Stetson912

It's just the way the leathers are tanned. Vegetable tanned leathers get their properties from vegetable tannins. Oak bark is very popular and that's where "oak " and "bark" tanned leather gets its name in some instances. Chrome tanned leather uses chromium salts and gets different properties from this. Before leather becomes leather, it is simply a shaved degreased animal skin. This skin is primarily made up of a protein Called collagen. In order to make skin into leather and not some disgusting decaying mess, you must eliminate the water in the collagen. The two most popular ways of doing this are by soaking the skin in vegetable tannins and other organic matter which will slowly allow the vegetable tannins to replace the water in the collagen. This takes time, up to two months and several applications and soakings, but you are left with an organically preserved animal skin now known as vegetable tanned leather. Chromium tanned leather on the other hand is far "easier". That is to say, it doesn't require skill or time. 90% of leather today is chrome tanned. The skin is acid washed and treated to allow absorption of the chromium sulphate and other chromium salts such as chromium oxide. The chrome tannages agent usually about 33% chromium sulphate to 26% chromium oxide. Its these chromium salts that will replace the water in the collagen. Chromium oxide is not water soluble whereas chromium sulphate is. The whole process can be automated and finished in one day. Chromium salts however, are much smaller than the organic vegetable tannins. This causes chrome tanned leathers to be thinner and more supple. Chromium salts, especially chromium sulphate, are powerful oxidizers. This means they will oxidize metals pretty easily. So use on holsters or knife sheaths or anything else that will contact metal of any significance is not recommended. Because of these different tannages, they offer completely different properties. Veg tan will absorb water, fibers expand, and it becomes more malleable and moldable. When it dries it's shape is retained and sometimes stiffer than it began. Chrome tanned is easily hydrophobized (water proofed) and even when it isn't, it contains nearly a third of it's mineral tannins in the form of water insoluble chromium oxide. So it already won't absorb water anywhere close to the degree veg tan will. What little water is taken on won't aid much in molding and shaping. On the other hand, chromium tanned leather has about 5 times the tensile strength than veg tan does. This makes it great for bags and heavy duty applications. That's more information than you wanted wasn't it...?

I don't know... 550 is pretty weak stuff... Hahahahaha! Just messing around. It is a really great idea. Won't ever break. The leather will tear before a stitch pops that's for sure. Are you familiar with micro cord? It's obviously a lot smaller, but still really strong stuff. May be worth looking into for smaller-ish projects. I like the sheath in all seriousness. Very good ideas.

I almost suggested those DVDs myself! But I forgot haha. Thanks Dwight!

Very nice work.

Yeah, the initial startup can be pricey, but if you figure the sheer amount of things you can make over time, I think it's worth it. There is a holster specialty forum on here as well if you haven't already found it. Cas and sass rigs are more complicated. I personally haven't made any. I have done gun rigs before just not cas and sass. I believe they have certain requirements for the holsters and belts you can use right? Lots of knowledgeable people on here, I'm sure you'll find the help you need. Have fun!

I think there's an archery section on the forum. I've seen some very nice ones here and there. Welcome

The paste he used looked like feibings black antique paste. The process is called antiquing and there are tons of threads on it I'm sure. Basically you could dye the whole project the border color. Then use a resist on the border (like resolene or super sheen). Once everything is sufficiently dry, you work in the antique paste and wipe it off quickly afterwards and let dry. The longer you let the antique sit the darker it will get. There are several colors of antique feibings offers. Hope that helps you out.

I second that. Looks like a mesmerizing process

I personally haven't tried bridle, but I'd like to. To my knowledge, true English bridle is waxy and can be buffed with a rag without applying anything at all. And just touch up once in a hike with carnauba cream. Here's a thread to look at. It says that domestic bridle leathers like yours can be dryer. One person testifies to Aussie conditioner which is very nice stuff. I would recommend that or carnauba cream be after using MPB. Aussie conditioner is a feibings product and is essentially petroleum jelly and beeswax and some people use a bit of heat when working it in. Hope this helps.

Well idk what to say. Ive never tried talcum or kitty litter. I'd be afraid of I t ruining the leather somehow. I'm not suggesting that will happen though, but it's a possibility. Like battlemunky said, you can try and match it with oil. In this case, if you don't want to darken everything, you can try the talcum and kitty litter. The way I see it is that unless you're ok with it being darker you'll have to start over. So, may as well try some alternative method before you do. Never know what might work. And next time, oil the rag over empty space. We've all spilled something on our projects before. Never fun :/ hope you figure it out.

Well, it's sort of subjective. Look on YouTube for Nigel Armitage's. He has a whole mess of very detailed videos on pricking irons and a few diamond chisels as well. Some are very expensive and meant for a professional but some are much more affordable. He gives a great deal of information and price ranges and an honest opinion along with examples of the stitch each iron produces. Well worth the time watching them. As far as a good quality chisel goes, I hear crimson hides chisels are among the best (Nigel reviews these). But they carry a premium price as well. I believe .8 tiger thread at 5-6 spi is a good balance. Keep in mind too, if you get a pricking iron you'll have to be confident that with your awl as well. And that's an entirely different skill set than just lining up leather and punching through with a chisel. Best of luck finding what you need. Just keep in mind, get what works for you.

That's my process too, except I carve my letters inverted. Mainly because it's easier to dye. I have a belt I'm still working on that has a lot of lettering that will be posted once I can stitch it up haha Looks good!

Very much cheaper haha.

I recognize those patterns! Hehe I made the portfolio, I see you just made it a bit wider to accommodate the photo album guts. Looks nice to me. Sorry it's "backwards" lol. We've all been there I wanted to ask too, how you carve your letters. Are they inverted?

Nice knot, I like tying them myself, I use paracord though because I don't have any lace thin enough haha.

Yes! Thank you. I've read both of them and they both have good ideas and approaches. Ultimately, you need to do what feels right to you.

Not sure if you know or not,l, but there are a few books on creating floral patterns. One that's really good that I like is by our very own Bob park. I believe it's simply titled "creating Western floral design" and he illustrates his process nicely. It's similar to don't Gonzalez process as well. I think it's worth the purchase. And you're already touching on parts in the book as well. The other is titled something like " creating floral design for the Artistically Impaired" and I can't remember the author of top of my head. But it uses a similar method too, and is also a good read. Just thought I'd mention them for you. Cheers!

Didn't quite follow that at first but I got it now. For some reason I thought the cup itself was part of the jig haha. Silly me. Is it just a glue down construction?

Good to hear. I haven't done fringe either but, seems fairly straight forward. I say that now and I'll find out the truth soon enough haha.

Nice! How's Mrs wedgetail? I thought she was a bit under the weather last time I commented on one of your posts. I thought about making a few of these out of some Essex I have and try selling them. I'd like to incorporate some fringe too.

It looks to me like the darker part is done by hand with a brush or something. If you look at the first pic on the billet you can see a few places where it looks like the dye went over the border. They do not appear to be antiqued at all that I can tell. So I would dye the entire project the lighter color, then hand dye the border the darker color. On the second one, it appears the same process was used, however I believe the billets and loops were dip dyed. They look a slightly bit darker and more even. But, could also be my eyes or the photo. Just my 2¢

Very nice. Smooth beveling on the tooled one too. Looks good. Sorry he lost his home bit nice of you to give it to him.

Well, from what I see I'm not sure exactly how to mimic that stitch. I suppose you could handstitching a lockstitch somehow. Machines usually sew a lockstitch where as you usually saddle stitch when hand stitching. However, I don't think that's the only factor or would make a huge difference. What are you using to make your stitching holes? A diamond awl and even chisels will give you the look you are getting. But a machine uses the needle to punch the holes, therefore the holes are round and the exact size of the needle. Maybe try punching round needle sized holes? Also what size thread are you using? Maybe try the above method with slightly smaller thread. And finally, I noticed that now had a fairly straight stitch. Maybe try grooving your leather when stitching. That's the only way I know to flatten out saddle stitching. Just some of my ideas. Maybe one or a combination of them will work. Good luck!

Ah ok, I see now. I searched Egyptian thread and only got sheets hehe

What's Egyptian thread? I haven't heard of them before.