Littlef

I'm not using tokonole on the grain side - only the flesh side. I was just responding to your comment on how you dilute the tokonole when you're burnishing the flesh side, which I'll try that next time. I have seen videos where people burnish the grain side without tokonole, but I've never tried that. I know I accidentally get tokonole on the grain side sometimes. - Like when I'm trying to burnish a long strap. It discolors the leather when you do. you could possibly get an even color if you intentionally tried to make an even coat, but I'm not sure if it would really create a benefit.

I starting my first leather projects last winter. I absolutely burnish the flesh side also if I apply tokonole. - I picked up one of those thick glass plates with the rounded edges off amazon. So far I've had no issues regarding the tokonole -

That's a good idea, and a good looking marker. I normally just use masking tape, but that looks waay nicer.

That's interesting, I've only applied it, undiluted. Next time I'll try diluting it and see how it works. - you can use up a lot of Tokonole, depending on how big your project is. I haven't seen it cracking my leather... but I'm also fairly new at this, in a hobby capacity, so It's not like I'm in a production environment.

I certainly haven't tried it - but just thinking about what a spray bottle pattern looks like on if you spray it on a piece of paper, it typically makes a pretty inconsistent pattern. You might get better results if you tried a "continuous spray" bottle - those make a much more even spray, but its also a really wide spray nozzle. It might make more mess than what you want to deal with. I use a continuous spray bottle if I need to add additional water while tooling.

Those will work well! I'll bet people will scoop up those quick for hunting season.

Are you saying that you have a stock of leather that has now been on "your" shelf for 5 years? If that is the case, I would make the guess, that it has been slowly drying out, and has now reached a moisture point where it lost elasticity and has become brittle. I might look at where its being stored. Are you in a dry climate? A furnace and Air conditioning both tend to pull moisture out of the air. You might put a hygrometer in the room where the leather is stored to see if that is a factor. Using a humidifier might help if the room is dry. My only other thought is adding a leather conditioner, but you said that you already tried that. - I recently used vinegaroon on some leather straps, and let it dry out completely for a few days before oiling it with Neats foot oil. The leather became stiff and brittle. Adding neatsfoot didn't bring back the flexibility. I learned that there comes a point where the oil can no longer restore the original flexibility. Prevention might be the only solution.

Those are cool! I've been toying with the idea of replacing my black leather saddle bags on my motorcycle, and making some with a more western style in brown/tan with tooling. I seem to have way more ideas for projects, than I have free time to get to them.

Good looking sheath. Now the plastic case for my calipers seems a little inadequate, lol.

I don't have any scientific data to back this up, but no, I do not believe the level of tannins in the leather has a correlation to leather quality. Tannins are present in the plant material that animals eat. The levels regularly fluctuate based on diet, and a multitude of other factors. I think the largest problem was because you sealed the leather before applying the vinegaroon. That physically made a barrier that it couldn't pass through. Adding the tea did 2 things. Tea is fairly high in tannins, so that strengthened the chemical reaction; but in addition, you added more water, and the saturation of the leather also helped the 2nd application of vinegaroon better distribute through the leather. Using vinegaroon isn't an exact science. If you run it through once, and its not dark enough, you can always apply it again. a word of caution, the acid in the vinegar does degrade the natural oils in the leather, so it normally will need a good dose of neatsfoot oil afterwards. I've had leather that got hard and brittle after using vinegaroon. I found that the leather needs to be oiled before its fully dry after the vinegaroon. If the leather is allowed to get brittle, oiling it might not be able to restore the flexibility in the leather.

Just doing a quick google search I found a ph of 3-4. of course concentration changes will make that vary, but its definitely acidic.

yea, I very much enjoy the whole process of shooting black powder.

Not if you do the maintenance. I can clean my cap and ball pistols almost as fast as a modern firearm. You gotta clean black powder each and every time or it will rust up.

Thank you very much, I appreciate that. The coehorn mortar was designed to be small enough to have a small team of guys pick it up and carry it around by hand as the battle evolves. The corner seams on the case were challenging with that 8 to 10 ounce leather. I plan to later try and make some cartridge boxes, so this was a good introduction to making cases.

Thank you very much!! I appreciate that. It was a good learning experience, being my first case. I made a bunch of mistakes, in order of operations, and how I laid out my original plan, but I'll be able to build on it for future projects.

Nice clean design!

I made a replica Civil War Coehorn Mortar Coehorn Mortars are a variation that was small enough for soldiers to pick up and carry around the battlefield. The replica I made is a half scale of the smaller of the 2 variations used in the Civil war. It'll fire a concrete filled coke can 200-300 yards. After I built it, I caught in the regulations for the area in which I planned to fire it that anything fired with a fuse is prohibited. So, I reworked it to fire from model rocket igniters instead of fuses. I made a case to carry a motorcycle battery in, and a leather pouch to carry modified model rocket igniters in. The rocket igniters are insulated so they don't short out against the steel barrel. Then, the two legs are bound together. The igniter compound is really brittle, and breaks off if the legs are pulled apart.

vinegar and water is a common treatment. mix it with water 50/50. There are also enzymatic treatments sold at hardware stores and maybe pet supply stores. (I think the enzyme treatments work better.) In both cases I would test a small spot on the leather to see how it reacts with coloration. Then I'd hang it somewhere it can air out. - for days. It might work and it might not. I've rehabbed houses with horrible cat pee odors. Some have cleaned up. I've had others where we gutted sheetrock, insulation, treated the slab, and sealed it, and the odor still came back.

I see no purpose to stamp, carved or otherwise decorate the backside of a holster. When I draw out the main panel, I wrap it around the front edge, and stop at a point just where is goes out of sight. If that makes me lazy, so be it. I can live with that.

Nice looking holster. The plug is a clever solution. I'll have to note that for a future project.

That Looks beautiful. Its a clean design. One thought from a functional perspective. It has no kind of way to close the top, so if its knocked over, the contents would spill out. Some sort of a snap or a clasp might add a little functionality.

I'd pick up a few sheets of craft foam from Michaels/Hobby Lobby. They are a buck or two a sheet. They have more thickness and pliability than using paper or cardboard. Then you can cheaply prototype. If I'm working on something I haven't made before, I make my initial drawing and measurements on paper. When I work that out, I make it in craft foam. Once I try it in a 3D foam mock up, I often find things that need to be tweaked before cutting expensive leather.

wow, that's nice. well done

+1 for straight cuts I use a utility knife, and I keep a large box of replacement blades. As soon as I feel any kind of drag or pull from the leather, versus a clean easy slice, I replace (or flip) the blade.

As with any well-crafted tale, they tend to take on a bit of exaggeration over time. But it does illustrate the importance of understanding the equipment you are using, and approaching it with a degree of respect. In this same area where I go, someone constructed a bowling ball canon, loaded it up with a large black powder charge. The bowling ball came down a few miles away. It went through the roof of a barn and killed a cow. That guy went to jail. The machinist who turned the barrel for this mortar, had been making them for several years. With several years of development, he determined the max charge should be 200grains. I'm operating at just under half of that. I'm dropping these within a couple hundred yards, in an area with a clear line of sight. I mark the location of each one with a flag so I can see the distribution as I'm shooting. I also plot each one in my GPS, so I'm compiling more data after each trip. My goal is to be able to drop a can right where I want it to land, versus just trying to put cans into orbit. I think it makes for a much more interesting meaningful session. I picked up some hardware from Tandy yesterday, and made some revisions to my preliminary leather pattern last night. Hopefully this evening I'll start cutting leather for the battery case.