Mablung

Lots of great pointers in here already. I'd add that Weaver Leather Supply has a line of YouTube videos by Chuck Dorsett explaining how to do various individual skills and walking you through various projects. Those are immensely helpful. Armitage Leather's videos on saddle stitching are the best I've seen. And, if you have a Tandy nearby, taking in-person classes is a great way to get hands-on guidance with a skill—you can only get so far trying to teach yourself.

Marvelous work! I see why you now feel you should have just bought him one, lol.

I've never seen veg-tanned pigskin (doesn't mean it isn't out there, I guess). Calf skin can be had veg-tanned and will tool and dye well, but it's thin (and expensive). I like that stuff a lot personally. Is it important for the lining to tool well?

There's a longtime, as far as I know ongoing, thread that began with questions about whether mineral oil is bad for leather that morphed into an informal experiment regarding the effects of different kinds of oils on leather as used in different environments. I think it's in the subforum on conditioners and finishes. You should check out that thread.

Having had a similar issue on the most recent carving I did, I'd say that looks like excessive moisture. I find the "wait until it dries to the point that it looks close to its natural, dry color" tip the most helpful, as far as assessing moisture goes. My swivel knife is not quite as sharp as yours but more than adequate, and once I let the leather dry sufficiently, I didn't have that wrinkling problem anymore.

That is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Wow. To me, it's especially significant, because I think The Silmarillion is one of the greatest books ever written and Tolkien one of the greatest authors ever, at least within the English literature pantheon. Excellently done indeed.

What company formerly and what company newly, if it's not impertinent to ask? I have a dabbling curiosity (and far less than sufficient money to scratch the itch) in fedoras and bought an Akubra offering a while back. Best value for the money I could find via internet research.

Something like a notebook cover is a bit larger but provides ample space for working on carving, edge finishing, and stitching. Those can be large or small, simple or complex.

A blade can never be too sharp for skiving, but it sure as shootin' can be too dull, even if it's plenty sharp for cutting. Sharp, sharp, and sharper.

Books are always tools, in a different sense. Intellectual tools, which are the best kind. To paraphrase another saying, the mind is the final tool.

My absolute favorite tool, and the only one that is not a relatively inexpensive Tandy buy, is my vintage (120 years +) C.S. Osborne round knife. 5.5" inches from point to point that I got for a song on eBay. I have the tools and know-how to restore the edge, so I sharpened it myself. I love that knife and do everything with it, from rough cutting to skiving to fine trimming. The blade is thin, so the whole thing is light and very agile. Next thing I'd like to upgrade is my stitching awl, but my Tandy Pro one still does the trick for what I'm doing. But frankly, halfway decent beginner tools will serve you very well for a long time. The biggest thing to work on, IMO, is technique. I'm right there at the same stage of skill as you, and I don't think my skill has equaled or surpassed the quality of my tools.

I enjoyed reading through the recent posts about GSDs and Huskies. I have a Husky/Belgian Malinois mix. She does okay with a 3-mile/5K-ish walk or run, but she always wants more like a 10K and some playtime. She's 6 years old, but the vet always thinks she's about 2. And judging by her energy levels, one can believe it, lol. Surprisingly, she'll spend a lot of time chilling by my feet when I'm at home, or sleeping on my bed, while I'm at work. Once I'm up and moving, it's time to move, lol. I'll post a picture at some point. And yes, I made her collar and leash, of course.

If this is, for all intents and purposes, a practice piece, I wouldn't worry about trying to coat the inside. I'm a fan of gum trag for interiors of holsters (done a couple that way), but whatever you use, it must be applied before the holster is cemented. I use my scratch awl to make a line on the interior delineating my cement area, then apply gum trag and burnish with a glass slicker everything else. The glue line functions as a glue line and as a gum trag line.

2 oz. calfskin is a decent choice for interiors as well. Also not as cheap as regular cowhide, but it's cheaper than kangaroo.

Oh, that is so cool. I love frontier history and the gear and accoutrements. Looks like just the thing a long hunter who lived and hunted from the small supplies carried in his possibles sack would carry. Now I want to make one (along with the long list of other things I want to make...).