Michael Sheldon

If you're going to stamp/tool leather, a large, thick stone slab is essential. My personal opinion is that 2" thick is best. I struggled for a while to get good clean impressions. I finally bought a slab, and my work improved dramatically.

I do a lot of things that should give me RSI trouble. I'm a software engineer, so I spend a lot of time at the keyboard, and I do leatherwork and occasional woodwork, which requires precise movements in awkward positions, and puts pressure on vulnerable joints. However, only one thing has ever caused me trouble, the computer mouse (not keyboard). My right wrist was always killing me until I figured it out. I then switched to an ergonomic trackball (Logitech Trackman Marble FX) and I haven't had a single problem since. Plus I really like it. The only issue is that it hasn't been made in years. I see them on Ebay now and again, usually selling for as much or more than they did when new. I'm thinking of trying out Logitech's latest mouse though, it's got a very similar shape to my trackball. (Hint, let your hand hang loosely at your side, it should end up with wrist straight, and your fingers curled almost as if around a baseball. This is the "position of function", and is the absolute least stressful position. The closer your hand is to this shape when you are working, the less chance of injury.) I'm not sure I buy that there's any significant difference between mallet or maul, the hand position is pretty much the same. However, a tapered head might help. In my case, my maul actually may be easier on my wrist. I use a 32-ounce maul, which means the weight of the maul is doing most of the work, which in turn means I use arm motion more than wrist. After hours with my maul, it's not my wrist that's sore, it's my arm. With the lighter mallet, it takes wrist movement to get the velocity needed to impart the force. I don't use it for long repetitive sessions though, so I can't say how much difference it makes.

Never store leather (especially veg-tan) near sunlight. Shop windows should be blacked out. Ironic corollary: There's no such thing as too much light in the shop. Cheap tools are worth exactly what you paid for them. Good tools are also worth what you paid for them. Good parts organization is the only way you will keep track of how much you have. Corollary to above: If you get sloppy, you will find out you don't have enough of X to finish a piece. Don't use a substandard completed piece as a demo at shows unless you are willing to sell it. SOMEONE will want it and won't take no for an answer. And, an old truth from my days running a graphic design shop: It's a fairly common thing when designing something for a customer, to present sketches of different options. It's also common among designers to present one sketch that is truly hideous as a contrast to make the others look good. DON'T DO THIS!!! The customer will pick the @$%*& ringer every time. :scratchhead:

Find yourself a shop that deals in industrial machines. They will likely have a wide assortment of needles, including multiple options in leather needles. And if your machine hasn't been serviced in a while, it may be worth having it done. That way, if there's any problems, you know it's your fault, not the machine's.

For general hardware and suede: Weaver For bridle and veg-tan: Wickett and Craig I buy miscellaneous stuff from Tandy and Hidecrafter plus a couple other smaller shops, but the vast majority of funds goes to the two above.

And a third opinion. Get a rivet press and save yourself a whole lot of grief. A Rex riveter costs around $50, and will set the caps on the rivets precisely every time.

Agreed, burr/belt rivets are the strongest rivets for leatherwork. And for the ultimate strength, rivet, then sew. I've got a couple of pieces I do where I rivet them first to hold everything in place, then hand-sew. When using belt rivets (they're called that, because they were used for making leather machinery belts), I always use a doming tool on the head. That little extra touch makes a very utilitarian-looking rivet into a decorative touch. The heads were designed to be flush with the leather surface so they wouldn't interfere with the machinery. But they look better domed. Belt rivets are solid copper or brass. You punch the holes, push the rivet through from the "good" side, then push a burr (washer) over the rivet shaft with a setting tool. Then you cut the rivet off just above the burr with heavy nippers, then peen the shaft over. A ball-peen hammer works best IMO, but almost any hammer will do the trick. The setting tool can then be used again to smooth the peened end neatly. If you have a doming tool, you then flip the piece over, and smartly hit the doming tool over the rivet head to make it domed. Not much you can do to dress up the burr side, but anyone looking at it will know it's on there for good.

For tubular rivets, a Rex riveter runs around $50. That's what I use. You can hammer them, but it gets old really fast, and the press is cheap. No nippers are needed, you buy the rivets in the proper length for the material, they come in lengths from 4/16" to 10/16". Because I work with several different material thicknesses, I have separate bins for the various lengths I need. One of the nice things about tubular rivets is that they punch their own holes, just put the pieces in the press, and push the handle, the rivet cuts cleanly through the leather. If you are using caps, the cap has a splash anvil built into it to spread the end of the rivet inside the cap. If not using caps, the anvil on the press splashes the end out and back into the leather. Weaver carries tubular rivets in solid brass, nickel plated brass, brass plated steel, nickel plated steel, copper and stainless steel. They carry caps in nickel plated steel, nickel plated brass, solid brass and brass plated steel.

Sewing vs. Rivets isn't cut and dried. My personal feeling is that properly done, sewing is stronger, especially in cases where the force is applied such that the pieces are being pulled directly apart. In lateral/shear forces, rivets will perform almost as well as proper stitching. A lot has to do with the amount of contact surface, length of stitching, and number of rivets. Good hand-stitching will be the strongest join in almost all cases. Properly done, the right rivets are up to the job. Most of the collars I have done over the past six years have been riveted using tube rivets. I haven't had a single one sent back for a rivet failure. That said, my personal opinion is that Jiffy rivets and rapid rivets are suitable only for non-strength bearing pieces and as something to fill rattles. Tubular rivets are far stronger. Properly peened copper or brass belt rivets are even stronger. The big advantage to rivets is that they are cheaper, faster, and easier to put in. A decent rivet press will run around $50, and the rivets themselves are dirt cheap. Whereas sewing either means hand-sewing, or purchasing a machine capable of dealing with heavy leather. Sewing does look nicer, and IMO does have the overall strength advantage though. I get all my rivets through Weaver.

Hmm, seems to me you really are talking bronze rather than brass. In which case, I don't know *anyone* who carries bronze, just brass.

I'd be willing to bet the hobbyists are more likely to do this than the pros. Mixing dyes can be interesting, and even fun. However, time is money, and I could never justify spending the time to make my own dyes rather than doing paying work.

The Olfa mat is what I'm using currently. The mats made for rotary cutters are all high silicone, and IMO, pretty lightweight. Frisk is a brand name, they used to be THE word in cutting mats for artists. I've got a heavy mat I use on my cutting table that is not so darned slippery, and is much thicker. It's 3'x5', and covers the full table-top. That one is great for the larger cutting tasks. It's the smaller mats that I use on my bench top for detail work I'm not happy with.

I finally had to retire my old Frisk cutting mat. Unfortunately, nothing made today is even close to that old mat. The newer mats are thinner, less durable, and slippery as all get out. Plus, my old mat had a printed 1/16" grid. The best you can get these days is a 1" grid with finer measurements at the edges. The finer grid really helped with aligning small components. But the slipperiness really drives me nuts. It's slippery front and back, which means the piece slides on the mat, and the mat slides on the bench. The second part I finally took care of today. I drilled 9/64" holes through the mat into the bench at all four corners, and dropped a tubular rivet into each hole, pinning it to the bench. I can pull the rivets out to clean the mat or the bench, but with the rivets in, the mat stays put.

I use a Pentax *istD digital SLR. I can't stand the limitations of point and shoot cameras. But then, I've used film SLR cameras for many years, and still use my Pentax SF1 on occasion. For shooting the leatherwork, I use a Sigma 17-70mm macro on the *istD. Actually, I use that lens for almost everything

Heh, true enough. Unfortunately, I'm a fair distance from Seattle. I could take a pic of the invoice

For the holidays, I started making sleigh bell collars for dogs. A few weeks ago, we got an order for 16 of them, with 8 to be shipped to two different Macy's stores in the Seattle area. My partner was a bit quicker on the uptake than I was. They're being used on the animatronic reindeer in their christmas display. Blew my mind.

I've used the bar-type saddle soap for years, worked fine for me. I'm back to using gum trag for most things, but still use saddle soap on light-colored pieces where I'm concerned about potential discoloration.

Primarily, the Thompson units are sold as entry-level upholstery shop machines. For wallets and checkbook covers, it should be more than adequate. For belts, it will depend on the weight. The one thing you may want to do is run some test material through it first. On my PW400, the lower feed dogs were *sharp*, and could mar the finish of smooth leathers. If yours are this way, you may want to take a dremel emery wheel to them to dull them a little. Also make sure you have the proper needles for the job. There are many types of needles made in the size these machines take.

I use two different dremels in my shop. I have a corded version with the flex-shaft attachment for high-speed work, mostly modifying small metal bits. I have a cordless version that I use with sanding drums for making small "adjustments" to the shape of leather pieces. The cordless versions run at a much lower speed than the corded versions, which prevents burning the leather.

Tables like that will work fine for a lot of things. What they WON'T work for is stamping and using belt end cutters, etc that require use of a hammer/mallet/maul. The flexibility of the table will absorb the blow, then rebound it.

You may be new to it, but that's as good as many I've seen for sale by well-established makers.

For veg-tan, I only use Wickett and Craig For latigo and miscellaneous, Siegel. I don't buy leather from Tandy. Their quality is dodgy on a good day, but the price is the same as the quality suppliers.

possible idea for attaching top plate to ram... Weld/braze a short (2-3") tube onto the center of your plate, with an inside diameter that will be a LOOSE fit over the ram. Drill the ram for a cross-pin. Drill larger holes in the tube on the plate for the cross-pin. The idea being that the cross pin is only to lift the plate. The ram would still contact the plate itself, and there would be enough play in the system that the plate could bear even pressure. This also means the cross-pin would not need to be very heavy, so the cross-drill through the ram should not have significant effect on the strength.

Yes, it should be sharp at the tip, and polished smooth.

One thing I've done with lacing is to take a damp cloth with a little bit of saddle soap and buff the lacing good. The dampening seems to set it in. However, this really only seems to work well with hand-cut veg-tan lacing. Really nice purse.