First Carved Solo Seat.

[shadowryder]

This is the 1st seat I done with any carving,tooling on it.

Used 3 mm vegtan leather top and bottom,

I know the lacing is not brilliant, unfortunately the lace I used was not of good quality which I found to my cost trying to save a few pennies.

check out my pics.

[shadowryder]

Here are a few more pics,

SORRY about the large crummy pics.

Edited May 25, 2014 by shadowryder

[shadowryder]

well guess my work ain't worth the effort of a comment or two from all you experts,

never mind we all gotta start somewhere but I do not think I,ll bother sharing any more of my work on here,

Y'Know i can take critisism as well as encouragement but nothing at all well!!!!! that just sucks.

I know my photo skills are sh!tty but you can still see what I,m trying to do.

I,ll keep my work to myself and the few peeps here in the UK who recognise what I,m trying to do from now on.

I REALLY did not think it was that bad.

Edited June 5, 2014 by shadowryder

[JohnD]

I dont think anyone is trying to be mean and though the pics are pretty bad, as you said I can still see what youre doing. If you were looking for more critique or advice, maybe a post in the show off or critique threads would garner more attention.

I'm no expert but I think youre on the right track. The thing that jumps out the biggest at me is it looks like the quality of leather youre using is not so good. The wrinkles and such in the leather look like the grain is separating from the hide, where it get all squishy in the middle. It looks to me like you know what you want to do, just take your time and be consistent in your layout of hole spacing and such. Dressing the lacing with a smooth faced hammer or mallet after usually neatens things up quite a bit. Im not sure if you wet molded the top or not, but I like to cause then I can smooth out any wrinkles and stuff to end up with a neater appearance.

Youre right that its not that bad, I think sometimes people just dont reply to things, it has nothing to do with who posts it. Posting your work and using the collective knowledge on this site is a big help to getting better and I think it would be a mistake not to take advantage of it. My wife used to call me the thread killer because whenever I posted it would end up being the last of that thread, not everytime mind you, but often enough to make her laugh about it.

[shadowryder]

John,I appreciate the time you have taken to comment on my post and my work,and thank you for it.

The leather I am using is a 3mm veg tan shoulder,probably not the best out there but its what I can afford right now,

The finish and the grain is not too bad actually its quite smooth, the pictures make it look worse than is,

I did wet form the top and it took quite well but I did not manage to get my holes lined quite right.

to be honest even when the work is top notch people here in the UK will not pay the high dollar prices you guys command over there,I may make about £80 GBP for that seat and about a third of that is tied up in materials,never minding the time spent.

thanks again for your comments and advice.

[mato]

looks good to me nice job

is this your first seat or just first with carving ??

and the last pic looks better it looks to have shape to it

[shadowryder]

Hi Mato,

thanks for your comments,they are much appreciated.

I have made 4 0r 5 seats before this but without any carving/tooling work,all of which I have sold privately or on ebay.

I think I have let myself down badly on the photography front more than all else..

[ConradPark]

Hey, your seat looks cool, keep up the good work! Also I think you shouldn't worry too much about the lack of response, like everything there are things that are of more general interest on this site and if you want feedback it's probably better to post in the Critique section of this forum.

On another note, I've done leather work for many years but never a bike seat, while the leather part doesn't bother me I have felt a bit wary about the whole dressing the pan with foam bit - if you know what I mean. What would you suggest a good seat to start with as first project - a bobber seat like the one you used maybe?

[shadowryder]

Hey, your seat looks cool, keep up the good work! Also I think you shouldn't worry too much about the lack of response, like everything there are things that are of more general interest on this site and if you want feedback it's probably better to post in the Critique section of this forum.

On another note, I've done leather work for many years but never a bike seat, while the leather part doesn't bother me I have felt a bit wary about the whole dressing the pan with foam bit - if you know what I mean. What would you suggest a good seat to start with as first project - a bobber seat like the one you used maybe?

Hi thanks for your comments,much obliged.

This seat I made the pan myself with 3 mm steel plate cut to shape 13" long x 9" wide,I welded in an extra strip2" of 3 mm steel up the middle on the lower side as a spine for extra stength and welded in the bolts.

for foam padding I used neoprene foam aprox 1.5" thick cut from a camping mat glued to the base with contact adhesive then shaped with a sanding disc.

I did my tooling and After that I wet formed the leather onto the pan top and bottom then well I guess you know the rest.

Hope this helps,

thanks again for your comments on my seat.

[Billy P]

Hey Ryder, I like your seat too. I've been messing up good leather off and on for 40 yrs. and still have not done a bike seat, I guess like of confidense, LOL. I'm thinking of buying a seat pan and doing one to see how it turns out and sell it if possible. I'm kind of like you, in this little section of South Carolina I live in people just don't appreciate the work and material cost it takes for that sort of work. Just across the field from my house there is a used auto parts junkyard. the guy also has a shop and couple of mechanics, that work on other peoples cars. He charges $60.00 an hr. for their work. He charges a min. of 1 hr. so if they change 1 spark plug and it takes 5 min. he gets $60 +the cost of the plug. He asked me about doing him a carved belt with a bike theme on it along with his nickname, I told him I charge $25.00 an hr + materials and such. He got all red in the face and told me that I wanted to much. I told him to spend about 40 yrs. and about $8 or $10 thousand dollars on tools and leather and make his own. He thought about it probably after checking around somewhere else and got back with me and had decided he wanted me to do him a belt after all. I told him screwit, I didn't have time to do it and didn't have any idea when I would. which is never. Anyway keep up the good work, and you and I both need to work on our pics, but we know that. thanks for sharing your work with us. Billy P