First Agitation Collar

[Santo]

[Santo]

On my next one I'll take more time gluing the two peices together and burnishing the edges. But overall it will serve its purpose. The handle has deerskin stitched on the inside so it is easier for the handler to grip.

[LeatherLegion]

That is the fanciest agitation collar i've seen do far ... nice work !!!

[Itch]

Your work looks very nice and clean..

[Santo]

Thank you for your critiques. I' wanted nice heavy collars that looked as tuff as the dogs they were on. I'm looking for different hardware.i would like to find nice heavy solid stuff.

[benlilly1]

Nice collar!

[Santo]

Some work in progress

[Matt Alsaker]

Other than the deer hide on the handle, is that all veg tanned? A friend asked me to make a collar for his working dog, put I was concerned about durability and strength with veg tanned. They operate in some extreme conditions. What weight leathers are you using? The collar looks substantial....I like it.

[Santo]

That is all Veg tanned. I sealed it only using some neutral kiwi polish. No problems yet, but im in California so im not sure if i know what extreme weather is. I used two peices of 7oz glued and stitched together.

[Santo]

Couple more items I'm working on I messed up the stitching on the harness but my friend is happy. Hell I was already ruining it with pink

[Mijo]

That's a really nice chest piece, I'm a big fan of the stuff you post. Do you use a die to cut the the leather into that shape or do you do it by hand? How are you going to connect the bottom part of that chest piece, I noticed that there's no strap sewn on?

[Santo]

Thanks Mijo! Didn't use a die, by hand. But i messed that up a little which led to some other problems. Im learning some lessons on this harness. Alot of "don't do that next time" stuff. The harnes will have one more strap and hook up like your harnesses pretty much. Next time i will take more time cuttiing my shape out set my line for stitching way ahead of anything. And redo the straps larger or integrate them into the chest plate.

[GrampaJoel]

Please tell me how you colored the diamond. Your colors are outstanding!

Joel

[Santo]

Please tell me how you colored the diamond. Your colors are outstanding!

Thanks! The pink on the harness was by default. I try to stay using spirit dyes, but i couldn't duplicate hot pink. I kept getting a really washed out version that was flesh tone. Because that is what was requested i used eco flo hi liter stain. Honestly im not happy with it at all. But i have gotten a good response from the lady im making it for and my wife. So I guess it has gotten the approval from the pink tutu crew. The silver is also Eco flo hi liter mixed with tan kote. Im more of a fan of the sheridan looks. Blacks browns and mahoganey

Edited August 24, 2012 by Santo

[Santo]

Here is a look after i had decided my spirit dye pink was not "hot"enough. I was kind of at an oh shit moment and in save mode by this point.

[GoldenKnight]

http://turtlefeathers.net/text/angelus/dye.html

Angelus has a "pink" spirit dye. How do I know? I have a few customers looking for me to do some natural colored veg tan leather bracelets with pink leather accents layered on top for October's Breast Cancer Awareness drive they are doing.

I've done projects like this with other colors, but not pink ... couldn't find pink dye anywhere. Can't mix Feibing's white with red because the gray and white can't be mixed with other colors, unlike all the other colors (go figure).

I went to a shoe repair shop and they sold me a can of what they called spray-on dye ($8.00), but it is just a top coat and it could be peeled off if scratched with a fingernail or brushed against a wall ... I got some dusty rose pink spray paint from HomeDepo and that actually worked better than the expensive "leather" shoe dye from the shoe repair guy.

Finally I found a post on here about pink spirit dyes that mentioned Angelus dye in pink, so I'll give it a try. I'm not a fan of most of the the water-based Eco products that Tandy has from past trial & errors. So I'll be trying the Angelus dye and that should fix the search for this very unavailable color. You may want to check it out too if you're not quite satisfied with the Eco hi-liters.

[McJeep]

How on earth do you get all of your lettering so neatly spaced and lined up? That's always been a bear for me with stamps :0/

[Santo]

Thanks golden night that helps a lot!

@Mc jeep I carve all my lettering no stamps

[The Dawg Club]

VERY NICE!!

[Go2Tex]

In speaking to the issue of durability of the veg tan leather for working collars, what you might consider is lining with latigo or harness leather. That way you have the tooling leather for show and latigo for strength. But, if properly finished with neatsfoot oil and maintained with saddle soap occasionally, veg tan will be fine for working collars or leashes.