MarshalWill

If you have a Boot Barn in your area, they seem to have a good selection of hats. Some locations even have someone who can fit it for you. Everyone's head is a little different. I got one of the wooden hat stretchers and shaped it to fit inside my best fitting hat. Now I have the perfect fit and all I need is my wife's clothes steamer to do the job. If I get a new hat from a good shop, I take it with me so they can make it fit right. I also use it to keep my hats from getting out of shape. If I make a leather hat some day, it will insure a good fit. Good work on the wallet back. That's first class tooling.

That's a nice first piece. Stay with it and have fun practicing. Keep your first piece so you can compare later on. My first one has disappeared over the years but I still have the second. It's good to go back and look at it now and then.

Thanks for the tips on the hat clamp. A good fitting quality hat can't be beat. Make sure to have one steamed to fit your head by someone in a good hat shop. You can forget it's even on.

A magnetic hat clamp is a good idea. I may have to make one of that nature. I had a hat rack in my previous truck but my current one has stuff across the headliner that prevents putting a rack in it. Thanks for the idea. The grey hat has a similar visual texture to a buffalo Stetson I have. Thanks for the clarification.

Nice hatbands. I particularly like the one on the grey (Stetson Buffalo Fur?) hat.

It is. Been posted before. Still fun to post.

Great cats. Cute, for sure. Consistent quality from one to another. Nice shading on the backgrounds, too.

Beautiful hairpins. They look real. Outstanding work.

Nice sheath, BTW.

Great practice piece. Nothing gets skills honed more than good old practice.

Mighty fine idea. Chuck, those you turned down look outstanding. Good thinking, thanks for the tip(s).

Maybe you could fashion a leather belt for it if the inside of an abrasive belt doesn't work. Just make a long strip of 3-4 oz leather and glue it to an old abrasive belt.

LOL, so true. Sometimes a straight run is harder than a curved one.

Looks good finished. Thumbs-up!

It looks like it would work great on straight cuts. Curves might be a different story but I can see the use for such a cutter

Nice Celtic design work. Looks mighty good.

Outstanding! That hammer now starts life anew. That's some beautiful work.

Mablung is right. I could shave with any of mine. I strop before using, every couple cuts during and after before putting it away.

I can't say any specific tools improved my working. That said, Any good quality tool does make your work better. Don't get cheap ones, you'll just wind up replacing them in the long run.

I like knives better for skiving than special purpose tools. In the photo, all but the middle general purpose knife work great, depending on the type of skiving I'm doing.

It works with a simple mechanism. Elegance is sometimes found in simple.

It looks good. Nice design. Good function. Can't ask for much more than that.

Congratulations, Bruce. That's a service many can use. May it make your retirement complete.

Looks mighty good. I like the decorative work as well as how you assembled it. Outstanding.