Yukonrookie

Ended up ordering a couple pencils 9b to 12b. Thanks for all the replies folks!

Very impressive. First try at upholstery?!? Dang, you sure are talented then.

Holy shit man! That’s really cool! I know what I’ll try my hand on next… Well, first I should get this leatherwork thingy more perfected lol. Definitely really cool though. Hands above than any craftool plated stamps, if I may say so. I got tons of bolts and old tool flying around and some metal shaping tools too (been also trying my hand at making knives). Not sure if I got the talent to make em to get as nice of an impression as yours but I’ll surly give it a try anyhow. Mighty fine job there sir.

Right on. In a way that’s how I’ve been doing it so far, but it’s those little tips that make me correct things and do it the right, or better way. Thank you Sir. So you’ll sand the edge nice and even with a coarse belt like 80ish or so, then shape and clean up with 220ish grit belt and then bevel the flaps off and then slick it up? Or do hand sand to yet a finer grit? Sorry about all the questions

Beautiful Belts! Sorry, pressed the wrong button. Those belts look beautiful. Just How long did it take you to make all of them?

Sergey makes brass or steel. Big difference in price point. That said, for a background like that I’m not sure how important crisp imprints would be. I wouldn’t want to pay that kind of money either. If I’m not mistaken CraftJapan makes a stamp like that. Actually a dull chisel is not such a bad idea either

Makes total sense now…… Duh….. Not sure why that didn’t dawn on me when I already have been using tracing paper, even tracing foil, for transferring carving patterns. Thank you.

Thank you sir!

Yup, I’d like that. Thank you. What weight/thickness leather do you use the #3 on? I just checked their sizes and it says a #3 cuts a 1.5mm bevel. Does that sound about right?

Right on. No bevelling at all? I do use a belt sander to make my edges even. How high do you go on the grit? How do you deal with the left over “flap” (for lack of better word) that develops on the side? Carefully trim it off with a knife?

So I have 3 Edge beveles now. One is a Tandy size 4 which cuts a flat edge, a Japanese one that cuts a 1.4mm edge and another Japanese edger that cuts a rounded edge but also only 1.4mm. I like the one that cuts a rounded edge the best but it’s a bit small for most of what I work on. So for now I’m creating my rounded edges with the flat edgers but it never turns out quite how I like it. Now, my problem is that I have a difficult time finding a “rounded“ edger that cuts more than 1.8mm. What do you guys use for that rounded edge? While Im at it what size would you guys use for say a sheath that has 8/9oz sides and a 6/7oz welt in between? As always thanks a bunch in advance. I have learned a lot from you guys and gals just in the short time I’ve been a member on this here forum.

Thank you. I just got me an 8b and 9b. Gonna try it out later on today. I’m working on a sheath and gonna mark the positioning of a fairly large Moose head stamp that I got from Sergey Neskromny.

I’m gonna try a soft pencil like @Herbie uses. I’m sure any pencil with 8b hardness should be fine, right? Or is there anything special about the Kimberly brand?

Good to know. I just ordered some leather hardener/firmer. For most of my projects I like the temper of the leathers I work with currently. That’s a side of W&C a couple heavy weight Double Butts of Italian veg tan and some shoulders of Italian. Of those the double butts have a firmer temper than the 8/10oz W&C skirting, which surprised me a bit. I had just finished a side of HO 8/10 oz tooling and decided to try out some W&C. Simply because I’m relatively new to the craft and want to get an understanding of the different makes and types of veg tan. Anyway, the HO had a slightly firmer temper over the same weight W&C and for the odd project that was good. Than again the W&C has a thing or two that I like a tad more than the HO so it evens itself out. Both are obviously top notch so I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m bashing one or the other, with my limited knowledge lol. If you don’t mind me asking what leathers do you mostly work with?

Right on. Seems like no one uses those silver leather pens. Thanks everyone.

Gotcha. Will it change form much, or mostly just shrink a bit?

Thanks. That’s a good, quick and easy idea. Have you ever stiffened with an oven? Or the “flash boil” method? Like for holsters, for example.

So, I know this is a super basic question but have been wondering on this for awhile. To mark my leather when I do layouts and nearly where what goes I usually use a simple metal scribe. That works great obviously, but my sight isn’t the greatest and I sometimes need markings and lines too noticeable so that they’ll still show at the end. In that case I use one of those silver marking pens especially meant for marking leather. Thing is that they are not really supposed to be used on unfinished veg tan. What do you guys use for marking your veg tan leather projects? Thanks Hank

Thanks for the tips and sorry about the late response. I’ll definitely order from OA in the future. I just got a side of W&C Russet skirting and love it a lot. That’s here in Germany though. Since I’ll be here for a few more months and have a few projects on the go it was worth getting a side while I’m here. I gotta say I think I like this side better than HO tooling that I used so far. As previously mentioned I haven’t been in this craft for long yet so don’t have vast experience with HO leather but what I used so far was great. Just like this stuff a tad better actually. I like how it burnishes. Although if it was their natural I think I’d like the HO better cause of the colour. Anyway, when I’m back home I’ll be ordering a side of each and really compare I think. It’s all still pretty exciting for me, being a noob still lol

Yeah, could be some kind of metal work near the tanning or processing area of some sort? Very strange. Could it even be something completely different? Not metal but other type of oxidation of some sort? Couldn’t be mold cause the leather was new and I got to work on the day of arrival, or could it?. I didn’t even fully case it, but rather used the sponge method, the first piece I worked on wasn’t large and I was eager to try out the leather and new tools. Granted the 10oz leather was “thirsty” and I did wet it with the sponge more than I normally would have. Anyway, as soon as the leather got its colour back some the first spots started to show. Later on I sponged it a bit more and even more spots were showing. Very strange. I really wish I got a definitive diagnosis but that might not be the case. Mostly out of curiosity. Of course, should I ever get spots like this again in a completely different piece of leather, I’d know the fault lies in my end. Can’t see how that could be though. Do you know if Eco flow easy carve has similar properties in it that give the same effect? Bee natural Pro carve is a bit harder to get in my region.

Thanks for all the responses guys and sorry for being lates responding at times. I’m dealing with health issues and when I’m in the hospital I slack off on emails and messages. I just got back today though and actually sitting at my leather work bench crafting away on a sheath. My 3rd sheath so far. Also I got a hide of Wickett and Craig Skirting and using it for the first time. I like it a lot. Actually prefer it over the A grade HO tooling. I really like how the russet burnishes when tooling. I wish it was a little stiffer. I read that when ordering directly from W&C they offer pressing to desired temper. Anyone know anything about that? Thanks again folks

First of, sorry for the late response. I was in the hospital and wasn’t on here much. That’s very interesting. I should try that out then. Thanks for the info. It was buyleatheronline, but they were absolutely great about. After informing them of my issue they sent me a new piece right away. Although only after they made tests at the tannery to see if a whole batch got contaminated or if it was just my piece. It turned out that it must’ve been an isolated incident cause their tests came back positive. The new piece they sent me is great and I’m allowed to keep the contaminated piece here. I’ll give that pro carve solution a try and see if I can salvage it that way. I was gonna (and am still going to) post a positive review one here. Where would be the appropriate sub forum to post it?

Yup, sounds logical. These spots look “embedded” into the leather. The supplier, who is also the tannery, are actually going to do some tests at the warehouse. Spot testing this whole batch that my double butts came from. At least thats how I understood them. All this makes me feel pretty good about them. It sounds like they’re doing due diligence and don’t want to replace my leather with still contaminated stuff. Or send it to anyone else. I will reveal their name after they finished things on their end. This is my first time ordering from them and I don’t want to give them a bad rep. Especially not until they did their thing with this. Also they claim this has never happened to them before and I believe them, as I don’t know of anything to think otherwise. My first complaint with this leather, before I noticed the first spots, was how dry it was and how difficult it carved. It felt almost like my swivel knife was going through tough rubber. And yeah, it was super dry. Needed more water than anything I had used before. Which, to be fair, isn’t a lot. But I have tried stuff from Tandy stuff through a few Italian tanneries to Hermann oak and nothing carved or stamped even nearly this bad. Plus it deforms horribly. A couple layers of blue masking tape and a layer of good packing tape and it still deformed quite a bit. This is 9/10oz mins you

Yup, for sure. I think a good company is willing to make things right if they know about it. These days I feel people sometimes give a bad review without giving the business a chance to make things right. Mistakes or accidents happen and to me a good business is the one that is willing to fix it. All that within reason, of course. Also, not always a bad review is warranted. I remember reading a bad review where the fault lies with the customer not using the product correctly, for example. Obviously oftentimes a bad review was definitely the way to go, in order to warn other potential customers. Anyway, thanks for your replies. I will follow up with how this turned out with the supplier. I was able to rule that out. After I used tap water I the then ended up using distilled water.

Yeah, I like his stamps. I only got one of his Stainless stamps and the rest are brass though. Better price tag. Will hopefully last me a while anyway. The Hi-Liter only comes in dark brown as far as I know. I wish it came in different colours. Which is why I want to try out some of Fiebings Antique stains. I find the Hi-Liter is harder to resist than the paste though.