sonnyboone

Awesome boots. Nice rack.

Yea, I think a small one would be pretty reasonable to make. I actually started to make the blade for one but work got busy so it made more sense to buy at the time. If it'd help, let me know and I can send you some pics or a video for reference when it comes time to build.

I bought a Tandy Craftool Deluxe splitter when it was on discount. It's the 3795-00 I'd say it's okay if it's bought on sale. There isn't any info on the blade steel or heat treat so I have no idea how long it will hold up, but it does the job for now. Even though the blade is quite wide at 5.75" you can probably only get away with 1.5"-ish wide leather on it.

Nice strap!

These look amazing! The fam will be moving to Oz in a few years. When I'm there 'll be looking forward to some roo skins!

Thanks. Sometimes loud is good I think.....

Nice job!

Good to know the consistency from W&C direct is good. Thanks for the info. Yea, it seems like a lot of suppliers are seriously backed up. Crazy times indeed!

Hopefully it won't happen again! So far the odds haven't been great with this particular supplier but finding a solution does go a long way and they seem to be willing. Tool holding is a great idea, thanks for that!

I actually did contact Matt while trying to solve this. They said they are 30 + days behind on their harness so I'll have to wait to direct order. I found out that they do not have a minimum order which is nice. On another note, the supplier I purchased from is going to send another piece out in the end. It took a bit of back and forth and a few days but it's now resolved.

You too!

Thanks! It's an embossed cow hide. I guess this pattern is more on the scale of a smaller reptile but it's also available in a larger gator pattern. I purchased it from OA Leather supply in Canada.

It was Wickett and Craig harness, sold as "1st and 2nd run usable edge to edge." full price. I actually ordered two other quarter sides that were in perfect shape. I contacted the seller but it's been a couple of days and crickets. Good to hear your opinions on the leather's condition. I felt like it was too damaged in too many spots and did contacted the seller. Still waiting to hear back so I thought I'd check in here to see if I was over reacting concerning the usability. I just haven't been buying long enough to fully know what I should expect each time and since this is happened before, I wasn't sure if it was the norm. I'll try a different seller. Thanks for all your experience guys!

I'm working on it. I'm pretty new to buying leather and I'm starting to buy larger quantities so I'm not totally sure what to expect as far as consistency goes, so your feedback is valued. Thanks! I'll check out Hide House and Maverick.

Thanks Gary, what do you think about the condition of the leather based on the pictures? For me something like this is pretty unusable for finished goods....

Hi There! I recently placed an order to a supplier and for the second time in a row they sent over some, in my opinion, pretty questionable pieces. Now I realize that there will be imperfections on a hide and there were so with the other quarter sides I ordered but I feel like those were acceptable.. But one quarter side was : a) sent in two pieces equaling the square footage but not disclosed as such. Also because of this not close in color. b) pretty scuffed up. Do you think I'm over reacting by reaching out and wanting to send this back? Or should I expect this kind of quality crap shoot in the future? Also, who do you think has the best consistency in quality and customer service in Canada (or North America) ? Should I order direct from the tannery?

I would agree that you can likely get a comparable edge on most tools, assuming that they have a decent amount of carbon in the alloy. Edge retention results would vary though. I've had great experiences with D2 so I'll have to check him out. It's a solid tool steel.... Thanks for the recommend. Agreed. All the manufacturers have spec sheets for the heat treat. With a digitally controlled kiln it's fairly easy to get repeatable results. I was an avid knife collector and have tried most of the steels out. I'd say there's an cavernous difference between good and bad, but less of a difference and more preference between all the good steels.

Is the issue using the laser cutter with a Latigo the toxicity of chromium burning out? I'm getting interested in laser cutting too.....

It's beer 30 here right now. Although in this house we call it beer 0'clock as not to be constrained by the 30 minute intervals.

I've been using Wickett and Craig black Latigo for the same reasons you're experiencing and have had better results. I've read that Latigos are a bit more durable than a straight veg tan and that's been my experience, but I'll confess now that I'm a noob when it comes to leather work. A second opinion on a Latigo vs Veg tan for bendy bits would be valuable. I see you're in Berlin.... If you were a few thousand km closer I'd drop a piece by your place to try!

Thanks, I'll have to see how long the edge lasts.

Hi There! I thought I'd share this little Sunday morning tool project. I made a test one of these before, but thought I'd try some adjustments. I see that some people are into making their own tools so I thought this might be interesting. Since the punches I bought are either too small or too big in needed this one. I used 3/16 diameter 01 precision ground tool steel. I have a little Unimat lathe. It's a bit long in the tooth but you can get a true hole... most of the time. This is the most important part because if the hole isn't true the edge will be lopsided when you sharpen it. My test punch was afflicted by this. The hole diameter is 1/16th. The bit is carbide but good quality HSS works fine. Some shaping. I have a little Sherline mill so I used that to cut the slot for the leather bits to clear. You could grind this out too with a dremel or foredom I imagine. More shaping... I just used a map gas torch to heat treat. You can test if it's hot enough to quench with a magnet. 01 isn't attracted by a magnet when it's ready to quench. You don't want to over heat though or you'll burn out the carbon and make a mess of the edge holding properties. If the metal is sparking it's way too hot. The edge is quite thin at this point so I heat just behind it. I don't use the magnet technique anymore because I can guestimate the color at which to quench. They call it "dull cherry" but I find that misleading. The magnet is a good learning tool if you're unsure. You could do this in a kiln like an Evenheat knife making kiln to get optimal results but sometimes "quick and dirty" will do the job. I quenched in a beer can with warm veg oil. Is it too early for a beer? I think not. You can test the hardness by running a file on the metal. If it skates on the surface and doesn't grab it's hard. O1 when oil quenched like this is around 60-62 ish HRC. The proper thing to do is temper the steel at this point which relieves the stress from the quench. For little things like this that are only hardened at the tip I don't bother. The tool seems tough enough for me and I haven't had any problems with my test piece. If I heat treated it all the way to the end of the rod, was striking this with a steel hammer, or maybe hammering this into a harder material like hardwood, I'd more inclined to temper to make sure that the shaft or tip wouldn't break. Lastly I sharpened with sand paper on the lathe starting at 150 up to 1000 grit, again making sure that the work piece was true in the lathe to avoid a lopsided cutting edge. If the punch is sharp it'll still go through easy but it's harder to keep a lopsided edge perpendicular to the leather surface. It also makes it annoying to sharpen when it gets dull. Personally I found that a domed, convex edge, rather than a straight angle works best on my punches for both the look of the hole and the longevity of the sharpness. And some test holes through 12 oz tooling and 2-3 oz veg I'm planning on making a groover and an edger next. Just waiting for some steel and handles (which this punch will get). If people find this interesting or useful I'll post up!

I have some Walpier Buttero Black and the temper is quite firm and the surface glossy and stiff. I was planning on using it for watch straps but find the surface susceptible to unsightly wrinkles, as you are depicting in your photo. I ended up using what I had on card wallets that don't bend instead. It could be a case of leather choice for this pattern. That Buttero black is beautiful but the surface is temperamental from my experience....

Thanks for the feedback. I'll probably try a few different combinations but reversing the color combo would be fun to try. Thanks. They are fiddly. I'm still ruining more of them than I'd like. Well I guess messing any up is one too many!

Thanks! Just kidding around, I do like loud and sometimes opposing colors... Hopefully no offense to your color blindness!!