johnnydb

I've been doing some skiving and I know the feeling well. Been after the edge with some Arkansas stones....but I can't find my jeweler's loupe to really see what is going on with the edge. Something about looking at the edge at 60x really helps me fine tune the edge.

When using a hot foil stamping machine I got the temperature wrong and made a mess of my wife's name. (On red leather) So.... I made several black "name tags" and stamped her name into those and sewed one on. I told her that she was a brand name now.

Yeah.... I have learned to wear latex gloves and cover everything with garbage bags (including myself) when doing even the smallest project. I still ended up dying a spot on my new kitchen table....

Yep... Some of the dumbest stuff happens at times....especially when doing commissioned work. The serial number? That's gotta hurt. Everything else had gone well up to that point...then the literally last step before putting it in a bag or box to go out the door. I hate it when that happens.

Speaking of which...any guesses as to when to fill the propane tank? Some of us got 500gallon tanks to fill. It's a big bill but one that lasts all winter. Filling it in the summer is much cheaper than filling it in the winter.

Done that too Done this I have not done this one yet...but I imagine it's in my future. Smallwares are the saving grace of materials....lots of things to make out of scrap leather.

OUCH! That's a "change order" . I charge extra for that on top of time plus materials.

Oh I know right? Everyone has a mishap...part of the price of admission. Lots of finger strength, sharp knives, permanent results from paint or dyes...stuff just seems to happen. And it happens to the best and worst of us. It's the journey, not the destination. (Although we delight in destinations too) Give us your latest "ooopppsss"

Working with leather is a combination of things. The material is stiff and tough.... Materials are also expensive....sometimes difficult to obtain. The cutting tools sharp...razor sharp. The use of tools are often such that you must get it right the first time...mistakes cost time and materials to the point that you must start again.... So let's hear it....IE Don't you hate it when skiving a piece and at the ¾ point you cut through the leather....

Looks great.... After it breaks in good let us know how well it wears. I make a lot of various A5 notebooks and am curious as to how this one will wear. I've thought about doing one very similar in pattern but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Just pay attention to the edge geometry and the temperature of the tool while doing your grinding. If you change the angle of the edge the performance will suffer. If the tool gets too hot you can lose its temper and again the tool will dull too quickly. So keep a cup of water handy to dip it in regularly.

I've successfully used feelings regular dye (not pro dye) that had been drastically diluted with neatsfoot oil. Like 3% dye and 97% neatsfoot. Dip dying then is not a viable option....where it will give a homogeneous color it turns the leather into a piece of rubber that shrinks too much to be of use. Not to mention that it continually gives off oil. A paint roller brush that overwhelms the piece you are dying is a good method...but for larger pieces you need to use a larger roller. You don't want your roller to develop dry vs excess spots. But in truth I don't understand why everyone wants machine like precision...you are making an artisan product. It's expected to have tiny "flaws" or inconsistencies because it's a hand made product. That includes the dying. Factory made crap that is mass produced and "perfect" is cheap and usually readily available for pennies on the dollar vx what you are crafting. Sure you want it to be done well...to the best of your abilities. But you are not a machine. You are in the role of a craftsman. Do well and pay attention to the finishing details that you can manage. The dye imperfections will fade and spread with time. So don't sweat them too much.

I was thinking the very same solution as you tried and succeeded with. The only other thing that I was thinking about was that you probably needed to do some skiving at the top and bottom of the leather to make the transition less between the leather and wood. A longer and more angled skive would do that nicely and be more comfortable by hand feel. Not that what you have done is bad or even ugly. It would provide a more finished look to the job you did. And I really don't want someone to discount your great work because of something as trivial as the ends.

Neatsfoot oil is fine... If you want a shade of color in the oil just add less than 5% of the oil volume with Fiebings REGULAR dye....not the pro dye. This will give you a nice light color once it dries so long as you don't soak it. I would just sheepskin or use a dauber or airbrush the mixture on it.

I am so so sorry to hear this...I don't know what I'd do without mine. But: Watch out for those ladies bringing you casseroles to "help out". A pastor friend of mine was hounded non-stop and had to marry one just to fight them all off.

Not everyone is good at sales. Some people are just good at manipulation but aren't very good at sales but the distinction is often obscured. Good salespeople put the right products and services in the right people's hands. Just because you have a product to sell doesn't mean that everyone needs it or can use it. These MLM are all about recruiting people with no salesman skills to begin retail selling. And if these people could sell they would have a nice job with an expense account and territory with the company car. Because B2B sales is where the real money is at. 5% commission on a million dollar sale isn't chump change. Everything has to be sold/marketed in some fashion. From the item in the box to the box itself to the paper that made the box to the tree that made the paper. Retail sales can make money just like anything else...B2B sales isn't "easy street " either as it requires a lot of work and research as well...it can get quite involved to create sales proposals and inventory management systems. You almost become an employee of your customers while answering to your actual employer at the same time. Nothing is worse than trying to sell outdated or overpriced products in a retail market.

Yeah....my business partner couldn't resist.

Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese icing....so much Cinnamon sugar and butter that the bottoms have a bit of candy attached to the chewy soft bread.

See....this is a perfect example of training customers to devalue products. Food is a commodity like gasoline or leather goods. But because the grocery store always has a "special " you have been trained by them to look for only those items that are discounted. The full price goods are ignored. If a bakery puts items on sale after 2:00pm and they close at 5....they train the customers to come in after 2:00 and make purchases then of baked goods. They won't stop by before lunch. (Which kills sales) Because if a customer only has time during the morning hours to buy bakery goods they won't get any because the goods go on sale after 2...they would rather go without than pay the higher price.

It's the stockyards and the grain. Meat is processed in huge butcher shops these days with lots of low cost labor. It's cold, wet, and tight quarters. With covid a lot of people got sick or just didn't bother to go back to work. (Found other jobs) So livestock which was ready to be butchered had to wait....and wait some more....and wait some more. The prices of the livestock ready for butchering went down and farmers lost lots of money on a high dollar crop. At the same time the price of transport and grain went through the roof. The risks being so high...people stopped raising livestock. The cost of tractor fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, and etc went through the roof too. You can't feed animals straight grass or hay if you want to eat them. You have to feed them grain. What was once $4/bushel is now $17/bushel. Not much relief in sight either. With the current prices of petroleum products it's not going to get better for a few years. China vs Taiwan, Russia and Ukraine, and even Africa and Vietnam are all having issues....these places need shipping containers made of steel and people going to work. Guess what they don't have? With all the things going on....it's not going to get any better for a while....if ever. Last year during the sugar shortage India had a bumper crop of sugar just rotting away unable to distribute it anywhere for a lack of shipping containers. Meanwhile everyone was in the grocery stores wondering where the sugar was. That's how things are going to continue until there is peace and harmony on a global scale again. We don't have to like everyone but we can learn to get along well enough to stop breaking down the farmers and supply chains. Ethiopia from the 70's and 80's should be a clue as to what happens when farmers can't farm. (Wealthy nation when they don't fight themselves)

Actually, I do an oil dye where I mix about a 4% solution of dye (not pro dye but regular) with 96% neatsfoot oil and then brush that on for dying leather. Gives a very nice light color and really softens the veg tanned leather. Then again with a seal coat. Black is nice....but sometimes you want something else.

Actually that looks normal. And what you need to do now is rub, buff, and work off all the excess dye on the leather. Yes, it's going to get shiny. But then a sealing coat of whatever finish you use can be flat instead of gloss. Glossy finishes are common but they do make flat. Black dye tends to bleed off into clothing and everything it touches. So a LOT of sealing will help protect against that. Have fun!

Grind and polish it until it's a mirror....that's the first step. Moisture then will have limited access to oxidize the surface. Then "bluing agent" needs to be applied. https://www.wikihow.com/Blue-Steel That link has several methods. Then a light coat of oil or wax of some sort will stop the rust. I've seen this method actually work really well. I've seen steel polished until it looked like chrome... and it took forever for it to rust even when we tried. We were bored at work and took a pair of lineman pliers to the buffers....we made it shiny like it had been chromed. Thought it wouldn't last because we didn't oil it. But actually it did. Everyone else's lineman pliers got rusted and stiff....(We weren't busy and the place was wet) his stayed shiny the whole time. Then the job was over and we all left. I was going to polish mine all day like we did my co-workers.

They look really nice. Better than my attempt at animals. The wolf looks more like a husky dog....wolves have a longer snout than dogs. (Think wiley coyote) I thought you were going for a husky until you said otherwise and thought it was a perfect husky dog. Although the "cute" wolves in cartoons these days tend to have shorter snouts....can't have the kids afraid of all them sharp teeth. So if that was what you were aiming for you nailed it too. Otherwise it's awesome work....

Ok....yes you need to do some form of mechanical holding of the liner. This can be achieved by several methods and finishes you add. The customary approach for some is skiving and folding the leather over the lining and then stitching. Others fold over the lining and then stitch. Others will use a border of some sort stitched over the edge....this can be corded cloth, sinew edging, or even thin strips creating a sort of picture frame type covering for the cloth edge. (Stitched into place) Cloth lacks rigidity. The glues don't hold the fibers as well as you might like. Cloth tends to fray at cut edges and cloth folded over edges has cloth unglued to the leather...creating "bubbles " in the lining edge. Which will start a "come apart" later for you when you begin to get frustrated with this nice work you have done.