Finish the bag like it mattered, because it does.
Yesterday I parked my shoebench at the Jacobsburg Faire over here in Pa., Don't you know some guy walks over, starts a long conversation and, midway through one of his questions, I notice he is toting one of the simple, low cost bags I have made for newby's and placed on consignment at Dixons. I asked him about it, not letting him in on my secret, and he commences to sing its praises because it was exactly what he was looking for.
Within thirty minutes I spotted three of the five bags I placed at Dixons, a knife and sheath and a pair of shoecassins ( thats's Mocassin where I build it up a little and add a flip-flop inner sole because our footsies need more support as we get older) on folks walking around that I did not get to meet.
That surprised me, because the only stuff I put in Dixons is stuff that I don't fancy or stuff that will contribute to the cost of the next project. I won't make Sligo Bill or James Rogers level of bag and market only to newby's and people on strict budgets. We need folks in this hobby and sport. I am willing to trade profit for project flow the way a pilot trades altitude for speed.
Maybe turn that puppy into a belt bag, or a three shot hunting belt bag, and you provide somebody with a little bit of Christmas as long as you put sound construction into your project.
I told you that part so I could tell you this. Minus horn and strap et al, that's the bag this gent adopted. Even more surprising, the smoothbore rifle shown in the picture just turned up in the Track Of The Wolf site. Take a look at the critical and unflattering comments made about the gun. They're justified, because I wanted to make the gun using only natural Daylight and one tool with more than one working part, namely my drill. It was the second gun I built where my skills were, at best, at an apprentice level. I probably advanced to mediocrity with subsequent projects having less gaps or tool marks, and stand by my statement that there is a reason shoemakers make shoes and rifle makers make rifles. I will never equal the quality of the makers today, but am convinced that neither would the masters of old
It drives tacks, I finished in the upper third of the trail walk I shot it in, and was utterly flabbergasted when Chuck Dixon showed me originals with file and tool marks, gaps, and carving that was not as good as mine.
I lost about a hundred bucks on this gun,
but somebody with a budget got his value and moved it again because flipping stuff rules. The door is always open to any shoes, bags, guns and whatever that I make where an end user is dissatisfied .
So, knock off the criticism and see that bag for the really nice piece it is. Put your heart into whatever you make, and it will bring value.
Don't shoot yore eye out, kid
The Capgun Kid
AKA The Still River Cordwainer
