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Thank you! I bet it will be but I've not tested the weight yet. Over here it's illegal to have ammo in your possession if you don't have a licence for the firearm. I don't own a shotgun, so it will have to wait until I can deliver it. Thanks, yes it's all hand sewn. Approximately 3 metres of sewing in this beast, by my calculation. I don't own a sewing machine but since I'm a hobbyist I don't have a 'business case' to spend so much money on a machine. I do enjoy the hand sewing even if it's a challenge to keep the stitch lines straight and to lay the stitches with as near a precision as I can muster.

I've interacted on this forum about the shotgun shell belt I was making for a friend. It's done now. Leather for the belt: Bovine vegtan, 3.5 - 4 mm thick from the Oasis tannery (oasistanning.co.za) Leather for the loops: Calfskin vegtan, 1.4 - 1.6 mm thick from Leatherite (Leatherite.co.za) Thread: A 1.0 mm braided poly/nylon thread I stumbled upon at a local shoe repair supplier who sold it as "handsewing thread". Buckle and rivets: antique brass (surely "fake antique" is a better description). Buckle is 40 mm wide. All stitching done by hand. Stitch length 6 mm. Dye: Staycraft medium brown, thereafter a coat of Neetsfoot oil. Edges slicked by hand with a piece of denim and beeswax, and then recoloured with a permanent marker pen. Finish: Kiwi brown boot polish, a good rub of Plush Hide Food, What else? O yeah, about six weeks of a-couple-of-minutes-here-and-there time - which sometimes turned into a couple of hours... Feedback welcome - I don't want to tell you of all the flaws I know about - too many to mention... Please don't spare the critique, it's the only way I'll learn. Thanks for looking!

My, that's interesting. I guess it is the heat in the molten wax that causes the hardening. I haven't found a reliable supplier for beeswax, but I understand the plumber's wax ring used to seal pipe joints (mainly toilets) is made almost entirely of beeswax... I might use that to give this procedure a try on one or two projects... Thanks for explaining!

Hi bjornk, I've not heard of "hardening leather with beeswax" before? How does that work, please? I thought that beeswax feeds and softens leather but maybe there is a technique to it that I've not encountered before. It would be interesting to learn how that is done. Thanks!

This. Is. Awe inspiring! Beautiful. Where do you keep your scrap bin? If stuff close to this is going into the bin, I think I'm going to come raid it... Well done! After seeing stuff like this, I think I'm never going to pick up a maul again...

Hi Wreford, welcome to Leather Anonymous, a.k.a. Leatherworker.net... The 12 steps does not involve detox at all, but it tracks through the envy of the exceptional pieces on here through to evolving mastery... It start off with seeing something and thinking "ahhhh, I can make that easily!"... And then buying a "few" tools. And then a few more. And then a few more expensive tools. And better leather. And a bench. And by then it's impossible to get out of it, because your family keeps on saying "that looks nice!" and you just want to try making something close to that masterpiece you've seen on leatherworker.net... Confusing, I know, but completely addictive. I see you're also from South Africa - there are quite a few Saffas on here. I'm on the northwestern side of Egoli. Do you have easy access to a good leather supplier? And a tool merchant?...

Building on this that: run a small competition with one of these as prize. Offer first runners up a discount coupon... Very nice concept, by the way! And looks very sturdy.

Wow, incredible work! The three panel construction reminds me of the Bible cover you did (and which I emulated... ) Very nice!

Hi katsass, I'm a real newbie here, having 'unlurked' only a few weeks ago. I've however sat in the shadows and observed for quite some time, and have grown to admire your work and your style of interacting here. Although I'm not into holsters I can admire a well made piece, and you have posted plenty. If this is your last one, would you mind sharing with us how you did your first? And any memorable items between the first and the last? How did the art and craft evolve in the years you worked with leather? Again, thank you for your wonderful contribution to keep the craftsmanship in the craft.

Hahaha - indeed a hazard to learning and exploration, the guardians of the household budget... But we really do it for them, don't we?

Thanks - so far so good. I haven't tortured it (yet) so after a few evenings of light use, it still slices brilliantly. I've had the putty knife in my collection of home maintenance tools for about 30 plus years and it's seen quite heavy use as a scraper. Thinking about it now, converting it to a skiving knife will probably be a "light duty" life for it, hopefully for the next 30 years!

Wow! I like, and like plenty! Why don't you offer the customer a few options and differentiate on the effort it takes? Something along the lines of: * Basic dopp kit - machine stitched, no piping, no tooling: $80 * Next level up - machine stitched, with piping and one tooled flower: $100 * "Level 3" hand stitched, piping, no tooling: $120 * "Deluxe" - hand stitched, with piping and tooling including three initials: $150 Something like that caters to the customer who wants a status item, or bragging rights, or to the gift market where quality is more desirable than low prices...

Living off the beaten track means that I have to import tools - expensive, and usually out of range of my hobby budget - or attempt to make what I need. So I've 'repurposed' an old putty knife into some sort of skiving knife... Will it hold an edge? Don't know yet, but the steel seems to be OK. Took quite a bit of elbow grease to get an edge using the smaller stone I reserve for awls and tools. After sharpening I stropped it up on my homemade strop, and tested it on a piece of 3.5 mm vegtan. Here it is on top of the strop, and sandwiched between the strop and the stone is the test piece of vegtan strap, turned sideways. Here's a second view, showing the other side (and the strop is turned also).

Wow, that's an interesting design - it's a pity I've cut the leather already else I might just have gone for such a type of construction. The scan is a bit small, and I can't figure out the 5th diagram from the right?

Some homemade items I use almost daily: The funny shaped vegtan item top left is an awl stop. Made from several layers of old, almost disintegrating leather with two scraps glued top and bottom, this is used as backstop for my awl when stitching. The brown strip at the bottom is also from old, dry leather and is also used as an awl stop used to save the awl blade when I need to make stitching holes on a longer side of an item. (I use an overstitch wheel to mark stitch placement, then push through the leather laid on top of this strip before setting the item in my stitch clamp.) The awl on top of the leather strip was made from a nail. I did not properly harden and temper the blade before setting it in the handle of an old sponge brush, so the tip is far too soft to use on thicker leather. This is the awl I use to open up a stich hole made with my proper awl if it has closed up somewhat when I come around with needle and thread. The two tubular items at the top are "finger cosies" I put on my fingers when I stitch. Made from medium thickness chrome tan scraps. Top right are two leather thimbles from thinish vegtan scraps. Since "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I made these after examples seen here on leatherworker.net

Another useful older post... I'm learning a lot by going through older posts! Just my "standing on the shoulders of giants" learning approach....

Eish, this approach has potential... Outdoor pizza oven, man cave... Whatnot!

Hahaha - indeed it did raise more than an eyebrow... More like a frying pan! Seriously though, it didn't smell much at all if you do it in the oven since the plastic is not exposed to flame or direct heat. The trick is to cut the milk jugs into small little pieces - squares of no more than 2 cm X 2 cm, pack that tightly into a metal container, crank up the heat to 180°C and let it bake for about an hour before removing it (welders gloves work great) and then compacting it with something heavy. Then it's back to the oven for. Another 30 minutes and then "rinse and repeat" until you are satisfied with it's density, shape and size. Of course you can add additional plastic throughout the process as long as you achieve a more or less uniform melt. The plastic never gets into a molten state, it becomes slightly tacky if you get impatient and crank the heat up too much. Smell? Surprisingly very little. I was able to drive it off by opening windows and running a fan in the kitchen. Was Mrs K angry? Well... She was out meeting a friend, and by the time she returned the house smelled completely different. Bacon and fried onions leave a pleasant aroma...

Thank you Bikermutt! Although I believe I've seen a thread about melting plastics for mauls and other stuff here on leatherworker.net before I attempted this one. I haven't bookmarked it, but if it wasn't here, I certainly got the idea from a search on the Interwebs, so I stood on the shoulders of giants...

Where I live I don't have easy access to leather shops and especially not shops that sells tools and accessories. Besides I'm a hobbyist and have only sold a few items, I'm certainly not funding my leather addiction yet ... When I started looking at doing some tooling, it became pretty clear that the mallet I used would not be adequate. I had the choice of either importing one or attempting to make one from empty milk jugs, a ready source of hdpe plastic which melts easily. My tooling maul is below. It consists of roughly 18 2-litre milk jugs melted down in my kitchen oven @ 180°C. I think it took close to three hours to complete the melting. The handle is a 30 cm long water pipe, covered with a veg tan scrap. The complete homemade maul - "Moker" - weights in at 736 grams, handle included. My tooling surface is a granite washbasin cut out I picked up from a local manufacturer of bathroom ware. The edges are tapered and were quite sharp when I got it, but I used an angle grinder with a flap disk to smooth it down.

Hi Thinus, welcome to leatherworker.net - actually, both a University and a technical college The level of sheer knowledge among the members on here is only surpassed by the brute force experience and 'leather smarts'. Not to forget the talent and creativity - I regularly open a post and then have to pick my drooling jaw from the floor. It is exciting to also dig through older posts to see how some of the masters who currently post work have grown since joining the community. Are you aiming to develop a specific speciality? With Leatherite in Pretoria, I presume you have no problem with obtaining tools, leather and sundries. I don't get there often enough for my own tastes, but my wife refuses to consider moving closer... KK

Here's a link to a 2016 thread with very useful information about doing cost effective leather work. a

I can't comment on the technical aspects of saddle building or repairs, but do like the combination of colours and the clean lines. Years, nay - decades - since I last sat in a saddle, and 'twas an "English saddle" at that.

Old post, but wow! You learn something new on leatherworker.net every day! Pure beeswax! I presume it would be treated in some way or another to 'stabilise' it?

Thanks for the confirmation Yin. It's just that I think that stuff like my learner projects should be put up with a sign saying "hard hat required - learning in progress" or something like that. And thanks for appreciating my hat! Thank you Blink! Yeah, it is indeed. However the wool seems to cause a skin irritation. I've washed it with a non allergenic softener but I still seem to have a reaction to the wool. Will do a quick fix cotton lining to see if it solves the issue. If not, someone will receive an unexpected gift...