Leather Bum

Getdown, Thank you for mentioning this place. I Googled the name and came up with their webpage (at least I think it's the same place you're speaking of): Fox Valley Leather Company. It looks like a great place to buy leather from. . . L'Bum

Alright, I think I see what you guys mean now. I agree, it does seem a little unfair to only buy from someplace when you can get something that's on sale. . . I hadn't thought of that before. But still, my only point was to show that Siegel of California really doesn't have such high retail prices. It doesn't matter if it's on sale or not, their tools (CS Osborne) are a lot of times better-priced than Tandy's. And they even show how their Lexol prices compare favorably to TLF. . . L'Bum

Art, what exactly do you mean? "Cherry-picking"? Yeah, I agree; that's not what I intended to do. . . I just tried to find an item that both companies sell (the same one, not just the same type), and as you can see from the links I gave (unless I'm misunderstanding what is meant), Siegel's price is lower than Tandy's even when it's not on sale! :biggrin: L'Bum

Heh, well, let's just look at one example. . . Then we'll see who's prices are high. . . #70 Round Knife 1 #70 Round Knife 2 L'Bum

Hello, Has anyone tried out Bee Natural's Leather Hues (scroll down a little more than halfway)? I just recently found out about it, but I don't know what it is like (and it seems kind of expensive : ). If anyone has it, I would appreciate a review of this product (and I'm sure others would, too). How does it look? Does it work well for the Sheridan style of staining? How does it compare to Fiebing's and Tandy's liquid stains? Thanks very much, L'Bum

Hello again, Here are some pictures of the finished wallet. Thank you to everyone for their suggestions; I did get the liner glued in without wrinkles. I think what I did (I don't fully remember ) is apply Duall #88 to both pieces, glue one side first, begin the fold, and then glue the rest; right afterwords, I folded it entirely and let it dry with something heavy on top. As you can see, it's not made out of carving leather; it's one of the scrap pieces I picked up at Tandy one time, so I'm actually not sure what type of leather it is. This simple wallet is the same pattern as the Tandy Card Case Kit, except it's a little longer to allow cards to fit better. . . Although I did get the edges pretty smooth eventually, I wonder if anyone has a better procedure to slicking the edges of this type of wallet (one layer of unknown leather [maybe chrome-tanned cowhide?] and a liner and pockets made out of pigskin). . . So how would you suggest smoothing this type of edge? EDIT: Oh yeah, heh, you will probably notice that I stitched the entire wallet backwards (not on purpose)! The inside stitches should be on the outside. . . Oh well, it doesn't look too bad. :D L'Bum

Wow, that looks really cool, Wayne! I'm not even sure how that sort of thing is done. . . Quite nice! It would also be neat to see it with the watch. . . L'Bum

Can anyone give advice on how to glue a wallet liner (prior to sewing, of course) so the liner will not wrinkle when the wallet is folded? I'm dealing with a pigskin liner, and I want the wallet to fold easily without the liner wrinkling. . . Thanks for any advice. L'Bum

Right now (24MAY07) there is an ebay sale I learned about on a leather list of which I am a member. The sale mainly consists of Craftools and other stamping tools. Here's a link to it: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcathesQQhtZ-1 L'Bum

IMO, it actually kind of looks like it was drawn on with, maybe, a marker. . .? I don't know. Very neat-looking work, Candyleather! EDIT: OK, so it isn't white leather, but it still looks drawn on to me. . . L'Bum

Neat holsters there, Don. . . I like the soft shine of the finish. What do you use to get that look? L'Bum

This is not really on topic, but. . . Pete, are you saying you used the Bickmore stuff mixed with dye to antique the leather, too? I've never used Bick's leather-care products, and I'm interested in hearing more about it. Did you use the Bick-4 conditioner? I would be interested in seeing what this antiquing method looks like. . . Thank you, LBum p.s. Has anyone ever used Apple Polishes' products? I noticed they have the same address and telephone number as Bickmore. . . Odd, they appear to be the same company. . .?

Ok, I should have made my post more informative :biggrin:. It's not vegetable-tanned leather. Here's the situation: I'm looking for some 2 oz. (or pretty close) colored leather with which to make leather balls. Since I want bright colors, I figured I could obtain some white leather and dye it whatever colors I want; that way, I know for sure it is all the same type and weight of leather. . . So, I bought some 2 oz. scraps of white leather (deerskin? At least, that's what I wanted to get. ) from Tandy, and it appears to have a sort of finish already on it. Dying (using Fiebing's Pro Oil Dye) after using Deglazer certainly seems to work better than using the dye straight on the leather; however, the leather becomes noticeably thinner (more compressed) and (possibly) stiffer afterwords. Oiling it might help, and I guess it might work even though it is thinner; but I kind of like how soft and nice it is before the dye. . . Here are some quick before and after pictures: Why don't I just use already-colored leather? I would rather that, but I don't know where to get it in the quantities I'd like; I do not need 80+ square feet of leather (4 times 20 sq ft per hide -- high price as well). Actually, I don't know of very many places to get brightly-colored leather anyway. . . I purchased some small pieces of colored leather from Global Leathers, but I'm pretty certain it's not all the same type, and sometimes the finish cracks. . . Does anyone know of a source for brightly colored ~2 oz leather -- all the same type, and the finish doesn't crack? Or, how about some way to color white leather (a good lasting color) without the leather getting thinner. . .? (hmm, long post, oh well) LBum

Has anyone else found that some leather gets thinner or compressed when it is dyed? I have tried dying some 2 oz leather (at least, I think that's how thick it is), and it seems to have become thinner where the dye was applied. Does anyone know why? LBum

Yes, thank you, Bruce, for sharing those photos. . . I like the Sheridan style, and Chester's work is indeed some of the best. LBum

Clay, Are those Craftool F916 and F917? They seem to look much different than these: F916 and F917. Tandy's don't seem like they would work as well as yours. . . LBum

Wow, that's a neat effect, Jack. Hmm, it must be the lighting in the pictures, then, because those stamped areas look really light-colored (nearly white) to me. . . Thank you, LBum

Yes, those are indeed exceptional cases, Jack (and good pictures). I too am interested in finding out how those highlights were done. . . Very cool. LBum

Thanks, Bill; that's a very interesting method. It seems like a much better way of staining than merely putting a resist all over the entire piece because the antique is able to actually color the leather instead of just sitting on top of the resist. I have actually tried this method (sort of; using Bee Natural RTC instead), but I have not had much success because I'd like to be able to stain a whole floral carving (in the Sheridan style); because it's so easy to accidentally get the resist where I don't want it (e.g. a flower center), I haven't found it very reliable (yet). . . Thank you very much for the detailed explanation :D. LBum

Bill, I think I see exactly what you mean by trying to resist only the high spots while keeping the resist from penetrating the low spots. . . and that basket stamp sample you showed looks like it has this effect. How did you do it? LBum

Hmm, unless I miss my guess, that looks to me like an A888 or something similar. . . I could be wrong, though. I like the narrow veins on the leaves of the mahogany-colored notebook. . . what tool was that? The (Glock?) holster looks neat as well. . . Dave, would you describe what finish technique you used for both of those notebooks? Thanks. LBum

Wow, that's an exceptional piece there! I hope you continue posting pictures of your work, Clay; I really like seeing it. . . What do you do to make the eyes so shiny on the figures? LBum

Yeah, it was a little messed up, but I got the punch replaced at Tandy. Here are some closeup pictures of what it used to look like. Now, these were taken after I attempted to bend the puncher straight; you can see how off-center the round base piece was (it locked in place this way). . . Pictures (Heh, yeah, there's a reflection of me on the punch, oh well. )

Well, Tom, it's been a few months. How do you like the conditioner? I'm interested to hear what it's like. . .

I recently purchased a Hand Sewing Punch from TLF. However, I noticed that the puncher piece (the point that comes from the top part) was bent sideways in order to poke into the holes on the round bottom. This -- as far as I can tell -- was because the round hole-sizer piece on the bottom was made so that when it locks into a position (so as to allow a certain size hole to be punched), the hole on the round piece does not quite match with the hole on the frame (where the leather punchout falls out). I hope this makes sense (I might post pictures about it. . .) because I would like to know something from anyone else who owns or knows about this tool: is the puncher piece supposed to be bent sideways, or is mine made incorrectly? Thanks. . .