DavidL

Its called currying leather. Play around with beeswaxes, tallow and animal fat. Im not sure on the last one. After dyeing leather people rub on waxes to get a better hand and protect the leather.

Im going to take another stab at it. Judging by the dyed table and custom walls he probably is skilled with a bench sander and likely used one for the edges and also freehanded the curve that is on the edge with a sander. My guess would be he cut out a single piece from the template and then would take another piece that was larger and glued them together and trimmed the excess. He would give it a quick sand once the piece is trimmed to even out the edges. From there he would repeat the last two steps again until all the edges are smooth and then coat the edge with a glossy coat and run it through a motorized burnisher or use a heating tool on neutral edge paint. On his website he does use a heating tool as some of the leathers he does are chrome. Whether he does it with veg I don't know. Last step you can see him turning the edges on the pic from macca and that would be glued ontop. I can imagine the edge being done with a high grit sander with a lot of trial and error, but the turned edges on the top piece is flawless, especially by hand. it looks machine folded.

Could be. I think its to get rid of wrinkled or folds. The second video shows the worker rubbing it into the folds. I suspect the same goes for toe boxes on shoes.

if its not moulded just draw a line on the back (where they join) of the front piece and guide the leather with your hand..

Thanks. Do you know why they use it?

Thanks. Im curious if any leather manufacturers choose to do the number 2 video method on leather goods for turned edges. The only times I have seen it used is in that video and bookbinders who miter the corners 45 degrees (using paper/fabric) and of paper box making, again using paper. On tight corner curves I've decided to use pleating and on curves to cut relief slits. But on 90 degree corners I can't decide to use pleating or to use the book binder technique of cutting a 45 degree cut and fold over (pic below). With the pleating on 90 degree corner its difficult with so much overlap of material in the corner (might not even be possible or would take a lot of precise cutting out the excess). The book binder technique there is two layers and can get thick, also may not work with leather too good. Im leaning with book binder technique and then skiving down the edge for those 90 degree corners. Going to try them all though. Im going to go with contact cement this time around to try to get a better hold. The Pva glue hardly provides hold until its dry.

I do this a lot of this when making wallets, except they sit flush with each other. It should be exactly the same as the way I'm explaining, although there are multiple ways of doing it. If the gusset is to be moulded then you can mould the gusset to the wood mould, making sure that a few mm is sitting on the front side of the mould to be stitched to the front. From there glue the front piece onto gusset (excess that curves onto the front panel) and use a pricking iron or overstitch on the piece after you mark it with a scratch compass, all steps are to be done while the piece is still in the mould. You may want to add rubber or something similar to the mould to your iron might messing up the wood. If it isn't moulded then its a bit easier. You can mark the stitches on both pieces of leather making sure that they align properly. Either pre stab the holes or let your awl do the work as you stitch.

I've been looking around at some videos on youtube to get an understanding of how gloves and shoes are constructed. The few articles on glove making doesnt talk about the white powder added to leather. What I seen in a few videos is the workers of either stretchy glove leather or shoe leather use a white powder that they store in a salt and pepper type shaker. Im curious as to what the powder is and how it effects the leather once it is added. My guess is that it is to help remove wrinkles. Any ideas?

It wasn't until you pointed it out that I noticed it. Its a bit odd. They definitely have the machinery to do it, so it must of been a design choice. May have something to do with the alligator skin being puffed by heat in the previous step. The bag would look entirely different if it was stitched as the front and back won't have that curved shape to it and the skin would be compressed by stitching on all sides. I also found out the reason they did the cuts for the red alligator bag instead of pleats, which is pretty straightforward once Im thinking about it. The alligator skin has no stretch like chrome tan to be turned over and pleated. Pleating is the way most manufacturers do their turned edges I believe as it requires no cuts and cutting the edges like the alligator bag is only for exotics. On long curves cuts are made to allow the leather to curve. Im going to be continuing my making of a pair of shoe uppers that I started a few months ago. Does any one have experience with doing curves and turn edges for a piece that isn't being turned over another piece of material? I may end up making a thin ( 4mm strip) of material and glue it onto the outline that the edges are going to be turned and turn the piece of leather over the strip as a guideline. Any other thoughts would help.

Some leather are re tans . Meaning they would tan it for instance like chrome tan then re tan it with bark or tannins to stiffen it up. It is more common in higher end leathers like the ones supplied by hermes tanneries - berenia.

for the heating tool - fineleatherleatherworking is now selling it for roughly 650 or 700 for one handle, one size tip and the base. Could be a different brand but looks to be the same quality. It is on presale right now. Surprised he doesnt have any stock of italian edge paint. If enough people ask about it he will most likely start stocking it.

You might be right, however like you said I would probably see an ip attorney if I was to do it for real . What I read was from a custom shoe painter thats pretty well known in the custom sneaker world, doing collaborations with big name brands. I believe I read through his website or it may have been in one of his youtube videos where he talks about it. He has painted celebrities, copyrighted video game characters and character from movie franchises on his shoes. All for custom order and most were copyrighted imagery. He said he wasn't able to sell them premade because it wouldn't be allowed, but custom ordering was allowed because the copyrighted imagery is not the selling point, it is his artwork they are paying for.

From what I read it is legal to do custom work of something that is copyrighted as long as it is a custom piece, meaning it was recommended by the customer. person to person. I guess it is because you aren't using the copyrighted image or logo to implying that your company is affiliated with that company and is merely a custom piece. But if you mass produce something with copy righted images or logos than it is illegal.

Do you know the name of the board you are using? Also what type of measurement system is that (d8, 49, d10)? I've seen sketches of prototypes that use the same system instead of degrees and I can't seem to find what its called.

thanks doug.

Thanks for sharing, going to try that the next time I dye my leather. Your technique is similar to how they do it in the tanneries.

2:20 - - pleated edge. Is there any tips you have for doing this?Is this primarily for curved corners not 90 degree corners.00:35 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG9cbDiaMwc - In this video it is 3D form, the way I've seen it is 2d, exactly the same technique. What is the technical name? How do you keep the (leather) point of the corner from bulging out and not have the raw leather show on the front of the piece and keep it on the back unseen (If that make sense). 3:43 - - Similar to the second video. I've seen this more commonly on book binding corners, without trimming the corners first. Which way works the best in your opinion for bags and wallets that are chrome tan and have turned edges? Which way do you prefer and why?

Why not hand wash leather? Leather probably doesnt handle too well in hot water, cold water machine wash maybe a different story. Selvage denim for instance is known to shrink and lose its unique "aged patina" once its been washed too early. Leather also shouldn't be washed too much so it retains its characteristics.

Do keep in mind the sizing of every brand is different. I just measure my dixon and the 7 Stitches per inch is 7 stitches in an inch, exactly how it sounds. Vergez is Teeth per inch so a number 9 is 8 stitches per inch. All this time I thought my vergez was SPI.. My japanese pricking chisel when I bought it the measurement sometimes is measured from prong to prong or it measures the diagonal length. Good luck.

For how much usage the pricking iron gets its worth a few extra dollars for the vergez. The finish and balance of the tool is more comfortable and it might be all in my head but the vergez has a tapered slant and it makes the impressions deeper. The dixon regular's post is a square. The old dixons that are tapered are similar to the vergez from what I seen. Like joe said the cs osborne isn't a good iron because of its wide and thick teeth and the modern dixon's teeth are wide as well. You can custom order from fineleatherworking a 7 teeth iron at whatever SPI or TPI for less than the $220 irons thats on the website.

I've also seen people use a heated leather tool with a rounded face straight on vegtan. They add some sort of white wax to the iron while its hot and it burnishes the leather. You may want to look into it as a possible alternative as it could be cheaper and more permanent than antique in the long run.

I like how the belt has that two tone colour.

Quality is all over the place. If your running a business don't let them be a liability to your company, they buy in 1000+ square foot to meet minimum requirement and about 30 percent will be C and D quality and they have to sell it. Okay for hobbyist. Buy direct from the tannery and go for another retailer for supplies would be best.

Thanks.