I travel a lot for work and take my tools with me to give me something to do at night instead of drinking and staring at the walls too much. This really is where the hobby has come into its own.

The Nikons came with a case, but it was haphazard at best. I watched a YouTube video and thought I could do it better. The leather is the same pull up bison I made the wine tote from that I posted last week and this project taught me how to do box and butt stitching. Not bad for a few quiet nights in a Hilton.

What started as a piece of 3-4 oz veg tan ended up as a shiny black card wallet. Today, I wanted learn more about two new additions to the workbench and see if I could easily integrate them into the hobby.

The first thing I wanted to figure out was how to import the physical template for the card wallet into xTool's Creative Space project dashboard. The process was pretty simple overall. Trace a heavy line around the template on a piece of white paper, take a pic of it, import it into the software, and then use the software to draw out a vector cutter template. Boom! After that, I timed myself to see how long it would take to cut out 4. Cutting a large piece to hold all 4 and running the job took 7 minutes!

The second thing I wanted to try was the airbrushing. I went with black since it's hard to mess up and just wanted to get a feel for the device. It wasn't bad at all and the finish looked great after applying neetsfoot oil to deepen the color, punching and stitching it up by hand, adding resolene to seal it, and burnishing the sides with tokonol and paraffin.

Overall, it was a great day of tinkering and learning!

The template was another one from Odin down in Texas. The hide was a 2-3 oz Cognac chrome tan from Montana Leather Company. On this one, I tried laser engraving out for my company logo and spent extra time dyeing the edges black and burnishing to a high gloss.

The template was from Odin Leather down in Texas. Picked up the hide from Montana Leather Supply while working in Billings, MT last year. That leather works wonderfully, if a little sensitive to fingernails while stitching it in the pony. The fastener is an antique copper Loxx and the handle is held on with antique copper Chicago screws. Fun project!

I've recently been made the lucky recipient of some audio legends. I'm doing my best to restore them while respecting the dignity of being OG.

The Eagles Greatest Hits confirming a successful power supply recap/rebuild for the Pioneer tuner! ❤️

Wyola, MT is a small town just a few miles north of the Wyoming. Most of the residents are from the Crow Tribe. I had the opportunity to meet one of the community matriarchs for a couple of hours and loved listening to her tell me about her family and her tribe.

This handsome fella visits the window outside my office several days a week.

According to numerous cultures, the hawk is revered for it's sharp vision and powerful flight and it's one of the most respected and powerful spirit animals. As a spirit guide, the hawk represents intuition, focus, and freedom. Those that resonate with this energy are said to see beyond what's in front of them and to soar to new heights to expand their perspective. Should the hawk appears in your life, it's said to not be a coincidence, but a call to pay attention, gain clarity, and pursue purpose with laser sharp focus.

Best gamer buddy ever.