TomE

I see what you're saying. I am thinking the slightly angled blade puts pressure on the strap passing between the blade and body of the strap cutter. This counters the tendency for a gap to open up between the edge of the strap and the body of the tool and keeps the strap feeding through at full width. I can test it by placing the shim on either side of the tool and comparing results. The other thing I don't like about my wooden strap cutter is that the metal disk that fixes the wooden bar in place turns together with the adjustment screw. I think the clamping mechanism would work better if I could tighten the screw without the disk spinning around. The screw is firmly seated in the disk. Maybe if I can back the screw out a half turn then the disk will stop turning once it contacts the bar. Not sure how this is supposed to work.

Yes, that's true. I thought the idea is to pinch the cut strap against the body of the strap cutter to stabilize it. I'm thinking it's akin to the single bevel on the inside edge of a plough gauge knife. Did you see an improvement with the shim on the other side of the strap cutter?

I see a wandering cut when cutting 3/8" from a side of 9-10 oz leather. For sure it's something about how I'm using the tool. I think it's awkward to hold it steady on the edge of a hide. A work around is to cut my narrow straps from a shorter piece of 1" strap since I don't need the length for narrow straps. I cut the wider straps from sides using a draw gauge or plough gauge. I'll try this strap cutter modification and report back. Thought someone might have already tried it.

OK, I'm all about straps. I like the wooden strap cutter particularly for narrow straps (3/8") but it has a tendency to wander on long cuts. The author of this blog recommended the following modification to slightly tilt the blade and maintain a consistent feed. https://www.leatherlearn.com/2011/12/strap-cutter.html I'm guessing others have tried something like this or have other ideas. I'd welcome your advice and ideas.

Work of art! Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful work! I want to see the chaps when finished.

Really pretty! The bag with the Celtic/Horse design would sell quickly at horse shows. My wife wants one.

@PastorBob, that's a really thoughtful overview. I haven't sold any leatherwork so my advice is based on selling a different product, baby horses. I would set up a free Google Business page and use it as a feeder to a website or commercial sales site that displays your merchandise. The info on a Google business page will show up in search results and provides a summary of your business and your contact info. Word of mouth is definitely an important means of marketing but the word spreads faster and people remember your business if it appears in other places. I would say in 15 years that we've never sold anything directly off Facebook (actually, selling live animals is against FB policy) but it is a big audience that I think has helped us build our brand so we continue to post there. Most of our clients found us through our ads on a commercial horse sales site or our website.

That's a pretty scene worth repeating. Reminds me of a lunch at a crowded lakeside cafe where we saw several ducklings disappear. The bass were having lunch too.

You reminded me that the only expensive awl I own is a piece of junk sitting in a drawer. It came from a reputable vendor and has their logo on the brass ferrule. It is a small awl with a lovely haft that the awl wiggles around in and feels like it's going to break off. I can't get it sharp and think the awl is crap. Some day I'll get motivated to swap it for an Osborne harness awl.

That's a handy looking (and handsome) knife! Red Green would approve. I can see how it would easily become a favorite.

A braided leather project, like a lanyard, would be easy to complete with few tools. This can be simple or rather fancy with multiple colors of lace, more strands, etc. You could also make a simple leather pendant for the lanyard decorated by carving or branding/burning a design in the leather. This name tag was my Dad's from a dude ranch vacation in the 1960s. The symbols correspond to activities that he participated in at the ranch. I think the "$" was the important one. I recall they used a soldering iron to make the designs, but a branding iron or other heated tool could be used to decorate leather. The leather pendants could be a precut shape purchased from a vendor.

Just got this Abbey round knife today and already showing it off. It is very sharp so I only stropped it. Fits my hand and I think will be handy for cutting tapers/waists on straps and other small curves, as well as skiving small parts that are hard to hold onto. I don't yet know how well the blade holds an edge but so far so good.

I'm gonna take a WAG that it's the tannins or saponins in Salicornia that are useful for a leather dye, as a vehicle to improve solubility and penetration of pigments. Short answer: I dunno. "Salicornia plants have been screened for phytochemical profile and presence of a range of carbohydrates, proteins, oils, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, sterols, saponins, alkaloids, and tannins have been reported. Water and alcohol extraction followed by component profiling has indexed many potentially bioactive compounds. Studies have reported the presence of dietary fibers, bioactive polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, sterols, flavonoids, and minerals (Mg, Ca, Fe, K) in S. herbacea (Essaidi et al. 2013)." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4835422/

I enjoy using all types of knives for different tasks. My latest addition is this baby round knife (68 mm) that is handy for cutting and skiving in tight spots.

The BT639 is an adhesive that penetrates the flesh side and glues the fibers together. Burnishing with tokonole or gum trag is a surface treatment. I have also used PVA glue (Elmers white glue) mixed with stain to seal the flesh side (worked in with a glass slicker), but this stiffens the leather and I suspect it will break down with flexing the strap. You can find threads here about using stain/glue mixtures for sealing edges.

That's a beautiful case with sharp looking handles. Well done. Is that Sedgwick bridle leather? Totally agree with Chuck that air rifles rock, and yours is way better than mine. Nonetheless, they are my weapons of choice for hunting pigeons around the horse barns.

That's a tidy piece of work with lots of detail. Very nice.

This product is a synthetic rubber (butadiene) for sealing the flesh side of leather. I use it mixed 50:50 with water and work the first coat into the leather with a glass slicker then apply a thin second coat. However, it dries as a smooth nontacky finish (like the label says). It seals out moisture and seems to be durable. I use it on bridle pieces that are split thickness as a replacement for the mossback finish of full thickness bridle leather. The BT639 might not suit your purposes. What about sewing on a liner of rough out chaps leather? https://www.hidehouse.com/Leather/Pearl-Split-Cow-Split-Grain-Suede-Finish-PE10-P.asp

I'm no expert, but I know what I like. Beautiful workmanship. Thank you for posting.

This video includes adding a welt to an axe cover that might be helpful. I would encourage you to sew instead of using rivets.

If you're interested in other water-based dyes, Fenice makes a Colorfast Dye that produces a glossy finish with minimal rub off. It's sold by Campbell Randall. I use the dark brown Colorfast dye to match existing when repairing tack. Springfield Leather has another Fenice water-based dye named Diamond Waterstain that looks similar based on this video.

Making an edge dye/burnishing mix from aniline dye powder, water, and glue is a thing. The glue sets the color and helps stick the fibers down. Most common is PVA glue (Elmers white glue) or pearl glue in the mix. I haven't seen the use of an aniline dye fixative like Retayne on leather. The Retyne MSDS doesn't list the chemical composition. I use Fiebings Pro Dye and have good luck just buffing the dyed leather to eliminate dye rub off.

I put a 2-sided bevel on one of my Vergez-Blanchard plough gauge knives. The front of this new knife had a curved surface that I flattened to a 15-20 deg. bevel. I put a steeper (~25-30 deg.)/shorter bevel on the backside. It cuts 10 oz bridle leather really well with the knife fully inserted in the frame. I'll be stropping it more and trying it on other weights and types of leather once I get a project off my bench. As of today I am a fan of the 2-sided bevel on a plough knife.

Might contact Campbell Randall since they are the (only?) supplier of Barbour linen thread in the USA. They carry Bulldog brand nylon and polyester threads in a variety of weights and can probably explain how the Bulldog thread compares to Barbour. They've provided good service and advice to me.