Black River Laser Is Awesome

[CodyG]

I ordered 3 of sets of templates from Black River Laser, and had them make me 2 custom sets based on paper templates I use all the time. I couldn't be happier with Jerry & Joyce!!

Both of my maker's stamps are from Jeff at Grey Ghost,, and he's such a great guy to work with. I really wanted his guitar strap template too, but there's no way I'll pay $100+ for a template. I'm very happy with what I found at Black River.

[Kustom]

Jeff at Grey Ghost is a good guy. I've taken a carving class from him and was very happy I did. I've also had him make some maker's stamps for me. The thing about his $145 guitar strap templates is they actually make three different style of straps. If you make straps for country western players this is the one to get.

[Glendon]

Just received my Black River Laser order in the mail. First off, they look great.

I ordered 4 templates from them. The buckle end templates, shield and tab templates, and two new templates they just released. The new strap end templates they offer include both the standard strap point, and the English strap point. The final template I got was their radius strap end set. Buying the new dual strap end set and the radius set is actually cheaper then buying the standard and English point strap end sets. Since bought a few sets in this order, they were nice enough to include a handy little leather thickness gauge, Much quicker and easier then the calipers I was using for that job.

Shipping was a snap. I placed my order though their eBay store and the templates were in my hand 4 days later. I'm completely happy with the quality. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet, but I'm sure they are going to get a lot of use. Service as also great. When i had e-mailed them about placing an order, they had not yet lined the eBay store off their website. So I wanted to ask them about the order process and to discuss a custom template I was thinking about. I had a phone call from Jerry that day. He walked me though the ordering options and gave me a quote right then off of the sketch I had e-mailed.

If you're thinking about one or two of their template sets, I'd absolutely say go ahead and get in touch with them.

[Sylvia]

Just received my Black River Laser order in the mail. First off, they look great.

Service as also great. When i had e-mailed them about placing an order, they had not yet lined the eBay store off their website. So I wanted to ask them about the order process and to discuss a custom template I was thinking about. I had a phone call from Jerry that day. He walked me though the ordering options and gave me a quote right then off of the sketch I had e-mailed.

If you're thinking about one or two of their template sets, I'd absolutely say go ahead and get in touch with them.

I'm glad you like them too. That leather gauge is a neat little doodad isn't it? What I like about it is the size... with it being close to a credit card in size but a lot thicker it would be an easy thing to slip in the pocket on the way to the leather store. Sure did make me realize that I've been using a lot thicker leather than I though. :D

I can't wait to see what you think of the templates when you use them. I'm really liking mine!

[Glendon]

Yes, the leather gauge is a handy little thing. At least for us newbies who haven't been around long enough to eyeball it yet.

I used one of the tab end template to make a belt loop for a pocket knife sheath yesterday. They do work great.

If I have one complaint about them, is that they are just on the edge of being too thin. They should hold up fine, but they are just flexible enough that I feel like I need to be careful with them. When place the order for my custom template, I think I'll pay for it to be made 1/8" instead of the 3/32" acrylic that's the default. Other then that, I'm quite happy with them. I'll be doing a belt from scratch next weekend, so they'll be put to the test then.

[Sylvia]

For me it was color... I like the clear but if I drop them or set them down it's hard for me to SEE them. I've dropped mine, accidentally shut one of the ranger belt ends in the drawer... and not even a crack. But if they did crack or break they are inexpensive enough replacing the set wouldn't be too painful. I bet if that did happen BRL would be happy to cut you a new one for a nominal fee. Certainly couldn't hurt to ask anyway.

Which reminds me... I think I'm going to get a binder and some of those sheet or card holders to put them in. That way they won't take up room in my drawer and won't be sliding about.

[Glendon]

There's an idea. I hadn't thought of using those plastic paper protectors to hold them. I was planning to grab a piece of scrap leather and make a fold over pouch holder for each set. Cut a base to the size of the largest template in the set with a flap that folds over the bottom of the pouch and comes to about half way up the template. Then rivet on a strap to hold the flap closed. Pretty simple little project.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Glendon

[King's X]

I have to agree with Sylvia. I ordered a very simple but handy tool from them. It is a leather gauge to determine what ounce you are handling. For $5 bucks, it is worth the bench resource tool. Joyce is very nice to talk and it seems that she was a leathercrafter before some health issues got the better of her. I am considering some other templates from them. Consider them in them in the future for some great resource tools.

[Bluesman]

I just sent them a request. I also put down that 'Sylvia sent me"

[Sylvia]

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