steveb leatherworks: the blather

Wow – where to start – well, I couldn’t even begin to tell this story or where, why and what… but suffice it to say my friend Scott is in Russia and is trying to help this guy who has been his driver. This guy needs some BMW specific parts assistance and help. Now keep in mind I know crap about BMW’s ,less than crap actually – i think what i know might even qualify as “knowing shit” – but if anyone out there has half a clue or has a friend who is knowledgeable  – let me know at steveb*at*steveb.biz  and I will forward your info to Scott, in Russia and get Ivanovo Edgar all hooked up nice with some fresh North American Beemer parts, cuz, everyone deserves to ride, even Russian cab drivers.

This is what I got…… from Scott-ski:

Stephen,
Greetings from the Russian front.

Our driver here in Ivanovo (Edgar) owns an almost rebuilt BMW 350 but he has little problem. From what i can understand it Looks like this gear which must drive the rear wheel is stripped.

Wondering if it would be possible for you to ask your friends if they could help locate these two parts or someone who might know someone who could.

Thanks Buddy,
Scott

Nice iPhone on left, pulse drive framastan, on the right, right!!

Hello all: well, where to begin?

Spring is zinging by – unreal. I feel like as fast as i move, and i move pretty fast,  that I still, only get half of the stuff done that is in my head. Like a CNC, i wish i could program a machine to run overnight to get it done while i get my solid 6. Working 2-shifts is tough, 3 is not in the cards.

Leatherwork has been busy and steady. I feel fortunate to have great customers who come back to me to time and time again and new customers who have been referred or saw my ad. Flattering and cool, it feels good to know that you can satisfy folks in this day and age AND get your price. I have always prided myself on being fair and it’s paid off. I will not give my work away (unless it is a special occasion) and I am really happy that folks feel they are getting something special and something that in the end, really is a value not only from the pleasure they will get from wearing it, but also from the durability and utility it offers.

But, I have been so damn busy, i have been breaking my cardinal rule of shooting everything before it leaves the shop, so I have a record and can share – but i have been slack – and that effort has been suffering a bit. Something has to give, know what I mean?

Even thought the 2-wheel season is young, I have been on the bikes a good bit, annoying the ever living shit out of the 4-wheel texters, determined to make my wife a widow before her time. F*cking Assholes is all I have to say about that. DONT TEXT WHEN DRIVING< GOT IT? What the fuck is with people that think they are so goddamn talented they can drive and mess with their shit?    ok…Damn….ok, breathe…..

Anyway, I can think of no better way to “blow the stink off” than a good ride. Cheaper and healthier than booze or drugs, it is sure to please… and it does. Pupkin and i have been busting further East in our chosen state, new territory – and that has been good. I like getting lost. All is good when it comes to riding, and I have quite a schedule for the summer: Americade, Laconia, the Smokeout, Sturgis and the Gypsy Run. I’d say that is a whole lot of two wheel time I got lined up. Tough stuff, but i feel qualified..ha!

Oil. Oh man, i look at what we’ve done to our environment and it makes me sick. Where I come from, you dont make a mess that you cant clean up. The balls our government has in not protecting our country! Assholes! It makes me fucking mad that they dont take care of our precious environment, i mean if we fuck it up- what are we going to do?

Well let me tell you what we are going to do…. we are going to live in our own shit… and as much as we deserve it, I dont want to see my family grow up in a world like that.

I am pissed. I feel sold out by a media that would rather talk about some crap on TV or some useless bag of shit like Jesse James – than focus on this crisis, or even the truth about our involvement in these “war/police actions/takeovers” that has our military spread all over the world for no real good reason from what i can see.

How about this… we start doing what is right… acting with a goddamn conscience for a change, stop being scammers, freeloaders, bully tough guys and slippy-sliders. Lets take care of our own business right here…and from I can see we got a ton of stuff on the docket….

Damn, I didn’t plan on going there at all…lol.. lookee that steveb went off…lol

So..that’s the short story – overall life is good, the boxcars of time move ahead and I just try to keep a firm grip on the handle as I jump on everyday, hoping my arms dont get torn from their sockets….

have a great day, you want leather work?  let me know>     steveb@steveb.biz

peace

steveb

stay safe everyone!

Jeb wanted another belt, I dont know, i think his others shrank or some such shit like that. Either way, he wanted a new belt,  a black belt. I have made it known to my friends beacuse they dont pay me crap, that the least I want is to make the shit that I want when they come a calling. Well you can guess how that works out, heh, not in my favor. I get to work for peanuts AND i get to do their bidding. nice, lucky me.

Anyway – I dont like working in black, it soaks up detail, it fades to funky colors and in general, leather looks a frig load better when it is in the browns/reds palette. So as it runs out, Jeb wants a triple black belt, black thread, leather and lining. Nice. So that’s what i did.

Customer first, yea

So Jeb writes me:

First let me say that the belt is a fine piece of leather crafting
and it even fits! Your attention to detail is impeccable, truely looks
nice. So even if the job at hand is not one you would prefer to do,
the craftsman inside aspires to do a quality job. So stop being a
whiney bastard.
BTW how’s the dagger? cut anything with it yet?
love and respect

JEB

Two time customer and French Canadian locomotive engineer- Danny,  wanted another belt.
This is what he asked for, a smoking hot-shit stamped burgundy colored belt made of the finest USA domestic tanned vegtan leather I could get my hands on.

I’ve been pretty busy, leatherwork, shooting bikes, writing cretinous blather, traveling and basically running myself ragged in service to the greater good. Time in the shop, at the bench, has been at a premium, but just today i had a chance to spend a full day standing on concrete- it was excellent, and I had a chance to shoot two pieces of craft before they flew out the door.

The first unit I want to share is a document holder/passport travel thing that I have found to be very handy when you have plane tickets, receipts and all sorts of crap you need to hold on your person to make it happen – all fighting for a place to live in your pockets.

I stuff a passport, plane tickets, itinerary,car rental paperwork,  a few index cards and a pen in mine – and it fits in a back pocket or in a jacket inside pocket. Very cool, very handy to be pulling this little gem out when you are in the airport.

I’ve been on the road – I had to go down to Florida for a bit of business. Honestly, it felt kind of good to beat feet and it felt even better to get home. There really is no place like home, eh?  In the airport, i was ruminating…. I dont travel much these days – or at least as much as i used to.  I think it is good to a certain degree to get up, out and on the move every now and then.

My “job” keeps me pretty tied to keyboard, phone and Post Office. Breaking away takes pretty much that – breaking away. The workshop is an octopus in terms of time, it just wraps me up in the task, forsaking time in the process.. not so bad actually.

VRods on display at the H-D tent in Daytona on Beach Street

But I was required to hit Daytona Beach for a week of basically, in a word – work. Lots of work. Shooting bikes, dilly dallying, blithering, furthering the almighty business agenda, showing face where face needed to be shown and alot of connecting with friends, business friends and flapping of gums. I flapped my gums quite a bit yes indeed and now have a nice raspy voice to show for my hard work…lol

oh yes, and all of you leatherwork customers – dont you worry – i AM ON IT!!

I need to make the pilgrimage to Daytona this year for Bike Week. After this weekend i am out of here for a bit.  Looking forward to getting out, stretching the legs, getting lost a few times with the rental car and shooting some pictures of one of my favorite subjects – motorcycles!

Actually there is alot I want to accomplish  while I am there and if I can manage to get half of it done, I will be happy.

For now, it is snowing here at home. very pretty.
The air has that  funny quiet stillness that only snow brings…kind of muffles the world a bit.

daved is back in his shop making blades and we are collaborating on a few pieces. Here is my blade (part of a barter deal) with my own practice sheath…2 rows of stitching are tough to pull off on a sheath made of 10oz veg tan..tough stuff to manage,….each one is a labor of love.  the pics came out ok also!

Flatiron Mike class trip to Pepe\’s Pizza/ New Haven, CT <<–check out the 80sec video

Flatiron Mike

Took a nice ride with Flatiron Mike and a few new friends up to Pepe’s Pizza this past Sunday. Temps werent too bad – it was in the 40’s. We met up close to home and within 20min of highway time, a nice little Triumph that was with us – blew up, it’s bottom end grenaded. Sad to see, but I later learned that the owner had rebuilt the top end of this mid 70’s engine.

Well, if you rebuild the top end of an older brit bike, you can be sure what will fail not too long thereafter -yep – the lower end – big bummer, a big mess and a puddle of earl. i think it will be a pricey fix. Keeping up with the big boys can be a tough game if you don/t bring the right size gun to the party….

After the Brit bike man had himself squared away with a tow, we soldiered on, ate pizza had some fun, told some lies and called it a good day. It was nice to get out, away from the computer and shop for awhile.

So as many of you have noticed, i have let my foot off the gas a bit in terms of meaningful blog posts and heartfelt communications.  I have gotten a few people dinging me because of my slack ways.

I have to admit – I have, definitely.
Not being someone to let stuff “cruise” on autopilot, I am acutely aware of what’s what – and I have known for some time that my blog was suffering.

Why you might ask? What’s up? Well in a nutshell, work. I have alot of it, and have had for sometime now. It is pretty much the Octopus that has it’s arms wrapped round me tight. Not a problem by any means, it is for the most part all good. I LOVE having a shiteload of work – and well, thats what I have on my plate – a shiteload of work.

What to do, what to do – with this and my other blog – 45dgree.com  ?

I really don’t know, I don’t have a smart answer for this one right now – I am going to think on it though, and until then. I will post when i have something to say and the time to say it, or when i have the time to take some pics of my leatherwork. 45dgree.com is a whole different deal and will continue on with new posts every day.

For those of you that have actually taken the time to read my crap and like it – worry not, I will come back at some point with a whole bucket of effluvium to spread o’er the fields anew..it’s just right now i have to manage whats on my plate.

Till then, stay safe, have fun and check back every now and then, or sign up for an RSS so you’ll get updates automatically.  You can also stalk me on FB (steveb leatherworks) and catch my twits when i tweet (steevenb43)

Check back often to see what is new and in-stock. If you see something you like, grab it, because once it is gone – it’s gone! I have wallets, map cases, cuffs and other stuff ready to go…

As always – If you are interested in something custom,  let me know via email or a call.  steveb@steveb.biz / 2o3 554 2259

thanks for hanging tough with me!

respectfully

steveb

happy steveb customer - 2yrs later

after a year or two of daily wear

Brass chain, red thread, cool colored interior, the Pebbler has it going on…for sale now!

Pebbler Super Squire. for sale

Pebbler Super Squire. interior