GRod

Man... Not only does your dad have a great-looking wood shop, he has a pretty killer home-brewing rig too. Green with envy, I am. The stitching clam looks very nice. Be proud of it.

Excellent idea! How would anyone know if I'd done a poor job?

I have precisely one leather project on my resume: a very poorly tooled Aztec-ish lizard on a coaster. I'm lurking these parts because I simply hope to learn enough to make a few useful things; perhaps a nice belt and probably a journal cover. Maybe a nice satchel/messenger bag if I'm feeling ambitious. The level of artistry on these pages is, quite simply, staggering. If I can feel as though I've added value around here simply by mentioning my silly little coffee cup hot plate, well... that's a huge personal win for me! Glad to help.

I had this problem whenever I undertook a garage project. Then I selected one of these from the gift catalog my employer provides us around Christmas every year: https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Coffee-Warmer-Office-MWBLKPDQ-RB/dp/B000CO89T8 This silly little device changed my life. It doesn't keep the coffee piping hot, but very drinkable for as long as you want to leave it there. I did find that it's helpful to keep some kind of rubber/plastic coaster on top of the mug. Steam will condense there and drip back into the mug -- keeps your coffee from boiling dry. Added benefit of keeping sawdust, etc from settling in my beverage. EDIT: Ha! Well, there is apparently a more elegant solution to the condensation problem: https://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Covers-Multicolored-Flexible-Covers，Hot/dp/B07DWX2S6N/ref=sr_1_4

This. My daughter had a very successful competitive youth career showing in APHA (American Paint Horse Association) shows, particularly in western events. She collected a *shocking* number of huge, shiny belt buckles, each detailing some conquest or other (trail, western pleasure, etc, etc). She would sometimes take four or six buckles to a show and swap 'em out between events, just for grins. I bet there are 30 or more buckles, all in their little boxes, stacked on the shelf in her closet. She's out of competitive showing now (learning to play polo in college, actually), but my bride is chomping at the bit (pardon the pun) for me to learn how to make the fancy stuff (I am still as green as green can be at this). Tandy was running a pretty good deal on some upholstery hides and my wife went with me to pick something out to recover four kitchen chairs. We ended up with a simple black chrome tan, but she had no idea how large a hide was. When we unfurled the thing her eyes lit up. "YOU will have enough to make me some new SHOW CHAPS with this!!!"

Your bio is, hands down, the best one on the page. I tried to play jazz through college (saxophone), but couldn't make it stick. Unlike the guys I sat in sections with, I wasn't majoring in music; it became hard to hang with them in pretty short order. I gave it up by my junior year because I felt like too much of a liability. We have a big band 'club' at work that's populated with folks like me. Mostly duffers who can't play out with real musicians anymore, but with a few ringers thrown in who make the rest of us sound really good. But you've given me an idea for a (simple?) project: a snazzy neckstrap. (I haven't actually made anything yet - I've become thoroughly smitten with some of the accomplished work around here and am deep in 'knowledge acquisition' mode - I have yet to buy tools and start a project). This is actually my first post on the forum. The strap looks fantastic, by the way.