Dumfist

Mostly playing. Perhaps in bad taste considering the apparent seriousness of this thread. I honestly don't mind the smell, but I know if I'm going to be exposed to it for a while to ventilate the area. Then again, I also like the smell of gasoline. I've never used or abused inhalants, either, I'm just talking about my nose not being offended.

I'd imagine you'd only need a dust mask for fine airborne particles. Like any sanding, sanding leather can create tiny little paricles that can be inhaled as they float in the air. Leather being a natural product, it will biodegrade over time, so it's not as bad as say asbestos or even wood dust, but I don't know about the things that are in it from the tanning process. Fumes are another story. I kinda like the smell of barge cement, and it's cheaper than booze

Thanks for the kind replies. I'm still going at this wallet idea, but I got sidetracked. I'm building a jig to evenly fold over edges, since I was able to figure out my skiving on the mission pig. Maybe I'm just trying to avoid the actual leather, too. Just a bit. Stanly, the lamb skiving is a headache, for sure, and until I get better in general I'll put my little lambs into a drawer where they will stay safe. I have been studying a lot of prebuilt wallets, and I think I have most of the design worked out, but it sure is a process! Danny, I'll try doing something small and simple, more to work on my skills than to make something for someone.

Hello, fellow leathercrafters, associates, and friends-to-be. I can't figure out what's going on with my leatherworking. Last fall, I started out making a belt from a buffalo strip and buckle I ordered from Springfield Leather. It was for my dad, for Christmas. I sewed around the edge for decoration, practicing my awl usage, using the overstitch wheel, and it was pretty interesting, so I decided to take on leatherworking as a hobby, with the hope to try more complex things after I'd honed my skills. Well all I've really made so far have been belts and dog collars. I've given away all but two of these, which I was pretty much forced to take money for. I've just wanted to practice and learn techniques, and make friends happy. Then I had a thought of "lets try a wallet!" Now none of my items were made from kits, and all but the first belt strip have been cut from double shoulders. I've read almost every page of the wallets forum, and studied countless posts in the leatherworker conversation board and how do I do that board. Still, I really seem to have bit off more than I can chew. I feel like I'm wasting my time trying to reinvent the wheel on the interior parts design. I am doing my own thing because that's what I enjoy doing more than tooling, is the design and fabrication. However, I just seem to have lost steam lately. It's become a headache trying to draw patterns, and scan them, and refine them, and print them, and then put them together, and refine them, ad nauseam. Fabrication wise, I've been running into so many walls in trying to skive lambskin, trying (and mostly failing) to skive mission pigskin, learning my skife is a piece of junk, the replacement blades aren't even sharp, blahblahblah. I've tried making something different to get my head back into leatherwork, and I just don't feel as interested anymore. I don't know what to do. I love this stuff, and I feel like completing the wallet project would rejuvenate me. But it's just so damn hard. Anyone else felt this way? How can I get past it? Sorry for the long, rambling post, but thanks for your time if you read it. James

Angelus kelly green would be fairly similar to the green in the pic, I reckon

Are the tops of your card pockets raw, or folded over?

That's some fine work FP. I bet you need a pretty large workspace for that sort of job. Certainly not something I'd feel comfortable working on in my basement!

If you want it to be softer, you should oil it beforehand so the leather can regain some suppleness. The sno-seal will act as a topcoat (maybe it even has oils to help it work into the leather) that protects against moisture entering the top surface. It's not meant to soften the leather, just to help weatherproof it.

How do you handmake buckles? Cutting and filing sheets of brass? Casting?

It's cross-section is a parallelogram. All its sides are the same length, and it tapers to a point.

As long as it's fully dry there isn't anything in the dye pigments that will hurt them just by touching them. If they eat the collar, you have more to worry about than just the dye!

I've thought of the same thing man. You also have to imagine that any tooling along the spine (for lack of a better term) will be distorted not only from the folding action, but from extra wear from being on that edge. I think you could create a design that spans both halves while still remaining interesting on both sides, if you try your hardest!

I doubt many people will be willing to spend time compiling a list of beginner tasks for you, Causten, unless you're serious about the craft. If you have a Tandy store nearby, those folks get paid to sell you (and show you how to use) beginner kits and tools, if you're looking for the fastest start possible. But like most things in life, good things come to those who wait. If you're serious about leatherwork as a hobby, you've already found some of the best resources you have available. Be sure to spend a lot of time reading these forums. You can also watch youtube videos to study the craft. Order some physical books. There are many classic books out there, and many new books as well. The quality of leather product you produce correlates to the quantity of time you put into the craft (including research time.) Invest time wisely and you will be rewarded. Welcome to it, friend.

I find that the antiques and hi-liters can be used for some interesting effect if used as a dye-like colorant (without any undercoats or resists). However, it takes patience and several coats to get something that looks good What happened here though is more than likely like others have said, because of imperfections in the leather grain causing unintended uneven absorption.

A lot of my belts have been made with changing the buckles in mind, so I use chicago screws and don't glue the actual belt. However, I always block all my keepers so they are rectangular, and won't spin around unless they lose their shape, which (I hope) will last many years. I also make my keepers by overlapping the back the full length, and skiving both layers at a long angle. This way I end up with a single layer lap joint. I find this gives me maximum gluing area, but I still usually smash a rivet into the middle just to be sure. If it was put on backwards, the rivet would be the only way to tell.