Rockoboy

In the past I was dealing with a wholesaler, who insisted on only dealing with shopfront businesses (unless you were buying a heap and he liked you), so I feel your pain. Unfortunately, as far as I know, any wholesaler can sell to you or not, as the mood takes him, provided he is not discriminating on race, religion, gender, age etc etc etc. Hell of a way to do business IMHO, but some people are crazy or have other motivations besides "a customer is a customer".

Make sure that nobody phones "that friend" while she is ironing clothes, or she will end up with a burnt ear!

I have some steel blocks, about 1inch X 1inch X 2inch to stop my tooling job going for a walk whilst I am working on it. As many people will tell you, leather can react with ferrous metals, so I used a layer of heat shrink plastic tube over the steel. I have seen some people using a homemade weight. Two circles of leather about 3inch diameter stitched around the edge, to make a thick pancake shape, until there is a small opening remaining, then filled with lead shot and stitched closed. One of the problems with fine sand paper is the chance of roughing the surface of your leather if your job moves for any reason.

I know what you mean. A friend of mine has a 500mm X 700mm cut bed, but a design he was working on last week ended up being 460mm X 720mm.

Sorry, I have nothing to contribute. Maybe a whipmaker will be along soon, with some sensible points on this matter.

My bad. The 'usual veiner' that I see here, and the veiners that I have are more curved than yours appears to be, plus the textured finish of the 'usual veiner' is more viaually appealing, IMHO. Not withstanding that, you have done a good job with the veiner you have used.

You are definitely improving. I don't mind the cuts you made on the scrolls instead of using a veiner, but I do think the veiner looks better.

I am definitely not an expert of widely experienced, but from looking at the OP's pic, I would say the white looks like an applied finish, not a chemical reaction or 'bleed-out' from the leather. You can see where the white finish has been buffed off all the high points of the stamped areas and left in the low points. Surely if it was a 'hide thing' (technical term!), it would cover more of the leather, not just the low points. IMHO.

I am hoping "those who know more" will be along soon, because I am also interested in this idea. What about using your finish topcoat (whichever finish you prefer) over the top of the whole item after dye has been applied?

This is what I do, usually for the last 4 - 6 impressions, depending on how long, and what shape the run is.

I think Beta was also the format that was used in the television stations and commercial video operations because it was a better format. I guess VHS had a better spin-doctors and advertising company and more money behind it.

Maybe a different camera app or pic viewer app will allow you to change pic size. When I could not get my camera app to work silently, (good for candid pics), I got a new camera app and it works better than the camera app that came with the fone.

This sounds like something that would be really good to have.

Thank you for that information. Every little bit helps.

Are any of these feet likely to fit my Protek TY-8B (227R copy)?

Can I ask which country and/or what area are you in?

I played with a few bits of leather at home before I hit 12 years old, but my first "project" was with a teacher when I was 12 years old. That was a sheath for a folding knife, both of which I still have somewhere. I am not sure how I ended up doing leatherwork with that teacher, because I was not in his class, but I did, and then I was given a few more tools for Xmas or birthdays. That lasted for a few years I guess, then something else came along. I made a few bits and pieces over the years when I needed them, but those tools were not on my horizon. I found some of those tools again about a year ago, and there's a few things that I had figured on making, so ... here I am ... a few thousand bucks into a great past-time! I have given my 2 kids, 10 year old twin, a bit of a go, but they do not seem interested at the moment, It might not happen immediately, but it will happen!

Excellent tutorial, excellent job.

Thanx for your input Tugadude. It was my inattention that did not notice the diamond point on the black stitching chisel. That's what I like about this site so much ... people make suggestions or pass information and nobody gets riled up because they are right or wrong. Mostlypeople get corrected if they're incorrect or incomplete information and everybody moves along.

I am not an expert, but first thing I would point out, is the difference between pricking irons, stitching chisels and lacing chisels. A pricking iron is made to show where an awl should make a hole for thread to pass through. This iron does not penetrate right through the leather, just marks the top. A stitching chisel is used to make a whole (or line of holes) for thread to pass through. This chisel penetrates right through the leather. A lacing chisel is used to make a hole for lace to go through.This chisel penetrates right through the leather. Your pic appears (to me anyway) to be a lacing chisel on the top, a stitching chisel in the middle and a pricking chisel? on the bottom. A lot of decent tools come from different countries. I have some decent (but not exceptional) stitching chisels from China for less than $30AUD for a set of 1, 2, 4 & 10 prong. They work fine for me, and some leather I am going through is around 6 - 7mm vegtan. IMHO. I am sure somebody who knows more than me (which is not difficult) will be along real soon.

Hi there Noobleather, There are a few of us on here from around WA. There's 2 of us, that I know of, in Rockingham, there's a couple from other southern suburbs and at least one guy from the wheatbelt. Maybe see if you can catch up with one of the guys from Leatherworkers Association of WA, or PM me if you would like more details. Meetings every 3rd Sunday of the month. Your dog collars look really good. Do you do anything with the edges, such as burnishing?

Exceptional piece of work. I like the way you made use of the different textures.

I think it's so you will have to buy lots of different sizes and lots of different colours in each size, so the thread manufacturers get rich!

You are the master of understating! It look excellent, especially the basket-weave. I did a small piece of basket-weave on the weekend ... all I can say after seeing your excellent work compared to my 'mess' is "I hope your OCD is under control".

That looks excellent. I like the detail on the strap with the tassels.