dkbutcher

I agree, crap is crap, but when they both look good I will always lean towards the hand made version. If someone goes to the effort of doing it by hand AND puts in the effort to do it really well... then that would suggest that they will probably do higher quality in other places (not always but I'm biased to thinking that way at least) . One of the main reasons I started working in leather in the first place (I've just started and am a babe in the woods) is because the "leather" goods that I might buy looked nice and looked perfect, but give it a month or two and the crappiness would show itself either in the leather, the construction, or both. Dave

Is there a particular reason for nylon instead of polyester thread? Most of the sewing that I have done so far (outdoor type gear) has always said poly and not nylon because nylon isn't as good in the sun and it stretches. I'm not sure that the second point is particularly important (or even significant in a sewing application versus rope) for the outdoor gear but maybe a little give is a good thing for leather? Just curious if some of my heavier duty poly thread (Gutermann Tera 40... an upholstery thread) might be useful for wallets or is there a compelling reason to buy some different weights of nylon thread. Thanks, Dave

Worked perfect and after a quick glance at the article a thanks to you! I appreciate it and hope to work my way into more typography. Thanks a bunch, Dave

Sounds like I'm good to go. I was planning on using it for names, 2-4 word phrases, the occasional address or phone number (I have a friend that wants me to make an ID necklace for her horses that she can put on them when a storm comes and they might get out). I've ordered a set off of eBay and will be waiting for it to arrive early next week. Thanks for the photo Bob. I hadn't been planning on doing much text (beyond what I stated earlier) but after seeing that photo I'm very impressed and might have to build myself a book press some day in the future. I like it! Thanks again for all of the help and advice, Dave P.S. The pdf document isn't at that link location any more. I've seen you post it before but still haven't managed to download a copy

Thanks for the info, it looks like I'm good to go. I was planning to use my Harbor Freight arbor press. :-) Dave

Follow up question for Dwight, do you find that one coat with this method is good and durable or do you do multiple coats? Thanks, Dave

Thanks for the info Dwight! This is what I'll be doing next (maybe today). Dave

After being thoroughly unimpressed with the font selections for letter/number stamping I stumbled on a post or two here that talk about using metal letterpress type to do the job. After poking around the Intergoogle a bit I can honestly say I'm completely convinced! I do have a few questions about it before I pull the pin on a set. Are there general guidelines for what font characteristics work better or worse? Is bold bad or good? Thin bad or good? What is the smallest size font that is workable with leather? Are there particular fonts that look better in leather than others? My guess is that 18 pt is probably as small as you would want to go and my plan is to start with 24 (for custom bracelets) then 30, 36, etc, etc, up to maybe 72 eventually. For each size I would probably want a generic and non-flashy font and a more elegant cursive/script type font. I know it will take me many years to accumulate all of that but for now I would like to know what would be best for my first purchase of 24 pt. Thanks in advance, Dave

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I'm trying to learn the same thing. I am still doing bracelets but have had a little trouble with wrist staining. My next step is trying resolene (it just arrived yesterday). I'm looking forward to reading the responses over the weekend. Dave

I'm a forester (but have graduated to desk jockey status) working for the state of FL. Now I manage a state forest in central FL. I started looking into leather when I got tired of the crap leather/workmanship that you get when you buy "leather goods". Now that I have just taken the plunge I'm finding that not only will I get quality items out of the deal (they may not look as "perfect" as the stuff you find at the store but they are still worlds better in quality) but I really enjoy doing it. I've never considered myself to be a very creative/artistic person but it seems to have brought out the little that I do have. Dave

Thanks! This helps quite a bit. I'm still a bit in the overwhelmed phase but find that the more that I do, as long as I'm willing to learn from my many mistakes, it seems that I improve quickly and start figuring things out. I've only used the Fiebing's Professional Oil Dye and that is what stained my daughter's wrist. Maybe I just put too much on the back and didn't buff long enough (it's possible that I didn't buff it much at all but I can't remember now). I think I will try a light coating on the back (I still like the backing idea for some of them) plus Resolene (I have a small bottle) and wear it myself out in the woods and see how it goes. Thanks a bunch for the help! Dave

Good idea... bracelet, dog collar, belt for graduation to the bigs I do have a few questions: When you do a lining like you are suggesting, or even double up some thick leather for a big dog's collar, do you glue and sew it flat? It would seem like it would have a bit of a problem curving around a wrist or neck if there were two pieces glued and sewn flat. The first one that I made I put dye on both sides then when my daughter wore it out in the FL heat and got sweaty some of the dye came off on her wrist. As you can see from the photos I punted and just didn't put any dye on the back but I like the look much better for it to have at least some dye. Is there a way to do that without getting dye on the wrist? Water protection... what are the options and how effective will they be? I'm guessing that you won't be able to waterproof it (especially not something that gets bent a lot like a bracelet) so it will need to be accompanied with instructions to not let it get wet, correct? Do I need to do some sort of a lacquer finish? So far all I've done is Neetsfoot oil and Carnauba Cream. I would like to eventually sell these so I would like to make them as durable as possible. What works best? Thanks, Dave

I did a couple more last night and I'm getting happier and happier with them. There are less things that I notice are wrong with them. My snaps are too big so I'll be waiting for an order of some smaller sized snaps from Springfield. Dave

Welcome aboard, I'm brand new to the whole leatherworking thing but having a blast. I'm down in southeast Polk county. Maybe some day we can get a group of central Floridian leatherworkers together. Dave

Thanks for the kind words! I'm having a lot of fun.

Ok, so here are a couple of bracelets that I've just finished. I made one for my daughter and now all of her friends want one (plus a few of my friends from Facebook). These are great little projects for learning! I get a little bit better with each one that I make. They are faaaaaaar from perfect (I have been calling them "drunkenbracelets" because they look like someone that knows how to do them got drunk before making them ). Even with all of the mistakes they are still something that I wouldn't mind wearing in public (I'm just not much into wearing stuff... not even a watch). Lots of fun, very relaxing, very rewarding, and everybody seems to like them. I already have orders for a couple of belts but I've got a ways to go before I will be ready to do that. High up on my wish list would be a stamping/tooling class. I'm pretty clueless and know that a class would help a lot. I haven't looked a lot but it doesn't seem like there is much available in my area (central FL). Maybe some day... Dave

This video helped me a lot for most of the process. It doesn't tell you everything you'll need to know to make a belt perfectly... but it tells you enough to get a good finished product. Ian (I think he's a member here... not sure) has a bunch of really good videos up and is largely responsible for getting me into leatherwork. Dave

Ahhhhh, that would make sense. Thank you both! Belt number 2 is this weekend and it is going to have pics this time... I promise

Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably keep making my own blanks for now and see if the leather improves as I move up towards the back area. If someone (a friend) wants a really good belt (if I'm still not getting good leather) then I'll snag a blank from Springfield (Tandy is a couple of hours from me so it's cheaper to pay shipping and shop in my boxers ). Any advice on where to get good buckles? I have a couple coming from Springfield tomorrow (I thought it was supposed to be here today but... newp) so I'll see how I like them but if you have a source that definitely has better buckles then I'm all ears. I'm definitely wanting to know where to find good quality tools and hardware. I'm in a flight towards quality. Ironically I can get belts from work (we have uniforms) that are really pretty good pieces of leather and are basically the same as the plain one that I just made (but the leather is thicker). The belt that I made was about 1 1/4" wide to better fit in smaller belt loops on my hiking pants, the work belts are about 1 3/4". I'm actually going to SnoSeal my work belts because they take a lot of abuse out in the woods in Florida (heat/humidity/water/sweat/smoke from fires/etc) and yes, I have sweated a belt white before (salt from my sweat drying on the belt and on my boots). I've got carnauba cream and resolene so I'll try both of them on different belts and start figuring out what I like best. I learned a lot from this first belt and I'm looking forward to my next one. The best part is that even with all of the little mistakes that I made in the first one it will still be a good belt to use and I'll wear it with pride for a long, long time. Dave

That's what I'm counting on... hiding the evidence

I'm going to save picture taking for later efforts (but it's nice to have a group at the ready for praise heaping) Hmmm, it was probably down close to the belly. I will have to start from the other end on my next one (I have a strap cutter that should be here today). And no, I didn't put any neetsfoot oil on it at all but it is in the package that is supposed to arrive today too so I'll have to put some on before I put anything else on (I guess). The whole treatments/finishes thing is a bit overwhelming and frustrating because there doesn't appear to be much consensus on what works, what to use for different desired results, or what is best. Dave

Nope, I'm not going to post pictures, I don't need feedback, I had a great time and it was a wonderful learning experience. It looks ok-ish from a distance but it is not pretty up close (and was the most simple you could make a belt in the first place). It was my first ever leather project and I was learning (and making mistakes) as I went so it was really a culmination of a bunch of small to medium errors. But, it doesn't look too bad from a distance and it works and it's mine... so I love it! Anyhoo, I have a couple of questions that I think I've seen information about in snippets here and there in the past but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for (or more likely I'm using the wrong search terms). The leather was some slightly discounted 7-8 oz. veg tan from Tandy. I did my best trying to find something that looked ok but I'm really pretty clueless. I couldn't tell you if it was good or bad or somewhere in the middle for quality. There are two things that I would like to improve upon as far as the leather is concerned: There are some areas on the belt that it is stiff and stays fairly straight and takes a bit of effort to bend while other spots want to bend all the time and are bordering on floppy. Generally, I would prefer that the belt be fairly flexible but also much more uniform in stiffness along the length of the belt. Do I use neatsfoot oil before doing anything to make it less stiff? Is there a way that I should cut it, a certain treatment, or a certain area of the hide that will make it uniform in stiffness to begin with? All that I have done for treatment is Sno-Seal and it seems that it is prone to getting little dents when I put it through the buckle. What sort of final treatment would help to surface harden the belt without making it stiff? I would like to minimize the number of easy scratches and little dings if possible. Thanks in advance for help/advice. I'm hooked... it felt magical to see the transformation when I applied the dye, did the burnishing, etc. I had to look over my shoulder to see if there were unicorns and rainbows in the room too Dave