wolvenstien

I am sorry I didnt post back sooner. I thought I did. All went well. I had everything prepared to do the class. But being the first time I did not know what to expect. I got there a few minutes late and the master already had parents cutting new blanks. And had most of the new cuts immersed in water and drying out.... I stopped them from immersing any more. I broke out the new mallets I made and the blanks, and got started. Had about 10 stamps each boy could choose from and they loved it. We ended up doing two sets each... a practice and a real one. Most boys chose the same stamp. They all turned out fairly well. I didnt think to take any pix. All the leather got sent home with the boys... and I didnt think to tell them to leave them for me to take home and I would finish them... I hope to be able to get them to bring them back next week and finish them for the boys.

In all honesty, I have no idea. I was asked to cut out 45-50 blanks - the triangle two hole on top one hole on bottom type. But I believe that total is for every boy in the pack, not for those expected to show up next tuesday. Tuesday is an off school day and a non official pack meeting day. So the Pack Master is guessing maybe less than half will show. No one there that i know of that has any leather experience other than me. I like the no dye approach.... case, whack with stamp, wax, burnish the edges and there ya go.... I have to get to work this weekend on making mallets. I have a plan to have 8-10 mallets ready for Tuesday. But I only have one portable 12x12 piece of marble/granite. Will be a learning experience for all of us I am sure. I will have a few den parents who will be there to help out. Thanks for the advice and pointers. Serp

The beginning of this school year, my 7yo decided he wanted to join his local Cub Scouts pack. I have been drafted to head up the first leather class of this school year. The Pack Master had the idea to have all the boys make a neckerchief slide copying one he bought. I have been away from leather for over 2 years now. I had to make a place in my garage that is mostly used for storage and a makeshift wood shop to set up my leather shop. I believe I have found all my tools. He handed me a scrap piece of 8/9 belly and asked me if I could get 45-50 blanks out of the belly scrap. I honestly did not think I could, but I was able to get exactly 50 blanks. I do not have a clicker or anything so I had to do this all by hand. I have never taught anything about leather to anyone. Especially kids. I believe the Scout Master wants me to do this with all the kids in the pack, from the Bobcats to the Weblos. The good thing is that it is scheduled for next Tuesday when school is out for fall break, and probably not as many kids will show up since it is not going to be an officially scheduled meeting. I honestly have no clue what I should do and not do. I think the Scout Master just wants each kid to stamp their rank (Bobcat, Wolf, Bear or Weblos) onto the leather and put some holes into it for the neckerchief to go through. Should I pre-case the leather blanks before I take them there? Soak them, bag them, and then refrigerate them? Take them there dry? What about finishing? just oil them or what? I have no clue what to expect and have no idea what the kids can complete in the 30-60 minutes I will have to work with them. Any and all info help would be appreciated.

Did the pasta roller skive the leather or smash it? From what I am reading I am leaning toward smashing it.... thats alot of pressure the roller is applying if it is smashing it.

very cool, thanks Spinner.

I caught this pic on a biker site I am a member of, and talked to the guy who uses the pic as his avatar. I asked him who made it and he told me that he found the pic and liked the design. He would love to have one made for his bike.... I just like the way a saddle, a holster and a seat were all merged together.... looks awesome.

There are two schools of thought of using oils that have the potential of going rancid with leather. I have never used it on leather, but I personally watched the in house leather guru at my local tandy use olive oil on a rifle scabbard, and when I asked him about it he said that that was how he was taught. I know that any time you work with wook you should not use veg based oils at all.... mineral oils or walnut.... but for leathers I stick with what is popularly used and has been for years, neetsfoot, mink, and the other one I cant think of off the top of my head.

Yes, a HIGHLIGHTER is just that a highlighter of the cracks and crevices in your tooling. If you are looking for the same color in the cuts and on the non tooled areas, use a dye. There is stuff called RESIST as mentioned above. you use this and apply it to the leather in the areas you do NOT want the dye or highlight to penetrate, you apply it, allow it to dry, then use the dye or highlight, then use a damp cloth or other to remove the dye or highlight over the resisted area. Now you can do as suggested above and use a shoe/boot brush to get the highlight out of the deep areas. As for wetting the leather, this is called "casing" and is the most important step you will take in prepping your leather for tooling. You will not get it right the first time you do it, nor the second or third either. I remember when I bought my first tandy kit, and followed the instructions, I did not case it cause I did not know what it was, and was very put off by the fact that the leather would not take my tooling... I had to beat on the tools to make any type of impression.... As someone above said there are as many techniques for casing leather as there are members to this site.... there are over 14,000 members here. It is something you have to find what is right for you. The basics everyone does is wet the leather, the allow it to "dry" back to its original color, then start tooling. Some people put it in plastic bags, some put it in the refrigerator, some put under glass, some do this some do that. You have to read everything everything you can about how everyone does it, and find your one way you like. For me, it depends on the thickness of the leather and how long I am giving myself to start tooling it. 3/4 oz leather, I like to use a casing agent I buy at Tandy.... I will wet the leather down on the top side, allow it to color back, and I will put it to my cheek to feel the dampness, if I cant feel the dampness I allowed it to dry too much, if I feel too much I allow it to dry longer. If it is thicker leather like 8/9 oz, I will fill the sink or other with hot water and submerge the leather until the bubbles stop coming out of the leather. This is telling me that it is completely filled with water and then I pull it out and set it aside and keep an eye on it to make sure she doesnt over dry. Will take several hours, and usually I will do this before I go to bed to allow it to dry over night. then I do the cheek test. You do not want it to be too dry, she will not take the tooling like she should/could, and you do not want her too wet because she will be mushy and not give the tooling she could/should either. Hope this helps out some.

I think the main idea of a slab is two fold, something smooth for the leather to work upon and something heavy enough to pound on without giving bounce. Suchs to have bounce when tooling and you get a double or triple imprint of your tool. I use a 1.5 inch thick slab that I picked up as scrap from a granite counter top shop. Piece weighs about 75 pounds and it does not move when I tool.

I too have not been on and havent searched the forum, just browsed for things that caught my attention. I just saw a post in the adult section from Domsleather about making floggers off of Dracs design and then he reposted that when he posted he didnt know RIP to Drac... No, he must mean that because Drac hasnt been on the site for a while... I just talked to Drac a few months ago.... So I did a search for Drac and found this. This really sucks. I was able to meet with Drac on a few occasions while he lived in Atlanta. He let me use his Boss stitcher and gave me a hands on walkthrough for his method of making floggers. I have a beautiful one here that he made that night. he was a great guy. A skater... he trashed his knees either before and after he joined the military, and never once tried to get out because of his knees. He did his full tour through constant pain. Had to be late October when I was sitting out on my deck enjoying a nice evening outside and my phone took it upon itself to call him up... I heard it making noise and pulled it out to find Drac on the other end. I got to talk and BS with him for a bit, he told me things in Austin were going and improving. I did not get any idea that he was troubled. There are not many people in this word I get along with and I like. He was one of these few people. I counted him as friend. I will miss you my friend. I will see you in Asgard, meet me at the gates and we will converse on the way to Valhalla.

Mick, sorry, I havent been around the site in quite some time. The bike is black with blue. It is a 3rd gen Honda Magna. Just bought a house, and my computer is packed away and I am on my laptop which doesnt have many pix on it.

this is X1 dressing "for natural leathers" I like it... shook up the bottle and used a dobber to apply to some natural leather with lettering stamped onto it. It has a dark pigment to it... and acted as a kind of antique. it did darken the leather some as well, but it gave it a kind of cool look. Think I might go back to Tandy and buy a few more and shelve them.

Tandy was selling quart bottles of dye and this X1 for $5.00 each so I bought one of each... have no clue what the X1 is... can anyone tell me?

Ok, what is the Treble Clef? the music symbol?

I cannot believe craftool does not offer an ampersand. I need ampersands in three sizes, 1/4 1/2 and 3/4. Does anyone know of anyone who makes these? And just in case you do not know what an ampersand is, it is this symbol: & Thanks