Picking Up Leather Working -- Some Advice Please

[Diggidy]

Hello all,

Thanks for checking out my post! Like the title says I am looking to get into leather crafting and was hoping I could get some good advice from those much more knowledgable than me. I would like to start out by making some wallets, belts, maybe a knife holster... small things like that. Ultimately I would like to move up to making bags, for myself and as gifts for friends and family.

First, what tools should I invest in? I am a medical student with student loan debt so I don't have a ton of money to spend, but between gifts and some of my own money I was hoping to gather a quality set of tools that won't limit what I will eventually be able to make.

Second, do you recommend any books I read over to learn about the basics and then bag making? The process of creating patterns seems daunting to me and I'm curious how people take an idea in their head and transfer that ultimately to a well made bag/briefcase.

I will say that I am not an impulsive person and I have given a lot of thought about this as a hobby. I think it will be a great outlet to relieve stress over the next decade going through school.

Thanks for your advice and time!

Edited April 15, 2014 by Diggidy

[camano ridge]

The first piece of advice I can give you is use the search bar up in the upper right hand corner. There are a miriad of posts for beginers giving ideas for starting tools, books etc. Using the search bar you can find answers to specific questions that have probably already been asked as well as patterns etc. As to creating patterns, there are many patterns available on line and at your local Tandy. Also places like Joann Fabrics have patterns theat can be adopted to leather. Many of the patterns available can be used as a starting point and adjusted to your liking. If you want to make your own patterns looking at existing patterns will help you develop your ow. If you do a google search you will find tutorials on creating patterns for a veriety of projects.

Book suggestions: Al Stohlmans The Art of Handstitching, all of the Stohlman books on Case making. Beyond that it depends on the projects you want to make. Also look for you tube video by Niegel Armitage and Ian Atkinson (Leodis Leahter).

Here is one of the many threads on getting started. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=54820&hl=%2Btools+%2Bfor+%2Bthe+%2Bbeginner#entry351855

Edited April 15, 2014 by camano ridge

[DavidL]

go onto ebay - find a big sheet of veg leather

goodsjapan - buy their starter kit - 60 dollars

Find extra thread.

Some say buy the art of hand sewing by stohlman but you can find the info on the book in this forum or even through trial and error.

If you find out later you don't want to play around with leather it was only $100 spent.

Do not pay for tandy tools, they are made in china and worth nearly nothing for resale.

A side note if you buy high end tools, they have a 60-70 percent resale value on most items after a few months - 1 year.

Some tools are more valuable now then they were 10-30 years ago.

[Northmount]

You also need to identify to yourself what type of work you want to do. If you are including carving and tooling, that's a whole additional lot of tools beyond producing belts, bags, cases, etc. You can get along with very minimal tools if you aren't going to do tooling. There are a number of posts of what is needed for each type of work here.

Here are a couple threads about getting started with sewing with minimal outlay for tools.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=31797&hl=%2Bsewing+%2Bsaddle+%2Bstitch+%2Bfork#entry198270

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=49575&page=2&hl=%2Btable+%2Bfork+%2Bknife+%2Bawl#entry323766

Tom