Whacha Been Up To......

gonna get some glue on next.
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Very cool. 18 is how many I'm doing today too!
 
saved myself a huge headache here- thought I could get away with saving the last of the cutting til later, but realized that I'd have no way to easily transfer the welt boundary onto the front of the sheath. That's important because I need to know exactly where the glue will go in order to avoid a messy mess. I've made that mistake enough times that it looks like the lesson finally took
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saved myself a huge headache here- thought I could get away with saving the last of the cutting til later, but realized that I'd have no way to easily transfer the welt boundary onto the front of the sheath. That's important because I need to know exactly where the glue will go in order to avoid a messy mess. I've made that mistake enough times that it looks like the lesson finally took
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Good deal my friend keep on trucking! Got my sheaths done, a rifle scabbard and a couple belts:

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The belts were the same, just different sizes:

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Nichole made this tote yesterday. All leather exterior and lined with canvas:

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Working on two more scabbards today and a set of saddle bags. Probably start grinding the blades for another batch of knives today too.
 
Very cool! Great work. All one order?
Thank you !!!
Yes all one order, it was my first log jam lol
I did have to make a couple twice. Little things bothered me so those became seconds and made new ones :)
All going to the same customer, one lucky guy for sure.🥳

Yes :) And yes he is extremely happy. Hopefully he will post better pics. But their his so that’s up to him.

Also I have a brown leather BFK5 on my bench now 😉👍 Just FYI lol :)
 
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I have a newb tooling question as to the order of things. I'll be laying out an area for a basketweave. I plan on cutting the border lightly with a swivel knife, tooling a basketweave, and running a border stamp.

My question is when should I bevel the "cut" line. Should that be beveled before or after the tooling is done. I'm guessing after but I think I have the feeling I'm missing something. Is cutting with the swivel knife even necessary to begin with? I want a clean border and will figure it out with some practice but thought I'd ask here first.
 
I have a newb tooling question as to the order of things. I'll be laying out an area for a basketweave. I plan on cutting the border lightly with a swivel knife, tooling a basketweave, and running a border stamp.

My question is when should I bevel the "cut" line. Should that be beveled before or after the tooling is done. I'm guessing after but I think I have the feeling I'm missing something. Is cutting with the swivel knife even necessary to begin with? I want a clean border and will figure it out with some practice but thought I'd ask here first.

I'm no expert but the beautiful thing about leatherworking is that we can pretty much do what we want. I tend to tool my cuts right after I make them. I'll make all of my cuts, and then tool them.
Maybe it would help if you drew your ideas on paper first and see what they look like? Or use some scrap pieces of leather to get an idea of what different ways of cutting/tooling looks to you?
 
I have a newb tooling question as to the order of things. I'll be laying out an area for a basketweave. I plan on cutting the border lightly with a swivel knife, tooling a basketweave, and running a border stamp.

My question is when should I bevel the "cut" line. Should that be beveled before or after the tooling is done. I'm guessing after but I think I have the feeling I'm missing something. Is cutting with the swivel knife even necessary to begin with? I want a clean border and will figure it out with some practice but thought I'd ask here first.

I quit cutting and beveling a border for basket stamping many years ago. The reason why was I was finding on some of my projects that saw very hard use, that this cut line led to cracking. I was at a branding on a neighboring ranch. Several of the cowboys there were wearing chinks (short chaps) I made some of em, quite a few years earlier. I was looking at Mikey's pair and I'd noticed that the cut line was cracking the leather where it curved around the hip. Looked at Lawrence's pair and same deal. So I quit doing it. My wife, Nichole, will still cut the border when she's doing some basket stamping but I'm working on her.

Mine:

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Her's:

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Here's my first attempt at tooling. This model gets some aggressive wet forming up top so I went with a small panel for the blade area to avoid any washout. In hindsight I need a smaller border stamp, this one is overbearing on such a small area.
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Really appreciate this thread and all the advice.
 
Here's my first attempt at tooling. This model gets some aggressive wet forming up top so I went with a small panel for the blade area to avoid any washout. In hindsight I need a smaller border stamp, this one is overbearing on such a small area.
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Really appreciate this thread and all the advice.
Looking forward to seeing that one all completed, John. :)

A few things I’ve been up to…
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Here's my first attempt at tooling. This model gets some aggressive wet forming up top so I went with a small panel for the blade area to avoid any washout. In hindsight I need a smaller border stamp, this one is overbearing on such a small area.
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Really appreciate this thread and all the advice.
I would agree and perhaps a smaller basket stamp too. The stamping itself is pretty darn good though. Strive for more evenness in depth. Don't beat yourself up bout it though takes time and experience. So noticed how the three border stamps on the upper right side seem a little deeper? So three things cause that. 1) the leather was wetter there. 2) ya had the tool laid back at a steeper angle than the rest. 3) ya just hit it harder. Shoot for evenness and consistency on all three
Looking forward to seeing that one all completed, John. :)

A few things I’ve been up to…
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Very nice work! Extra clean!
 
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Great advice Dave, thanks. Looking forward to doing more and getting some consistency. I need to build up some muscle memory through repetition.

Sharp & Fiery those look awesome, great style:thumbsup:
 
Great advice Dave, thanks. Looking forward to doing more and getting some consistency. I need to build up some muscle memory through repetition.

Sharp & Fiery those look awesome, great style:thumbsup:

I’m still learning myself so I didn’t wanna chime right in. But I will add one thing I’ve learned towards being consistent. I try to hold my maul the same way. Also for me I’ve found that using more wrist than arm helps. I try and let the mauls weight do the work with just a little momentum ? But again I’m learning myself so what do I know lol :)

Keep at it it’s looking good 👍😁
 
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