ToddW

thanks.. moved away from the hand pull splitters because of the width.. looking at hand crank and motorized. been searching high and low for a used one close enough to drive. The Buckle Guys one is somewhat an interest at 6" but just think I might want some extra space that the 8" ones.. The Cobra is super nice and I do have a Cobra Class 26 sewing machine.. I have a burnisher.. now getting through the gut check of spending $3K

I need a leather splitter and not sure I trust myself to pull leather through a blade and not screw up a perfectly good piece of leather. I REALLY don't want to spend $3K but don't want to waste my money either.. I would need at least 6" or 8" of blade for the pieces I need split. Thoughts??

Is this still available? I'm in Texas.. looks like you are 4 hours from me

I am wanting to make a case for my cell phone and wallet & keychain are unglazed Cardovan Shell.. curious if that is firm enough to wet mold.. Thoughts?

I have been using an unfinished without glaze Horween Cordocan Sheel for my Wallets and key rings. as you know, its pretty expensive. Does anyone know of a leather that is close in feel, sheen and color? This is a video of the raw horween shell and patina which I like

That sounds good.. appreciate it

Looking for ideas to store Cardovan Shell pieces.. they are ovals.. a little bigger than a football.. i want to keep them organized and flat if possible.. any ideas

got it.. you are right

https://www.untundra.com be nice...

is that here? I don't see a group where I could do something like this..

I have just finished up my website with all the photography of my products.. the products themself has been a lot of tweaking in itself.. Is is it ok here to get feedback on the website and products or is that considered advertising.. I don't have inventory built up so really advertising but wanted to get some feedback as I am just a guy doing all the above.. website, photography, leather work, design work, etc..

ok.. that was my laziness.. sorry about that one..

I see these wallets that say they block RFID readers.. what do they use to do that? is it a liner?

its all about price and what they want.. if they want a nice product that is expensive.. they will shop around.. If they are looking for something cool and special, they will shop around.. if its something simple, they will just go to Amazon and buy it expecting to throw it away if its breaks.. Kinda like Harbor Freight and tools.. I have bought a many of $9 grinders on special expecting to through it away.. Crappy Chinese tool?? Yes.. did I buy it knowing its a crappy product? Yes.. Could I have bought a Dewalt?? Yes.. People view of nice is also very wide.. as a Leather worker, you know what nice is.. the average consumer doesn't know top grain, full grain.. pot metal hardware, stainless hardware.. All they know is if it looks good to them..

This whole website thing is a lot like our discussions on quality of leather work.. As an old IT guy, anyone can put up a web page and use WIX, WordPress, etc.. The actual framework for web pages are common.. its the photography, video, copy/writing.. that make the difference whether something sells or not. You can take a great product and take crappy pictures and people think you have a crappy product. Photography is all about lighting and staging the product. After that, you need to know about SEO so people can find you.. Very few people have all the skills to do that (photography, webpage, write copy, tell a story).. and understand how you actually create traffic to your website. It is A LOT of work.. influencers, youtube, facebook Instagram, Tictok, etc.. that is a young mans sport.. I have spent a ton of money on product pictures and what I call "in the wild" picture of people with the bag. Buyers don't spend anytime trying to figure it out.. I had a small tool bag that didn't sell at all that I thought was cool.. Once I started putting pictures of it holding 6 boxes of shot gun sells..another with a trailer hitch and ratchet straps, golf shoes in it, tools in it... it started to sell.. the website is your store and has to tell them what all you can do with the bag.. there is a black magic to it.. its hard and expensive..

Also I am talking around the point of bad quality or unfinished.. what ever it is.. I really think its in the eye of the beholder what people like and don't... if it is poor quality.. it comes apart.. I bevel my edges, skive the sewed side.. burnish the edges.. thats just me.. my stitching lines are straight... the comments about Tanner Goods are your opinions.. mine is.. "it is what it is". "If they can sell it at that price and that finish level.. more power to them.. I commend them for making it in the US (if they really do).. Its an honorable thing.. my last thought on this.. Walmart would not sell as much as they do if people shopping there care that much about quality. I have sold to walmart.. Its brutal.. would not recommend it to ANYONE... you can have 2 similar products.. a good one and a better one... they will chose the cheaper one every time. that is why their stuff moved from "Made in the USA" to cheap...they are the largest retailer in the world.... I personally like supporting the small guy.. I buy on kickstart..I buy from people I like.. I often shop on price but I do feel good about buying something nice as well.. There are people that buy at ever price level..

I went back and re-read my post and just wanted to say I am not trying to argue.. I am really not.. I hand sew.. machine sew, hand cut, die cut.. I love doing it.. I will say that I could not personally scale that as my old hands hurt to much and I care to much about the stuff I build myself.. With that said, I actually have had a designer design me a backpack... it had quality standards defined..Leather defined.. hardware defined.. I had one made here in the USA, Had one made overseas.. and had one made in Mexico.. This has been a long running and expensive project for me...as a side note, Leon Mexico has a ton of manufacturers that are VERY good.. look at the known shoes and boots made there.. After I had my samples, I took them around for focus groups to pick my manufacturer.. I took it to leather artisans (multiple generation ones).. I took it to older... younger.. high income.. low income. All three bags were exact same design.. All three were made in different countries.. All three had different costs.. This is all in cost.. shipping, leather, labor, hardware, etc.. The surprising thing is people could not tell where it was made... The leather artisans all said the quality was GREAT.. They could not tell any quality difference.. and only picked based on the actual color and sheen of the leather. All were VERY similar. As you probably know, cow leather is considered a no go in certain asian countries so its water buffalo.. all the tanneries in the all three different country have different methods of tanning... As an example Lefarc in Mexico is said to be green where most Asian countries aren't... After this blind taste test I ran, I then went to the "how much would you pay".. MOST if not all said they would only pay a maximum of $299 for the backpack.. Well.. A backpack has a ton of labor and material and that price pretty much pushes it out of the US if you want to sell at that price and have any margin..

Not really agreeing or disagreeing.. the market usually corrects this as they can't live without repeat buyers and reputation.. the average person might love this as comparing to.. lets say an Amazon belt from china.. Walmart, or Jos A Banks.. Buying from someone like that site usually means a shopper wants something nicer or different than can get at the store.. The feedback and reviews from users seem to say their customers are quite happy with the quality and product.. https://effortlessgent.com/tanner-goods-review/ https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B084KLVNMF https://www.yelp.com/biz/tanner-goods-portland-2 https://www.allthewallets.com/tanner-goods-utility-bifold-review/

I got some nice tubes for my larger pieces of leather which works fine but started do a lot of cordovan shell work for wallets, air tag holders, etc.. Its expensive stuff.. it comes in small tubes rolled up but looking for something to store it in when not cutting it.. these pieces are a lot smaller than my normal hides I guy and once you cut a wallet or keychain, it gets flimbsier.. I was looking for ideas on how other people store theirs to keep it nice.. have it semi available, and the ability to sort it by color.. Thoughts??

I have started accumulating more and more of nice tools like the Palosanto french skivers, edge bevelers... I have 2 benches in my leather room.. (wish they were bigger).. with peg board. I have a square piece of wood with holes I drilled into it for my various punches.. I spent the money for nice handles for these Palosanto tools as well as Sinabroks stitching punches.. I have been looking for something functional to hold the tools where I can see what they are.. have quick access to them.. and appreciate the nice quality (I know).. I have seen some put a leather strap across the peg board to hold them but I really don't have that much space as it filled up quick and I really need more room.. I don't want to take up bench top space.. Has anyone seen a cool way to hang your nice tools.. open for ideas..

I have been spending a lot of time on this exact topic and I personally think there is A LOT more to this as its expensive and extremely time consuming to actually create a product that is consistent and repeatable across a larger volume than a few. leather, stitching, branding, hardware... Then comes the time and money to build a professional website, get the professional photography, get the content written including the SEO work to get found. Marketing ads on the social media sites alone is a very expensive proposition. Then the retail box... packing material, shipping.. supplies.. this doesn't even contemplate having a store with employees. Cost of the business, accounting system, CPA... then comes the tools, equipment (clicker, dies, laser, )..My sewing alone was $3K.. Bell Skiver $1,500, Dies... Hand Clicker Press, all the nice tools like Sinabroks, Polsanto, all the various colors of threads.. The cheap tools just don't stand up to repeated use.. Once you get out of hobby mode and into business mode, you have spent some $'s that you hopefully will recuperate. so.. how much do you sell your product for.. A wallet for $65.. A belt for $65.. you have to sell a whole lot of belts to make it a business and quit your job to do this full time. You have to have serious volume.. I like to follow: https://www.stockandbarrelco.com/ https://littlekinggoods.com/ https://odinleathergoods.com/ All individuals with great products.. expensive web sites, great photography.. watch their Youtube channels.. they all have struggled and talk about it.. it's REAL hard for it to be a business. Saddleback (which I also follow) went the route of manufacturing bags instead of hand making them and they run larger volumes. They made the decision to push their prices up substantially and they are still there..What you find is everyone has their hand in the cookie jar.. Credit Card processing takes 3%, shipping is getting more expensive, leather and hardware is getting more expensive... all while the expectation is that your prices are coming down and you will ship immediately for free (thank you Amazon). What happens is you get a product with less time put in it to get it out the door. So.... I get it.. unless you are a hobbiest happy with super low volume and the spare bucks it brings, its hard to be a lone ranger taking this very crowded market on.. People do price shop on Amazon.. they do price shop on sites they have found.. its REAL hard. I know a 5th generation leather guy that sells gun and knife sheaths to some chain stores and he just can't get sewers and toolers so he got rid of his retail store for a shop out back.. He looks at the Mexico and oversea stuff and says he can't buy leather for what the make the entire item for.. I saw get what ever you can for it.... have fun with it.. Make the person want your product because it great.. not cheap..

what is a good shape and spacing for a 5 punch watch band punch? oval or round... 1.2/1.5/1.8/2.0 MM are the options.. My watch is a series 7 Apple watch I am making bands for..

All they have thats not sold out is the5x2.5mm Oblong.. I am making a band for my 45mm Apple watch Series 7.. this going to be to big?

whats a good punch tool for the holes on the watch band.. they are tiny and not sure what size is best. I think I saw some with 5 of them but they were oval..

what are folks using for inside padding on the bands? some are flat and some are padded..