Mulesaw

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you too. And I hope you'll get well soon :-) Brgds Jonas

What a beautiful machine :-) Congrats. My only comment is that the old mashines I have, it seems that a lot of people are good at lubricating the head, but sadly often forget the drivetrain. There's a lot of links and shafts etc. down my those pedals, and oiling or greasing them will help ensure the next 100 years of service. Brgds Jonas

@Abdo Regarding 2) personalization. When I do something like that (I engrave a brass plate and mount on the item), I choose to look at it like some extra sort of advertisement. I might not make as much money out of that little thing as I should, but potentially it will give me extra business. If people get a really nice customized item, they are more likely to show it off to some of their friends, and if the thing really look the part due to a personal touch, there is a better chance that the friends would want to buy something form you. At least that is my theory. Plus it gives a me a sense of pride when the item that I made look so good that I would like one myself. If you should invest in a hot embossing machine is hard to say. It will probably make the task faster, but if you don't get much more business, then you'd have to think it was interesting to do or necessary due to reasons like e.g. health or something similar. It also depends on whether this is your day job where you need to make every penny count, or if it is a hobby where the income is just an added bonus on top of working with something you find fulfilling. Regarding 3) Like @DoubleKCustomLeathercraft says: expand. How about making key wallets? That is pretty close to what you are making now, small items that can be personalized and they compliment your existing product range. I make some dog leads for working dogs that I like making, but it fits very well into my customer segment which is 95% horse people. Good luck :-) Brgds Jonas

@FrenchMich A bit late, but the yokes and chaps look absolutely gorgeous. Attaching the back belt with those "conchos" really look good. Not that I am opposed to attaching them with braiding, but it just looks so elegant with the silver buttons. There is a potential western chap build in my future to a friend of my oldest son, so I am tempted in trying to do just a little bit of carving thanks to your excellent tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to take the pictures and explain the process. Brgds Jonas

As far as I know the leather needs to be vegetable tanned (veg tan), if you use chrome tanned, it won't work. I am not sure if something with a lot of oil in it like an oil infused leather is good for stamping either. So the leather has to be the correct type for you to be able to do any stamping. So that is my best guess. Brgds Jonas

Sorry for your loss. I think that selling the machines is a good starting point. The hand tools look good to me, but I am in no way an expert on those. I sold off much of my dads old woodworking tools, and it is a big job in doing it online. pictures of each thing, accurate description, and still people ask about each single chisel and plane iron. I did get an OK price in the end, but it took a lot of time. So I would suggest trying to sell all the hand tools to someone like Bruce Johnson (Note that I am not affiliated with him in any way, he is just one of the only persons I have heard of who deals in old leather tools). I ended up selling the bulk of my dads hand tools to one guy who does some online selling, and I was totally OK with him earning a bit on each piece, because it takes a lot of time to do so. specifically to your pictures: Picture 7577 and 7573 looks like they are Gerstner Tools chests out of Dayton Ohio. Those are items on their own. Depending on the model or the year, those thing are collectibles. Good luck with the sale Brgds Jonas

V 2.0 looks more secure, it also looks more elegant given that the blade section of the sheath is narrower compared to the first version. It looks really good that the lower stitching line flows so nicely, and fluently divides into the two parts that goes around the elongated hole. I guess if you sew in a straight line from the tip of the blade/sheath up to the rounded portion of the sheath, it would fit the profile of the blade better since it is kind of a pointy knife. But I am also afraid that it would look weird/ugly since none of the stitch lines would be parallel. An alternative could be to continue the curve for the tip maybe just 1/2" upwards, so the upper sewing line would go straight from there. But that would probably make the sheath even deeper. As a side note, after looking at it for a bit of time, it looks to me like the profile of a greyhound, (which is very positive), and any of the above mentioned suggestions would destroy that. So V 2.0 is a good suggestion I think. Brgds Jonas

I really like that the elongated holes have their edges nicely treated. That just gives that nice finished look. (I know you didn't ask for critique, but I couldn't help it) For design suggestions, I would probably also make the sheath longer like DieselTech suggested. Unless the knife is intended to be a fast draw knife, I'd weigh retention in the sheath higher. Have you considered making a Samic type sheath? Those sheaths go all the way up the handle, so it isn't anything that is remotely fast to draw, but on the other hand, you can wrangle a reindeer and end up in a snowdrift and still be sure that your knife is in the sheath. Since you write that you have skinned a deer with it, I am guessing that you might be able to get your hands on some antlers. Some of the Samic sheaths are constructed out of antler or bone and leather. so that the blade itself is stored in the bone/antler part, and the handle is held snugly in the wet formed leather. Curious to see what you will make :-) Brgds Jonas

Hi Josephclements I sewed over the existing holes, but I doubt that I hit all of them. I didn't want to cut anything of the top of the bag, so I just made a 1:1 replica of the worn folded edge. The sewing was done on my old Singer patcher, but I think it could be done on a regular household sewing machine if you put a leather needle in one of those. I tried to match the stitch length as much as possible to the original stitch length, but I only did that for the optical appearance. The folded edge isn't under a lot of stress, so I am not worried about that the old holes are still under it. It is purely there as a nice way to cover the outside and the lining of the bag. As far as I remember, I used double sided tape for holding the folded edge in place while sewing it. That really helps a lot so it doesn't wander all over the place. In order not to mar the surface of the pig skin, I put some small rubber hoses over the serrated feet on the feed dog of the patcher. The only thing to observe if you ever do that, is that the grip becomes a bit less, so you might need to assist your feed of the material a bit more compared to when you don't cover the feet in rubber hose. I wouldn't want to hand sew something like this since I am not able to make the stitching as consistent as the sewing machine, and uneven stitching on a bag like this wouldn't look good in my opinion. For the yellow thread, I just matched the colour the best I could, and then I purchased a "heavy duty" sewing thread at the local sewing shop. Brgds Jonas

@Dwight Hi Dwight, I get your idea :-) But.. I think I'll have to work a bit on my skills to be able to make the stamp in that way. technically I think my pantograph could do it, but it would take me a some time to pull it off. I don't have a laser engraver, but I had thought about the idea of doing it on the spot at the show. But I think that is going to be next level in the adventure. That would also require me to make a slightly different pattern for a key fob I think. I would love to take my engraving machine to a show and set it up, but the thing is heavy as an elephant. So I have to find a smaller one before doing that. My thought was to make the logo stamps for the most used breeds in the Danish jumping and dressage scene. And just the logos, so since these are mainly heraldic looking, there is no depth difference in them. (if that makes sense?) Think of the Chevrolet logo. that is recognizable as well as Ford and Toyota and Opel and others. The same for those. I know exactly when I see an H surrounded by a shield with a small crown above it that it represents the Holsteiner horse. Brgds Jonas

Hi Fredk Thanks, it will sure be a easier to make that type of stamp since there will be less material to remove. I am thinking of making the stamps either in brass or aluminum. Turn down a few blanks on the lathe and then mill the material away. Luckily I'll be home in a couple of days, and then I can try it out. Brgds Jonas

I am glad that it isn't the stuff from Laederiet, but it is still strange with the spots. Have you tried to see if it is the same on both sides of the piece? Perhaps the side that is closest to the belly of the cow is different compared to the stuff that is farthest away from the belly? Not that any of it should have spots, but it could be that some part of it is easier to carve. Brgds Jonas

hmm, that looks strange. Does the spots disappear when the leather dries? Btw. I think you stamping looks good so far!

I have often toyed with the idea of making key fobs with horse breed stamps on them, intended to be sold at horse events. I have an engraving machine, so I am pretty sure that I can make the stamps myself, but I am not sure if I should try to make the stamps so that the logo is raised or depressed in the leather. The easiest thing machine wise would be to make the stamping so that the logo stands proud, like those old US cavalry stamps in the link below. the stamp itself will most likely end up being a diameter of say 1.25", so it hope that it won't require a super heavy pressing to work. But if I make the stamp the opposite way, so that the logo is pressed into the leather, I guess it'll need less pressure. And I am still a bit uncertain which way would look the best. What are your thoughts about it? Do you think one type looks better or is easier to use?

I think that much of the leather paint is acrylic paint, so perhaps you could just get some acrylic JD paint and use that? I tried to google JD green and the RAL number seems to be 6001. But like Constabulary says, I think it all depends on the age of the tractor. Good luck, and please show the end result. Brgds Jonas