NoahL

I have trouble with dyes rubbing off, rather than just running, but then again, I think that's just me--even my vinegarooned belt rubbed off black on my khakis! Anyway, I have been using Leather Balm with Atom Wax to finish things, and I really like the satin finish I get from it, but it's not a great waterproofer--it does keep the dye from rubbing off with sweat, though, from what I've seen. I know a lot of people here use NeatLac or SaddleLac, and I've heard of people using wood lacquer for items that do not need to flex. I'm certainly not an expert at anything leathercraft, but that's what I know

That's pretty neat--I definitely like the Spartan helmet. I have to say, though, I would think the phrase "molon labe" would look cooler in Greek (as in with the Greek alphabet, since the phrase is Greek in and of itself ), but it all looks good to me

I contacted Horween months ago, actually, and yes, it is cheaper...if you are willing/able to buy it in 100lb increments. They will even sell you nice big pieces, but you have to buy it 100lbs at a time, and at roughly $7.25 per pound, I can't afford to do that--nor could I store it if I could afford to purchase it. EDIT: I should note, however, that if you buy in bulk from Horween (which is what places like Zack White and Siegels would do), the price goes down, so now that I think about it, the cost of buying one horsehide strip from, say, Zack White (approx. $6.50 per pound), costs a little less than buying directly from Horween unless you are buying a huge amount of the stuff. My head hurts from math-thoughts, please stop me... Anyway, it's definitely nice stuff, and I know exactly what Kate means about the funky patterns from the spotted ones--my latest horsehide belt has some interesting "blotchiness" to it, but that just adds character

Now, see, an anchor occurred to me first, so what does that say about me/it?

Thanks for the advice TwinOaks! I'll have to give that a try the next time I work with Sam Browne studs. Thanks Eric! I checked out your website and saw some of your photography, but I'd love to see your cuffs and cuff watches. They aren't my thing as far as wearing them, but they are fun to make

Thanks, both of you! Darryl, I know what you mean--it would look like a pippin punch. Those holes actually are slightly smaller than the heads of the studs, though not by much, and they are a pretty tight fit. I did a test run doing it with the pippin-style hole-and-slit combo, but it didn't work very well because my cuts weren't perfectly straight, and it was pretty hard to get them onto the studs. I'll try it again sometime and try to keep my cuts straighter and see how that works. Thanks for the suggestion!

Okay, so it isn't "tooled" per se, but I did use a backgrounding stamp to texture it to achieve a look that (I hope) looks almost like it's been eaten by acid, and I mixed black and dark brown dyes and distressed the leather in places with various grits of sandpaper to get different textures to make it look a bit older. I burnished the edges some, but stopped before they got really smooth, because I was going for a bit of a worn look. The liner is some unidentified leather that came in a scrap pack from Tandy, and the cuff itself is made of 7-8oz horsehide, and they are sewn together with more of that hemp thread I've got. It doesn't really serve a purpose, but I thought it looked neat, and it was my first time ever playing with dyes and distressing and lining and Sam Browne studs . Thanks for looking! ~Noah

That's awesome! It makes me want to play chess again, though

The 7-8oz horsehide I used soaked in it for about 3 minutes, but it didn't get very deep into the leather--enough to save scratches, but trimming still cut into the natural leather color. Next time I do something black with horsehide I will probably let it sit for 10 minutes or so, despite the smell. If your vinegaroon mixture is too acidic, it can damage/eat the leather over time, from what I've heard, so you have to bring the acidity back to a level that the leather "likes" which, as Freedom mentioned, is generally around 4.5 on the pH scale. From some of the posts on here I've read, though, plain cold water neutralizes vinegaroon plenty, even without baking soda in it **shrug**. There are many ways to do any one thing

I've been playing with vinegaroon quite a bit lately, but I have to say, I haven't succeeded in getting it to stop smelling completely. However, I have gotten it to smell only a little, and the smell was different. I used cold water and baking soda, but that didn't do it, even after a good 10 minute soak. However, I let it air out for a while, then gave it two coats of oil and a coat of Leather Balm and suddenly it smelled like oil with a hint of vinegaroon. I still wish I could get it to completely go away, but I'll take what I can get.

Thanks! One of these days I'll get around to buying tools and trying to carve something, but this belt will work just fine for me. And yes, vinegaroon is awesome, even if it smells bad

One layer of 7-8oz veg-tanned horsehide leather, blackened with vinegaroon, impregnated with 2 coats of extra virgin olive oil sun-tanned into the leather for about 5 hours for each coat, and sealed with two layers of Leather Balm with Atom Wax and paraffin wax rubbed into the burnished edges. The buckle is held on with Chicago screws that I have epoxied in (I don't need to swap out buckles, but I like the look of the Chicago screws) and the belt keeper loop is integrated into a leather spacer that makes the screws fit tightly. There are 7 adjustment holes 3/4" apart from each other, and this one is sized perfectly to me--no measurements were taken, I just pulled the belt through the buckle and marked the perfect spot. Turns out, the perfect spot for me is 35-1/16" from where the tongue rests on the buckle. Anyway, it's not perfect, and I probably could have let it sit in the vinegaroon longer, and my edges need work, but hey, I made it for me, and it was fun

Zack White has those, I'm just not sure if they are big enough: http://www.eleatherworks.com/product.php?p...=658&page=1

Thank you very much! I will definitely have to look into doing that! I appreciate everyone's help

NOW I'm quite intrigued! I know that there are two types of bluing--cold bluing and hot bluing--but I don't know how to do either one. Can you point me to some tutorials? Thanks!

Thanks! I may have to go take a look, then. Really the only reason I don't use Chicago screws is that I'm paranoid about anything that screws in--I'm always afraid they will come loose. I know I could use LocTite or JB Weld, but I'm still paranoid . And yes, I was planning on using them for belts, but I have a particular kind in mind--a sort of ring-cinch belt, which by its design seems like it would put a bit more stress on the stitching or rivets holding the ring on. I don't have anything against using something that's brass, I'm just a fan of silvery colors rather than gold, so nickel-plated works just fine. I know that steel will turn the leather black, but that's what my batch of vinegaroon is for--I don't mind brass on brown leather, but I prefer nickel-colored metals on black. I know I'm too paranoid, and probably too picky, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to see if those were out there. It turns out that my brother was wrong--they have steel pop rivets and copper burr rivets, and he mixed the two in his head when I asked about them. I can get solid steel, titanium, or aluminum rivets from Rapid Rivet, but they don't respond to my e-mails well, so they haven't told me if they also sell washers that will fit them, and I suspect they have a minimum order requirement that I wouldn't be able to meet. It looks like Chicago screws and tubular rivets it is . Thanks for everyone's help!

Ed has skills, though. I'm sure he could make a bag in a style like this with it--multiple pieces sewn together. It may not be sturdy enough for his purposes, I suppose, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, does it? I truly don't know if it would be possible or not, since I'm a newbie, but I did think about trying to make a bag out of it, and that was my thought for it...

I think Zack White only carries 7-8 oz, but you might be able to get them to split it or find thinner stuff for you. I'd love to see what you would do with that!

I love that stuff, man. The horsehide from Brettuns Village is pretty thin (around 2mm) and pre-dyed and finished, and it's been retanned with oil, so it doesn't really tool, but for as thin as it is it is pretty durable. I haven't had the stuff from Siegels or Springfield, but I just got some from Zack White that is nice--straight veg-tan and pretty heavy-duty stuff. It makes nice belts and cuffs, and I'm making a wallet out of it now

Greetings fellow leatherwork new guy in Arizona! Granted, you're much better than I am . Aaaanyway, a few weeks ago I had found some interesting stuff on cuir bouli at these links, in addition to the threads on this forum: http://www.armourarchive.org/essays/thorgr...ir_bollei.shtml http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Art...or_Improved.htm http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/hl.html http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=94793 Hope that helps! ~Noah

Well that sounds lovely! A rivet setter I have, but I had thought I would need an eyelet setter for those. I'm still hoping to get some of those solid burr rivets from my brother, but he takes a long time to get me things sometimes, so this may very well work out in the meantime. Where are you getting yours?

The hand-stitching on the liner side of your belt is much better than the hand-stitching on the liner side of mine, if that makes you feel any better . That looks like a pretty nice belt, so congratulations! Maybe one of these days I will get the courage (and the cash) to start tooling, too.

Are they smooth enough on the back for belts, do you think? If they would be strong enough and aren't going to tear up dress pants, then that would probably work if my brother can't get me any of the burr-style steel rivets.

@ Kevin: I had thought that it was iron oxide specifically that would cause the deterioration and discoloration of leather? Being that these are stainless steel, in particular (or possibly aluminum, I'm not 100% sure), I wouldn't think that they would cause that, especially if I put a coat of clear nail polish over the pieces first, although I'm not sure how well that would work either. @Russ: Are those pop rivets? I found a few images of sickle bar rivets on Google, but a search of the TSC website only brought up copper burr rivets, Easy-To-Do rivets, pop rivets, and these, which I can't tell if they are solid or hollow. Are those what you are referring to? Thanks for your help, both of you!

That may very well be how they work, but I would think you could put a washer on it like those copper burr rivets and prevent them from pulling through. I sent an e-mail to the company that makes those, so hopefully on Monday they will respond and tell me how those things work. Also, one of my brothers is in the High School's robotics club, and he informed me that they use steel burr rivets (exactly what I was looking for) on their robots, so he's going to try and get some of those for me. We'll see how those two routes work out, and I'll let you know.