I haven’t gotten any new pictures lately from clients so I don’t have a fun finished pic to post. In the meantime, here’s last night’s tooling session – a bald eagle soaring over the mountains. The image will be in full color and is the tooling being done on a custom leather rear fender bib for a 2007 Harley Davidson Road King Classic. Enjoy!
~Chris
http://www.threemuttscustoms.com
This was a fun project with a few new twists to it, the client contacted me about showing his team spirit on his 2008 Honda Shadow Spirit 750. The idea was to have a tank bib and side cover set that was very slick & clean looking while incorporating the Star and possibly the color scheme. We discussed tooling, coloring and then the idea of an inlay hit me. With that in mind, I made a trip over to Sav-Mor Leather in Los Angeles to browse their awesome selection of lamb & garment leathers to try and find the right blue. As luck would have it, they had a terrific true blue lambda hide that fit the bill. Combine that with a nice size 207 Silver thread from the Thread Exchange and it all came together.
~Chris
http://www.threemuttscustoms.com
So without further ado, here’s the bike with it’s new custom leathers making a nice showing at Cowboys Stadium:
After a month of planning, working and supply gathering LeatherBurnishers.com is finally ready to hit the web again with not only the popular cocobolo leather burnishing bits we previously offered but more styles, stands and soon custom Leatherworking Mauls!
For those that don’t know, I’ve been working with Beary & Ed “the Bearman” LaBarre over at Bearman Mauls to transition LeatherBurnishers.com’s product line to their capable turning hands. After a month, they’ve finally mastered not only my styles & designs but added 3 new dremel style burnishers and a fancy stand to the line up! The stands will be available for purchase and will hold up to 6 leather burnishing bits. Your old favorites for the drill press are back as well, the General Purpose Drill Burnisher and the Holster Maker’s Special Drill burnisher.
Now that you’re already excited, what about those mauls?! That’s right folks, Beary & Ed will soon make a new home of LeatherBurnishers.com for their line of custom, handmade leatherworking mauls. Ed’s mauls are one of the most popular on Leatherworker.net and Beary’s are close behind. I myself had Beary make a very custom 28oz. maul for me last year using a piece of gallery grade Amboyna Burl for the handle. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Want more information on how to order while we finish the website for tomorrow night’s midnight release? you’ve read this far, open up the .pdf announcement flyer to see the prices and the limited special offer!
LeatherBurnishers.com Re-Opening Announcement
~Chris
http://www.threemuttscustoms.com
A custom request came in a few weeks ago for a fender bib I’m adding to the line-up; hand tooled & hand laced with only the best leathers, here’s the new rear fender bib for the 2011 Harley Davidson FXS Blacklines & Slims. This pattern fits those bikes with a centered seat bolt and runs 5 1/4″ wide leaving a whopping 55 square inches of leather that can be hand tooled and painted for that truly custom look.
Enjoy!
Chris
http://www.threemuttscustoms.com
Click on photos for larger views
It is with deep sadness that I inform my family & friends that my best friend & vigilant shop supervisor Chloe passed away tonight at 8pm. Chloe went in for a recommended surgery to remove a cyst on her right hip and passed away quietly tonight at home due to unknown complications of what was a “complicated but routine and non-internal” cyst removal operation. Chloe has been a huge part of my life for the last 11 years and was by my side in the shop all those years creating saw dust, shavings and leather scraps. The shop will never be the same again, I miss my friend already. Safe travels Chloe, say hi to Shyloh for me when you get there. Rest in Peace.
Love ya pup!
Chloe Memorial – RIP, a set on Flickr.
I’ve been picking up a few new tanks lately to branch out the tank bib model line up and thought I’d put a feeler out there to see what the Three Mutts Customs blog readers favorites are. Up until now, I’ve mainly focused on Hondas as that is what I know from my own bikes but with the recent acquisition of the Yamaha V-Star 1100 tank & dash I want to add more. The Honda line-up is pretty much set, so here’s your chance…what’s next?!
Here are a few of the popular metric bikes I’ve had one off requests for, throw in your vote or offer up a different suggestion in the comments. I’ll add to the voting from the comments as replies come it. It only takes a quick click so vote for your favorite and represent your brand!
~Chris
http://www.threemuttscustoms.com
If you don’t see the voting poll above, try this link: http://poll.fm/3ly2r
Yeehaw, the ebay gods were good this week! As luck would have it, I picked up two new tanks this week to expand the line of tank bibs I offer. Coming soon to the Three Mutts Customs tank bib line-up are:
2010+ Honda VT1300 (Sabre, Interstate & Stateline): Whaletails & Tuxedo tank bibs (flarecut design just doesn’t work on this style tank)
Yamaha V-Star 1100 Classic: Whaletail, Flarecut & Tuxedo tank bibs – I’m still trying to narrown down the exact years but from what I have gathered so far, the tank stayed the same from 1999-2009 on the VS1100. Evidence? Well, checking the dealer microfiche shows that the tank trim (aka dash, filler trim, etc) is the same for all V-Star 1100 models for those years. I’ll ask on one of the forums to see if someone can verify.
2008+ Yamaha Raider: while not exactly a tank bib due to the giant tank trim the Raider has, I do have the pattern to do replaceable leather dash inserts for the center dash opening. They can be fully tooled, spotted, etc.
The VT1300 tank has already arrived, just looking for a reasonably priced tank trim for it and the dash has been found & ordered. The V-Star tank & trim were bought today so I expect them to arrive in two weeks or so. Since the shop wait list is about 14 weeks right now, I’ll have plenty of time to do patterns between now and then.
For those that haven’t been to the main website yet, here is the current line-up of bikes I make tank bibs for with more coming soon:
2004+ Honda Shadow Aero 750
2003+ Honda Shadow Spirit 750
2009+ Honda Phantom 750
1998-2002 Honda Shadow Aero 1100
1997-2003 Honda Valkyrie (GL1500) Standard
2004-2009 Honda VTX 1300C
2003-2009 Honda VTX 1300S
2005-2009 Honda VTX 1300R
2002-2008 Honda VTX 1800C
2005-2008 Honda VTX 1800F
2005-2008 Honda VTX 1800N
2002-2008 Honda VTX 1800R
2002-2008 Honda VTX 1800S
2007-2008 Honda VTX 1800T
2010+ Honda VT1300 (Sabre, Stateline, Interstate)
1999-2009 Yamaha V-Star 1100 Classic
Cheers,
Chris
