MarshalWill

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.

Very nice! Congratulations.

Those are good molds. Thanks. Hopefully you can find some fire hose. The stuff is made flattened so it can be rolled up. The edges work well on tight inside curves.

Those look good. Molded leather is a classy and these are all about that. To answer your question about burnishing, I'd use a piece of canvas and burnish the edges with gum tragacanth. I'd suggest a piece of old cotton fire hose but that stuff is scarce these days. It's great if you can find a piece, though. What does your mold look like?

This is great advice. kgg must have been watching me years ago. I converted a treadle machine to electric one time. I spent a lot of time rounding up parts, making a table, adding a slip clutch and a dryer motor. It was great for everything but my intended purpose, which was to stitch holsters and such. The stitch length was way too short on the longest setting and with the 1/2 hp motor, if anything didn't line up, the needle would dangerously disintegrate into shards. It gathered dust in a corner and eventually I got rid of it, having learned a good lesson. All these years later, I still don't have a machine for my intended purpose but do intend to get one later this year.

I know several who use canvas to burnish their leather edges. It works great as long as you get the right amount of moisture and friction, as TomE mentioned. I personally use a piece of cotton fire hose but that stuff is a little scarce these days. If I didn't have that, I'd use canvas myself.

Well, that's certainly an interesting item. I haven't seen one before. But, I'm not in the duck crowd, either. Looking forward to seeing the final finished ones.

I don't see a logo on them anywhere. Will that get imprinted afterwards?

Those look good. Are they designed to hold a box of shells? No edge beveling, no dying, just cut out and assemble. Nice design idea.

Same here. Quite often 'less is more'.

Cut in half would be perfect. I'll stuff 'em in the chop saw, then.

Love those wrist pins! Great idea. I've been using a cutting block with a small anvil bolted to it. A friend of mine is in charge of the county maintenance department. I may have to hit him up for a couple of those.

Looks good! I like the simple border design. It doesn't overpower the shape of the pieces.

That's the stuff. Plain old printer paper. If there's a shiny side, use that. 1860 Army. The holster is a copy of one of Hickock's. To be really correct, it should be an 1851 Navy. It would be the same fit, though.

Here's what you can expect. The belt was not burnished but the holster was.

If you want a little more sheen, an hour or two after application, burnish the skidmore's with a piece of printer/typing paper.

That's looking mighty good. The stitching all the way around looks good. Skidmore's is great stuff. I use it on most projects.

LOL, at lease our results are consistent. If you just glance at the logo without paying much attention, it looks like they might have been trying to make a Singer-ish looking name on it.

I did a search including the model number (SB-6180-1) and really didn't get anything on it. There is a Singer 6180 sewing machine. It doesn't look the same so it isn't a copy of that.

Nice looking weight belt. Basket weave is a good choice. That is an interesting buckle.

I can't view them. My computer doesn't even know what a .heic file is. Dwight has outlined a good way to upload your images here. I've had good results uploading .jpg or .png files that way. And welcome to leatherworker.net! I look forward to seeing your work.

There's no substitute for quality tools. They allow you to do your best possible work. That's true for any undertaking. Leather tools seem to be particularly so. Oh, yeah, I still have my first one. It's had a few tips replaced but I still have it.