steveb leatherworks: the blather

busted out a new flame for JP’s belt

My old friend Don does electrical and lighting work on movie sets. He wears gloves when he is humping gear and he likes to clip them to his belt in beween needing them. He had some cheap crap that he used… that wouldn’t do at all and so i set Don up with this little thing… not a big deal by any stretch – but very useful, so i understand. C’mon all you gaffers, come and get ’em!

silly little thing but useful

I  love the style of Italian marques, MV, Ducati and of course  Moto Guzzi. Some years back I had a V11 to ride for a bit…damn bike crippled me ergonomics wise, but it had one hell of a torquey engine and truly had the look of a swoopy sex machine nailed down tight.

Sweet is the only way to describe the new Sportster. Lots of upgrades, design enhancements and tons of changes, all for the better, give Harley a bike that really kicks ass performance wise for a reasonable price (for Harley anyway).

In Europe they cant import them fast enough and here in the USA.. .they can’t give them away. Go figure. 

I was at Marcus Dairy on a recent Sunday drive by and saw this sweetie. Nice

Made a new sheath for my treasured DaveyD blade. I’ve been making alot of cases lately and wanted to use some new materials – this is one of the experiments and i think it came out sweet. Love the red stitching and pebbled leather. If you have a fixed blade that is begging for a new sheath, give me a holler.

Harley had a cool concept – selling “dragsters in a box” – so here, meet the V-Rod Destroyer. Pretty much a bullet proof and trouble free way to get into drag racing, this is a plug and play race bike, right out of the crate. I dont know how they sold or if they are still offered, but i liked the idea of Harley providing an easy way for interested people to get into racing. That’s leadership, even if it is self serving.

I’ve been waiting to see some noodle take one of these out on the street…lol.

Nothing is more liberating than traveling far distances on a bike alone. Most folks I know don’t like to travel alone and find my love of it  – odd. Don’t get me wrong, I love road tripping with my very best friends, but it is a very different experience when you travel alone.

I find that i am open to so much more in the way of meeting people, experience and happenstance when i am flying solo. On a recent trip from the Northern wilds of Vermont to Buffalo, I travelled through the North Western part of the Adirondacks  – where gas is a rare site…and gas stations are not “aplenty”.

I really wasnt prepared when i entered the huge park, called the Adirondacks gas wise ( i have a 6gal tank on the shiny penny and NEVER worry about gas anymore) and never considered that I’d not see a gas station for a good long 120mi worth of time, when just as the “reserve” light came on, this gas station popped up and I met this fellow moto traveller. He’d travelled some insane distance on this ancient BMW with homemade wooden saddlebags and all kinds of hand made gadgetry including this “directions prompter”. Very cool.

Travel alone some time, take a road you didnt ever take before, go get lost, meet people.

Got my pocket wallet last night – that was fast! Thanks very much – excellent work, and the new money clip is solid. I am glad you were able to use the capybara skin, I think it looks great. I will be in touch about another project soon. Thanks again — Brant

I don’t even know where to start with Marios.. other than relaying that it is the iconic Italian Food Joint in the most iconic Italian neighborhhod in NYC, namely, Arthur Avenue, located in the borough of the Bronx.

The food is amazing, the ambiance, Mobster Guinea, the prices..a little silly. The best time to go is mid week about 230pm. The place is empty of most customers,  we get treated like kings and get to see the crooked nose crew drink their Cafe and eat Pastries… roll me out after one of these feeding frenzy’s.

The Veal Parm and the Clams absolutely freaking rule, hands down, no discussion. We try to bust out to Mario’s every now and then to get a dose of what makes living in this great urban sprawl worth it. 

Sal’s is a mainstay go-to pizza spot for me & Freddy. The trick to places like Sal’s and the singular reason of their success is that they excel at the art of serving the “slice”. I have never bought a pie at Sals, only slices – and I have been coming here for a good long time – probably consumed over 50 pies (by the slice) the 19+ years I have been coming here.

At anytime you’ll find lawyers, hoodlums, truck drivers, kids, moms, cube farm jockeys and all manner of variant in-between – seated in the back of Sal’s in cheap formica booths knocking down the goods.Pizza – the great cultural equalizer- we are all here for the same reason, share in the same truth,and know the same thing…Sal’s is the shit.

Eddie inspired this belt case design – it holds a mini Maglite and a Leatherman. We were in Sturgis in 2008 and on more than one occasion he had the tool needed to take on the job at hand, pulling it from a similar sheath on his belt. I asked if I could cop the idea, Eddie said yes and some many months later I got around to making a prorotype for myself…it came out good and so I made this slightly more refined version for him.

I think it came out pretty good for a 2nd shot and so did Eddie who said:

Steve, thanks for sending that Quality item our way. Eddie

While visiting Buffalo a few weeks back, i let Wiz lead the way and we wound up at Eddie’s, for afternoon shots & beers…. now I am no big drinker, but it seems the right thing to do, no matter the time of day when you are at a place like Eddie’s. The neighborhood around Eddie;’s is changing from desolate to chic (as if that were really possible) and so in my heart of hearts I hope that Eddie cashes out and sells his building to a developer…he earned the right to do that.

God bless the Steady Eddies who keep places like this alive and open.

While NYC has done its best to sweep homelessness out of the publics eye and the media has chosen not to focus any attention on it – it still sadly exists… Personally having been close to the edge at one time or another when i was younger – seeing this in the worlds greatest city breaks my heart. In most towns the mentally ill have joined the ranks of the indigent while their support and medical needs are very different… allowing them to go off their meds and well…in general… off the charts and map…

saw this sweet little chop in front of a DeMare’s Italian bakery the other day….while I was picking up a few Canoli’s (freshly filled of course!).

9.11 has left some pretty deep wounds on my city, besides the obvious scars on the ground and the memorials. Everyone I know who was in town that day has a story, myself included

Used to be we stopped at stores that were “pure-play’s” – meaning they usually did one thing, and they did that one thing well. These guys had a deep knowledge of what they sold. As a result when you did your shopping you made a few stops. More than likely you stopped every day and did shopping – at your bread store, at the fish or meat guy, at the veggie stand, at the cheese store…. In some places, they still roll that way.

Teamed up with the new Duckbill Designs money clip, these steveb units kick ass. No need to carry a full wallet anymore – unless you absolutely carry a ton of shit.

Willa is a new addition to the ‘hood. My neighbors just got her a few weeks ago. She is a “veeshla” (spelled phonetically) and cute as hell. Nice to see a new character in the neighborhood. I have noticed though that our two lazy bones Cats know something is up due to the new smells in the house from me and the boss playing with Willa…. they KNOW something is up, they just cant put their paws on it though.. ha… animal business

meet Willa