Some Leather Fire Helmet Shields And A Knife Sheath

[EngineCo1]

I haven't been doing leatherwork for long but these are some shields that I've done and a Leatherman Sheath I did...

And my 1st sheath....

Please let me know what you all think and let me know how I could improve. Thanks.

[abn]

Beautiful work. You ask for help on improving, but I honestly don't see how you could make a finer fire helmet shield. Those are fantastic.

Just curious... How much of a beating do they take in the line of duty? Do you occasionally have to refinish them?

[Spinner]

Those look really nice! The text is crisp and the paint looks to be even and smooth. Not much to change here.

What paints are you using since these will possibly be subject to fire, water, etc? What finish?

Last question, I see they are stitched. Is that purely decorative or are they 2-ply or is there something in between like lexan for impact resistance?

The sheath looks good too, I like the weathered look.

[EngineCo1]

abn, THANK YOU! The shields have done good so far that I know of. Havent had anyone complain nor ask to redo one after they've gone through a good fire. Acouple are covered in smoke but none have blistered so far. Plus, a smokey looking shield looks cool according to them anyways.

Spinner, I use the Eco-Flo sometimes and other times acrylics. I then put acouple of coats of sealer that you would use to cover wood. So far they have been doing the job and not blistered. Who would have thought right...? LoL

The stitching is done by hand just like everything else. A few are heavy thick leather and some are two layers with contact cement in between. I ruff up the leather before, cement it, let it dry a little bit then attatch them together before double sewing them together. I'm sure there's a better way of doing it but I've only taught myself this so if there are better technigues, feel free to let me know.

The 'weathered look' come by accident! I was doing it brown but didn't like the way it came out so I used a damp papertowel and tried to take it off. When that didn't work, I applied the black Eco-Flo then used the same papertowel and there you have it.

[EngineCo1]

Could someone please explain where my pictures went? I checked Photobucket and they are still there. What gives?

[Spinner]

Could someone please explain where my pictures went? I checked Photobucket and they are still there. What gives?

Hey EngineCo1,

I have seen this sometimes when posting my own. Here are some of the possible reasons:

Editing a message after the photos are inserted can cause the links to break.

Organizing your photobucket album or creating a new album or moving the pictures to a new album can break the links

Editing the pictures for resize, cropping, etc. and using the save new copy vs. the replace option can break the links.

If it wasn't any of these, only other thing I can think of it the bandwidth getting too high and hitting the photobucket cap.

I've hit the bandwidth cap a few times so I had to break my photos into 3 different accounts, one for forums, one for family and one for secret projects.

Chris

[gtwister09]

EngineCo1,

Spinner has pretty much hit the nail on the head about issues with OUTSIDE forum pictures. This is the reason that I wish everyone would leave them on the forum because they break so easily and now we can't see them to admire and comment on them. Many of the other forums that I am on have the same issue with people who don't post their photos on the forum.

Regards,

Ben

[EngineCo1]

I think that is exactly what happend! I do know I organized them to an album, but didn't think it would take the pics away! WoW! So how do I post them up again? Thanks so much for the advise!

[Spinner]

LOL...I've done that before myself.

Best way to go about it is to edit the original message. Once in there, delete the photo references and then reinsert the photos from their new location.

It will take a few minutes to complete but should work fine going forward.

Chris

[CitizenKate]

Clint sent me some new links and I updated his original post with them, so you should be able to see the images again.

Cheers,

Kate

[EngineCo1]

Thank You Kate...!!!

[Draxus]

the shilds are great.

[weaselrunner]

looks better than the one's we used to get at the fire equipment company for the local departments. The company I used to work for also charged an arm and leg for them too.

[EngineCo1]

THANKS for the compliment!!! I've been getting a lil better with time and just finished my first figure carved shield for a Brother firefighter. Will post pics tomorrow. If anyone knows a firefighter who wants one, I charge $50. I know other places charge more but I enjoy doing these and am not looking to get rich building them. Thanks again!

[TSDESIGNS]

How did you get the rough lookness for the backrounds. It looks great!!

[Highlands858]

Sorry to bring this post back up top, but what paint did you use to get the white on those shields?

Thanks,

Luke

[EngineCo1]

TSDESIGNS: I used a Craftstool E294-03 matting stamp. Thanks!

Luke, for the white, I used a waterbased paint I had laying around. I think I bought it at Wal Mart if my memory serves me right. Just clear coated them afterwards.