MarshalWill

This one is looking mighty good, too. You have that basic design down pretty well, now. Nice work.

Thanks for the explanation, @Ornyal. It is a most interesting hiring process. It sounds like you can feel very complimented that they have considered you. Whether you decide to go for it or not, it sounds like you will be moving forward. Congratulations.

Mighty nice! It came out great. Good work.

Looks good. I agree, larger stitches would make it a lot less tedious. I would probably do something like 5 stitches per inch. Certainly no smaller than 6 on this piece. To get an even dye job on light colors, I give the leather a coat of alcohol first. Then I apply the dye. Alternatively, I dip the whole piece in a diluted batch of dye, but that takes a lot of dye to do. I use solvent based dyes, generally Fiebings or occasionally Lincoln. That said, sometimes I purposely make a piece blotchy to give it visual texture. When there's a lot of un-decorated space like yours, that can be nice. I look forward to seeing your next one.

I really like this latest blue wallet. All your pieces are beautiful but this one is spectacular.

@toxoI suppose it could be the browser I use but I haven't switched that and suspect not. It worked the same for me in Firefox, Chromium (the Linux version of chrome), Brave, Opera and TOR when I tried them a while back to see if that was the issue. I am currently using Brave. @Northmount, I also dislike MS and have been using Linux for about 10 years and loving it. It's fast, secure and doesn't force you to use anything. I have also not been receiving email notifications but those are now working again, too. They aren't dependent on the browser at all. I wonder if LW.net has had an upgrade recently that might have corrected it. Or maybe the admins worked their magic on my account to bring about the positive changes. For whatever reason, things are fine for now. Thanks to you both for the input.

My stream appears to work again. I don't understand the situation so I'll simply go with it and see what happens over time.

That came out really good. The stamp really makes them special. The rounds look nice, too. There must be something you can use them for. Even if it's just key fobs or something simple like that.

Not only is cowboy leather cool, it's fun to make. Of course, ALL leather is fun to make but the cowboy stuff has more of a historical appeal for me. Beautiful work.

Looks outstanding! Darn fine work on both.

A while back my stream stopped working so I can't see if there are any posts on threads I'm following. As of this morning I have re-checked notifications setting to send an email for any reply to a thread I'm following but I'm not sure if that will work with all threads. It didn't before but maybe this time it will. Time will tell on that. The only reliable way I can see if someone replies to something I post is to check each forum separately to see if there are any new posts. For that reason I have 5 forums bookmarked and stay off all the others lest I reply to something and have to add yet another bookmark. This keeps me from contributing on all the other forums. I just had to bookmark this forum to see if anyone replies to my recent post. That makes 6. There has to be a better way to do this.

LOL

Looks mighty good. Those vintage holsters can be quite attractive.. Nice work.

Thanks. I wanted to show how easy they are to make. The nice thing is you can make them any size and with many variations.

That's a good design. Simple, and that makes it functional. Nothing is better than a thin wallet.

Thank you both. If you make any new stamps, post a photo for us to enjoy.

I know about having room for new toys tools. I'd love one of my own but...

Thank you. It's one of my favorites, now.

Thanks. LOL, remember that I mentioned that you could re-do the detail if it wasn't coming out to your liking? After I finished it I realized it was too close to another BW I had made. So I reshaped the end a little and made a different BW out of it. Whatever it takes to get a good result, eh?

Over the years I've made many of my own tools. A while back on another forum I moderate, I posted on how I made a basket weave stamp. I ran across that thread and decided to share the process here. This is applicable to making just about any decorative stamp. Nothing is set in stone but this is what I did with this one. All these photos make it look like I did a lot, but the whole thing from bolt to stamp was only about two hours, and that included the time to set up and take the photos. Let me say that if I can buy a good quality stamp, I will do so. I only do this when I can't find what I want from one of the stamp makers. I started with a stainless bolt. Shape the end. If you don't have power tools, files will do just fine. When you have the shape you want, add the details. I use the drill chuck as a handle for the Swiss files. As you file the details, keep checking until it looks right. If you don't like the way it's looking, file it flat and start again with the detail work. Cut to the length you like and add texturing. I used a thread file to roughen the shank. Sandpaper works, too. You can also just make a bunch of dimples with a drill or center punch. I like the end a little tapered. Done. I hope this helps and inspires some of you to get going on some of your own.

Looks good. Could you make a maker's stamp out of Delrin with that laser? Then there would be no clean up needed on your leather.

That's some mighty fine work, Ornyal. Looking very good.

Besides all the great advice you've already received, I would like to add one thing. An edge bevel is basically a knife. I strop my knives every time I use them. With this in mind, I also strop my edge bevels every time I use them. For that, I use a piece of leather with stropping compound on the beveled edge, like TomE mentioned he does. They cut beautifully every time. Because I keep them sharp, I never need to use sandpaper on them until they're really worn and need reshaping. You should be able to sharpen your cheapo Chinese one to work fine but it might not hold an edge like a good quality one. And yes, you need a smaller one if you can't hold it at the proper angle to do the work. Invest in a small one of good quality for your thin leather. Eventually replace them all with top quality ones and your work will reflect the difference.

Looks good! The died keeper goes good with the antiqued tooling. Nice work.

I use a 10 oz poly mallet for small holes and a 28 oz one for large holes. Your intended 32 oz one sounds good. I don't use stitching chisels so can't advise on that.