chuck123wapati

that is a nice-looking grinder for sure, they also work well for making new tools and sharpening if you can slow them down enough. I use a regular old 4" belt grinder for leather and sharpening and i have a 2x48 for tool work. I have been thinking for a year or two that a cloth belt would be awesome for burnishing, and how I would sew one up that would travel straight, then I might of just had an epiphany. Turning an old belt inside out!!! I'll be finding out how well that works pretty darn soon lol, but it's 4 am and i aint had me bean soup/coffee. lol

what is speed wax?

My wife and I are walkers, lol we try for at least a mile a day but running is not my thing I was a sprinter in high school and never really got into long-distance running. Now biking, hiking, and skiing are more my style of long-distance exercise. There's nothing more mentally relaxing than a good, quiet walk, or in your case, a run. You live in an awesome place for winter recreation, and i envy you. I would indeed wear out a set of x-country skis there. Altitude here is 6800+ above sea level, so the winter weather is much diferent than at sea level, it's very extreme and can change in minutes sometimes. Ground blizzards are a real thing. They are made by hard driving winds blowing snow that only get about 10 feet above the ground, but everything under that is in a total white out and a person can get disoriented and lost in minutes.

why wax? did you at least add some nfo or some conditioner to the leather before waxing it?

oh, and if you do this, use a new pair of leather gloves to apply and rub in the dressing. You will get a beautiful hand-rubbed finish as well as a nice pair of conditioned leather gloves for winter.😉

I miss winter for about a month lol, the other five months are not much fun here. We get a lot of wind and blowing ground blizzards.

it must be nice to live in a good region for farming, that's the one thing I really enjoy, but the climate here makes you work for it lol. I have to get my greenhouse back in order. I have left it go and now the roof leaks terribly. I am heading up to the mountains again this morning to do some foraging and some fishing. It will be the last time this year before the snow gets too deep to go. Hopefully, I can get a few more large trout for smoking and some decent wood for making a bow, I have decided that's my winter project for the year. I'm going to try some wild woods first, then if that doesn't work, I'll buy some lol. We get pretty much snowed into town and need to get our shit together for the winter months or they can get looong and really boring. Wishing you and your pop the best!! Chuck

Leave it with a natural finish, use a good outdoor boot dressing like Fiebings golden mink oil or some such. That's all I ever use on my holsters.

friggin awesome friend!! Heck yeah, it was worth it .

I use scissors.

if that's the best it does, it's nowhere near better.

The art of Embossing by Al Stohlman shows how they use plugs slightly sculpted or tooled, wouldn't that be much easier than all of this ?

great looking bag indeed. The only thing I would do is change that inner piece on the flap. What does it do?. I would either lose it or lengthen it all the way around,skive it down and trim it closer to the stitch line and stain it to match better. oh, and i would beef up your stitching on the strap ends, those take the most stress on the whole bag and will tear out if it gets too heavy. All in all, that is one nice-looking bag. I really like that leather, and your tooling is wonderful.

a belt sander would be my choice 80 grit or so.

yup thats the idea, probably not a complete holster but inlayed into the design somehow, also the ball pouch, powder horn pouch, and possibly the belt may have some. I haven't thought it all out yet lol I surprised myself on how well they turned out.

Heck, I dunno, go for it, I fell flat trying to make a pair of mocs lol.

acetone

How come when you trace your foot, it doesn't look anything like the toe of a shoe? cool project indeed!!

Success!! They aren't clothing soft, but then again, they are for a holster gun belt set I'm thinking of making for my dad's old BP pistol. They are the forelegs from a cow and a bull elk, the bull being the darker chocolate brown.

Those would certainly cut down on my acetone replacement, I'm gonna have to get me some.

my two cents. The temper of a given piece of leather is affected by numerous variables, including the Type of cow, tanning processes/tannery, and where it is taken from on the hide (i.e., belly or back), and construction techniques are just a partial list of the possibilities. So to make an absolute statement on which is stiffer is silly at best. Given that you want a guaranteed optimal outcome, you will have to do some real-life testing to eliminate as many of those variables as possible. Use specific parts of the hide, specific tannery's, and be very precise with your construction, including the addition of liquors/oils during the finishing stages. Some folks use a thick outer layer with a thin liner, some use two equal-thickness pieces because they can get them from the same hide, thinking it makes construction costs less or easier in some way. Whether one method is better is again debatable and susceptible to the variables. Bianchi probably can handle the cost of more waste than you at the beginning, so they can get refined and consistent results. we, as small batch folks, need to be much more selective to compete. Contact cement can be diluted and made thinner with acetone. Bianchi probably figured out it goes farther and dries faster that way. Good luck to you. I can't wait to see your stuff.

Those were one of the biggest sellers for the inmates in the state prison here back in the day. Folks would stop in to buy them as they traveled through town. Later on, a building was made available outside the prison for hobby work sales. In the late 80s and early 90's I used to see the vendors from Jackson Hole come down and buy literally every piece of leather, horse hair, buckles, jewelry, artwork, and many other items as well, for resale to the tourists. As the hobby room space was limited, only a few guys could get really big and would employ other inmates. One fellow made over 50k a year with his leather hobby business and sent it all to his wife and kids while he was in the joint. They did away with all of that after an officer was murdered, a new prison was built, and now there is no hobby work anymore.

You did some very nice work, great forming job, especially.

i think most news is used as a deflection. It's what they choose not to report on that worriysome as they have no accountability then.

yup great tools help, practice helps too lol.. I chose books because the op is an intermediate, so he should have at least a basic tool set and the knowledge to pick and choose quality tools. and have proficiency in the basic leather working techniques, sewing, gluing, finishing, etc. He probably already has a head knife, for example, or one that he likes and should know how to use it and care for it, and if it's good quality or not. Having said that, upping his game should then be expanding his knowledge base by trying new and diferent techniques or genres of leather crafting. Each of those requires specific new tools that you can't get without knowing what you need. For example, the Sheridan style tooling, the style is very unique and requires specific tools and techniques to be proficient. You can either get that info from the book or classes or blindly buy some great tools that may not be right and make crappy work until you do buy the book, then re-buy the correct tools. That is a hard lesson a guy who is an intermediate should have already learned lol. . So it goes to reason that in order to get the correct tools, you need the knowledge to do so first. The question is kinda vague, so I can't tell him what tools to buy if I don't know what he wants to do with leather past the intermediate level. If he were a beginner, I would have a different opinion of what he should do. lol. Just my opinion for what its worth..