Glendon

;If you figure out which model(s) work well, I'd love to know. Any good paper cutter would do up to 3oz I would think. Would be great to find one of these to cut up to around 6oz. That should produce super clean straight cuts. Not sure it would work on anything much thicker though.

I would say that Cyberthrasher is correct. I have the same burnishers, and have not had that problem. You need to make sure that the edge is the way you want it before burnishing. I've always used super fine sand paper, 220 grit or batter. I can ablsolutely see a courser grit ripping the fibers out. Also do no use your dremel on high speed. I use one of the stronger Black&Deckers, so I keep mine on low. If the speed is too high or the leather is too dry, you will actualy burn before you burnish.

If OTB and Springfield don't have everything, I'm pretty sure you're just going to have to buy from a few different suppliers. I know OTB is hard to work with if you only need a couple parts though.

I've found the trick is to use a light touch when marking along a straight edge. Any pressure can move the leather just enough to be a problem. I use a stylis though others use pens or markers. Then you can cut. I will second Kustom's suggestion as well. I will print some patterns, rubber cement the paper to the leather, and cut right thru it.

Hi all, I'm begining to start looking at the Christmas presents I want to make this year. The one big project I know I want to do is a document case for my father. Not a soft briefcase, but something fairly ridgid like the Sample Case in The Art of Making Leather Cases vol. 2. The thing is, the thickest leather I've worked with is 8 / 9 oz belt strips. I'm more used to the 4 to 6 oz stuff where you can get away with things like punching stitching holes dry, or forcing things a little to get them to line up. The book suggests 8 / 9 oz. Is that a good weight for this? Are there any tricks I should know for working with big area of thick leather? I'll have to make sure that my tools are as sharp as possible and put a bit more power into punching. I know that from doing belts, but is there anything else? Thanks everyone.

I remmember using my grandfathers arkansas stones to sharpen chisels when I was a younger. Personally I consider oil stones too messy to be worth the trouble. I use the Naniwa brand Japanese waterstones. Their combination set is pretty cheap. You do have to keep them soaking in water to be usable on short notice, but I prefer that to cleaning up the oil aftter a sharpening seassion. I would absolutely love a set of Shapton ceramic waterstones, but those things are insanely expensive, and really only practical if you make a living full time off your tools.

Pete, how would you go about closing that design up? I could see it being kind of cool both sewn up as a pouch, and by putting a zipper in.

Not like you need another opinion, but I'll add mine anyway. I have a set three Drexel burnishers from Ed and Beary. These really are a great investment. Cut down a lot of time and effort when burnishing. The deference really os something.

Art design's or actual glasses case patterns? If you need a good fairly basic patttern, "The Art of Making Leather Cases Vol. 1" page 47. If you don't have that series, you want it anyway.

Those are wild. I never know what to do with those embossed hides, but those are cool. Not my style, but I know a lot of people who would go for that look.

Springfield, acutally does not require a tax number. You can buy from them at retail prices, or pay $35 for a year membership and pay wholesale prices without going through tax issues.

Ya, the pricing at Tandy is pretty crazy. They really gouge because a lot of their customers are one time crafters doing one or two projects. I am a big supporter of Springfield Leather Co. I always point them out when I get the chance. They were a Tandy store years ago before Tandy was going to close that location and the then manager bought it. So they have 85% of what Tandy carries, just at a better price. Plus you're supporting a small business.

Well, first things first. Tandy is never the cheapest place to get anything. Case in point: http://springfieldleather.com/29078/Setter%2CSpot%2CRound%2CTool-Set/ Tandy is convenient if you have one near you or you're just starting out. but other then that, there are almost always better options. That being said, my experence has been that with leatherwork, it's always best to try the MacGyver solution first. Nine times out of ten it works just fine. It's just a matter of what your time is worth to you. After cutting slots a few times, you may find you want to pay for the setter, but it isn't strictly necessary.

Cocobolo isn't strictly necessary, but burnishers should absolutely be made out of the denser hardwoods. I haven't seen it first hand, but it seems that softwoods would deform quickly because of the friction involved in burnishing. If they are offering finishes, it makes me wonder if you found a woodworker who hasn't actually used what he is making.

I'm still pretty new to finishes, and still learning, so take this with a grain of salt. That being said. there are three basic types of finishes as far as I can tell. You have oils, waxes, and acrylics. Oils are, Neatsfoot, the Mop & Glo trick, ect. For waxes, you have beeswax, Carnauba Cream, Gum Trag, and the like. In your case, Acrylics are of course your super sheen, Wyosheen, Saddle Lac (technically a lacquer but same effect basically), all that stuff. Because you are making something that will have dyes touching skin for extended periods, you will probobly want to go with an acrylic. The first thing that comes to mind for this application would be Satin Sheen. It's not near as glossy as the other "sheens", but still pretty liquid repellant. It still might be too glossy for you, but that's the first thing I'd try.

Yep, you asked one of those almost religious questions. It depends on what you want to do on this bench. Cutting and dying could be done on a metal frame bench easy enough. The only part of leather work that is questionable on a metal bench is stamping and setting hardware. The cheaper thin metal legs tend to make the bench bounce. Anyone who has done woodwork on a cheap bench knows this. The problem with leather is that this can mess up stamp and hardware impressions. That's the main reason most people stick with pretty substantial wood work surfaces.

Honestly. the only things worthwhile I'm seeing in the photos are the stamps. If they are of decent quality, then you probobly got a decent deal. It concerns me why the electrical tape or whatever it is, is on the stamp handles though. If the majority of them are from starter sets, you might have over paid a tad.

I've used Angelus dyes. They work quite well. I haven't tried any paints made by them though. I would assume they would be worth a try, as the rest of the Angelus line is good quality and they've been around forever.

I actually ended up going with my first choice, Orne Leather. I didn't want to paint myself into a corner with a name that would be hard to branch out with. Orne is short and easy to remember, so I figure it would work alright as a business name. It's also a family name that will be dying out when one of my uncles passes. I wanted to keep the name out there, so since it was fairly short and simple I decided to use it for the business.

I've been looking for wallet insides patterns for sometime myself. I've had no luck. People who make them seem to consider them simple, but I can't get my head around them. Springfield Leather does sell very good pigskin insides that can be hand sewn or laced.

Depends on the look your going for really. If you want one event color, I have had good luck on basket weaves applying dye in circular motion with a douber. Going heavy and wiping off the excess will cover everything. Though I think on a heavy tooled cover, I might run a coat of hi-lite stain over the whole thing, wipe that off the surface, then hit the whole thing with the final dye color. As for finishing, either satin sheen or supersheen would work. I personally like wax finishes over acrylics if the project isn't going to see a lot of outdoor use, but personal preference.

I like to use 1" by 1" squares as stamped price tags when I go to in person events. I've taken long but super thin scraps and cut them into lace to tie things up with. I can use small rectangles that are a few inches long as attachment points for D rings. My rule of thumb is, if I look at a piece of scrap and something to do with it doesn't come to mind, I pitch it.

Those smaller trim rollers? That's an idea to try. As far as alcohols go, denatured alcohol is ethyl (drinking alcohol) with poisons added to make it unsafe for humans. You can't use it as an antiseptic, and you can't use it to clean. So it's useless as anything except a fuel or chemical thinner. So you won't find it in drug stores. Paint stores, hardware stores, outdoor suppliers, those kinds of places is where you can find it. I grew up in a more rural area where a lot of places do carry it, but in the middle of a bigger city, its just easier to go into any drug store and get rubbing alcohol.

That's why I love this place. Always a new trick popping up, either from a new guy playing techniques, or the old guard debating finer points. I may have to track down a seller of denatured alcohol. I've been using Iso because its just easier to find in the city, but one of the hardware stores probobly has denatured on the shelf.

I can think of a couple options. Something like Bontex, which is a super stiff thin paper product would work. That would be stiff enough to protect the corners, but still be soft enough to fold. If you want the blotter to be solid and not move, a thin sheet of HDPE plastic would be another idea that comes to mind. A 1/16th of an inch 24" by 48" sheet would be less then $10.