DANNY Hayes has always liked working with his hands.
Tinkering away in a little tin shed in his backyard at Burpengary, north of Brisbane, Danny is deep in concentration as he hand-makes a custom-order leather dress belt.
Gliding the sharp tool along the strip of leather positioned on his workbench, he cuts it to size.
He's very precise with his work, checking the freshly cut piece over multiple times before moving on to the next step.
Taking a short break inside the house for a cup of tea, Danny cheerily chats away; his hands float with his words, moving freely from side-to-side as he shares.
"I was in grade 6 when I first did a course in leatherwork up in Toowoomba," he said.
"A guy came in from Chinchilla. He was a local leatherwork/saddler around there at the time, and he ran a course and my mum enrolled me in it.
"One of the first things I made was a belt. It's still hanging in my wardrobe."
The week off school to do the course may have helped, but Danny was definitely hooked on leather.
He then went on to learn how to plait and braid belts and whips, with his passion for the craft still burning strongly some 40 years later.
Originally born in Toowoomba, Danny worked as a carpenter-builder around the Darling Downs in southern Queensland.
Working out at places like Roma, Chinchilla and Miles, leather always remained a consistent hobby.
That was until he turned it into a 'hobby-business' in 1991, establishing K-9 Creations Leather-goods.
"It was really driven around equipment for working and sporting dogs - dog leads, collars, harnesses and those sorts of things," Danny said.
"For a lot of professional trainers and security guards, they couldn't get decent quality leads and collars for their dogs.
"So I went from making them for my own pets to selling them to others as well."
His business grew through word-of-mouth and now Danny can often be found spending multiple hours every night, as well as many weekends, working away in his shed as he manufactures custom orders of varied specifications.
One item that has become particularly popular is the 'hobble belt', an old, traditional form of stockman's belt with a knife pouch on it.
"They've got two rings on them and they are traditionally used by the stockmen and drovers," Danny said.
"When it came to lunchtime and dinner, they [stockmen] could easily take their belts off and put it through the two rings around the horse's legs. This would save the men having to carry around separate hobbles for the horses."
This act allowed the stockmen to drop the saddle off the horses, which could hobble around the paddock without running off.
"Many of the young blokes probably don't know that - they probably like it more because they're something different and a bit trendy.
"So it is surprising to see how many of the old guys will then come into the markets and know exactly what they are straight away."
Danny also makes truck-driver logbooks, money pouches, wallets, key rings, whips and even women's handbags.
He chuckles as he tells of how his wife Cathie and daughter have had to be careful where they leave their bought handbags, in case he wishes to pull them apart for design inspiration.
Selling at local markets and on Facebook, as well as through word-of-mouth, has generated international interest in Danny's work.
One of the last kangaroo-hide whips Danny made actually went over to the US for a friend's son, after taking almost 20 hours of work to make.
"It was a 16-plait, two-tone, fancy pattern all through it," Danny said.
"Because it had patterns going through, it wasn't just two-toned - you stepped patterns through it so you're actually counting as you went.
"It reminded me of my mum when she used to do lots of fancy knitting with the cables and that in it.
"You'd get so far and you'd miss something so you'd have to undo it and then re-plait."
While Danny did it for the price of the leather, he estimates it would retail at about $400 to $500.
With a growing demand for Danny's work, it's often been suggested that he quit his day job in an office and take up leatherwork full-time - though he has no plans soon.
"The job I'm in now, I've gone from being a carpenter to doing paperwork behind a desk, so this is just something I can do in my shed at night that just keeps me in touch with what I like to do.
"I'm not particularly a production-line type person; I'm more of a one-off custom-piece sort of guy. That artisan style of being able to make something with your hands is made worth it when people enjoy what you make - it's very satisfying."