gtwister09

Darc, You are correct that it is noticeable. Bob thinks that it might be the heel but I would think that it might be all over. We had one that made a similar track and started off chamfering and polishing the outside edges of the foot. The tracks were still there. We then took some off of the heel and still had the tracks. We then reduced the thickness of the foot all the way across the foot, rechamfered and polished it. This corrected the issue. It appeared that the length from the connecting point to the bottom of the foot was longer than others. Your mileage may vary but you can try modifying the sides first, then the heel as Bob has said. Then get more aggressive if that doesn't correct it and work on the whole foot. Regards, Ben

Jon, NICE! NICE! NICE! This one is very nice. The seat design is very nice with flowers and meandering. Execution of the seat is nice and tight as well. I have to agree with Rod and Bruce. Regards, Ben

Brian, Ditto... Regards, Ben

Randy, Thanks! A 1/2" blade. Hmmmmm. Nice. Regards, Ben

If you wouldn't mind sharing that "small bit" of doodling so that we all can encouraged to do better, it would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Ben

I have purchased many of these. The one thing that I would strongly suggest is to purchase the CDs since the resolution of these is much greater than the majority of the downloads. Regards, Ben

Elton, You are a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks! Regards, Ben

Bruce, When you get the knockoff information, I would appreciate seeing it. On another note, has anyone been able to get an email back from Walsall? I have sent a couple of emails with no responses. Regards, Ben

The doodle pages and craftaids are all low by quite a bit. The magazines are generally going about $5. The tools are reasonable to a little low. Regards, Ben

Dave, I have to agree with Kate .....Very nice patterns and great precision! I like to do variations in patterns as well. It sure makes it nice to do that. I use Corel and Photoshop in conjunction with CAD. Of course sometimes hand drawing and scanning are the order of the day as well. Regards, Ben

Like TroyS I have used AutoCAD for a while...since version 1.13. I also taught it for one semester in college. I use it for a lot of things like mauls (their templates), knives, concho designs, spur straps and tooling designs (mainly initials and logos), tool holders, bookmarks and what-ifs for designs. Here is a smattering of some of the things that I use it for.

Someone had one of these bags and was kind enough for me to measure it with a thickness caliper. One place read 2-3 oz and the other place read 3-4 oz. The straps were 7-8 oz. Regards, Ben

Andy, I have been studying the fertility knot on the front. Could you share some details about tying the knot itself? Thanks! Regards, Ben

Andy, Great attention to the details....stitching, edging, tooling, linings, pinking and the complimentary silver conchos on the leg shields in the flower centers. The detailed description of the work and leather used is great. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Ben

Bruce, I add 1 Tablespoon Listerine for the antifungal aspect. Curt, Here's the formula link..... No More Tears Casing Formula Pete, I have not had a problem with undercutting with this formula. Maybe Bruce can chime in on that as well. Regards, Ben

Andy, Maybe we could impose on you to share some of that work as well. Regards, Ben

When discussing leatherwork with a newcomer, they were somewhat put off by the following three perceptions. (1) You would need lots of tools , (2) you need lots of premade designs to tool and (3) lack of encouragement and criticism. I pulled out something that I thought could make a couple of points to them concerning creating your own designs and also that it didn’t require a large number of tools. By showing it to them I hoped to offer them encouragement and also to show how you could use critical thought to evaluate your own work. Showing them some of your first works in tooling and design can serve to encourage newcomers when they seem so overwhelmed by the whole process. I likewise hope that sharing the experience with the forum that it may encourage other newcomers as well. Project of Firsts What I pulled out was a Bible cover that I created for my wife 25 years ago. It was a project of many firsts. It was the first Bible cover I ever did, first tooling design that I ever created, the first attempt at tooling roses as well as the first quilting that I had tried. It was probably the 7th or 8th tooling project that I had done. Evaluations of Design and Tooling You will quickly notice that there are many issues with the design and execution. There is quite a bit of negative space that could have been better utilized. A few places could have had a better flow. Several of the roses are not up to par. Several of the stems are thick. The edges of the rose leaves are all poorly executed. Likewise the leave veins are not well executed. The quilting is not squarely executed. There is also a mistake where attempting to double bevel to create a more quilted effect. Some of the backgrounding is not consistent. Some roses and stems carry too far into the lacing area. There are a lot of smaller mistakes as well. Looking at your own work through a critical eye can only serve to make you better. Reading and studying others work is another way to get better…of course practicing is ALWAYS a good way to get better. Taking courses from others is also a great way to take your work to another level. Small Number of Tools At the time that I worked on this I only had the 14 tools listed below and a utility knife. Here are the tools listed below. Tools 1 medium checkered beveler 1 small smooth figure carving beveler 1 wiggler veiner 1 smooth veiner 1 medium camouflage 1 small camouflage 1 medium vertically lined pear shader 1 medium smooth pear shader 1 lined seeder 1 coarse checkered background tool 1 Swivel knife with angled ruby blade 1 rawhide mallet 3 prong punch #2 edger I used both bevellers, smooth viener, medium vertically lined pear shader, backgrounder, lined seeder, swivel knife, mallet, 3 prong punch and #2 edger. As I said earlier they could have been better executed but you can make do with a smaller number of tools. Several tools would have been nice like a hair blade for the stems, a double beveler for the quilt and maybe a pointed figure beveler for leaf edges if you didn’t use a swivel knife. A single slit punch or maybe a round punch for the corners would also have been nice. A maul would have been nice to have as well. The point is that you can do a project with a small investment in a very small number of tools. It allows you to see if this is something that you want to continue to invest in. Even though the work was less than stellar it still encouraged them to try to create their own designs even though they only have 20-30 tools. As with everything the more you practice (both tooling and design) the better you become. After 25 years one of the things that you will notice is the oils from hands has slightly stained the cover as it was carried. Regards, Ben

Andy, Those are VERY nice. Do you do your own engraving work? Regards, Ben

Andy, Welcome aboard! I have seen your work before and had already bookmarked your web site. I had seen your work in "Cowboys & Indians". It certainly is great to have this forum for discussions and learning. Regards, Ben

Excellent photography is extremely hard. It requires perfect timing, perspective, lighting and the list goes on. Here are a couple of links that are inspiring to say the least. The second link has HDR pictures. Enjoy! Really Stunning Photos and Pictures Fantastic HDR Pictures Regards, Ben

Steven, Decorative cuts are generally considered some of the hardest portions of the work. A lot of time is generally expended performing those cuts or practicing. I have had several say to spend time each and every day performing some swivel knife practice. On the stamps....sometimes the underside near the outside edges can be relieved. Other things to try are to use a modeler to smooth the lines out or a matting tool faded out as you move away from the letters. Some people even use a smooth matting tool to perform smoothing function. I don't do that. The same could be done with the lifter marks. One quick and dirty method for basket stamps is a rise over run angle. Likewise Bruce has shown some methods that he uses for angles. I personally use a calculated method of the height/width to determine the angle (tangent). Here's a few ones that I have compiled ID Height Width Angle 498 0.27 0.73 22 500 0.15 0.29 33 501 0.14 0.54 15 534 0.31 0.55 36 Regards, Ben

Overall it looks nice. A few things jumped out at me. There are no decorative cuts on the front and spline. The letters all show the tracks of the edge of the stamp. You could use a modeling spoon and feather out the marks or possibly modify the stamps to keep from doing it. The basket weave stamp is too steep. I think that the angle should have been less drastic. The flower on the spline appears to have beveling tracks but that may just be the picture. Regards, Ben

Kathy, Good luck with the competition. Regards, Ben

Brian, Ditto to the accolades that others are giving you. Definitely welcome aboard. I have been checking out your site for quite some time. Both sides of your work are great (engraving and saddles). I actually stumbled upon your work/website off of an engraving forum. Look forward to your participation in the group. Regards, Ben

There was almost a cult following around his book in the late 1980's (1986-89). I don't mean to be combative but here is a little different perspective on the book.... I thought that it was interesting but shallow in technique/methodology. Some find this book OK and informative but most manufacturing and process personnel (engineers, managers, cost center directors and such) chuckled at his moving the bottleneck from one area to another area. They found his TOC (Theory of Constraints) to be severely lacking in total focus on issues such as manufacturing techniques, quality, etc. He was hyper focusing on one aspect of the business and just pushing his issue around the shop. Most reviews by these people were." that it was an interesting read in a fictional setting. That's a different approach. in presenting a technique" Most believed that the mistakes he made were "junior mistakes" That was 1989! Since that time he has tried to integrate other continuous improvement methodologies into TOC. In fact you notice on his web site that fact is borne out by the statement "......advantages of integration with Lean and Six Sigma (LSS) methodologies to achieve continuous system improvement." Most of us were well versed and had experience/training in most TQC techniques (Total Quality Control) such as Deming, Juran, Crosby, Six Sigma, root cause analysis like Pareto, fish bone and the list goes on. Most had additional education, training and direct experience in manufacturing environments in areas such as inventory management, production control, work cells/organizational designs, CAD/CAM, Business Process Engineering (BPR). From this group's perspective this was a feeble effort at a continuous improvement project. Regards, Ben