byggyns

If you want the Tandy water based dyes, you want the Eco-Flo Professional Waterstain dyes. They cover well. The color I got out of the tan color is close to your example, but I think the orange would probably match better. The tan has more red than you probably want. My store has small sample swatches that they can show you the final result of the dye. Ask your store if they have them. I have only used the Eco-Flo professional finish over the top of the pro waterstains- they are designed to work together. I've wanted to do a test with resolene over top, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Resolene will work on the undyed leather. I cut mine 50 / 50 with distilled water to make it easier to apply thin coats. 2-4 thin coats with 24 hours to dry between I find is a good number. After that, I like to use a little beeswax or neutral shoe polish to give it a little extra shine.

The thickness of the thread depends on a lot of factors. The overall thickness of the leather layers is one factor, but the main factor is how you want it to look. A smaller stitch length generally requires a smaller thread. I use 1.0 mm for a 3.5 mm to 4 mm stitch (6-7 spi). For 2 mm to 3.5 mm (8-12 spi), I like to use a .8 mm thread or smaller. This is however, a personal style choice. Some like the look of a larger thread in a short stitch, and others don't mind a thin thread in a longer stitch. Play around with it until you get a combination you like. For wallets, you can use the full range of stitch lengths. Many modern styles use very fine stitching (10 spi or finer), where a more traditional western style can use larger stitches or lace. Check out Nigel Armitage's YouTube videos on saddle stitching & stitching chisels / pricking irons. He goes through a lot of different thread sizes & stitch counts. You can see lots of options before you do your own experimentation.

I'm very interested in this tooling style. Do you have any suggestions for books or online resources to get more info on it?

Since you live in Spain, I don't know how it translates, but in the US, those large ones are called grommets. I think the main difference are that eyelets are small and tend to be a single piece of metal. A grommet is larger and has two pieces: an eyelet style piece and a metal washer. I can find a grommet kit with the requred hardware & tool at a local hardware store, or on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Hodge-1073A-4-Grommet-Kit/dp/B00004Y692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432817068&sr=8-1&keywords=grommet+kits

I'm wondering if you laid out the line for the groove with dividers or some other method, then used a freehand groover to do it. Or if you used a groover with a guide around the entire thing. Either way, it looks good. I always hate to take a groover to already dyed leather. I've made enough errors with one, it will probably be a while before I try to use it as a highlight feature like you did. Also, what dye did you use? I notice that you used the same purple (at least it looks purple on my screen) in the background of your tooling as on the main body of the cover. That's a very neat touch.

On my first pankake holster, I wanted it molded on a curve, so I used a 5 gal bucket as a round form. That's not the best Idea with a holster as it looses retention when it flattens out, but has enough when its worn. In your case, I would mold the backing piece first, then stitch the front of the pockets & the flaps to it after it is already curved. You can do a little wet molding again to the fully assembled belt & pouch to help the attached pieces form to the curve. Then oil & seal with resolene or whatever your preferred finish is. When the 5 gal bucket is upside down, the top of your piece will have a smaller radius at the top & larger at the bottom, much like a person's hips. I would do one of the pouch locations at a time.

If you are going to use veg tan, Tandy sells it by the single shoulder, double shoulder, bend, and side. With oil tan, chrome tan & pretty much everything else, they only sell it by the side or whole hide. Also, depending on the size of your messenger bag, you will probably want an entire side. You will need the extra for imperfect spots, off cut scraps, errors, and for the other projects you will want to make when the bag is done. I'm still low on my project count since I started last year, but I've worked through 2 single shoulders, a double shoulder, most of a goat skin & am currently using 2 sides & another double shoulder- each of different weights.

If you do make the back & flap out of separate pieces, I think it is better to have the seam on the back rather than on front of the flap. Having the flap curve around to the top of the back piece gives a better visual flow. I'll echo the comments about rounding the corners & burnishing edges. It gives a more finished look. That's a very nice tooling design.

If you are close to a Tandy, sign up for a class there. If Hartfort, CT. is the closest to you , they have classes just about every Saturday in May. According to the Tandy website, they still have 6 spots open for a stitching & lacing class tomorrow. As has been said, there is really no replacement for getting your hands on some leather & getting started. Using some tools at the store that you don't have to buy yourself will show you what you like & don't like in some of the tools that Tandy sells. Most Tandy kists come with the basic supplies needed. You will have to buy rivet / snap setters, any stamps for tooling, and dyes / finishes if you use their kits. Once you take a few classes or make a few kits, you can start to design & build things on your own from a shoulder or side.

I you are talking about a rigging belt, tool belt, weight lifting belt, or a westrn style gun belt, then they can be thicker- 16 oz or higher, since you have no belt loops, slots, or clips to deal with. The upper limit for the loops on most jeans & slots / clips on commercial holsters is near 16 oz. Dress pants I think are around 10-12 oz. Lower limit is, I think, 3-4oz and thicker depending on what it will be used for.

If you are emphasizing natural processes & craftsmanship, I would suggest including a small section on brain tanning. Brain tanning was, from the research I've read, the original method of tanning hides & furs, and pre-dates veg tan. Chrome tan was really developed to imitate the properties of brain tan in a more economical, repeatable, & mass produced method. I think that it would benefit you to emphasize that much of the chrome tanned leather on the market is not "full grain" it is "top grain". What this means to consumers is that the top surface has been sanded to remove imperfections and then coated in a finish that changes the texture of the leather. That is what gives the "painted look" you refer to. Full grain leather has the top surface intact, but may be shaved or sanded on the back side. Full grain leather can come in either chrome tan or veg tan. To my knowledge, there isn't a way to make "top grain" veg tan. I think this is where a big divide in the leather quality comes from, more so than the tanning method. Having the majority of the structure of the hide and the entire surface layer together gives a strength & durability that altered skins simply cannot achieve.

My first leather project was a holster for my own 1911 pistol. I did it at a class at my local Tandy shop. There are tons of pre-existing patterns to choose from, or you can design your own- depending on what he wants. I designed my own in the class & have since designed and built holsters for my other pistols. The section of this forum on holsters offers tons of information, patterns, tips, etc. Camano was exactly correct that you will need the pistol or the correct dummy gun to properly mold the holster. (SIG Sauer slides are very different from the standard government specs, different frames are out there that have accessory rails, different length of the slides / frames: long, govt, commander, defender) The other option would be a loose fitting military flap holster. There are patterns for those available on the forum as well just search M1912 and M1916 to find those.

I was in the same boat. I had to draw a line & stop buying tools until I had completed more projects. Then, when I was in the middle of a project & needed that one more tool, I let myself buy more.

First, check your local laws as to the legality of posessing the fur. Since we don't even know what country you are in, I can't research if it is legal to posess that at all. Some places are really weird about what you are allowed to do with animal parts that you find: antlers, feathers, furs, etc. You don't want to run afoul of the law. Next, check out the section of this forum titled: Exotics, Reptiles, Furs and others.You can probably get some ideas from the projects & questions posted there. Then, you need to tan the skin before it can be used. You have a raw skin that will rot and degrade quickly. The tanning process will preserve & stabilize the skin to make it useful for crafting. The same section of the board will have info on that. There are also many books out there that describe various do-it-yourself tanning processes for furs.

The first techniques I would suggest concentrating on are stitching and edging. A straight and even saddle stitch combined with straight, even, burnished edges makes anything look more refined & professional. I suggest using scrap pieces for your practice. Just take 2 scraps, cut them straight on one side, line them up & perform your glue, stitch & edge finishing procedure. "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather" by Al Stohlman is a good resource for this. Also, I suggest rounding your corners a little. Sharp corners tend to bend over or get frayed & split. They look bad after very little use. Refinements in design and contruction will present themselves the more you see, especially on this site, and the more things you put together. If you want to concentrate on cases, I suggest the "The Art of Making Leather Cases" 3 volume series by Stohlman. There really isn't much about making bags and cases that isn't covered in those 3 books. They hit all of the basics and go into some more advanced skills as well.

For wallet / card case, the thickness most people like is 4-5 oz. for the outside and 2-3 for the inside. Like Monica said, it really is personal preference. You may want to think about wet molding the inner pocket if you want to fit that many business cards into each side. For wet molding, you want to make sure the leather you buy is not pre-finished and is just dyed veg tan. The "fuzz" on the back (flesh) side is really a function of leather quality. The supplier will be able to get you the correct quality for what you want. Typically better quality (more expensive) leather will have a flesh side with fewer issues. The flesh side can be burnished like the edges to make it smoother. Herman Oak brand is a good one to get high quality hides. When you start tackling a holster, you want to have a much thicker leather. I use 8-9 oz for my pancake holsters with an additional stiffener piece at the mouth. For a fold-over style, I will normally add a liner of 2-3 oz. The holster section of this forum is a great resource for information and design ideas. Again, because you have to wet form a holster, you must have veg tan without any finishes. Pre-dyed is OK. I'm working on my first belt with 8-9oz for the top layer & 2-3 for the lining. I haven't finished that one yet, so I don't know about performance yet. I have seen some people use a double thickness of 6-7 or 8-9, and others just use a single layer of 10-12. For a true gun belt, I think you need at least a total thickness of 12 oz. If you want to tool & decorate it, you will want undyed veg tan. For purses & bags, Monica would a good one to ask. I've seen some of her work posted here, and it is impressive.

As far as strength, The buckles from Weaver will certainly do the job. Before I started doing my own leatherwork, I bought all of my belts from an amish shop here in central Ohio. I'm sure they source their buckles from Weaver. I have literaly hung my entire body weight (over 250) from my 1.25" latigo belt with one of those roller buckles. A basic safety rope around your belt will save you from injury when you don't have a full safety harness available

I know you were probably looking for a free one, but there is one for sale here: http://www.bighousedaddy.com/business_satchel.htm I haven't ever gotten any patterns from them, but have heard some good things. I'm not seeing it in the pics, so I'm not sure if it has the provision for a shoulder strap attachment.

Growing up, my family always called it a "primp kit." I've heard ditty bag, toiletry bag, and Dopp Kit before, though.

This way works really well. With most modern double stacks being close to the same thickness, I will generally start with a 5/8" allowance on the top side, 1/2" at the trigger guard, then do any adjustments from there. I like to use thick craft paper to get a closer approximation of how the pattern fits, then make adjustments before cutting the leather. Also, make sure to allow for the thickness of the cylinder on a revolver.

You can also use a soldering iron / gun or a woodburner in the same way.

As Thor said, it depends on the user as to the right angle, but I would say that 30 degrees from vertical is the starting point. You should just go more horizontal from there. Also, the larger the belly of the user, the more horizontal the angle should be. For me: 5'7", long torso for my height, and a big belly, I like mine at right around 45*.

You could try olive oil on a test piece. I have found olive oil changes the color of the leather less than neatsfoot. Again, use several light coats & allow it to soak in (24 hours) before the next coat. You may find that only one coat gets the results you are after, but sometimes more are required. I also agree with Dwight about wetting the leather. I've done it both before & after dying to fold over the belt strap portion on a knife sheath, and it works out well - no cracking.

I would say that first, you want to decide the exact type of cover style you want. Do you want a flexible thin cover like many "bonded leather" covers on the market, a slightly stiffer & thicker leather cover, or a totally rigid cover wrapped in leather. I re-covered a Bible for a friend and used 7-8 oz veg tan as my book boards and wrapped it in 1.5 - 2 oz goat skin. I've been meaning to post pics in the show off section, but haven't gotten around to it. The way I attached the book block to the cover was by using a mull cloth glued to the spine of the block and inside of the cover. I used hot glue for attaching it to the block & PVA glue for the cover side. I did NOT glue the spine portion of the cover to the spine of the book block. Then I used heavy paper / light card stock from the scrapbooking section of the craft store as inner cover paper / flyleaves. if you do the leather wrapped style, I learned that skiving the edges, especially in the corner folds, is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the book binding portion of the project, just the leatherwork portion and the finished result. The Bible is with my friend on a missions trip halfway around the world right now, so getting more pictures will take a while.

Also, for stitching, you will want a diamond stitching awl. The scratch awl will make round holes that are not very well suited to an attractive stitch line. To get an evaluation of some more budget friendly as well as more expensive pricking irons, check out the new series of videos posted by Nigel Armitage. He goes through many of the most widely available irons out there. If you use a stitching chisel, you won't necessarily need a diamond awl, but it is a better idea to have one, than not. He outlines it well in his videos. Check out this thread where he gives some insights on what is out there. There aren't any video links in the thread, but he's easy to find on YouTube under Armitage Leather http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=60867