Cattleman

Practical projects are all I do... Mostly custom work. Sheaths, wallets, belts, and any other thing I can think of/design to meet a specific need in someones life.

I would HIGHLY recommend Tom at Steel Stamps Inc. He helped me refine my design to that which all my work now bears. And his team created the very stout stamp that makes that mark.

Thank you all. I was a little skeptical of putting my makers mark in the center of the scroll. My idea was that it would look kinda like the scroll holding a coin. What are y'alls thoughts?

Those are really cool. I'm sure thier new masters will cherish them for generations.

So I have a family Christmas get together in a few weeks. We are going to be playing a gift exchange game. My understanding is that everyone is to bring 1 small wrapped gift, all the gifts will be put together. Then someone picks one to open, the next person can choose to either steal a previously opened gift or open a new one. If your gift is stolen you get to go again... Either stealing or open a new one. It continues in this fashion until everyone has a gift and all the gifts have been opened. So in preperation of this I decided to make something. This what I came up with... 6/7 oz Herman Oak 2-tone English Bridal/Black dye Wet formed to fit knife

Thats a very nice looking piece of gear. Love the simplicity.

A couple of custom pancake sheaths for small Knipex pliers that a good client of mine ordered. Still need to add a final coat of Tan-Kote after they finish drying from the wet molding process.

I think a softer pull up type leather would be better suited for your design. If you want to keep the more rigid body of the clutch, you could line the body with a light to mid weight veg tan. While leaving the flap unlined or lined with something very soft and flexible.

Never had a problem with a rifle coming off zero after banging around through the woods and brush, in a scabbard between the stirrup leather and the side of a horse. I imagine a scoped pistol in a holster would take FAR less of a beating than a rifle on a horse.

I use similar methods as others have described to get the larger broad details of the pattern transfered... Then I will use a 6B pencil and draw in the finer details directly onto the leather.

Olive oil... It will darken the leather some (most oils will) but it works great.

As several others have said... When folks start requesting you make stuff for them, thats when you start charging for your stuff. A few years ago I posted 2 pictures on a differemt forum of a simple plain belt belt i made for my son from some chap leather I had laying around. Someone reached out for me to build them a work belt. I made a deal for hi. to order the correct materials and have them shipped to me. I made the belt and my payment was the leftover material. He got a screaming deal on a custom belt. And I got a jump start into a proftable hobby. He also let me post pics of the belt I built for him... And now I have a steady trickle of orders coming in, not enough to live on but enough to keep me busy a few weekends each month. And if I want to make something different that I dont personally have a use for, I put it up for sale on consignment at a local saddle/leather shop.

Pardon my ignorance... But I'm very curious how you shape the leather to hug the contours of the handle. Ive never built a sheath that the handle enters the sheath, but I really like the way they look done that way.

I think I'm going to make a keeper. Aftet I made the belt I discovered that the jar is slightly tapered... And when its down that low on the jar it's one hole (1/2 inch) tighter than I had originally planned. The other end of the belt is basically the same as the billet end, but only has 2 holes 3/4 inch apart. So between the holes on each end it is capable of being adjusted in 1/4 inch increments.

Lol... Now you have the wheels in my mind spinning!

So Mrs. Cattleman (my wife) recently started her own Sourdough bread starter from scratch. Well, in order to make sourdough bread you must be able to monitor the rise of the starter to know the optimal time to take out starter to make bread with. She was just marking the jar with a Sharpe... I though that looked sloppy. So I took it upon myself to make a "belt" for her starter, which she has named "Henry." She can slide it up or down the jar to mark the surface of the starter each time she feeds it, and then will be able to easily see how much rise is occurring.

Agreed... Case it in warm water, I would then stretch it (put the center of the butt around a large pole or post then hold the ends and pull with all your might), then allow to COMPLETELY dry between 2 boards while under weights.

Saddle bags are generally attached to the saddle by the saddle strings on the saddle. I used to punch 4 holes (2 on each side) to run the saddle strings through the saddle bags then through a slotted conch, and secure it with some fancy braided knot or bleed the saddle strings together on all my saddle bags or doctoring pouches..

I'm interested in your (or anyone elses) experience with the Mighty Wonder 4 ton clicker. Do you like it? Does it work well? Ect. Also, I would really appreciate it if you could post pictures (several) of the working parts of the machine from various angles, and in various positions. I ask this because im a professional welder and machinist... And have been very seriously considering building my own clicker based on the mighty wonder. If you are willing I might want a few measurements from the machine as well. I hope this isnt too much to ask, and thank you in advance.

Edge creases are something new to me that I have just recently started adding. But I do think it adds something to simple pieces like this.

Thank you, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. However, the basket stamp I chose is a bit on the large size for this wallet, especially with the brand added into it. I really need to get a smaller double rope basket stamp.

This is the only Veg-Tan Kangaroo I've ever found. I bought it specifically for wallets. It is difficult to tool in comparison to bovine leather, but the end result turned out pretty nice. My client was impressed and gladly paid $150 for it.

Yes the stitching is somewhat inconsistent... My sewing machine does not like such thin material, I think in the future I will handstitch this design.

So I have been trying to come up with a money clip and card wallet for sometime. Recently a client presented me with a similar wallet with a magnetic money clip that had been chewed by his dog, and wanted to know if I could build something like it. This is what I come up with... This is by far my favorite wallet I've built to date. It is made completely from light weight Veg-Tan Kangaroo leather. Features a strong magnetic money clip, an internal ID slot, 1 internal card slot, and 1 external card slot. It is very thin, with an ID, 2 cards, and a wad of cash it is still less that 3/4 inch thick. It is tooled with my clents family cattle brand on a basket stamp background. The brand has been dyed deep black. Please feel free to offer your honest opinions and critique... Good, bad, AND the ugly.

Very nicely done piece of work!! I will agree with others about the beveling... But will offer a different fix, as I had trouble with the same thing when I started. It may not be that your beveling isn't deep enough. But rather that your swivel knife work is too shallow... You can only bevel as deep as your swivel knife has cut. I have found that many are hesitant to cut as deep as they really should with thier swivel knife when they are starting into leather carving. Maybe try cutting a little deeper in areas that you really want a nice crisp edge, but still feather that cut out where you want that edge to fade away. This will allow you to bevel deeper and add a nice crispness to your work. But all around, you did a very nice job.