Stetson912

No problem. There's usually a little wiggle room in frames. A typical frame has the glass, mat, and foam core that the picture is typically mounted to. You might even be able to use up to 12 oz leather if you have a thin substrate to mount the picture to. Depends on your frame.

As Dwight mentioned buckleguy has a few heel bar buckles but they are plain. Alpha is right, they are called ranger buckles. Unfortunately I haven't ever seen them larger than 1.5". Have you considered tapering your belt from 1.75" to 1.5" and using the 1.5" set? Just a thought. You may have to find a custom maker for something like that. Perhaps a bronze sculptor or someone who does sand casting and can cast one in brass for you. Let us know if you find one for sale somewhere.

Matt board is about 1/16" thick which equates to 4 oz. However if your frame allows for double Matt thickness you can use up to 8 oz. Thicker leather gives more depth. So, I would say 8 oz but 5-6 is still ok to tool. Just my opinion though.

This is awesome. How did you tool that? What size tools? I would think you would need something fairly small.

I would let it set up longer. It shouldn't be wet at all when you go to stick the pieces together. Bikermutt mentioned on another post using wax paper between the layers to line everything up nice without them sticking together when and where you don't want them too. Just remove the paper little by little to line them up and stick em together.

I've seen it in some stohlman books. He used it in between the layers of leather to keep the contact cement from touching and setting while he lined it up. Usually a square piece in the corners and one or two on the straight seams to align it. Then stick it down piece by piece and remove the paper as you go

Oh and a brief search turned up this somewhat depressing bit of info. Apparently saffiano leather is any tannages that is coated with opaque resin and finished with the cross hatch texture. So that's why it's plasticy feeling. But apparently it's more durable and easier to clean. But, even those attributes just dont make it worth it to me. https://www.google.com/amp/s/minkudesign.com/2015/03/24/saffiano-leather-yay-or-nay/amp/

Have you considered piping? My knowledge on bag making is next to nill but it's a thought that crossed my mind. It would hide the stitching fairly well I think.

A possible solution bag is typically a small bag that holds a few things for black powder rifles. For instance, you could carry some powder, wadding, ball, maybe Flint and Steel, ect. Kind of an odd and ends pouch for essential items. The easy open flap makes it quick to get things out to reload the rifle. Popular item amongst many factions in history but I always think of fur trappers when I see them like this haha.

I tried a drop in liner on one I made. Didn't work so well. I think the leather was too thick. Do you use the same pattern pieces as you do for the bag? I'd like to use leather to line anything I'd make. Some thin goat or kangaroo would work. I just don't know how to go about it very well. Do you know of any good resources to learn? Maybe see how it's done?

Awesome. There was someone asking about burnishing chromexcel and I wasn't sure how you would do it. Thought you would know. I think the edge paint is the way to go. I may have asked before, but how do you do the lining? That seems to be the hardest part for me to understand with bags. I can never get it right.

How do you edge finish the chromexcel? Amazing bag too btw. I wish I could do it haha.

I wish I knew someone. Bob park is in Phoenix but, I doubt he offers one on one classes. There are usually classes available at the trade shows, and there's an annual one in prescott. As of now I'm unsure of the classes that will be available. It runs March 2 - 4th 2018. Mentions that workshops start in February, so I'd check them out. I think it's called the Southwest leather tradeshow. Another option is video classes. There's a site called learnleather.com. it's run by Michael Dale who collaborates with various artists. The lessons are live once but recorded so you can watch them later. The advantage to the live stream is you can ask questions. I recently saw one done by chan geer where he tooled a floral design in a checkbook cover. Very interesting. May be worth the look.

Nice work as usual

Like alpha said, the circumference of the belt is from where the tongue enters the hole be of the belt. I measure from the tongue to the most used hole. This then becomes the distance from the buckle to center hole on the belt being made (most traditionally at least) then 2 holes either side of the center for a 5hole belt (or 3 on either side for a 7 hole belt) and another 2 and 1/2 to 4 inches to the last hole for a decent sized billet to grab and work with. The reason I prefer this is because I can easily incorporate trophy buckles without needing to remeasure or worry about the belt being too long using the second mentioned method. Really, both methods work. Just the second one you have to take into account the buckle being used ect. If you measure from strap fold to belt hole and think they are using a buckle that's 1 and 1/2" long when in fact they are using a trophy buckle, your belt will be too short. So keep that in mind haha (been there.. oops) I recently made a 7 hole belt but the third hole was my mark. It left 4 inches to "expand" and 2 for any extra cinching needed. I like 1" spacing too, bit 3/4" is used by some also. All in all, it comes down to what works for you.

Hey now, All guns matter... Hehe This is a cool stamp

Lots of stitching haha. I need to try another bag.

After looking a bit, chromexcel is veg retanned. Which could be why it burnishes a bit. Just a thought. Im still doing research but I coulda swore I saw somewhere that chrome tanned leathers won't burnish but can't find that article lol. (That is straight chrome tanned, not retanned like chromexcel) Like I mentioned, I haven't had any experience with any chrome tanned or chromexcel leather so, there are better authorities than I haha. If I ever do try it, I'll have to try the tokonole

I'm not 100% certain because I don't use chrome tanned leather, but it's my impression that you can't really burnish chrome tan. You may look into edge paint? Again, another product I'm unfamiliar with. But, may be a topic to look into

Looks good. Is it going to be turned? The lining seen to the piping and panels and then turned? I'm just not visualizing the next step very well haha

I agree with mister Smith. A thicker leather will hold an impression better. And letting it dry more before stamping will make a world of difference. This is something you learn with time. Also, you don't want to stamp the sheath and let it dry completely and rewet it to form either. You'll lose definition that way as well

Go ahead, rub it in... haha One day I hope to get one myself. I know absolutely nothing about machines haha. But, it makes things faster for sure. If I did this more large scale I'd definitely get one. But for now I just do enough to satisfy my creative side haha

Another idea, use the football pieces as an inlay on the body panel. You'd make a regular bag and can cut panels like usual and just inlay the football pieces where you like.

Nice. I was going to say, kinda a waste to stitch one layer by hand for decoration haha. A machine tho, makes it worth it. Looks good

That's a neat idea. Requires a lot of thinking and posses a lot of what ifs. For instance. What if... Ahem... You use the football panels for the side of the bag and just but them up best you can and use other leather to fill in the gaps between them? Or, what if... You use some vertically and where they have the gap in between use a panel horizontally? It's hard to explain in words. I hope you understand what I'm getting at haha