Mel99

I just made my first two Horween Shell Cordovan wallets and what I did was skive the edges down and make ribbon card slots. This made the wallet thinner!

So I made this leather balm yesterday out of Curiosity and a lot necessity. I have to say so far is looking Good. It is giving my leather a pull up quality, which I love.

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between buying the cobra 26 or the cowboy 3200. Is there a cowboy dealer in California? I would like a dealer a tad closer to me.

How comfortable is that lacing that wraps around the outside of that nice looking strap? I just made my first guitar strap and am debating doing the same thing. Does it rub on the persons playing the guitar neck?

I know this is an old thread but here is what I have found so far with HO vs WC tooling leather. WC is beautiful leather with very few blemishes. The sides I have purchased are absolutely gorgeous! But I personally don’t like the way it carves. It feels to soft on the surface and I don’t like the way it takes a stain or stamp. The HO leather is less than perfect when it comes to blemishes/ fat wrinkles or scares. I have sent several sides back thinking they gave me the wrong grade of leather. But HO leather carvers like a dream and stains , stamps like nothing else. I hate having so much waist when I buy HO but it is great leather none the less.

Still up for sale?

Ok great idea I will do that in the morning before I carve my next piece. Also I got some angelus deglasser today. ok now into the mop and glow vs resolene can you tell which piece I did with the mop and glow and which one the resolene? I stained them both with full strength black stain eco flow. Then let them dry. Then i buffed both swatches. Now the Funny thing is , I usually dilute my stain but not this time. Usually I get some stain off of my leather when I buff. But this time I didn’t. Then I painted three coats of angelus paint on each one. Being sure to let each coat dry. The next day I dipped one in mop and glow and the other I applied resolene with a sponge. Everything was great in both swatches, I got NO stain lift at all! Then I applied tandys antique, whipped it off and that’s when I noticed the swatch with the resolene paint Lifting. The paint on the mop and glow side didn’t budge. I think I might be a mop and glow convert!

I’m using angelus acrylic paint. And this happens with the stain as well. What are you using for paint and finish?

The paint and the stain is lifting! The more I wipe with the resolene or Tan Kote the more paint and stain come up. I’ve even sprayed resolene and as soon as I hit the dried resolene with antique, off come the paint and stain. im waiting 24hrs before I apply a finish and I buff it before I apply the finish.

Hell its worth a try that’s for sure. I will do it today!

Yes I don’t use tan kote and resolene together but I have used them both on separate projects with the same results. I have ordered new tan kote and new resolene. Maybe im expecting to much! Here is a picture of what it’s doing to my project. I sprayed the resolene in both of these and still got lift.

I thought maybe it was my tan kote going south as it too pulls the stain and my acrylic paint off of my projects, soon switched to resolene. But it to removes my stain and paint. It’s just so frustrating when you work so hard on something, only to have it ruined by the top coats. When I used a sponge to apply either the tan kote or the resolene my project went very much south! The paint and stain lifted and the bubbles never went away. I guess I will order some new tan kote and some new resolene. Maybe they both got frozen in the shipping process.

Very nice! I’ve been working leather for almost two months now and seeing beveling like this is helping learn how to carve leather.

I really think the problems I am having with resolene and tan kote (they are both lifting the color off of my leather as well as the specks problem) has a lot to do with the fact that I’m in California and I have no choice but to use water based dyes and paints. Yesterday my paint (angelus) lifted off of the belt I am making as I rubbed on the antique after having sprayed resolene down as a blocker. I’ve also re-done a wallet twice as both times either tan kote or resolene has removed my paint from the leather. Does anyone else in California have these issues or a answer as to how I can keep this from happening?

I’ve been having the same issues with resolene so I’ve tried spraying it. Mixed it 50/50 water sprayed it on and now it looks speckled. I can actually feel the resolene as I run my finger over the belt. Did I not put enough on the belt or to much?