steveb leatherworks: the blather

This week I am spending some time with the family in Tucson. It is “Big Daddy’s” 80th bird day and so the fam from far and wide flew in to pay homage to the fine gent and take advantage of a change in scenery. The weather is a bit nicer than at home (the northeast) and so, we are for the most part spending time […]

New Yorkers by and large know food. The city is stuffed with all manner of nationalities and these newcomers bring their indigenous (mm, good word, eh?) foods to the city making it one hell of a smorgasbord for the food savvy and culinary curious. Near every block in NYC has some food, almost always a pizza joint, a deli and a street […]

When perusing the offerings at the IMS show, I happened upon the booth of DAM cycles.  I’ve had these guys on my radar for some time now, as their work has always been for as long as I can recall – stunning. I don’t know the granular particulars, of the shop, or its ownership – or even […]

Once a piece of work leaves the shop, I generally never see it again. I’ve learned to get over it. I don’t have a problem with my “children” needing to run free with their rightful owners. LIke a parent that needs to let the kids leave the roost, so I must say “later” to my […]

So….I’ve got to thank and pay props to my customers…they rock..they keep the steveb globlal freight train rolling down the highway under full steam. Without them, well i’d be putzing around making collars for Paco, my CSO (chief sleeping oficer) that he’d refuse to wear. Where the hell is the fun in that? So Dr. […]

Walked from Grand Central to the West Side in the 20’s on a cold morning. Lots of empty stores on 5th Avenue…a little strange. But there is still building going on…this is NYC ya know…it never, ever stops Cops giving tickets and people scurrying to their next stop.  Just another day in NYC..ya got to love it..c’mon take a walk […]

If you keep your eyes open in the urban sprawl you can come upon some curious sites. Hard to believe someone was actually playing in this sad, diesel dust covered excuse for snow on the side of a dangerously busy road……..but they were    

I’ve mentioned it here before – i do alot of work for guys in the military. Come to think of it, I’d like to do more work for women in the military, but until that happens, the guys will do just fine. So, I’ve been sent patches over the years by my customers in the armed forces. Got a nice collection of them, […]

Leather looks best when it gets a beating.. kinda like the crackly look of a bar brawlers face after 40 yrs. of boozing….(like that huh?)…it just gets better and more dramatic – it toughens up. In my experience, Veg Tan leather tends to break in to a specific point pretty quickly – and then it tends to stay  at that point for awhile…like…years, […]

oh man, I’ve cried me a river for the past 6mos and you’d think the cheap bastids who control the purse strings over here at the steveb co.inc, etc. would give a crap. But, noooo these shit heels in the front office with the solar powered calculators say to me – ” B, you are going to continue […]

  Not so bad – take a quick run out the back door before the day really starts. Think on this view whilst your heading to work in your cage pilgrim. Thanks for sharing Jason!

I’ve scored some pretty cool stuff in my years…. … worked and performed at all kinds of events (music, car, bike, sporting, art) , resulting in a collection of T-shirts … traded and bartered whatever it was I had at the time that had value for things I wanted … it is handy knowing and being friendly […]

Went to the IMS show on Friday in NYC. I was thinking that the plane that used the Hudson as a runway the night before, might cause a bit of travel hardship if i were inclined to take my car, so a smarter, more sensisble head prevailed and i took the train down to NYC.  The weather has been a […]

When i worked for American Iron Magazine I had the pleasure of judging a few bikes shows. At least I went into it thinking it would be a pleasure. Winds up, that judging a show, and really doing it right – requires alot of work. To boot, a deep knowledge of VTwins and bike construction is required if you’re going to do things respectfully. In the […]

People talk about what makes a biker. Or more to the point they talk about what a biker isn’t. Most of this jaw-flappin’ is for the sake of divisiveness. People love to categorize, they like to exclude. they like to rate, they like to compare and contrast. We are all guilty of it… we draw the lines in the […]

This just came in over the steveb worldwide international and domestic news wire.  TPJ Customs, supporter and friend of the steveb, leather network, has dominated a “judged class” (wtf class it is, I have no clue) at the Easyriders Show in Pomona. My boy Bryan just kills!!  Now, please excuse the handwritten nature of the documented proof of this win.I know it looks […]

Not much info here: The year 1942, these guys were  US sailors and they gave this pic to Mom. I’ve seen these 2 in other photos, so I am assuming they were best friends, and hung together.. thick as thieves… they are  kids really, but the story’s I bet they could have told

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4EH1Ny7_5s[/youtube]Read in Cyril’s blog today that Jerry Graves had died. What a shame – this was one young, talented and innovative bike builder that had a unique over the top wild style., a wild personal look and a fun super detailed flair.  All of the bikes that i saw that Graves built were wild…take this […]

Freewheel’d a skull over a cuppa joe recently No scrap goes-a-wastin’ in the shop 4″ square called out for attention Tough to freestyle with the swivel knife, it’s a fighter Fun stuff, i prevailed – crude, but then…perfect Feels good to turn scraps to trash   ha – in an effort to trim word count…should i write […]

ok – being a major force in the global quest to improve the design, class quotient and overall utility of  leather stuff like wallets, belts, sheaths and other things of huge importance, honestly, is a burden.  I’ve found that i just cant do it alone. No one I know is willing to come out into the shop and work with me. It is always some crap about […]

Geez, where to begin with this set of classic shots from the family vault…..? I don’t have all the particulars, damn I wish I did – this is one of those instances where I grew up with these pics -they were of Mickey (mom) and Max (grandpa) during the days of their performing the “act”  during WWII – […]

Time frame : early 90’s Duration: we were on the road for about a week Players: Pupkin, Paulie-boy, Gavin & me Bikes: 3 fxr’s and one softail. Destination : NYC to Virgina Beach Scenic Stops: H-D York PA, Assateague, Chincoteague, Ocean City, Skyline Drive, etc Memorable moments that have endured: scrapple in Front Royal, crabs in MD, Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Virginia Beach […]

Thinning out a piece of leather (skiving) is a common and important chore when making something that needs to blend, or blend. Leather is not one of those things you can just bend sharply and not expect it to crack, so you need to skive. I have a few blades that can skive, you’ve already met the Mighty […]

Recently received some pics of steveb gear in use…in this case it’s on the fire truck.. Fireman Beau was kind enough to send pics. This leather has been put to hard use. That’s the idea. If I could ask some of you slugs to please take some pictures (at work or not, c’mon be creative) […]