Effuse

Posting here again because the issue is still extremely prevalent and would like to see separate forums implemented.

One thing to remember with your backstitching as that since you're stitching the opposite direction your stitch needs to change as well, so if you were stitching right hand priority with the left needle underneath going into the bottom of the hole, you would need to reverse that on the backstitch, so left needle on top going through the top of the hole.

From what I can make out it looks pretty good, I think you'd get a better result with a Veg tanned leather that you dyed youself though, Veg tanned leather holds its form a lot easier than the chrome tanned leather you are using. But as long as your acheiving the look you want keep at it :D It looks good.

Seiwa & Kyoshin ElleThese pricking irons are measured as the distance between the points i.e. The stitch length. They don't use a width for the iron, they use a number of prongs (1, 2, 3, 4 or 6). These are expressed as a x b mm on the store, so 3.5mm means 3 prongs with 5 mm stitches etc. The stitches per inch = 25.4 / stitch length: 3mm ~= 8.5 stitches per inch 4mm ~= 6.3 stitches per inch 5mm ~= 5 stitches per inch 6mm ~= 4.2 stitches per inch Craft ShaThe Craft Sha irons are measured as the distance between the prongs. these are half the distance of the ones above, so 1.5mm ~= 8.5 stitches per inch 2mm ~= 6.3 stitches per inch 2.5mm ~= 5 stitches per inch 3mm ~= 4.2 stitches per inch Again with the Craft Sha the first number is the number of prongs, so 10x1.5mm means 10 prongs giving 8.5 stitches per inch. These numbers are not my own, ALL Credit goes to Ian Atkinson for doing the leg work, I have simply transcribed the work he's done here.

I agree as well.

If you are using the Fiebing's spirit based dye's I found that they really dry out the leather and make them very stiff. I think its because as the dye dries it also wicks moisture away from the leather. I usually slightly dampen my leather before dyeing, And afterwards I use something like this on the leather after the dye has dryed to restore some softness to the leather.

Aha! Thank you so much Tree Reaper! These will save me a lot of headaches! Much appreciated!

Hey everyone, I'm working on Japanese themed scissor case for a friend of mine, I would really like to use http://www.goodsjapa...on/lid=29748880 as the top cap of the snap I will be using to close the scissor case, Is this possible? I know that those are screw in concho's, Currently my only two ideas are glueing the concho on top of the cap or offset the snap closure and mount the concho like normal. Any ideas for a more elegant way of doing this would be much appreciated.

You might want to try something like Obenauf's Leather Oil, I've seen it work wonders for old jackets. Here is an image gallery of what it did for an old Deer Skin leather jacket. http://imgur.com/a/ifGkQ

Wow, Great work, looks great on the bike!

I'm fairly new to working with leather but i've owned a lot of leather items throughout my life, my grandpa actually showed me Obenauf's, You just take a little in your hand and work it into the leather, depending on how dry the leather is it will absorb more or less, does a decent job of waterproofing, but in my opinion where it really shines is scuff protection, If you have anything that see's constant use or contact with hard or abrasive materials Obenauf's really helps minimize the scuffing. It will slightly change the colour and finish of your leather though. It's relatively cheap as well and a little goes a long way, If you're curious its worth trying at least once.

This is Obenauf's https://www.obenaufs.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=72 fantastic stuff.

At 6 Stitches per inch I like to use 0.8mm thread, 5 Stiches per inch and larger I use 1mm. (If you can find it the Tiger thread is amazing stuff)

Thank you very much! That Angelus dye is exactly what I was looking for! But it appears they only ship to USA. Luckily we have a P.O. Box in the states :D

Hey, I want to start work on a few pieces for a costume, The pieces need to be a really dark purple or a black with a purple hue. Are there any dye's that match this? Or would I just have to mix some purple and black dyes together to achieve what I want?

While I am new to the hobby, I use a diamond shaped awl to make my holes after marking them with an overstitch wheel. From what I hear drilling leather is fine as long as its a fairly thick piece of leather as to not weaken the leather (Drilling removes leather where as using an awl just displaces the leather). And I'm pretty sure grooving just comes down to which look you prefer unless whatever your making is going to see a lot of friction in which case you would want to groove the leather so that the stitches aren't constantly being rubbed. Hope I helped.

Managed to pick this up earlier today for the wonderful price of free! It's around 17"x11" All I need now is some actual stamping tools .

Nice! I really like this. I've been planning on making a steampunk costume for some time now. What dye did you use for the sheath? I really like the red hues.

Hey everyone, New to the world of leather working and these forums. I just have to say though I never thought I would get this addicted to making things out of leather. I've only made a couple small things so far but my entire time at work I'm thinking about coming home to start something else or thinking of a different way to do something.I think some of my other hobbies are going to take a back seat for a while. ^_^

If you don't mind me inquiring, where did you purchase this?