A lil' progress on my bag,

Been draggin arse on this one, gonna try and knock it out this week...

Flap is tooled...

Now to finish coloring and assembly...

Started tooling the front flap on the toolbag...

Both sides..

Started puttin a lil' color to the tool bag pieces...

Started working on a toolbag for my scoot today...

  You guessed it, more skulls.

Coloring finished...

Pics don't really do it justice.
   Thanks again to Steve @ Outcast Customs...

Tandy Customer Gallery,

   Several of my leather pieces were posted on the Tandy Blog site, pretty cool, I forgot I even submitted them...http://tandyleather.wordpress.com/galleries/customers-gallery-2/2011-gallery/

Thanks to Steve @ Outcast Custom!

  Make no mistake, the assembly on this one was not of my doing! I sent a crappy looneynum pan to Steve several months ago to have him do a tooled leather covering for it w/ a simple P.B.B logo and told him to take his time, get to it when he could. Over those same months, I decided to take up leather tooling and Steve has become a "long distance mentor", helping me w/ advice, tips, and encouragement along the way. Put aside the vast wealth of knowledge he has shared in my endeavor, Steve has become a true friend. We have shared some stories from life, bitched about problems and health, but in the end, he always snaps me back to the reality that it ain't ever as bad as it seems, overall, I got a lot to be thankful for! You can't put a price on that.
   At some point along the way, he convinced me I was good enough to tool the top for the seat he was working on for my chopper. I wasn't really sure if my tooling was worthy of his seat craftsmanship, but, I agreed. The seat you see here represents alot more than just a business transaction, more than just paying someone to cover a seat, it represents a friendship, stumbled upon in one of lifes rare moments, purely by chance.
         Thanks Steve, yur a class act...
              PB

Gave the "Garage Girl" seat top a lil' color...

Started on a new seat,

  Tryin to expand the subject matter beyond the skull realm...

Put a lil' color to the latest piece,

Always second guess myself when coloring. It's tough to cover up the look of natural tooled leather...

Just finished tooling...

Kick start Evo Sporty???

  Another cool bike from the guys at Led-Sled Customs...

This one should leave the Sporty "afficianados" scratching their heads...
http://www.ledsledcustoms.com/index.asp

Started a lil' "garage art" piece,

Ole' Gearhead...

Sneak peak at where this one's headed...

Trump Chop,

Not mine (obviously), but this thing just oozes "COOL"...

Started on an insert for a new solo seat.

   Tired of all the rain, so decided to get out the leather tools again...

3rd Place, TCU 2011 BBO,

Nice job Dusty, very classy scoot... Deatails of the build @ the link below.

http://www.thechopperunderground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=51757

2nd place in the TCU 2011 BBO,

Congrats to Kt88 on the great build. He gets the sissy bar bag I made awhile back (see in earlier blog post) as a prize. Check out the build in the link below...

http://www.thechopperunderground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52066

TCU 2011 BBO Winner,

Congrats Jeff, great build... Click on the link for all the details on this cool lil' scoot...

http://www.thechopperunderground.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52266

Finished...

 Ready to ship...

Started another biker wallet...

Get to buildin...

   Spring is just around the corner and I can't wait! I've spent most of the winter gettin started into this leather toolin gig and it has definitely helped me to keep my sanity. Winter is a depressing, yet inevitable, fact of life here in Ohio, so an indoor hobby was good for the soul I guess. Like most gearheads, I can't wait for that first warm, dry day to get outside, roll the bike out and continue choppin again. I will finish the Zuki this year if it kills me. So, just between us chop buildin freaks, get out there and chop, grind, weld or paint somethin, it's like therapy I tell ya. I can have a terrible 10 hour day at work, come home, and fab a part, or rattle can a piece I made and all is right w/ the world. Amazing stuff really, powerful and soothing. So, quit worryin about the bills, yellin at the kids or stressing over that probem at work and go build something!

                                      PB

Another checkbook for a friend...

This one is for a special purpose...

First "special order" piece...

  Started on my 1st biker wallet, ordered by a buddy in Omaha.

   Thanks again to my buddy Steve (Groovesdown) @ Outcast Customs, for all the pointers and encouragement along the way...

2nd seat just about tooled...

This one is goin on my chop!

Finished tooling the solo seat...

Started on my first solo seat...

With what else? The PBB logo...

Finished up the tool bag.

Already sold and shipped...

Gettin closer,

  Closin in on this one...

Tool bag I started, still a ways to go...

Finally done...

  Can't wait to start on the next piece...

Started staining,

Havin a blast w/ this leather stuff!

Still tooling...

Side panels done except for the holes for lacing...

Side panels for the sissy bar bag...

Another shot...

   Flap...

Finally some "chop" related leatherwork...

Sissy bar bag...

And project #2...

Still got a lot to learn before moving up to seats and such...

Tryin my hand at leather tooling...

   Hoping to start doing some seats and bags eventually. Not really bike related just yet, but here's the first of my two attempts at this leather tooling endeavor.

Why we do what we do...

   Ever wonder what makes guys like us wanna cut up, chop, re-build, or otherwise "modify" things w/ wheels? I can't speak for the rest of you, but for me, it started as a kid. I can remember takin brand new Hot Wheels and drillin out the points where they mounted the body to the chassis and then spray paintin the body some wild metal flake color, changin the wheels, etc. to make them look "cool". As I got older, it was bicycles. I can remember gettin a new BMX bike for my birthday one year and within a week, I had stripped it down, repainted it, removed the safety features like chain guard and reflectors and reassembled it. Did it ride any better or increase the value? Not a bit, it just seemed like the thing to do. Fast forward to my late teens and it was dirt bikes, ATV's, then cars. Dad had a 71' VW Bug that a buddy of his repainted Corvette yellow ( the closet thing to "modifying" a vehicle he ever did I think), I took off the shift knob, drilled out and tapped a flourescent orange golf ball and put it on, w/o his approval of course. He didn't appreciate my efforts to say the least. Next up was an S-10 p/u. Pulled it in the shop where I worked and lowered it 4" front and rear. Cut the front coils, blocks in the rear, couldn't hardly drive it on anything but the smoothest of roads. Had an aquaintance do some crazy pin striping and I was proud as a peacock. The list goes on right up until today, 40+ years old and workin in my 10x10 shed on my latest obcession, the chopper build. Why? I honestly don't know. Is it the satisfaction of knowing you will have something unique, different than the rest of the crowd, built w/ your own hands, the sense of accomplishment you get when it's all done and take a step back and admire your work?  Whatever the reason, genetic defect, chracter flaw, or pure obscession, it's who I (and others) am, and I like to think we can't all be wrong! So, as we close out another year, keep choppin what ya got and buildin what ya like, it makes the world a more interesting place for all the others who don't share in our affliction...
          Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...
                           PB

Merry Christmas to me...

   Workin on the artwork for a new seat to be tooled by my buddy Groovesdown over on TCU, details and pics to come...

Metalho's Kawa bob...

   From Metalho, over @ TCU, guy can build a bike... Great guy too.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...

Garage built vs. catalog bought...

   Although my obscession w/ garage built, limited budget toys dates back to childhood, it has become more prevelant in recent years. I go to the local bike night and find myself waking right by the high $$ billet laiden "customs", and stopping at every home built, self conceived, bike and looking at the details, the little parts, that the owners spent hours making from garage sale trinkets, curb side cast outs, or donated scrap. To my eye, that's what makes a bike custom, not thousands of $$ worth of bolt on, cookie cutter parts thrown on a stock scoot and polished every other night to keep the cool factor oozing. Don't get me wrong, if that's yur thing, proceed, the aftermarket parts guys feed their families w/ the dollars you spend on your "custom" ride. Just a couple weeks ago, I went to a car show here locally and saw a brand new, showroom stock, Camaro sitting there w/ hood, trunk and doors opened, the owner sitting behind it, lonely and bored. Right next to it was a 60's something F-100, slammed in weeds, painted steelies, greasy but built 302, colored primer for paint, w/ the owner talking to a group of us about how he just finished it the night before for the show, that's cool. It's a big world, if yur thick wallet, no limit Visa rides weren't out there, we'd have nothing to laugh at at the shows. So hats off to the guys and gals out there buildin their own stuff in the evenings after workin 10 hours a day, keep up the good work, alot of us out here still think that's cool...
                                                                  PB

Pretty slick eh?