Chavez

Welcome to the forum!

Hi MattB and welcome to leatherwork! LePrevo is my favorite place ot get leather & some tools. They are usually very helpful and have good quality leather at reasonable prices. They also have a huge selection of tools & fittings (most tools are unfortunately from the "cheaper" range, however they have some good quality british made tools too). I'd suggest getting all your basic stuff from there. If you decide to get serious, joseph dixon is probably the only place where you can get pro quality saddlery tools (at least I'm not aware of any other tool makers in the UK) though they are rather expensive. Used tools from e-bay are an option though they often end up being sold for almost as much as new ones from JD. Looks like a well looked after tool just doesn't depreciate at all. There is also handtools-uk.com website which sells some Osborne tools, though they seem to have a limited selection there.

Sorry to cut into your thread, but would using punches on a wooden board destroy them faster than on them rubber cutting mats? Thanks! Chavez.

Hi! There are many bags in Stohlman's "Art of making leather cases vol 2" if I'm not mistaken. Although the first volume is very informative too, so that's a good book to have when you are starting out. Valerie Michael's handbook gives a great into into leatherwork and guides you through making a few bags as well as some other small items. For some beginner tooling patterns get a copy of Stohlman's "Patterns & Designs". Good luck!

Thanks! Ordered the book and will probably get the dvd too

Hi again! I am looking for some teaching material on sheridan style carving and I would appreciate any help on which book/dvd to buy. So far I've bought the 21st century dvds on oak and rose carving and they have taken my tooling to the next level, however I still don't have anything on classical sheridan style. I'm trying to decide between the "Sheridan Style Carving with Bill Gardner and Clinton Fay" book and the 21st century "Sheridan Style Leather Carving by Chan Geer". Which one would be a better guide to sheridan style? I guess that the book will have more info in it, but I'd be grateful for any reviews. Are there any other books or dvds I should consider? Thank you!

Thats a very nice looking bifold. I've just screwed up my first wallet insides - using 1-1.2mm veg tan kip side for 3 card slots=) I seem to have trouble stitching a few layers of 1mm leather together, but using my 4oz shoulders for anything apart from the outer cover would make this wallet too thick =( Gotta try again this weekend. Oh, and leprevo are good=)

Can't find any osborne punches here either =) Do you mean you punch two round holes and then connect them for the tongue slot? Thats the method I'm using now but its a bit time consuming and I can't get the hole to look nice. Probably just lack of experience.

Thanks Andrew, I can't see a uk seller of Weaver tols, so dixon would probably be cheaper in the end =/ Ah well, time to give up booze for a few months

Thank you. Thats what I thought =( Can't afford half a dozen dixons, so I guess I'll have to go for something cheaper and then upgrade to dixons once I start trading. Unless of course someone talks me out of buying craftools... Do you use oversized round hole punches? (much wider than the tongue?) And do you use a crew punch / slot punch for the buckle? if so, how wide should the slot be? Thanks for your help!

Thanks!

Hi again! Just a few quick questions: For strap end punches (pointed), is it a bad idea to get one punch for, say 1 1/2in wide straps and then use it for 1in to 1 1/2 straps? How easy is it to use them on straps that are not as wide as the punch? The budget's tight as usual and getting 5-7 different punches would be harder than 1-2 good ones. Also I would be grateful if you could advise me if oval hole punches are a must-have for dog collars, belts and any other straps with thick leather? At the moment I olnly have regular round ones but it seems that if the leather is thick, I need wider holes to have less trouble putting the buckle tongue through... Thank you!

Thanks! Looking at pro oil dye's 3 main components which are isopropanol, ethyl acetate and xylene, would nitrile be the best all-rounder considering that isopropyl is also used to cut the dye? Google says that it doesn't offer much protection from xylene and ethyl acetate, but there's no universal glove for this =(

Do you brush it on straight from the bottle or do you cut it with water? I have the same problem with leather balm & atom wax - if applied by sponge it lifts the dye up, mixes with it and then rubbs off like hell!

Thanks! I currently only use a spare room for small items (no airbrushing to apply paint, just daubers), so I guess I don't have much exposure at the moment. However, I am planning to start dip-dyeing and making bigger items, so all your advice is very helpful, cause the amount fo fumes will soon go up! Also I didn't realise that I need special gloves - I was just using regular rubber ones for general household use from local supermarket!

Thanks Katsass, I've read a lot about mop&glo here but they don't sell it in the UK and shipping it from the US would cost more than any of the fiebing's finishes. I guess one day I'll just order a bottle of mop&glo and see what its like=)) In the meantime I'm trying out anything I can get my hands on=) I also can't seem to find a uk seller of bag kote, montana pitch & sno-seal which are the other favourites on this forum =) PS Very nice holsters by the way!

For swivel knife practice: One of the tricks I picked up on this forum was to melt some wax in a frying pan and do some practice cuts in the wax. Once you run out of space you can melt the wax again and get a fresh canvas to practice on. This will help you get used to your knife and to cutting curves & turning the barrell with you fingers. Not as good practice as carving leather but much better than nothing!

Hi! I could find surprisingly little info about fiebing's leathersheen finish on this forum, so I thought I'd ask a question. I've recently tried some leather sheen on a bookmarker and I was rather pleased with the results. Leathersheen did darken the leather a lot (more than I've seen with other finishes), makign my light brown look like dark brown, but it gave a very nice look and feel to the leather and it seems to be reasonably water resistant. It doesn't have the plastic effect of badly applied resolene (I still lack consistency with it) and it doesn't seem to crack when flexed. Does anyone use this finish on a regular basis? Are there any problems with it apart from it darkening leather? Any reasons for not using it? I'm thinking of using it on a few bigger projects but don't want to ruin them in case leathersheen's got some problems that didn't show up on my first test. Any comments are welcome. Thanks!

Thanks Chuck!

If you are in the UK, LePrevo is a great shop for most of your leatherwork supplies (apart from swivel knives and tooling stamps outside the basic beginners kit . They can also help with a bit of advice if you call them and explain what you want to make. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/ PPS In your template I'd leave at least a couple more mm between the passport and the stitches and I'd add at least another 10mm to each of the "flaps".

Hi Leatherj, Just to warn you, if this is your first project, make sure you get more leather than you need cause chances are that something's gonna go wrong=)) You might want to try a few smaller projects before making the cover. I've started about half a year ago with bookmarkers & coasters which make great practice and don't waste much leather (perhaps you can make at least 2-3 to make sure you know the basics). Now moving on to your pattern: Leather: I wouldn't use anything heavier than 3-4 oz for the outside cover. 6oz would be as thick as the passport itself As I understand, you want to cut out one piece that is wider than the pasport and then fold the "wings" inside to form pockets for the passport sides? If you are using anything heavier than 3oz, you might have problems with making the folded edges look neat and small (you can't fold 3-4oz leather like paper). Another problem is that if you fold 3-4oz leather "into" your passport, the pockets are going to be too thick. I used 2-3 (closer to 2)oz leather for the "inside" of the pockets in a similar project and it was still rather thick (see second pic): http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=37998&st=0&p=235422&hl=moleskine&fromsearch=1entry235422 What you might want to do instead is to make the cover from 3 pieces (as above): outer cover from thicker leather (3-4) and 2 pocket strips on the inside. This involves more stitching but it will make your cover look better (imho) and will resul in very nice neat edges. Thread size: i'd go for 18/3 or 18/4. 18/3 would be just too thin while 18/4 will be just a bit to thick ) You'll need some beeswax to wax the thread. Needles: saddlers' size 4 would do for both 18/3 and 18/4. No harm in going a size larger as size4 tend to break quite often=) Awl: I'm quite happy with 1 1/2 in. I've got a dixon, but any good quality awl will do. Beware of tandy 4-in-1 as it is waaaay too big for any small to medium sized projects. The process you described makes sense. Don't forget to dye, oil and finish your leather;) Re grooving the main cover in the middle (where the fold is) you would be better off using a U-race to skive off a bit of leather but a straight groover would do. You would also want a size 2 edger. Another thing to keep in mind: - Make sure to leave more space for all the folds (i.e. cut a wider piece of leather than you think you need). If you make a paper pattern first and it fits spot on, you'll need a slightly bigger leather pattern because leather is thicker than paper, hence more leather "goes into" folds.

Hi! Having read a few topics on water-based dyes, I decided that I'd really like to know just how dangeroud fiebing's oil pro dyes (and isopropyl in particular) are. Firstly, in terms of inhalation while dyeing: is this a case of a couple dead brain cells or is it so hazardous that I should try and reduce my exposure to it as much as possible (wear a gas mask ) ? Secondly, how safe is this dye if it is applied to a product for a little kid (say 2y/o) who might chew on it and do any other crazy things to it that kids tend to do (say, shove it up his nose:) )? Thank you for your advice!

Thanks Mike! I was hoping to use heavier leather for better tooling (and to save some time stitching , but I guess I'll have to back it up with some 2oz leather on the flesh side.

Thanks katsass, I usually try to do flesh-to-flesh, but I was thinking of one-ply bracelets or watch bands where flesh side will touch the skin and 2-ply leather will be too thick.

Hi again! For all of you who make items where flesh side comes into contact with wearer's skin, how do you treat the flesh side to prevent it from soaking up sweat and going rancid in a month or two? Thanks!