& Such?

[Omega Leather Works]

I've been wanting to do a belt since I started making sheaths. I made a couple years ago, but I believe I can do a pretty decent one now that I'm much more familiar with leather and tools. After being at the coast and talking with a few shop owners, I'm also very much considering making a box of leather bracelets and selling them wholesale to a few tourist places near the beach. Most carry junky (made in China) leather and paracord bracelets, but they aren't worth what the stores sell them for. I also make and sell strops and ferro rods.

What do you guys make besides sheaths? Pics are, of course, welcome.

 

[harronek]

I've been busy the last few days shooting Sporting Clays ( a type of Clay Target competition )
and I was asked why I use a cheap standard old " Toe protector " ( it is used to rest the barrels of your broken and unloaded shotgun on while you wait for your turn to shoot ,and to protect your shoes from damage ) when one of my hobby's is leatherwork .
I honestly don't know why I haven't thought of it before and told the guy I will make a couple for something different to do .
By the end of the shoot I had 10 people ask if I could make them one as well .
I dont know if you have a Clay Target club near you , but I bet there would be a demand for them and also belt cartridge pouches .
Just a thought .

Ken




Ken

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Hey, now that's interesting. Thanks for the lesson, I've never heard of or seen those before.

One other thing I forgot to mention (somehow your picture reminded me of it). I bought a pack of those ball chain key chain things. I've only made a couple, but I plan to make a leather key chain that I'll attach to some of my better sheaths. I figure it's cheap advertising to include one. I need to get a stamp that has my web and fb addresses, but for now my makers mark is what I'll use. I thought about buying a bunch of business cards, but a key chain is easy enough and lasts far longer. Dyed to match the sheath, I think people might like them.

 

[Akcir]

The only thing that I make, besides sheaths, are holsters. I just make them for personal use, as I don't have the time or desire to make them to sell. I too have been thinking about doing a couple of belts for myself. There is a saddle shop that sells some pretty good scraps for cheap, and it's about a half hour drive from me. I would have to get some stamps, but every thing can be had at the saddlery.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I'd love to see what you end up making. I keep wanting to cut my leather into manageable size pieces, but that nagging desire to make a belt has kept me from doing it. I also need a strap cutter. Anyone used one of those wooden hand held deals?

Funny enough, I was asked by my wife's friend yesterday to make a collar for her husband's dog. Should be fun. I already have the hardware so it should be pretty straight forward. She asked for black with red stitching too. Seems I won't be breaking away from the combo, but that's okay with me.

 

[Horsewright]

Yeah I've got that strap cutter. I've also had a couple much more expensive draw knives. I like the wooden deal better. Easier to use and better results. I've made lots of dog collars. They are fun and they will last a very long time made right. Made some leashes too. I'll get some such pics up here when I can.

 

[Horsewright]

My wife and I make a lot of different things to sell besides sheaths. I thought I'd add a few pics and describe the items. I figured the pics might be more interesting if they were shown in use as oppose to a static product shot. So here goes:

In this shot we're branding at our ranch. Thats Nichole, my wife, on the left, Logan my son on the right with the branding iron, myself in the background on the red horse and my friend Jeff on the bay horse. I made all four pair of leggings shown in theis pic. Logan's pair is a little fancy as they are two toned. The tan color is a nubuck leather and it is trimmed with chocolate fringe around each leg and across the apron. Jeff does a little leather work too. He cut out the parts for his pair and did a little stamping on the top leg yokes and then I finished them. Can't really see them too well here but I made all the spur straps too. My horse is wearing a martingale across his chest which I made. It is two ply and this one is finished rough out to match my saddle. A martingale helps hold the saddle in place climbing up steep terrain and also when roping. There are also breast collars that are similar but there are some distinct design differencecs between the two. You can see Steve behind Nichole. He has the wormer. Remeber to always worm your calf after you brand em. Otherwise poof! Up in smoke they go!

In this shot Nichole is talking with our friend Steve. So here Nichole is wearing her "shotgun"chaps I made her and Steve has his charmitas on that I also made. Her chaps are relatively new. I make them a little big on purpose and then I want the owner to wear them for about a month. This allows the knee area to "set". Then I want them back and I trim them to fit better. If you make them slim fitting from the start then when the knee sets you always have a "bubble" there. Shotguns are pretty pricey because there are two sides of leather involved. You want to cut the leg lengthwise along the spine of the side. Otherwise they will stretch differently. So you only get one leg per side. Nichole custom makes and sells the wool vests that they are wearing as well as the silkwildrags (scarves) that they have on too. Her wildrags are very famous as they are made from a very unique silk that only we have been able to locate. It is called sandwash silk, its a heavier silk with a velvet feel to it and man do they help to keep you warm. Have sent quite a few to the "sandbox" too. You can see Steve's knife and sheath on his belt. I made both of these as well. Also the head stall on his horse and the martingale she's wearing too. You can see her just peeking out behind him.

Something else we sell.

 

[harronek]

Dave. :thumbup:

Those flat brims on the hats wouldn't last long at my place
Couldn't ya put a little bit of curl in them .
Here is today's headwear to give you some ideas .

Ken

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Dave. :thumbup:

Those flat brims on the hats wouldn't last long at my place
Couldn't ya put a little bit of curl in them .
Here is today's headwear to give you some ideas .

Ken

Uh oh, now you went and did it. Hat fight!

Dave, you are a leather Renaissance man! I love the action shots. Also, you're kinda like the Headless Horseman in that top pic, but I'd still bet that you're wife is too pretty for you.

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I make journals, a lot of wallets, and bracelets, some horse tack, and other specialty items.

TF

 

[Horsewright]

Yeah Ken you're pushing the "taco" syndrome there with your Akubura! You could steam a good felt like that and flatten that brim out like it should be. Yep Strig its tough being married to a supermodel. In honor of that I shall continue with the headless horseman.

I also make holsters, cases and my most ingenious design, a saddle chinkasa (in the slang Spainsh spoken around here saddle thingy). This pic shows a binolcular case (in front of my leg), one of my Rangeflap holsters and a saddle chinkasa holding the holster to the saddle. How this works is the "thingy" is a two ply strap that goes over the rear billet and sandwiches to the billet from both sides with a chigago screw There are two straps that come off and so they can go around an object, or through a belt loop or slot and fasten the object to the saddle. I build them so the straps are adjustable up and down the length of the thingy to accomodate different size objects. So in this pic if that had been a longer barreled gun, I could drop that lower strap down and put it around the bottom part of the holster. The great advantage of the thingy is that because of the way that it fastens to the saddle the weight of the object being carried is on the rigging of the saddle which is very strong, not on the saddle strings which are very not. It also prevents any flopping. Its so cool I should make more of these. I don't offer them on our website but do make them up when people ask. Look Ken! I've got an Australian oilskin.

This is my rein connector. Its a 9 inch long leather strap that connects the reins to the rein chains that come off of the bit in the horses mouth. It connects off and on with a Sam Brown stud. I use the screw on type stud for these. The customer gets them and installs on his set of reins with a drop of loctite and they are good to go. In our style of horsemanship we use braided rawhide reins. These are pretty expensive so we protect them by taking them off when not in use. Rawhide also has a memory so when you are not riding most folks like to take them off of the bridle and hang them up so they hang straight. If you leave them on they can get a bow in them from sitting too long that way. This also allows you to use different bits on differnet horses and use the same pair of reins. This works out good becuase the reins ae so expenisve. My pair cost about $500 and Nichole's are really fancy and were about a $1000. This pair belongs to a friend they were about $700. So you can see taking care of these critters is important and this little rein connector allows us to do that easily.

TF we need pics my friend. What kind of tack do you make?

 

[Omega Leather Works]

This thread just got awesome.

I agree. Jason, we *need* pics. I can tell you guys that he does very nice work. I dig the wallets, although I'm not sure how you do those by hand. What a pita. Also looking forward to tack pics if you have any. I'm guilty of not taking pics of my work as much as I should.

Really cool "thingy" Dave (that just sounds wrong!). Ever considered doing work for bikes? Lots of hardley (can't miss an opp to poke) guys spend big money on custom leather goods. Seems like a lateral move since you make tack.

While I have your attention... You ever worked with Horween Dublin (oiled veg tanned)? I'm wondering what other leathers are good for sheaths. I love leather that has "pull up", but unsure if there's anything that is okay for steel contact. I know that oiled leathers can have a hard time with cement, but that's the only downside I'm seeing.

 

[Horsewright]

I also make and sell sharp pokie things:

This is one of my Sonoran Hunters: A2 steel at 62 RC (heat treat by Peters), nickel silver bolster and Desert Ironwood handles. Its sitting on a twisted rawhide reata. A reata is a rope made out of rawhide. Most are braided out of four strands. This one is twisted out of three strands. Each strand is twisted first and then the three twisted strands are twisted together to make the rope. Its about 3/8" in diameter and about 70" long. I've never had a twisted one before, I have several briaded ones. Twisted ones are suppose to be a lot stronger and less delicate than there braided cousins. I traded two knives for this reata. Come to think of it I traded for the ironwood too.

Here is one of my Compadres. AEB-L at 62 RC with heat treat by Peters. Brass bolster and exhibition grade Turkish Walnut handle.

As a cowboy, trading is deeply engrained in the dna. I traded for the wood for this knife with Butch Searcy : http://www.searcyent.com/main.htm When you custom make rifles of this caliber (sorry for the pun) you only use the finest walnut for the stocks. Take a couple of minutes and wander around his site. Some unbelievable craftsmanship, check out some of the engraving in the gallery. I got three large boxes of stock cutoffs from Butch for one of my Sonoran Hunters.

Here is something that isn't quite so pokey: but vital.

Water buffalo horn spacer and sambar stag handle on this top popper. I usually make up a handfull of these prior to Christmas.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Man I love buffalo horn! My first slipjoint has scales from it and it's beautiful. Stags nice too. Great looking combo, especially with the liner.

I'm reading a book and one of the characters has a leather arm cuff that played a pivotal role in the book. Anyway, it got me wanting to make a wristband for myself. Not uncommon for me. Most people think the flames on my arms are a biker or hot rod thing, but the idea came from a book, my daughters name came from a book too. Anyway, I threw this together. It's shark skin over 7/8oz. I haven't done any edge finishing and haven't put a sealer/conditioner on it either. I'm wondering if you guys have any advice on how to make the transition from the shark to leather less abrupt? I find shark to be difficult to sand down or skive, it smudges out or stretches. I may also stitch the overlay down as it'll probably peel at some point with just cement. I'll definitely stitch them if I end up selling any.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[sheathmaker]

Anthony, two ways. 1. magic word is SKIVE the shark down to zero and glue it down and stitch. 2. Bring the shark out of a slot punched into the 7/8 with the tail on the underside.

Paul

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Paul, what do you prefer to skive with? Do you use your splitter? I have a head knife and one of those "safety skiver"s, the ones with the replaceable blades. I find the safety skiver good for stiff leather, but it's just not sharp enough for soft leather, or leather that has a little stretch to it.

Interesting idea making bag punch holes. I've done that before with straps and it works fine, but it looks a little clunky if the leather has any thickness to it. Sort of like a thick inlay window where the inside frame is thicker than the inlay material. Not sure if that makes sense. You know what though, I could try skiving the flesh around the hole with the French skiver. That might work.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll try them.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Added a little scrolling (I need to get better at this) and finished the edges. Next is to stitch with red thread and apply the top coat.

 

[Horsewright]

Pretty cool. I like the shark with the red. Is this the prototype of what you're gonna market to the beach communities? At a ranch out side of Watsonville this weekend. Close enough to the ocean that we're socked in with fog right now.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Nah, the beach bums will get a more narrow band with a snap (two female snap halves for size adjustment). I don't see these competing with the cheap Chinese ones. I think people have a limit to their impulse buys, these will have to be fitted to the wearers wrist because of the stud. Incidentally, I wasn't sure if a stud on the inner wrist would be comfortable but it is. Can't feel it at all and the leather is firm enough a bump doesn't transfer acute pressure. I must have looked special banging my wrist on various objects yesterday.

Enjoy that fog. I love that coastal weather, especially when I know it's hot here in the valley.

 

[sheathmaker]

Anthony, I do my free hand skiving with a Hyde #2 knife. I haven't see any Hydes for quite some time now but Murphy makes a very similar knife with a green handle. The use of these knives goes all the way back to my saddle and tack making days. The plus is when they wear out from repeated sharpening there's always enough left for a good utility knife!

Paul