azrider

Great thread! Thanks for explaining the why. I had heard or read some of these methods before, but didn't really know the reasons why they were used.

Think I may be calling it a night, so will haul the slab and stuff down stairs tomorrow and see how it comes out.

Its the standard inch and a half slab from Tandy. (It looks like granite, not marble now that I look at it.) I keep it on top of my rubber cutting mat, on a formica desk.

I didn't think about the stretching. I tried a few stamps, and it seems like the streching gives them an almost embossed from the back look, in addition to giving a more equal depth for the cuts. Would this weaken the leather signifigantly?

I have done my last three or four projects out of 2-4oz leather. One of the problems I have had is that large stamps, like letter stamps or the barbwire borders always seem to bounce. Last week I ordered a maker's mark, and when I tried it on the thin leather it bounced quite a bit. I made about 40 attempts to get a clear impression, and was getting kind of upset about it. I use the standard Tandy Poly mallet, and am too cheap to buy a dead blow hammer with out trying everything else first. I did decide to dig in the scrap bin, and found a few pieces of thicker leather. Some 10-11oz saddle skirting took the impression perfectly once it was cased. There was not bounce at all, and I could actually strike the tool a few times if needed. Since it worked on the thicker leather, I tried putting the thin leather on top of the thicker leather, and it worked like a charm. I think it just needed a certain thickness of leather between it and the marble to keep from bouncing. Can anyone see any reason why this might be a bad idea?

As I learn more I have been wondering about this as well. What do you mean about keeping cased? How did you do that? I have just used a sponge, let the leather case, and re-wet it as needed while tooling. If I stop, I have let it dry out and wet it again when I got back to it. I have heard about using the fridge, but haven't really understood why that needs to be done. I have not noticed any of my designs raising, but I am still learning. Hopefully some experts can chime in.

I looked into this, but was concerned with the durability once I got caugt in the rain. I also don't know if tooling would work. I found a pair of Leatherlyke hard plastic bags from a junkyard on ebay, and got them for 70 with shipping. I will be covering those. Just another option.

I have soo much to learn. Your work is awesome.

When I did mine, I spaced it at 1/4 apart. The key for the basketweave is to make sure you have the same number of holes in the top and sides. The weave came out pretty well with that spacing.

I don't consider myself a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I recently recovered my V-star seat, using the stock pan. I did buy a heavy duty staple gun, and it didn't work at all. I used the cheapest rivet gun they had at home depot, and drilled a hole every 2 inches around the plastic pan. I also replaced the stock foam with two layers of an exercise mat, and the seat is much more comfortable now. I only have about 400 miles on the bike since I finished it, but so far it is holding up well. My pan had an area cut out to allow the electronics enough room, and I imagine a metal pan would have to duplicate that, which might make it more expensive. Good luck on your project, look forward to seeing it.

Thanks for the reply Rayban. Until I started using this I was using a utility knife and a pair of the heavy duty shears. Mainly I have been using this for straight cuts, and the shears for any more intricate work. I still want a head knife, but this seems to be working well right now. I was just curious if anyone else used one.

I am still getting my collection of leatherworking tools to a respectable level, and have not purchased a head knife yet. After seeing one used last week, I really would like to get one, but funds are a little tight right now. I have an Ulu knife that someone gave me 15 years ago as after they visited Alaska. It has been being banged around in the knife drawer for all that time, and was dull as all get out. I spent about 45 minutes getting a good edge on it, and have really been impressed with it. First picture is the knife, other two are of a quick and dirty sheath I made for it today when I realized that combining a razor sharp knife, a roll of hides in the arms, and a clumsy man on stairs is just asking for trouble... So does anyone else use one of these for leatherwork? The blade was only beveled on one side, but I sharpened it from both. Any reason it would not be a good knife to use?

The cheap $5 book on lacing from Tandy says with each type of lacing how much lace you will need. Though it did say the double cordovan and the mexican basketweave would both take about 8 times. I found it took more for the basket weave.

This is for my wife. She asked for a very simple design of the "Bullboards" in Spain. I actually think it came out pretty well, but see lots of room for improvment. This was made from scaps from other projects. Firsts in this project: Pigskin lining, Double Cordovan lacing, striping as much of the dye as possible off, and re-dying because of streaks. I also had some challanges with getting backgrounder to fit into little spaces and coming out even, and holes breaking because they were punched too close to the edge of the leather.

I will not even mention the Veganism, but when I read this thread I started thinking about what makes leather work for what we want to make out of it. As someone who enjoys making things with my hands, I understand wanting to create and design things. As some one who is married, I understand the need to make your significant other happy too. For making sheaths and belts, you have already found some substitutes, but they won't take tooling. What lets the leather hold a tooled impression is the celluloid structure. When the tool crushes the fibers, the impression stays. The only other substance I could think of that might be a substitute is also natural. I have worked with very green wood before, and remember that you can make impressions and such on it with out it breaking. Once it dries these impressions are a set part of the wood. (It has to be very green, like within hours of being attached to a tree.) Soft wood would probably be the best. I lived in AZ for 30 years, and played around with Palo Verde wood some. It is very soft, and contains a lot of moisture when it comes off the tree. If you were able to split it and either plane or sand the surface, without letting it dry out, you might be able to tool some designs in the surface. Good luck in finding a way to continue using the skills and tools from leatherworking in another medium.

Thank you for the pictures Ian, I could not visulize what the two seams would look like. TinyL, are you going to do pictures as you build this?

When I tried to make mine with no seams, I ended up with huge folds of leather on the corners. It looked like I had tried to wrap a box for a gift. Another member suggested the box method as a way to avoid wrinkles. When I put the seat together the second time, I did not need to wet mold it. I am having a hard time visualizing what you mean with one on top and one on bottom.

I am not any kind of expert, but I just finished making a pylon pad and seat. Mine has wrinkles in it. One thing I ended up changing in the middle of construction is building the leather like a box, with seams at the corners. Originally, I had one piece for the top, and one for the sides, and was going to wet form the sides to the seat. I tried this and was not happy with the results. I cut out the excess leather on the corners and put in seams, and that took in a lot of the wrinkles, but i had already tried to wet form the seat, so the wrinkles were set in the leather by then. I think if you started with a box type construction you could reduce many of the wrinkles.

I have an old desk I work on upstairs, and will blast anything from Hank Sr. to Pantera. Drinks go on a table a few feet away. My last big project though, I actually dragged my stone and tools downstairs to the coffee table, and watched about 5 seasons of the Simpsons and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. The key for me is that it needs to be something that I will pay too much attention to while I work on the leather.

Nicely done! Is that the final color?

That is a very clean job. I am still working on getting my backgrounding that even. How will the seat top be attached? There doesn't seem to be much room for lacing or sewing. (The construction process has really become interesting to me, just because its done with leather that you have already put so much time into.)

All I can say is nice! Love seeing your work.

nicely done. I've seen one of those seats, and they are huge. The timing chain design fits well also.

Well, I got the seats done. Not sure if I will tackle the bags or the tank bib next. We'll see. It was a learning experince, but I fairly happy with the way it came out.

DONE!! I am really happy with the way these look. There some some glaring (to me) errors, but most people won't even see them. Further suggestions for the next time I do these are welcome.