Glendon

Tex, I would agree 100%. I went with the 6 ton bench top because of specific space and budget restrictions, and the fact that this is a test run for me. If I end up using the smal one as much as I think I will, I plan to go to a 20 ton.

I could see this working with key fobs perhaps, but even larger coasters might be too large. I'm curiouus what you've made with this process.

I have a question for you? How much power and how many hits is it taking you to cut trough a strap with your end punch? It should be: 1Line up punch 2 Whack 3 Toss strap on pile If its not, your punch needs sharpening. They don't come ready to go.

"i am mechanical. i am stubborn. and i am intruiged." By that statement, it sounds like you're on the right track. It's amazing what you can learn when you want to. Welcome to our little slice of the internet. Most everybody is happy to anwser questions, or at least help you figure it out. Yes, I think we've all picked up tools on the "want" list before. Leatherworking is almost as bad as woodworking for "tool porn". The hard part is jumping in and just trying some projects. Take some advice from someone who is still pretty new to this, get your hands on scrap leather and learn by doing. It's actually a lot of fun. Those first few screw ups will teach you so much more then reading ever will.

Here are a few well respected sources for hardware around here, Springfield Leather Co, Oho Travel Bag, and buckleguy.com. A lot of Tandy hardware is cheap overseas junk. I'm not too supprised you got bit by false advertising. Real solid brass costs some money. The overseas guys seem to consider "brass" a color description rather then specific raw material.

Most of the business discussion on this forum is done on the Marketing and Advertising boad. There are some full time and weekend home business leatherworkers here, but it takes a lot of work to get to that point. It's not really talked about in other areas of LW.net mainly because most of us just find the creation process the more enjoyable topics.

"I assume all leather is the same." This is actualy quite wrong. Leather quality varies greatly. Tandy is better if you can buy in store and see exactly which hide you are buying, but their stock can be very spotty. Tandy is for the weekend hobbyist wanting to do a leathr kit project or two. If it's not far of a trip, it might be worth a look, but Tandy these days is the Wal-Mart of leather.

It's mostly personal preference. Obviously if some leather is too thick to fold and you need to fold it, or you need to join to sections and the combined pieces would be too bulky, then you have to skive. However, beyond that it's kind of up to you. If the design works fine with a very slight buldge where the two leahters are joined, why worry about it? Besides, lambskin is usually so soft handed as well as being thin, skiving would be kind of tricky without risking cutting through it.

I would agree with Cheryl. It looks like lighter veg-tan with some really awsome dye work.

Alright, I'll give your questions a shot. Here we go. Please keep in mind I have not made armor specifically. This is general leathercraft advice. What leather weight do I want for making pauldrons, sabatons, and a breastplate? The advice I have seen poking around SCA resources is that 8oz to 12oz leather is typical for most armors. A leather weight conversion chart can be found at http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/infoandservices/leatherguide/leatherguide.aspx What type of leather do I want for making pauldrons, sabatons, and a breastplate? You will want Vegtable tanned (veg-tan) or what is sometimes called tooling leather. For armor you will likely want to water mold or water harden your projects, and veg-tan is the only leather that does this. For the thicknesses you want, you will want to look for either veg-tan advertised as belt leather on the lower end of that thickness, or saddle skirting on the thicker side. What amount of leather would I want for making pauldrons, sabatons, and a breastplate? Once more see http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/infoandservices/leatherguide/leatherguide.aspx for square foot information. Where should I purchase my leather? Springfield Leather Co. www.http://springfieldleather.com/ Done, and done. Seriously, there are other suppliers, but these people are awsome. What other leather related items should I purchase? Skiving knife, and a good stiching awl or stching chisels are all I can think of off hand, You have a pretty good starting set. Not as important, but still curious: Should I post pictures of my leather progress and various works? Yes, everyone here is happy to help along the way. Should I post pictures of the mystery rivets? Maybe, maybe not. If you need a name, go ahead, If not, don't worry about it. What tools should I get for copper rivets? Copper rivet setters are pretty self explanatory. The only other tool that is helpful are metal snips to trim the rivet post. When is leather adhesive used? To stick to pieces of leather together, usually on the edge for stitching. When is stitching used in leatherwork? To stich two pieces together. An alternitive is rivieting. Is stitching the same as sewing (if not, when is sewing used in leatherwork?)? Same thing, Sewing and stitching are used interchangably by most leatherworkers. Any ideas on what the mystery rivets were? They're rivets. There are a few diffrent types on how they secure around the hole in the leather and you can learn the names as you go, but basically they're rivets.

The mammoth player in shipping supplies is Uline. Here is a link to their shipping boxes. http://www.uline.com/cls_04/Boxes-Corrugated?dup=home I'm not sure if they do logo printing if that is what you mean by custom, but they will have the size you need.

The other common way to lay these out is 4 equilateral triangles side by side, one pointing up, the next pointing down. The most well known example of this is in a video done by Ian of Leodis Leather. These things are tricky to get right. They require a lot more math then us dumb hide pounders are used to using on a daily basis.

Silverback, thanks for suggesting I look into aluminum again. I figured it would be too expensive, but I found a place (www.onlinemetals.com) that has aluminum plate cut to size for a reasonable price.

That's the exact one I bought. Will have to give a report when I have done some real testing in the next month or two, but from what I've been reading and what other members have said in this thread, it should work just fine. Only thing to consider with this press is that the space between the two arms is about 10-1/2". Finding metal plates less then 12" for a resonable price I am finding a bit tricky. Of course if you have a frindly machine shop or metalworks near you, that shouldn't be as much of a problem.

Thank you guys. You convenced me it should be worth a try. Any suggestions on the thickness of steel plate I should be looking for to distribute the weight of the jack? I can get 1/4" hot rolled steel easily, but I'm not sure if it would be thick enough not to bend on me.

Very good information, and it is the same info I have put together over the last few months looking into clickers. The basic shapes you would want to get as dies to save yourself the agrovation, coasters, wallet backs, pouch parts, would be in the $40 - $50 range.

Leather dye is pretty much never to be used full strength. I think everyone who is self taught learns that lesson the hard way. Out of the bottle it's way too much. And darker dyes especally need to be buffed after application. I've heard sheeps wool, rabbet skins, but if you're just starting out a couple paper towels will work. I've even done that with USMC black, and that stuff is awful about dye rub off.

Now I remember running across Ace dies a few months ago. The price is about on par with the Tippman hydrolic clicker, a few hundred cheaper. I would love to have one of these presses, but they're just too pricey for a hobby. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a great second purchese, but I wouldn't put that much money out until I I had some regular income from my leatherwork, or at least had a die collection I was using.

First thing you need to do is find yourself a conversion chart for leather ounces to thickness in inches or mm. That information is very handy to have as a beginner. 7oz - 8oz leather is roughly 7/64" - 1/8" thick. Since you usually install snaps in one layer of leather, you should be good to go with 1/4" post snaps. Just be thankful you didn't do this with rivets.

That was my reaction to the Lucris site as well. After some hunting I found a price of something around $1,200. I don't remember exactly now, but it was not that much lower then a Tippman press. Tex, where did you get your manual clickers?

I spent quite a bit of time looking into the Lucris. Being a hobbyist and not making a regular income from my leatherwork thogh, I couldn't justify that price. A few hundred for a shop press setup I can do.

Yah, stamping is easy enough. I have a 1 ton arbor press that I use for 3D stamps. Seems to work just fine for my needs.

I think WScott is right on. There are people who want good hand made products with high quality materials, but it is a small market. If you can bootstrap production and work up from a hobby and build a community around it, then you should be able to make some money. But you can't really jump in feet first and make a business out of it right off.

Hi all, I have been considering setting up a shop press for some basic clicking for those small projects, coasts, key fobs, belt clips, that I seem to always end up making 10 or 15 at a time. Thing is that I dont have the space for a free standing 12 or 20 ton press. As a test to see if it would work for my needs, I was thinking of picking up one of the bench top 6 ton shop presses and a couple 1/4 in. steel plates as a beginners solution. Would this work long enough for me to see if I want to get more into it, or would I not be able to cut anything worthwhile? Mostly what I would be clicking would be 6oz and under. If I get even a couple maybes from the people who have experence with this, I'll give it a shot and report back. Given the handful of reports I've seen about these projects makes me think a 6 ton might be too weak though.

That is very true. Color is just a general indicator. There are other types of leather that have a natural color similar to what veg tan looks like. Generally what you will run across is veg tanned and chrome tanned leathers. The other common types like alum tanned, rawhide, and brain taned leathers are pretty distinctive and you'll know them when you see them.