halfwit

That looks awesome! Please be sure to post some pics of the finished product.

I saw this and it reminded me of the mallet I made for much cheaper than the ones that Tandy and other retailers carry. I found a place in town that carried thick poly dowel rod and used a 3/4" allthread rod wrapped in leather for the handle. All in all it costed me about 8-9$ and works quite well.

Thanks for the input y'all. So is it the "chrome" tanning that gives leather its flexibility? I don't really need the exact leather, I just need something similar in its thickness and flexibility. Oh and when I bought this leather I had no idea its actual worth. And the guy that sold it to me owns a leather shop and isn't really a distributer but instead sells the things he's crafted. He sells all of his leather 10$sqft no matter the weight or quality to ignorant people(like I was) that don't know any better.

A coworker saw the bolt bag I made and wear on my harness and asked me to make him one. My only problem is I bought the leather from a local leather store and have no idea what it is(BTW he charges 10$sqft for all his leather). Its from my judgement about 10-11oz, approx 1/8" but its very flimsy and malleable. The pic below demonstrates how flexible it is.

that thing looks incredible especially for your first project Sheesh! puts my coasters to shame lol

Does anyone know of anything I can use for a stitching groover until I have the funds available to buy a real one. Or better yet, has anyone ever made one? My only problem is I've never seen one up close and been able to study how the blade is cut. It also might help if someone would just post a close up of the blade to shine some light on whats going on down there lol. any help is always appreciated, thanks

Should I case the leather multiple times during tooling or just once before I start? With the flower I wet the leather down with a rag fairly good and let it dry back to its natural color then began tooling. I suppose I should also mention that I spent about 30 minutes tooling and then went to dinner, came back and spent another 30-45 minutes on this.

Cool, thanks Sturme. I will definitely check that out

OK here's the mallet and my first ever tooling project. Its supposed to be a plumaria.

It only let me post 4 pics. I'll try to get the others on another reply. Sorry about all this confusion, some stuff I really suck at lol.

I'm down here in Norfolk but I'm just starting as well but its good to know there are at least a few folks around this area who are dabbling in leathercraft. BTW I checked and y'all definitely have a Tandy store on the west side of Richmond. Thats the closest one to me too.

I'm down here in Norfolk but I'm just starting as well but its good to know there are at least a few folks around this area who are dabbling in leathercraft. BTW I checked and y'all definitely have a Tandy store on the west side of Richmond. Thats the closest one to me too.

Yeah sorry about that. I this up on my phone thinking I had the pics but they are on my laptop. I'll try again tomorrow.

I just wanted to say hi and thanks to everyone on this forum for being very helpful and informative. I'm obviously new to leathercraft and only started out a couple months ago. The only reason I actually started was because I couldn't find good or strong enough tool holders and pouches for work. I am a ironworker by trade so I need strong holders and pouches to keep up with my strenuous(on tools) craft. Usually I would just find someone on the job that did some kind of makeshift leather work. But finally I took it upon myself to put together some long lasting rigs for less than half the price. The following images are a few of the first things I've put together, now keep in mind I had no idea of the art that you do on leather. Up until recently I didn't know of all the punches and swivel knives and all of the specialty tools that are available so I just made due with what I could find or make. AWESOME! As I am writing this the UPS guys shows up with my first Tandy leather package hopefully containing a basic set of punches, swivel knife, practice coasters, dye, and 4-6 sqft of shoulder. Now I'm really STOKED! The bag has definitely seen some hard use but I clicked pics of inside and out just so y'all could see how I put it together. I also took pics of the beater holder with and without the beater so you can see how strenuous I of work I mentioned(yes that is a 6lb sledge that I wear on my hip). Also made a tool holder for my dad(he's an electrician). I'm a bit embarrassed by this one because of the crap leather I bought for it but it'll hold up until I make him a new one. Lastly really isn't too much leather but instead of buying a $50 poly mallet online I made one for about $6 and wrapped the handle (which is actually just a 3/4" bolt) with some of the scrap left over from the bag.