Spence

I also use veg-tanned leather. I use EV olive oil first, dye, EV olive oil again and top it off with Montana Pitch Blend leather dressing (all natural.) Everything is as all-natural as I can get it and as long as the customer keeps up with the dressing, the collar should last. It helps that I'm a distributor for MPB too. lol

I just bought a template from Black River Laser. Takes the guess work out of it and they even have a YouTube tutorial to help you along. Very reasonable and great people to work with. They are also members here. www.blackriverlaser.com/

Crystal, I've used these folks in the past. They used to have free shipping. The service is quick and helpful. Small operation, but they'll have what you need. AND - They're located right there in PA www.cdwplus.com

I'm sure he's talking about solid copper rivets. You can buy a tool that pushes the washers down, cut the post down to about 1/8 or so and then use a ball peen hammer. I use a short one (6") from Harbor Freight to round off the post. You can get these at Springfield Leather or Tandy, etc. They are great - if copper is your thing and it goes with your project.

I guess you'd call it the widest part. Lay it out on the bench or floor. You'll be able to see a rough outline of the cow. At the widest part, is the top or back of the cow. This is the longest useable part (I use this are for leashes.

Yes, a dog tug is sometimes referred to as a tug toy. I use them to develop a dog's bite strength (for protection). If used as a toy, they have to be monitored because they will eat it in no time flat. Tug = leather = hide = prey = food for dog

always lengthwise. This will give you the option of being able to fill an order for a matching leash also. When I get the sides in, I cut them in 3" straps. Then, when I go to fill orders for collars, belts or leashes, it's much easier and faster to just grab a 3" strap and get two 1.5" collars or three 1" leashes, etc. A 3" strap works for me and all I ever have left over may be 1/4" straps which I use for saddle strings. The belly is useful (to me) for cutting in strips to fill a dog tug or if there's enough of it, I use it, flesh side out, for the cover of the tug. G'luck Spence

Latigo is not any stronger than veg tan. Latigo is known for it's ability to stand up to harsh weather. That's all. Properly cared for veg tan will do the same. I use anywhere from 8-10 oz leather for collars and leashes. Most of my work goes to owners and handlers of the bully, mastif, gsd and mali breeds. All working lines.

If supervised, it is usually okay. Right or wrong, I'm dead set against chrome-tanned leather for humans and animals. The process uses chromium salts and Calif. considers it a carcenogen. Wikipedia says that it's environmentally unfriendly. The second and, equally important reason I won't use it is that the chromium salts destroy the cell structure, thus giving it that "buttery soft" feel. That's all well and good if you don't believe the toxic stuff and are making non-strength dependent stuff, but I'm not going to trust a leash made of the stuff on my 110 lb protection trained German Shepherds and in fact I won't make anything for sale to other dog owners. Those are just my opinions. I've done a whole bunch of research on it and it all points to a bad deal.

I've done them by overlapping the leather, installing grommets along one end and grommets about 1" in from the other end. I just used regular lacing to tie the both ends together. I even did it double and was able to make a 4-ply braid of the ends. Overlapping about an inch covers up a multitude of measuring errors. lol. Tried to upload an image but it looks like I have to go with an external storage site and it's not worth it, unless I'm missing something.

I echo what Chauncey posted. Especially oils.

That's all they offer. Solids with washers. They cater more to industrial applications. A little bit more work, but I like them for strength.

I get my solid brass rivets by the pound from www.rjleahy.com Great customer service and great product. They are located in San Francisco (USA)

I've got a beige Lazy-Boy that got pretty messed up over the years, from the wet and muddy dawgs. I took some citrus waterless hand cleaner, wiped it on in a circular motion and wiped it off with a damp rag. Worked perfectly. I didn't have to rub it in hard or anything like that. I use Leather Oil & Conditioner from Montana Pitch Blend. I use it once a year. Me and the Lazy-Boy are still friends.

I lay the skin out on a board, scrape it clean and then I start with a basic 50/50 and brush it on liberally once a day (both sides) for about 5 days (not written in stone). If I want the skin stiffer, I increase the alcohol. Softer - more glycerin. I let it air-dry (out of sunlight) for about 3 days or more. So far, I've only used the skins as inlays in dog collars and as cover sleeves for cellphones and the like.

I've been using it for about a year now and have no problems with it. I use .30, .35 and .40.

I get my brass rivets from: www.rjleahy.com I buy them by the pound @ $32/lb (last shipment in Oct 2011) I also order flat washers to fit. They are $5.66/lb. The size I use is 1/8 x 1/2. The washers are .280"OD x .133"ID x .024THK G'luck

Ditto on never having a problem with SL. All it takes is a phone call or email and they're on it! Helps to have a list ready though.

Just a thought, or two. No drama... I agree it's a good gimmick. I believe gimmicks make business thrive. If you run out of gimmicks, you waste away. I've had a few businesses of different types over the years and they were all successful, to a degree (no fails). My "secrets" were gimmicks - knowing what to give away to whom and when. You've got a good steady customer, why not throw an extra item in there - I do dog stuff now, so a leash goes into some packages. A new customer could get a leather biz card on their first order. If you do craft fairs, keep them in your pocket and when you see a likely future customer (you can tell by the way they fondle the leather) give them a leather biz card. It's all gimmick. If it works, it's not tacky. If it doesn't, blame me. Quite frankly, for what I could get on my ROI (Return on Investment), purchasing a 5 oz (or lighter) tooling shoulder and using that for leather biz cards could probably multiply my ROI significantly. Sometimes my "gift" doesn't pay off, most times it does. It might take a few weeks or months, but when they come back to order a collar or leash or two, my little "gift" is a pretty good ROI. So what if it's a gimmick. Everyone knows it's a gimmick and they're looking at the gimmick 4x a week and thinking about that gimmick that has your name on it.

Needless to say, I like the idea too. I guess I'm a bit biased because I've had a few stamps made by him. I've been very satisfied with the service and workmanship, as have my customers that benefitted from it. I guess my initial "jump" was more out of shock that Joyce would slam (I still believe she did) another business person. I mean, we have an awful lot of leatherworkers here and that kind of snarky stuff is extremely rare. Enough from me.

Joyce, I wonder how many of the members here will be recommending your business now that you've totally trashed another member's product. Remember, attitude trumps everything and you've just trumped your own business. Too bad too.

I work and supply collars for large working/competition dogs and have found that the leather will give before the rivets do. Having said that, I use only solid rivets. Chicago screws are good where there is no stress but locktite or a similar thread lock needs to be used - and checked often. Just my opinion and experience. g'luck

Great job!! Suggestion or two about the rivets: Turn the rivets around so the head is on top, in full view. Cut the shaft of the rivet about 3/16" above the washer. Tap the shaft as you peen it and don't be in a rush. The heat you generate from peening is what makes the shaft blossom out more evenly and you don't bend the shaft. You want the washers to stay flat and not bend into the work. Practice on scrap and I guarantee you'll never go back to hollow rivets. I use solid brass and stainless steel exclusively now. The stainless requires a tool and I don't have much leeway in cutting the shaft, but it's quick and looks pretty. G'luck

Don't know if this helps, but I've used the ostrich shin for a cellphone sleeve and it's worked well for over a year now. The plates have not raised up at all, even though I did a 180 deg turn. One thing to keep in mind is to close the gaps between the plates as you glue them down. That's what I did and it seems to have worked. I don't seem to be able to upload a pic of it for you. G'luck.

Everyone wants 6' leashes, but if you explain that the cow is not that long all the time, then you'll get more customers for the 5' leashes. Near the belly could be used for tab leashes (12" - 24"). As Sylvia says, Collars are easy and pretty good sellers. They can be from 1/2" wide all the way up to 4" wide (for the bully breeds). I get my sides and have them "stripped" - cut into strips. I prefer 3" strips. then I can easily cut 3/4", 1", 1.5" etc. Strips are easier to handle and only cost an extra $5 or so to have it done. Zack White does it for me. If you know people that want a leash, you know people that can use a collar. Look around. For example, I "specialize" in exotic coverings and inlays. My biggest market is the bully breeds and there's a gazillion makers slapping spots and spikes on collars. Not many (yet) are messing with the exotics. Once you get started making collars, you'll love it and leashes will get boring. lol g'luck