Greetings, from South-Central Texas!

[alfredleatherworks]

Hello, everyone!  My name is Riley and I am the proprietor of Alfred Leatherworks!  I've been a member of this forum since 2014, however it seems I have never formally introduced myself here.  I am a disabled Air Force veteran, having spent seven years in the USAF as an intelligence analyst.  Since leaving the military I have had a somewhat difficult time readjusting to civilian life, however in 2015 I began using my Post 9/11 GI Bill to work towards a business degree.  In December 2018 I graduated from Texas A&M University San Antonio with my bachelors of business in business administration with a focus in marketing.  My goals regarding my presence on this forum are to network, chat with other people who are as passionate about leather as me, to learn new tips and tricks, and to occasionally offer some advice and answers to other folks.

I began working with leather as a small child in my father's taxidermy shop.  He often had people bring in a whole deer and only ask for the antlers on a plaque back.  The surplus of deerskin led to him learning to work with leather (and me getting an awesome deerskin backpack for school!), and by that I began to learn because if he was in the shop I was out there too..."helping", lol.  I got in the way a lot, I'm sure, but I learned to love helping him make wallets, bags, backpacks, and all sorts of other neat things.  Years later, while in the military, I found out a mentor of mine was also a saddler and I began spending a lot of time in his shop learning from him.  I would never, at this point, call myself a professional saddler, but I can certainly do repair work at this point.  After leaving the service I found another leather working mentor, this time specializing in leather garments, accessories, and leather quilting (apparently, a big deal in some parts of the world).  I have a rather varied bit of leather crafting training, and more than a few years of "dabbling" and "hobby-crafting".  As time has gone on I have chosen to try and start up a full-time leather shop as an enjoyable way to spend my day and earn some supplemental income since my disability stipend only goes so far.

[chuck123wapati]

Greetings back from South Central Wyoming. I look forward to your tips and tricks I plan on doing something with  some of the many hides I give away every year so possibly would ask you a few Raw hide  type questions lol.