Jack142

JL, I just finished a pattern for a card wallet that I am working on now. It's just about the same size as the free pattern you posted. Actually, its about a 1/4 in larger, I figured once I line everything up and glue ( before stitching ) I would have to trim the edges. So, I left a little extra. I wish I would have seen your pattern first.

my wallet was made as a gift for my son, I assume its working out ok, I'll ask him this weekend

here is a pic of a money clip /card holder I made for my kid. its designed small so he can put it in his gym shorts front pocket

I use my wing divider, and usually mark a straight line about 1/8 inch in from the edge. Then I take my wing divider and mark my holes at about 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart. Just go from one hole marking to the next, real simple and accurate. My next step is to take a awl that I modified to get a good punch mark through the holes. The awl was put on my grinder and I ground it about 1 inch up the awl, making a narrow ( thin ) awl. The awl is the same diameter up that one inch. This is important , you need to get the same size hole, not wide on top and narrow on the bottom. ( I hope I am making sense ) My last step is to put a tiny drill bit in my dremel tool and drill the holes clean, straight and even. from there is a saddle stitch, it might seem like a lot of work but its pretty fast and the holes come out even and clean I hope you can see my stitches in this card wallet

I watched the videos, one question, what thickness of leather are they using, it looks pretty thin and flexible ?

Thank You, all you guys helped, I got a soft lead pencil, and traced the snake that was in Stolmans book. Lots of detail, and the pencil worked well. I don't remember where I got the tracing paper, probably Tandy, at least 10 years ago, but it worked well. Thanks again, Jack

So, I'm tracing a design on some tracing paper, or I'm trying. Every Pen I use, skips, or won't write on the paper. I did it with a sharpie pen, but the ink smears, So, what do you guys use ?

I bought some thick leather to practice on, ( really thick leather), and have been skiving my heart out, oh, I bought it cause it was cheap cheap cheap I'm going to give this a try and let you know.

I want to make my kid a leather pocket key case that holds 6 keys inside it. There is hardware inside the case that holds 6 keys that can me removed one at a time if needed. I been searching google all day today and can't find a supplier or the hardware ? Do you guys know where I can find it ?

Clive, I use my wing dividers to evenly space my holes, then I lightly hit them with a awl that I ground the tip narrower and sharp, then I drill the holes with a small drill bit on my dremel tool. I go all the way through. the holes open up real well. I also bees wax my thread ( and not a lot of wax ) oh the awl, I ground the tip narrow about a inch or so up the awl so its the same size going through both pieces of leather. I find even after I drill I sometimes have to clear the hole with my awl. I hope this helps I should also add, I can run the needle though the next to the last hole and under the next to last stitch with no problem

I just thought I would put a pic of my 2 strops on here, easy to make, white rouge, one strop has a soft rubber back, ( old mouse pad ) . This for convex knife blades, and what I call a soft strop. The knife is a custom made Stek knife.

I like the bag and the different pockets, do the studs securely hold the straps ?

really, really nice. what oz leather did you use ? did you sew this all by double stitch or with an awl ?

this is a gift for my kid, he is a fitness trainer and doesn't have a back pocket, he usually puts his license and cards into his money clip in a front pocket, I thought this would work better for him.

test pics by george , I think I got it !

trying one more time to resize this pic, hope this works

hi gang, I am jsut trying to figure out how to resize my pics for this forum, so this is a test, I have a pic of a cell phone case that I made, , I hope this works nope

I wanted to make a cell phone case to hand off my belt that wouldn't dig into my old fat body, I came up with this pouch that works real well, it hangs lower than my belt kinda over my front pocket, doesn't get caught on the arm of my chair and is easy to get too. The phone has a rubber otter case so no retainer strap is needed. I can pick out all its faults, like the stamping is not even, and I probably will make a better one later, this forum only allows so much mb , and I don't know how to reduce the mb on my pics so I'll post other pics later on

wow, after looking at some of the wonderful pics of leather work here I am almost embarrassed to show pics of mine. There is a lot of real talent on this forum. I am kinda a novice and have mostly been practicing on scrap pieces to learn. I am having a hard time getting my leather to dye the way I like and well any suggestions are welcome. I am going to show a few pieces here, I am going to make a belt for myself and been stamping and dyeing 12 in pieces, after I finished them, I turned them into leather wrist bands. So here are some pics and comments are always welcome. this first wrist band was me practicing how to block dye. I really don't like the look I did other wrist bands trying to decide how and what I am going to stamp on my belt I don't really like this one either

hi guys. I'm getting confused. I been reading and looking at youtube for ideas on dyeing, how to etc. There is so much out there, and what to believe. I have done a few projects using Tandys eco flow. So far I haven't seen a problem. I have some old bottles of Feibings leather dye and they did give me a problem. So, I was looking how to thin them, and some people use Isopropyl Alcohol, some use Denatured Alcohol and one fellow used water to thin. Then I was reading about treating the leather with a oil before dyeing, some said olive oil, some use neatsfoot oil. Then, in one video a fellow said the these oils can turn rancid. ???? I tried dying leather dry and slightly wet with water, , and see no difference, but I haven't tried oiling leather yet. I made a cell phone pouch { I'll send a pic later on } and have practiced on scrap leather. I'm working on doing a belt next. Thanks for listening to my gripes.

I am getting back into some doing some leatherwork, I haven't worked on leather since 2009. And guys this is a hobby, I am a little rusty on my technique. I have some Fiebings dye, that I purchased before 2009, and I now suspect it is too old to use. I tried some some leather samples and the dye is going on very unevenly, I get total real dark almost black spots and then some spots with the correct colors. I have two bottles of Fiebings, one is a tan and the other is a medium brown. I suspect they are too old and need to be replaced. I am wondering if I am correct in my assumption.