sorethumbs

I was recently gifted about 20 liner grade pig skins. Very supple and nice but the problem is the coloring. They had been sitting for many years and are mostly sun bleached in spots. Is there any way to re-dye these skins to make them more presentable? Would vinegroon be an option? Any help would be greatly appreciated. ~Sorethumbs

I often go to the leather store and see splits and corrected grain hides that beg for something to be done with them. Unfortunately they don't usually lend well to carving and until recently I hadn't wanted to do miles of hand stitching for decoration. So I decided to play around with pyrography. All of the decoration on this rucksack is done by scraping with the edge of a knife and then drawing the design with a sharpie. I then took a soldering iron and burned the designs in to give it a deep, dark tone. Everything was punched, laced and turned inside out. I actually made this piece as something to carry on the trail when hiking. As you can see there is some scratching on the leather from its maiden voyage. ~Sorethumbs

Oxblood, smoothed over with oil after applying the dye.

Awesome! Thanks a bunch Ian.

Nice. Very nice. Much better than the one I paid 20 bucks for at TLF. Lateral thinking made the design work out well. I'm curious? Is the top made of 4x4? Or is it something else?

If you're willing to do some printing-- try www.scribd.com I didn't see the book you were looking for but there are many excerpts from that book and a lot of anatomical resources based on Sisson and Grossman. Just do a search under the authors names. Hope this helps. ~Sorethumbs

Update: The problem was fixed by taking the needle to a whetstone and creating a diamond shaped point. No more thread breakage. ~Sorethumbs

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone has a source for Dees and Roller buckles other than TLF? I'm looking for well made (less burrs, and possibly welded) dees and buckles that can be used on purses and tool bags. Thanks in advance. ~Sorethumbs

It's the danged stitching groover every time. I've taken to using my swivel knife (with a fat blade in it) and just free handing the groove. You can mark the lines before cutting with a ruler if need. Shears- I keep my shears sharp and well oiled. This prevents the top part from baring down on the joint of the thumb so much. When I have to use them a lot, I wear a batting glove to pad my hand. Australian lace maker- I just grin and bare it. Don't think they make them for leftys'

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I will be posting a few pics as I go along. -Sorethumbs

Depends on how thick the leather is and what tools you want to use. If it is a hard leather (tooling leather) I can suggest the following: BTW: I did a BMX style bike seat (no padding) this way and it turned out pretty well. I think I used 3-5oz. leather I find that you can use a lightly dampened sponge and just pat down the leather until it is just barely wet. Then you can take your swivel knife and lightly cut the lines. If there is any padding under the leather, I would suggest using modelling tools to raise the design. Otherwise I think you'd need to make a rigid form to set the molded leather onto. I'm not too good at making forms so, I couldn't even point you in the right direction. I've found that the leather dries out pretty quick when lightly patting with the sponge, but it will keep the leather from stretching out too much while you raise the design. As always, you can wet the leather more or less depending on your own taste. Just don't soak the whole thing or it might lose tension.

Even when leather tools were cheaper, they weren't exactly "cheap". For a long time I did all of my tooling with 3 tools. I never really cared for the craftools and found them very limiting. I eventually discovered that as long as I had access to large nails and bolts, I could make most of what I wanted for modelling and stamping. I just used a dremel tool or a grinder to shape them. Amazingly enough, I've also discovered that if you are nice to your local jeweler, they will chrome plate items for very cheap. This way the nails won't darken your tooling. If you cannot find a jeweler willing to do it, you can find inexspensive plating kits (approx. 30.00 USD) through a jewelry making supply site.

Hello! My name is Jim, I currently live in NYC and have a major passion for leathercraft. I've been working with leather for about 20 years. I've done everything from tack and repair to more "adult" projects. I've done it for hobby and for a part time income off and on over the years. Mostly I do it to keep both my hands and mind busy. Most of my hobbies incorporate the use of leather in one way or another. I participate in Mediaeval reenactment/recreation and do a fair amount of leather projects for that. I am deffinately here to learn/share and am looking forward to new and interesting things.

Hello Everyone. I am wondering if anyone here has any experience using a Singer Model 95-10 to sew leather with. My wife has had this machine in mothballs for a long time and I recently gave it a complete overhaul. I was wanting to use it for sewing 6oz. suede. If I use regular fabric thread it works well up to 3 ply (although I cannot seem to get a lot of stitch length.) When I changed to using canvas/leather (nylon) thread, I began to have breakage issues with the thread. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd be very interested in hearing from you. Thanks!