into a piece of sandpaper on your wrist when they dry. Also,not that it really matters if they're just for looks, these types of bracelets are "survalist" in nature and that's why they make them out of paracord. If you get into a situation you then have a handy piece of paracord to use if needed. If you don't finish the leather before hand you'll have a dried out piece of leather that will be of no practical use to anyone. Even if you do finish them the leather is going to hold the curls and wavy shapes from the knots when you untie them.

I use brass plated finish nails from my local hardware store. Square profile tacks are going to be hard to come by I think. This place sells brass plated one. Hope that helps. http://www.architecturals.net/trunk-tack-brass-plated-1-inch/

Did you pay less than 5 dollars a square foot?

Perhaps it would be easier to switch your process and just paint the letters after you dye the piece. Either that or use a fine tipped art brush to apply the dye around the lettering rather than dying the whole piece at once. A copy of Coloring with Eco-Flo might help as well.

Use liquid latex from the art store as Cheryl mentioned. There is a stickied how to here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=11101 The Angelus dyes Tina mentions should work for you. As with any new finishing process, always test it out on scrap.

I've used the CO2 setup in the below thread for the past couple of months. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=41924&hl=airbrush

Hate to tell you this but you probably could have gotten a free slab from your local stone supplier's reject/waste pile. Most of the time they have to pay to haul that stuff away and if you ask nice you can just have your pick.

They're just aiming at making items with the look and feel of leather to fill a niche market of people who like leather and don't like killing animals. Real leather will never be replaced.

I felt that way too at first. After deciding to lace a few projects though you realize it has a place in leatherwork and can look very nice on the right projects.

Welcome to the forums. Which Tandy? Harrisburg or Allentown? I'm in PA as well. I'm closer to the Allentown store. Your piece looks fine for a first run. Your edge finishing and stitching needs to improve but that will come in time.

Nah, the pierced thread should simply be pulled down past the needle. Like this: http://www.bowstock.co.uk/tan_win.html

Not sure how you're threading your needle byt you shouldn't be tying a knot to keep the needle on. You should thread the needle and then pierce the thread with the needle about 2 or 3 inches from the end you've just pulled through and cinch them together. You shouldn't feel any "knot". If this is what you are doing you can thin the thread out at the end by wedging it on a flat surface with a razor knife and pulling it out a few times. Kinda like you would curl a ribbon.

You'll be able to make it work. Don't fret. Change is inevitable. It's not what has changed that matters. It's the things that have stayed the same that do. Look at it in the perspective of automobiles. There's a HUGE difference between a '76 Ford Fiesta and a '11 Lamborghini Gallardo as far as features go but as long as you know how to drive a manual transmission car you can drive still drive either. Whether you know how to use all of the Lambo's creature features or not it won't stop you from driving it. When it comes right down to it all forums are the same. They all have categories, forums/sub forums, topics and posts. At the heart of it that's all you need in order to understand it's use. It doesn't matter what features the forum has, as long as you know that that basic navigation is the same you can pretty much use any forum. Don't let the bells and whistles blind you.

Soap and water is the way to go. Here's a thread from the forum with a video on sharpening a round knife with a diamond hone. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=28376 Not sure the harbor freight hones go up to 1200 and 8000 grit

I had a hide that reeked like dead fish once. I know that fish oil is used in a lot of tanning so I just assumed it was "fresh" off the line. I threw it in the back of my closet and a couple months later the smell was gone.

You would want to use a more effective resist than acrylic for "ooops" type issues. Latex rubber would probably provide better protection. There's a how to here on the forum. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=11101

Looks like they beat it with a rock and then sprayed it unevenly with an airbrush. They may have resisted it afterwards and antiqued it as well.

Soft leathers are best cut with either a pair of shears or a rotary cutting knife. (pizza cutter looking thing) Also, glue your (oversized) lining to the project first and carefully cut the excess away. Way easier then trying to precisely place a backing as you're stitching or glueing.

That looks awesome.

It looks to me like it was done using some resists. You don't necessarily need an airbrush to do it. It was probably done in several stages using different strength resists. It looks like they first died the interior of the letters and then used a heavy resist on the letters outline and parts of the flower and dry sponged it on down the center of the belt as well. Then they probably dry sponged a lighter resist down a wider path down the center as well and died the entire belt in several stages with progressively stronger shades of color.. Tandy's Leathercraftlibrary.com has a set of 5 or 6 videos by Tony Laer on dying and coloring that includes creating similar effects using resists and other techniques. It's 9.99 a month and can be easily cancelled at any time.

People actually use both sides. It's just a matter of preference. I've used both myself.

Craftool's Pro Rotary is virtually identical as well and is on sale right now on Tandy's website for $36

I've experimented with Mop -n- Glo and the only issue I remember was to make sure to buy unscented next time. The flowery smell of the scented kind lingers for about 5 days.

It's probably because they're already discussing swivel knives in the same forum about 4 posts down. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=42288