JakeDiebolt

Hey amuckart! I did settle on using about the same thickness of leather as you use - mostly from reading your blog, honestly. 5-6 mm seems really thick, like it would be hard to turn. Is that for later turn-welted or welted shoes, or do you use it for regular turn shoes too?

Hello all, I'm looking for some guidance here. I'm planning on making my first set of turnshoes and I'm having trouble finding what leather thickness to use. The more technical texts (Shoes and Pattens, Anglo-Scandinavian Leatherworking in York), talk about types of leather but not thicknesses. Tutorials online contradict each other - some say to use 5/6oz leather, at least one says that anything thicker than 4 oz will always split when you turn them. Given that the leather species used for uppers in medieval contexts was often calf, sheep, or goat, it seems like the leather would be quite thin - maybe2- 3 oz. But how on earth could you do a butt stitch or tunnel stitch on such thin leather(like for heel stiffeners and closing seams). So, for those of you in the know - what thickness have you used for uppers? Has anyone had any luck doing closing seams on really tin leather?

Those look really cool! What thickness of leather is the bracer leather?

Are we talking the town deer or the country deer? The ones that live around Gore Bay (where I live) seem to be doing fine raiding bird feeders and the like. The country deer are doing poorly. Probably a poor generation of fawns this spring. There's been some feeding and trail breaking to open up food supplies but no big feeding program that I'm aware of. We'll have to wait and see what all comes out, but overall its not looking good.

Yeah, I think the way to go is to take a small sliver of leather, kind of a like a piece of thick leather lace, wet a strip of leather, and wrap it tightly around that "core". Adding a little food-safe glue to the core and at the end of the wrapped strip would probably be all that would be needed. Probably best to skive the end of the wrap down too. I will try this out and see how it goes. Worst case scenario is that I've screwed up some scrap leather.

Thanks for the tips! I've tried the wet and wrap method and it seems to work OK. There is a tiny gap near the middle that you can just barely see through if you hold it up to the light.. I plan on dipping the entire thing in hot wax to seal it, so perhaps that small gap won't matter in the end.

Anyone have any idea how to make a stopper out of rolled leather? I could swear I've seen some on some leather bottles. But how is it held together? Just simple glue? I've been looking all over a for a how to on this. It seems pretty simple, but when I've attempted it on some scraps it hasn't worked out. I can never get it to wrap tightly enough.

Thanks!

TTT

The only real trick to double gussets is keeping everything lined up. I've found it to be tough going around the curves. I've sometimes pre-awled the holes going around the corner just to make sure it works, but it takes quite a bit longer. YMMV. I don't glue before hand, so that may change things.

I've seen people posting on the forum about using fishing line instead of nylon bristles or boar bristles for sewing (especially shoemaking). Some questions: What kind/weight of fishing line? How do you 'split' them (if at all?)? Can it be reused afterwards or is it just discarded? Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks a lot guys!

I haven't started a project with this kind of stitch yet, but there are couple I'm interested in doing so I'm trying to get a feel for the technique. This would be for something like stitching a cylinder as shown in the Stohlman hand sewing book under sewing with curved needles. There are apparently some stitching lines in shoes that require it as well (esp historical reproduction shoes, which I may get into). Below is a link to an image of the type of stitching I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure leather thickness would be in the 5-8 oz range. http://home.earthlin...9/butt-down.jpg The baseball stitch you posted would work as well, I think. From the stohlman manual it seems that is best done with a glover's needle? Would that be your experience as well?

They are in line with each other, edge to edge.

Hello awl Does anyone have any tips on how to do a butt-stitch with only a straight awl blade and needles? I know that most people use a curved awl blade but the only ones I can get are from Tandy Leather and I have found their awl blades to be sub-par at best. (Yes, I can get them sharp enough to work, but they don't seem to hold an edge worth a darn and the last ones took hours of work to get them sharp enough). I have a Bob Douglas awl blade and haft and I am supremely happy with them. I hope that they can somehow be used for this method. Any tips, tutorials or videos would be very helpful!

No problem. If you want to get into making cases and bags then the Art of Making Leather Cases is a good start. It doesn't show a satchel or briefcase but it does go into all the pieces that go into one in various different projects. The best thing to do is to look at completed satchels, briefcases etc. and look how they're put together. Most of the mass produced ones are machine-stitched and overly complex, not something you want to get started on, but if gives you some ideas. I don't know much about DVDs that are available, but YouTube has a lot of free videos. The people who make those might sell instructional DVDs . Good luck with it!

Little bit off topic, but as far as starting out, I would get the book The Art Of Hand Sewing Leather, by Al Stohlman (either ebook or hard copy) as well as The Art of Making Leather Cases books. The sewing book goes through all the basic techniques (and equipment) you need for traditional handsewing, and the Case books give you plenty of examples for projects as well as going into how to assemble common things on many leather projects. Almost all of the Stohlman books are good, as far as I can tell. Youtube should be your next stop. Al Stohlman did it one way...and everyone else does it a little different. Watch a bunch of different tutorials and try a bunch of different methods to see what you like. I hand stitch pretty well like the Stohlman books say you should - but there's nothing wrong with following different methods. I would start with a few simple projects to get a feeling for working with leather. Belts, dog collars, some sheaths, etc. I jumped into making bags a little too early, I think, and my amateurity shows on some of my work. What can I say, my wife wanted a custom hip bag . Use Christmas and Birthdays as excuses to expand your repertoire and get into new and interesting projects. Last Christmas I made gifts for all the people I would normally buy things for - a hip quiver, an ereader case and a belt for a few projects. This year I'm doing a rifle case, tablet slip cover, first aid kit/belt bag, a briefcase, and a smartphone case. Rivets and such can put things together quickly, but rapid rivets aren't as secure as stitching - and require either a press or a bunch of different setters for each type of rivet, eyelet, snaps, etc. Get only what you need of these or you'll wind up like me - a guy with almost every kind of hand-setting tool for rivets and stuff from tandy that I could buy, and I almost always just handstitch things now. Snaps and copper rivets are about all I set. If you start hand stitching you'll probably buy a cheap awl - its OK. you can sharpen it for a few hours and get a halfway-not-bad tool that won't mangle your leather. But if you start doing more than a little hand stitching, get a good awl. The Douglas awl blades sit astride the world of awls as gods among steel. Sheridan Leather has them. They're expensive but worth it. In short- start small, but don't be afraid to be ambitious. And don't be afraid to ask questions here or search the forums. We've all been there before (some of us, like me, more recently than others)

Looks pretty cool! I like the contrast between the tooling and the dark colour of the rest of the wallet.

I've made a couple of dog collars and had a relatively small dog break a 1" wide collar. The culprit? The dog spent a lot of time in the water, and the owner never conditioned or cared for the leather (which was veg-tan - latigo or english bridle may have held up better). Eventually it got brittle and broke. So I guess my point is that protecting it from moisture has to be considered, as will educating the owner in how to care for leather if they're ignorant. Don't make my mistake!

Now that I look at the pic a little closer, I can see the little bulges where the straps are with the gusset. Thanks Andy!

I'm thinking of making a briefcase or two as Christmas gifts for my family this year. Initially I was just going to do a standard billet and buckle arrangement, but when I looked at examples online I found that most of them had straps that seemed to weave in and out of the lid of the case, as well as the back...hard to explain what I mean... What I can't see about this method is how the strap is attached...is it just woven through all the slots in the leather and left 'loose', or is it stitched on someplace? I haven't had any success finding anything about it. See the attached image for what I mean. (the briefcase below is from Longview Leather, a supplier out in Calgary. Just figured I'd cite my sources) Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks for the tips guys. I think I'll try and slick down the flesh side of the leash to give it more of a finished look.

Hi all. Right now I'm thinking about making some dog leashes with some of the leather I have around. It's just vegetable tanned, and I was wondering if that type of leather would be appropriate for that sort of thing. Usually when I see people making leads and collars it's with bridle or latigo leather. I've got a leather finish that works pretty well to waterproof the leather, so I don't think the leather getting wet is a huge issue, but are latigo and bridle leathers that much stronger?

I make a mix of beeswax and olive oil as a finish. If I use enough of it, the water just beads up on it. Can't put my hands on the exact recipe right now, unfortunately.

How did you set the hooks lacing hooks on the armguard? did you use a press or were you able to use a hand-setter of some kind?