Rockoboy

I am a member of two leatherworkers groups within an hour of my home in Western Australia. Both are friendly, informative and helpful. Sometimes (but not always) I have found its what you put out, that comes back to you.

My new years resolution is to have more at the end of the year. I started with nothing, and I still have some of it left.

There are some better knots for joining braid fishing line, which I believe is similar to kevlar. You might find some knots will slip, so I suggest you tie a couple and see if you can make them slip on a test piece before using them on a project.

If you can't find them in your own backyard, try Birdsall Leather in Sydney, Australia. I bought a heap of discontinued stamps off them last year. Maybe try their email salesATbirdsall-leatherDOTcomDOTau

Welcome to the 'funny farm' that is leatherwork. Looking good for your 1st few projects. I learn something every project, such as the order for stamping and wet moulding. Try out a batch of 10 or 20 drink coasters or book marks or key tags ... anything that you can do fairly cheaply and give to people. You will learn a lot about cutting after cutting out that lot. Then move on to edge bevelling, etc etc. Most important thing of all? Enjoy what you do.

Not so hidden, I reckon!

I guess testing will be your best indicator of suitability, but I am thinking back-sewing 2 or 3 stitches might lock the end of the thread. I don't think glue will be helpful because (as far as I am aware) Kevlar is fairly slick and does not glue well.

Beautiful job. I reckon a face on pic must be much harder than a profile, but yours could almost pass for a photo.

He did like it, or so he said, but the microscope kit was better!

Were you wiping the antique off too hard so the cloth wiped out the antique? Or maybe your cloth was too soft and got into the pattern easily? On a small item like you made here, I like to use a baseball stitch, just a thought for your next one.

Excellent result and approved by the highest order? The subject. I am in awe of your courage and your excellent work!

I can see why you are looking for this set, it is really nice. Sorry, I don't have one.

@YinTx any left, and what would postage be to Australia please? I like the look of 2016.

I do believe @koreric75 might have hit the nail on the head. The hole should be wider at the entry side and narrower (down to finished size) on the exit side. The saddle soap is a great idea, otherwise the strain on the leather might cause breakages.

I have seen something on y-toob about make round lace. I think the guy drilled a hole in a piece of steel, cut some 3 or 4mm leather strips for 3 or 4mm round lace, wet the strips and pulled it through the hole to round the lace. If I remember correctly, I don't think there was any blade involved, but I could be wrong.

On a sheath like you have here, I would use stainless about 1/16" X 3/4" X full length of the sheath (or an 1/4" less than full length) That's what I used on one case that I wanted to reinforce the top edge of. The 2nd use was for a much heavier duty case (plus what I had on hand), that was about 1/4" X 3/4" across the hinged part where the lid met the case. I wrapped the steel in goat hide after applying a coat of contact adhesive, and riveted the wrapped strip in place.

I agree with @SilverForgeStudio. Maybe a pattern for looks, and texture so your foot does not slip on the plate.

That colour is great, edges, stitching, pattern. It's all really good. Well done for your 1st.

The 1st thing today that made me say "WOW! That is Excellent!" out loud. I am thinking I might aim for my next belt to have something similar.

WOW!! I have serious tool envy! I think you have one of the best equipped workshops I have ever seen. Ohh yeah, great job on the rebuild.

I think you have answered your own question here. If you have not had any failures so far, and you have made several items over the years, introducing another process into the manufacture of the item, will reduce your profit margin, unless you increase the price to cover the increased effort and supplies, which might reduce your total future sales. This would probably reduce your profitability. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

They all finished in time for Father's Day, so that was a good thing. I think they enjoyed the class. I am disappointed I forgot to get a pic of all, or even some, of their finished key tags.

Hi there Reece, Welcome to the forum. My condolences on the passing of your Father, I have been where you are now. Just a suggestion on your stamps question. If you have a piece of scrap leather, maybe some belly or something you are less likely to use, make a stamp impression of each of the stamps you currently have, then post that pic. If I had the time and/or I was not so lazy, I could go through all my stamps to identify what you have, then make some suggestions for future purchases. On the other hand ... maybe somebody who knows the numbers will step up and make some suggestions. Either way, good to see you here, don't forget to post some pics of your work.

I borrowed a clicker knife from a friend and cut them out on my shop press. For items of this type, clicking them out is the only way to go. It would take days to hand cut each one, and the consistency would not be so good either. I did hand punch each hole using a 4 hole lacing punch and a single drive punch. From memory, that took me a few days, a couple hours per day.

I would be very interested to know more about the process for making plastic from vegetable oil. Does it use copious amounts of water, lots of electricity or leave other toxic waste at the end of the process? Methinks there is more to this story than meets the eye. One salient point I obtain from a quick Google search "Producing 250 million tons of bioplastic plastic to replace conventional plastic, will require 100 million hectares of land, which is 7% of the arable land on earth" Wikipedia