Skiving - moving forward

October 4, 2021 Melton Shell

One more: “Suck it up, Buttercup” post.

A brief lesson on skills, shortcuts, experience, efficiency. (As usual?)

Leather skiving. Essentially, thinning leather. Don’t confuse this with leather splitting. Which is sort of the same.

“Splitting” is thinning an entire leather piece (or hide) to one continuous and hopefully consistent thickness. Example, going from 10 oz to 6 oz.

“Skiving” thins, as well. But usually it’s only a section of the leather piece. Usually a gradual slope sliced off. Example, from 10 oz on one end down to 2 oz to the other. Think of a wedge.

Skiving is good for when folding over a top hem (to keep thinner after folded) or the bottom of stacked “T” pockets (as seen in this post). I’ve shown both of these examples in various videos on my YouTube channel.

Now the “Buttercup” part:

I’ve skived leather by hands for many years. And it’s definitely an art form to get right and perfect. Also, requires an ideal knife and sharp blade. (See @ibexironworks - custom made, custom angle bent, backasswards to my backasswards method)

They say (Malcom Gladwell?) it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. Well, I’ve done it. I’m there.

Skiving for the first few years was a hugely dreaded affair for me. Slammed full with frustration and aching hands. I’ve gotten now, to where it’s effortless. Again, knife, angle, sharp, strop, etc.

See here how the skiving can be done with extreme precision after those 10,000 hours. Large pieces removed are a good indication of this.

(Note: You see 1000 grit sand paper here. 2000+ would be better, but I didn’t feel like going out to the forge to get it.)

As a result, I’m now aiming toward more efficiency.

On the way is a bell skiver. Thanks to @leather_machine_co

Stay tuned for future updates!!

Red Imp, cordovan strop. The “c” in “700C” stands for the cordovan variety.

#Leather #leathercraft #leatherwork #leatherwork #leatherwallet #leathercrafter #leatherworker #leatherlove #leatherdesign #leatherdiy #leatherlove

"NOT FOR HIRE"

June 30, 2021 Melton Shell

Story time:

When I was younger (12 - 17 years old) my father and I were building our house. Yes, it took 5 years from start to finish. He literally did every step. He’d work on it every day after his midnight shift at work at the brewery, and I’d go every Saturday, Sunday, school holiday and every day during the summers. My entire high school life was building a house with my dad.

We’d always stop at Pop’s footlong hotdog for breakfast on the way out. So the 1974, “Ole Blue” Ford F-250 pickup truck (with 36” tires) sat in the parking lot loaded with brick laying paraphernalia, wheelbarrows and water barrels. I can’t even recall how many times someone would stop my father as we left breakfast asking, “Are you for hire?”

He’d alway reply, “No, we’re not for hire.”

This was in the mid 1980’s. Before the internet and “order your custom stickers here” websites.

Flash forward a few years and I recall seeing construction trucks out on the job sites that had stickers on the side reading, “NOT FOR HIRE”. It was the first time I’d ever seen the actual stickers.

It always made me think, “Man, I bet dad wish he had those stickers years ago. Would have saved so many parking lot conversations.” Basically, it’s saying you can’t hire that specific person / vehicle for an individual job. They are part of a company. Etc.

Now, every time I see the sticker on a vehicle, it reminds me of those mornings driving with my dad to work on the house.

Flash forward another 20 years. After 20+ years working in the corporate world and banking, I was feeling like I was in …. Well, let’s just call it “prison”. I refer to it all now as “Shawshank”, if that gives you any idea. I was trapped. Yes, they “hired me”, but now the whole concept of being “hired” felt more like a prison sentence. Hired and subsequently imprisoned.

As we all know now, I finally escaped (in 2017).

Soon after I escaped Shawshank and I was a free man (leather crafter) I saw one of those “NOT FOR HIRE” stickers on a construction truck going down the highway. It made me smile. I remembered my dad, and I knew that I was no longer “for hire”. I’m a free man now.

Since then, I’ve put that sticker on my “company car” (seen previously).

Well, one of my stitching ponies has now been adorned as well. To constantly remind me, I’m a free man (as well as a wink and a nod to my hero, my late father.)

Ink and Inspiration

October 9, 2020 Melton Shell

Since my hands and arms are the “face” of my YouTube channel, I thought it fitting to post the last ink installment. With some more details about inspiration, meaning, planning, execution, etc. And yes, forewarning, no leather is present in the photos. If you came for leather, move along. If you came for story, enjoy.

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Ink Composition and inspiration:

Books, coffee, mermaid, Lilly flower, scallop shells

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Ink meaning:

Books - for my mother (deeper inference withheld here for obvious reasons)

Coffee - see meaning for “books” above

Mermaid- represents the ocean (ties to my wife) and the graceful form and flow of the body. The concept of “Flow” is crucial to how I design.

Lilly flower - for my wife (deeper inference withheld here for obvious reasons)

Scallop Shells - for my father and family. Last name and symbol used by my father as a marker.

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Design and inspiration:

My wife helped in the design and placement. As seen in the photos - Freehand mock up drawing on my hand for visual aesthetics prior to “real ink”.

Mermaid model - @olgaloera . Olga is an author, celebrity tv host, 8 time Playboy playmate, etc. She previously did a photo shoot with a Mascon coffee mug for me. She was kind enough to pose for the tattoo as seen in the photos. (Notice the face in photos vs final ink.)

Flower - the only color in the piece. A Tiger Lilly (wife = Lilly)

Tattooer and artist - @tyrellcharlesart At @liquidmetaltattoo in West Point, Virginia. Ty completed the final design and art work, all freehand. Ink was applied in two sittings / sessions.

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Now back to your regularly scheduled programs. Get back to work.

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