Hello! From New York City

[einwindir]

I've been lurking various media researching as much as I could about leather working and I'm slowly becoming more comfortable with 'taking the first step'.

I like the idea of honing a craft over years of practice. I like the flexibility of being able to spend an entire day working on a project or 15 minutes here and there refining and finishing.

I'm a little nervous taking the dive and buying tools since I can't really afford one of those fancy Tandy sets, and truth be told I'm not even sure if I'll actually enjoy working with letter. I'm looking to start out with a simple project that will allow me to get the minimum amount of tools. Then as I become more comfortable with the craft and I can replace them with higher quality units as they degrade over time. Of course any tips are more than welcome.

I will continue browsing through the threads but as my first post I'll just ask, do you have any tips for beginner projects? I figure a belt is simple enough so I'm leaning towards getting those tools right now.

Cheers!

[King's X]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

[BillB]

Hello and welcome to the Forum einwindir,

I have been doing leather work as a Hobby for over 40 years and still have some of the Tandy tools I bought back in the 70s. The type of project I would recommend would depend on which way you are leaning. For example, a tooled belt is a good way to start since it does not require many tools. For example a belt tooled with a basket weave would require a belt blank, the belt buckle, an tool for the edge and a tool for the basket weave and a mallet.

If you want to assemble things in leather, then a pair of Indian style moccasins might also work. That would require the moccasin pattern (free from a number of web sites), some good deer hides, a good pair of scissors, sinew (artificial or real), a good sharp needle.

Good luck on that first project.

Edited June 10, 2015 by BillB