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Another Leather Project

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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by BrokenolMarine » Sun May 01, 2022 10:34 pm

That 1/2 acre just fences in a corner of the existing pasture, fenced with barbed wire. It has sections that will need attention this year. Fence maintenance. Sheesh.
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dave77
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by dave77 » Sun May 01, 2022 11:30 pm

BrokenolMarine wrote: โ†‘
Sun May 01, 2022 9:32 pm



We didn't set those posts today. :roll: We did those yesterday, but it wasn't too bad, we used the tractor to set them, pushing them down with the bucket. With one holding and one running the tractor we set 25 in just over an hour. The fence was run in two. We'll have power to it in a day or so, waiting on a couple things from Amazon. The calves will have a half acre and access to the barn, but not to mom. She can recover and Tina will be back to milking every day. ;)
Good idea using your tractor to set the posts, it's hard work using a post driver. I've found with electric fence you can't have too much ground. I originally had 3-8 foot ground rods spaced about 15 feet apart. Since enclosing one side of my pasture with field fence I just attached the ground wire to it so every fence post is a ground. I do need to get the weed eater out and and knock down the weeds and grass on the electric side. The goats actually prefer some weeds and other vegetation (Cottonwood leaves are their favorite) to grass so weeds on the other side of the fence can be very tempting.

Don't know about cows but when we weaned Ruby and Heather (horses) from their moms they both managed to get over or through the fence the first night and went down the road about a ยฝ mile to where their moms were. We had to take them to a friends place quite far away, he also had a very secure paddock.
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by BrokenolMarine » Mon May 02, 2022 3:45 pm

I don't know about the cows... they are pretty stupid. We haven't connected the electricity yet since we are waiting for a couple things from Amazon. The young steer walked right thru the tape to get to the pecan orchard. Sister followed. :twisted: I want to be there watching when they try it when the fence is charged. :lol: If they aren't deterred with the 2 mile charger on the 1/2 acre fence, we'll step up to a bigger one. I remember when we put the pup in her little small electric fenced play area, to keep the bad things out. I was sitting up one morning about 2 am watching out the back window as a fox creeped up on the back yard ... sneak sneak sneak... freeze, watch. sneak sneak sneak... freeze, watch. It's about forty yards from the edge of the woods to the fence line, and about eighty to a hundred to the back of the house. Sneak sneak sneak and his nose touched the fence. I had been holding my breath. He LEPT into the air and twisted 180 degrees, landing for a quarter second and made three bounds and was back in the woods. He might still be running and it's been about three years.

I swear I saw a fox outline hanging in the air in red hair.... like the roadrunner cartoons.
:twisted:

We had a ground on each end of the fence and a good charger. Didn't want something stealing the little dog when she was outside playing.
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by BrokenolMarine » Mon May 02, 2022 3:51 pm

Got back out to the shop to work on the project this afternoon. Raining all day, nothing else to do. I cut in the lettering on the HENRY, and the border for the logo... SLOWLY and carefully not to ruin the arc. Then I cut in the border around the edges where the "rope' will go. Looks good. ;)

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I began the stamping and shading. This time I was negative stamping, stamping the background to bring UP the foreground. I used the color sample to know which areas to stamp back for accent. LOTS of black. I have the overnight to think this over. Do I do the orange wash again? I'm thinking yes, but a lighter wash. Just a touch. I can also do a black wash to accent the "black" areas. I plan to finish this in a natural oil, no stain. We'll see how that works.

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I'm thinking the rope border works well.
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markiver54
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by markiver54 » Mon May 02, 2022 6:49 pm

I agree! I like the rope border.
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by BrokenolMarine » Mon May 02, 2022 7:51 pm

A couple hours this evening in the shop. Paint accents done. I am not ashamed to say my butt was a bit puckered. A slip, paint in the wrong place and I would have been starting over, or rethinking how this thing would have been finished. You can't remove paint as far as I know. :shock: There are some MINOR slips, but no drips or dribbles like on some other practice pieces I just turned around and tossed. :twisted:

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I'll let this paint dry overnight and then apply a natural clear finish, or maybe a yellow dye, then a finish. I want to try a watco oil finish, but I have yet to apply watco oil over painted leather. I might have to paint a sample and try it FIRST... I would :cry: if I tried it here and all the paint ran. :P

I was going to wash the rope, but when I mixed the yellow wash, I couldn't get a tint I liked... so... nope.
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markiver54
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by markiver54 » Mon May 02, 2022 8:55 pm

Looks excellent!
Better to hold back on the rope for now. You can always think about it more, but can't reverse something already done.
I can see already that it's going to look great!! HRA might want to buy it from you! ๐Ÿ˜Ž๐Ÿ˜
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bikeridertim
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by bikeridertim » Tue May 03, 2022 8:17 am

That looks fabulous!!!๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป
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Hatchdog
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by Hatchdog » Tue May 03, 2022 10:01 am

Looking great, canโ€™t wait to see the finished product. No, yes I can wait, remember slow it fast! :D

Loved the Fox story, I can just see that outline in thin air. What a treat to get to witness that event.
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BrokenolMarine
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Re: Another Leather Project

Post by BrokenolMarine » Tue May 03, 2022 5:07 pm

Drove an hour to Sulfer OK to the dentist this morning. It was a consult with a new dentist. Nice visit. I am looking forward to working with the office. I drove an hour and a half when I was in VA to see the dentist at the Veteran's Hospital in Richmond. I liked him a lot. He retired just before I left.

Back in the shop this afternoon. I had snuck out last night just before bed and painted a test sample to check the staying power of the paint against the Watco Natural Oil. I cut a rope pattern in the sample pattern this afternoon before testing, just because.

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Sample paint was stable, even when I rubbed off the oil. :D Then I thought, I should have tried dying the rope with yellow dye rather than painting. Duh.. :shock: :? So, I cut a sample rope pattern again, and dyed it yellow, then coated IT with watco to see how IT looked. I was pleased as punch with the look ...

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... you know that meant I had to CAREFULLY stain the rope border on the piece before applying the Watco oil. Slowly I worked my way around the border, inch by inch, ridge by ridge in the border, the pucker factor was high. I got 'er done. Larry the Cable Guy would have been proud. :P

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It was time. I applied a good coat of Watco and let it soak in. There were a couple spots along the edge of the leather that didn't darken, but I have a solution in mind. They could have been caused by several things that I know I can avoid in the future, or they could be leather defects. :roll: Still looks pretty darn good. I have a plan or three for this piece. Don't guess I have to burn it. ;)

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So, guess we aren't quite finished yet. Almost, but not quite. :twisted:
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You can tell a lot about the character of a man...
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