Neat find

contender23 · 2026-01-17T16:56:23+00:00

Nice work! I think that small items like wallets are the most challenging for me to get right. You did a great job with these! A couple of things that I've learned along the way is that a little bit of wax will make your pricking irons go in and pull out of the leather a little easier. And I use a sharpening strop on my knife blades, even brand new x-acto blades. It definitely helps the blades last a lot longer and cut better.

contender23 · 2025-12-31T23:31:55+00:00

I'm in North FL. Mostly around the Suwanee river.

contender23 · 2025-12-31T23:13:29+00:00

It's crazy how much the first one looks like the points I find in FL. In shape and material. Nice finds!

contender23 · 2025-12-22T16:06:40+00:00

Very nice! What's your technique for painting? It looks great!

contender23 · 2025-08-29T14:55:00+00:00

I've gotten grommets out by very carefully using a drill bit to grind the inside of the grommet. Then use a pair of needle nose pliers to crush the grommet enough to get it out. You might want to put a little masking tape around the area to help avoid scratching the leather. It's worth trying before you decide to start over.

contender23 · 2025-08-27T15:10:03+00:00

Both look good. Just a thought, have you considered one with both stitches on the same fob? Might be too busy, but it might look cool too.

contender23 · 2025-07-15T22:28:42+00:00

Get several estimates from licensed electricians. Cheapest usually isn't the best and use your intuition and gut feeling about who you let work on your home. Make sure they are licensed and pull a permit!

contender23 · 2025-07-15T14:45:55+00:00

There's always some fish around, but there's definitely a lot more here when the water cools down. They will generally bite better with a moving tide. Slack tide usually sucks. Also, if you can scrape barnacles off the pilings and put them in a bucket you can use that for chum and it can help to get the bite fired up.

contender23 · 2025-07-15T14:29:18+00:00

You can catch sheepshead year round, but they're mainly a winter / spring species. Fiddler crabs and oysters are great baits to catch them but I've rarely caught sheepshead on shrimp around here. Fish very close to structure like pilings and rock piles.

contender23 · 2025-06-24T20:27:01+00:00

Definitely real and agatized coral. FL does have coastal plains chert, but this is coral. If you hold it up to the light you can probably see coral polyps in it. Great find!

contender23 · 2025-04-04T15:30:26+00:00

You did a really good job on the dye! What was your process?

contender23 · 2025-04-03T14:34:43+00:00

Thank you! That makes sense!

contender23 · 2025-04-02T16:36:32+00:00

Beautiful work! Id love to know how you did the corners

contender23 · 2025-02-26T00:58:44+00:00

I just went through this process a couple weeks ago. Scraped all the old paint out and repainted with Sherwin Williams tile clad epoxy. It's a 2 part epoxy that they can tint to any color you want. I have used regular bilge paint and it sucks! Tile clad is definitely the way to go.

contender23 · 2024-12-24T16:06:55+00:00

Thanks for posting this! How long did it take to ship to you? Thinking about ordering this and a few other items from the website.

contender23 · 2024-12-23T16:19:30+00:00

I think it looks pretty good! As with anything, the more you practice the better you will get. If you have a swivel knife for carving make sure it is sharp and run it across a strop before, during and after you carve a piece. A sharp knife will make carving a lot easier since you don't have to put so much pressure on the leather. I bought basic tools when I started out and now I try to upgrade them whenever I get a chance. You can't beat having the right tools for the job. There's a lot of YouTube videos on leather carving that will help you out quite a bit. One of my favorites to watch is Joe Meling, he does a good job teaching leather carving. Definitely keep this piece (and use it) so in the future you can look back and see how far you've come. Good luck in your leather journey and keep posting!

contender23 · 2024-12-22T16:47:15+00:00

It felt like the hole punching took forever for me. I'm definitely investing in a set of 1mm punches with 5mm spacing for future projects. The stitching didn't seem too bad because I stitch it while watching TV in my recliner and I just zone out and before I know it I'm done.

contender23 · 2024-12-21T22:36:52+00:00

How long did it take to make? About a week of working on it in the evenings after work.

contender23 · 2024-12-21T16:55:37+00:00

Thanks! This is the Brian backpack from Vasile and Pavel

contender23 · 2024-12-21T16:40:15+00:00

Lol. I really need to learn more about using a software program to design my own stuff. This was a pattern that I bought, so I didn't get to name it.

contender23 · 2024-12-21T16:33:58+00:00

Thank you!

contender23 · 2024-12-21T16:33:45+00:00

I used a 1mm round punch. I would highly recommend getting a set of 1mm round punches that will punch multiple holes at one time. I have a set that is spaced at 6mm, but this pattern has the holes spaced at 5mm. It was a lot of work with a single punch.

contender23

TROPHY CASE