Panels for New Purse

[Tim Schroeder]

Decided to try some Wickett and Craig  American Vachetta from The Buckle Guy. Been using Herman Oak for 15 yrs and still love they way it tools but personally I think the HO quality has just gone downhill. When you order A grade you should get A grade. There's not anything A grade about any of the A grade HO I've been getting lately. It's nice to be able to order by the square foot but I have to order double what I need to get a usable piece. It turns out there prices are really good. Try to buy HO by the foot anywhere else it is 3x the price.  Now it takes a min of 3 days to get an order out and then for some reason it gets to Dallas in 2 days and then takes at least 3 more days to get to my door and then you open it and you get crap. I called The Buckle Guy and ordered The American Vachetta Tues. at 3:30 and it was at my door Fri. at noon. It was also two almost perfect pieces. I don't know what was wrong with them but nothing is perfect. 

 I think this W&C tools better than the HO. It is very soft and you have to be very careful not to make unwanted marks. After tooling the W&C was all one color like I tooled it to wet. Almost no burnishing color. This is what it looked like after oiling. Still not as much burnishing color as the HO. I usually dye and antique finish everything so the burnishing color is not really an issue. 

Edited April 10 by Tim Schroeder

[AEBL]

Nice work! Good to know about W&C ... sorry to hear that HO has declined ...

[Jan236]

That looks really nice!

[Tim Schroeder]

Thanks @AEBL and @Jan236. I have them dyed now and was supposed to have this done by 4/28 for our anniversary. Not gonna make it because of physical issues. 

I will definitely be using the W&C from now on. It is very soft and you can make unwanted marks very easily. But it tools and dyes better than the HO I have been getting lately. I will try the regular tooling W&C to see how it tools and dyes.