TheThousandfold

Alright, that's all very helpfull! Thanks! I'll try to narrow it down a bit, but I'm interested in trying my hand at most of the skill-sets I've seen. So I'll just throw out the projects I know I'm going to be doing. To start with I want to make a sheath for a bayonet as a gift to my brother. I'd like to pattern the sheath in a fairly elaborate style. I have some leather hiking boots I haven't worn in a while that need some restitching, I figure they'd be good to practice on. I want to make a belt. I'd also like to try and build a custom messenger bag, similar to the ones used during WWII. Those are where I'm looking to start. Incidently, I'm also in the process of trying to find some instruction on blacksmithing. My uncle is a bladesmith, that's where I'd like to end up, but going to learn from him is a bit out of reach for me at the moment. He recommended I read "The $50 Knife Shop" to get started. I read through it, but I'm a bit more shy at trying my hand at it without some basic personal instruction. Don't want to blow something up. So for those projects, what do you think I need?

I'm just getting started, and glad to have found this place! I'm new to leather crafting, but in my experience, there's generally a very small number of tools that one needs to complete a job. The specialized tools are very nice to have and make certain aspects of a task easier, but there are only a few essential tools one uses everyday. So the question I'm asking is, what are the essential tools I need to get started? Which ones is it ok to go cheap on and which ones do you want to be of the highest quality? To help get this rolling: The Swivel Knife seems to be an essential tool. Which one would you recommend and why? Thanks in advance!