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Hey y'all. First, I want to thank you for all the great info and discussions here. I've been reading for a few weeks and have learned quite a lot. I got my first tools and some crummy Tandy veg tan earlier this week and wanted to share my first piece and ask for critiques and input on some specific problems I'm having. I drew the pattern for this in Adobe Illustrator and printed out a paper template that I scribed onto my working leather. Tools used: Osborne stitching awl, sharpened on a stone John James 002 harness needles Tiger nylon thread Osborne 609-8 pricking iron. Osborne No. 2 edge beveler No slip steel straight edge Homemade German steel cutting knife. Here are some of my specific problems: I'm having a hard time cutting straight. It always seems to have this little curve where it slightly widens at the end. My knife is very very sharp. What gives. Things seem to go better when I make lots of passes with little pressure, just letting the knife do its thing. Is that usual? Hints? Strategies? I free handed the curves and was disappointed that there are all these little fly-away bits sticking out. I tried burnishing them with some spit but they don't want to go away. My beveler appears to be too big for 5 oz leather. It makes a groove about 2 mm into the edge but doesn't remove much material. What size is appropriate? It also doesn't go around tight curves like this. My 8 tpi pricking iron seems pretty darn tight now, but Osborne only makes 7, 8, and 9 tpi and the only other sources I see are Dixon, the expensive French brand, and Japanese stuff which is all very expensive. I want a 6 tpi. Where do I get one? I'm still learning how to switch hand priority and direction while saddle stitching so I completely screwed up the left hand side of the piece. The typical zig zag with one thread laying over the other is ... on the back. Speaking of backs, the thing I'm most disappointed about here is the crummy line. I glued the construction up with some Scotch Super 77, so everything was dead straight before I started. I had no problem when I was practicing with 2 thin pieces of leather. I'm straddling my scribed line with my pricking iron and then opening holes up with my awl horizontally from the center line. Any tips appreciated. I'm not even ready to start thinking about how to properly finish leather. I would like to stop stabbing my fingers with my awl. It goes through leather like butter and through skin even easier. Any critiques or thoughts appreciated.