Been practicing carving and tooling.

[Rolandranch]

Now I'm not a seasoned carving veteran by any stretch of the imagination, but I would definitely say that tooling a belt in stages is a good idea. I was recently working on a saddle with a middle-aged saddlemaker who is now limited in leatherwork because he got tendinitis from tooling leather too much. When I tool leather, I take a short break between tooling stages to stretch out my hand. It's just not worth all the cramps to me even if doing all the tooling in one sit-down makes the work slightly better.

[Fire88]

I like the mares leg, need to do a holster or scabbard for my dads.

I just did two box lids and when I did them I did the cutting one night put them in bags then in the fridge. The next day I got em out worked on one took about 90 mins, took a quick break stretched my hands and then did the other took another 90 mins. I stretch my hands often and put the tool down every couple lines or spin it in my fingers to keep them loose.

[JMcC]

Good job and that looks like a "day of the dead" skull...I saw a coloring book in the store last week and all it had in it was different types of skulls for Day of the Dead. If I liked skulls, I would have bought it for using for leather work.

[georgiapine85]

That's looks cool. I have to take breaks from my projects all the time for whatever reasons. I think it helps sometimes to get up and get away from it for a bit. I did a belt for my wife with a repeating floral pattern that ran the whole length, and I definately had to take breaks here and there. I don't think it hurts a thing. I was just looking at the Tippmann last night online, but I'm just not ready to get a machine yet.

[Bustedmp77]

3 hours ago, georgiapine85 said:

That's looks cool. I have to take breaks from my projects all the time for whatever reasons. I think it helps sometimes to get up and get away from it for a bit. I did a belt for my wife with a repeating floral pattern that ran the whole length, and I definately had to take breaks here and there. I don't think it hurts a thing. I was just looking at the Tippmann last night online, but I'm just not ready to get a machine yet.

I do like my boss, but wish I had added a few hundred and gotten an electric machine with a larger throat. I've been working a rough out clint eastwood rig for someone the last few days. Today I had to hand stitch part of the holster because I just couldn't manipulate the leather good enough with only one hand. 

[georgiapine85]

Yeah when i was watching videos of it I noticed that it might be tricky to move your work piece with one hand and pull the lever with the other. When you say "throat", Im guessing thats the distance between the frame of the machine and where the needle is? 

[Bustedmp77]

Yes sir. I don't regret purchasing it, however having used it for over a year now, I regret not getting an electric machine instead.

[alpha2]

When taking a break on tooling, or even when tooling a large piece, you can wrap the cased leather you haven't gotten to yet with plastic wrap. It's better than drying it out and spraying or wiping more water on it. That's what Stohlmans recommend.

[panku82]

looks good ... and I bitch about my garage being cold and it's 50 degrees here lol.  Keep up the good work!