Redhairing

I am saddle stitching a large messenger bag and have three stitched together edges that need to be evened up with each other.....one layer is a stiff harness leather reinforcing strip and the other two are buffalo edges of my zipper gusset. Do I level them with a knife , glass, or by sanding? Very little clean up is needed and I would think a sanding block would give me the straightest edge but I have not understood leather sanding so far as I am a leather newbie.....I find that when I sand, I remove what I need but am left with the bigger problem of shaggy fibers. If sanding is the answer, what grit and type of sandpaper? and is sanding do-able with soft fleshy buffalo???? thanks!!!!

thank you all so much!

How would that effect the leather laying flat on the face side? It's 4 oz. chrome tan.

Just hand stitched a new handbag that is sewn with the right sides together and when finished, is turned right side out. In other words, all of the 1/4" allowance hand stitched seams are on the inside of the bag. The problem is that the seams do not lay flat, they are round and puffy. If this was fabric, you would open and press the seams before turning right side out. How is this done in leather? thanks for your help!

thank you all for the great advice.... pocket progress at last!!!!

thank you mlapaglia for the reply. I went back to sharpening more vigorously and the beveler is gliding along better now. When I bevel the flesh side though , there's quite a shaggy flesh right behind my bevel. This will be the backside of a handbag pocket. Should I gum trag. the flesh down to clean it up or should I skive the flesh side first??....

Hi all- I am trying to edge bevel 4-5 oz. chrome dyed leather and getting a ragged uneven result. I just used jewelers rouge and a veg. tan strop to sharpen the Tandy beveler. Is it the cheap beveler, the chrome hide, or the technique??? thank you and help please! Redhairing

great advice.....looks like my next tool will be a divider. This leather tended to tear at the surface and I didn't know there was another way to tackle the stitch line...learning, learning, learning. thanks~

thank you all! so, should I have stitch grooved and puched stitching holes in my bag outsides before assembly and then after construction, pierced through the zipper gusset to those outer stitching holes with an awl??? is that what the consensus is? thank you~

How do I get into this tight gusset area of this purse project to chisel my stitching holes?

thank you, Dwight.

in other words, two pieces of leather that are not sewn parallel to each other, they overlap with a 1/2 seam allowance. I have a purse pattern with an overlapped topstitched bottom and sides….not something that will fit into a stitching clam. Can these seams be hand stitched or must they be machine sewn?