DJole

Question about those letters in the outside ring-- are you going to attempt to carve them (i.e. so they stand up from the black background), or stamp them, or emboss them with a stylus? (Carving them is going to take a LONG, FRUSTRATING time to do; I wouldn't recommend you do this until you some tooling experience under your belt and realize that even though you know what you're getting in to, you really WANT to spend the hours it will take to carve those lines VERY carefully.) For the tool suggestions below, I am including the Tandy catalog links for visual reference, so you know what to look for from other toolmakers. 1) sharpened and stropped swivel knife (of course!) 2) backgrounder tool(s) -- wide and narrow teardrop shaped (Like these: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/search/?sSearch=backgrounder) 3) Beveller-- your choice of textured or smooth. Probably two -- a small and a medium one. You have some tight spaces in that design that only a small beveller will fit into. 4) pear shader, possibly (for those wing feathers) -- that'll be a small one, depending on actual size (https://www.tandyleather.com/en/search/?sSearch=pear shader). You could also use a modeling tool with a spoon end and a stylus end to do those. 5) You could freehand the stars in the outer ring, or select one that fits the size (examples: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/search/?sSearch=star stamp) 6) Those branches on the sides of the inner shield... I'm not sure what's going to work there. Maybe other folks have a tool recommendation for that, rather than just freehand swivel knife work. 7) That tiny inner circle logo is going to be a real pain! That's some teeny time swivel knife/stylus work in there, not much room for any tools! It may be possible to have a custom made stamp for this, but that's not cost effective if you are only doing a few of these. The inscription around the inner circle is going to be a bear, too... At the size of this graphic, which I guess is larger than the leather piece will be, I can think of no way to write "city of Rexburg etc.) and make it look good. That's REALLY small. 8) If I were going to do this, I'd look into getting parts of this design done by a laser engraver --- some elements are too small for tooling or knife blade work. They'd end up a lot sharper and legible if laser engraved. That design should also be reworked into a much simpler outline graphic, getting rid of the metallic "shiny" fill effects. You need to see just the lines. I've got good friends living up in Rexburg. Mighty cold up there this time of year!

Are you looking to do traditional Western floral or Sheridan style tooling, or something else? The tools you want depend on the design -- for example, you might need one size beveller for one line, but a smaller one for another. Many of us collect the tools depending on the project, rather than just buying them all at once. I have collected the following bevellers: smooth beveller (Craftool B203, B985-- medium and small), textured beveller (B996), Figure beveller (F896 and F895), and my newest addition of undercut bevellers (Craftool B60 and B892) I began with one, then later on picked up others after deciding that a certain effect required a different tool. So I've got a small set of 21 tools (bevellers, pears shaders, backgrounders, seeder, etc.), collected slowly over 20 years or so. Some tools I have only used a few times, and some I use a lot, for most tooling projects (I don't do traditional floral, so I don't have a veiner, for example). It's hard to just recommend a group of shaders and stamps without seeing a design first, unless money is no object! As for the swivel knife, whether to use an angled or a flat blade, or hollow ground, is a good question. I have no helpful experience there.

The first place to start is this: what are you planning to do in leather? That will help us figure out not only the basics, but what additional things you might need. The "starter" kits may have a bunch of tools you don't actually need for the things you are planning to do (for example, if you're not interested in tooling, there's no reason to have those specific tools.) You might find Ian Atkinson's videos helpful for this topic: https://www.ianatkinson.net/leather/toolset.htm

Looks nice, sitting right there next to the stitching horse! The old and the new, right there together. ;-)

Lovely cream colored leather with contrasting thread. I'd be proud to have that in my house! That's some top-drawer work.

Buying tools as needed for each project is great advice. Watching the videos referred to above (many hours of great information) is an excellent way to figure out which tools are needed for which project. Some other common advice given (I wish I could remember who first stated this, so I could give credit) is to start small -- many people want to jump right in with big projects, without the experience or skills to handle them. Start small, and do many of the small things (coasters, card wallets, and similar things) -- you will save money on leather, and you will actually COMPLETE the projects, and learn basic techniques through repetition. And if the project didn't turn out so well, then you didn't waste a lot of time or money on it. You can then throw it in the "learning experience" bin and know what to do better next time!

Welcome to the forum! You will find A LOT of information in the forums about nearly everything leather-related, so learning how to search the forms will help you access a virtual encyclopedia of leather working. And for what you can't find in previous posted topics, you will find a lot of experienced people who are willing to help out. Are you going to do any tooling on that holster?

Rather purchasing a white elephant gift for a party, I decided to make one. Got lots of leather scraps around, so with a few hours work I quickly threw this together. The front design is tooled, the back is a dark brown, smooth chrome tan (with a flap for name and phone number. It's nothing to be proud of, to be sure, but it certainly has a lot of whimsy! And no dye was required!

Lovely work! The stone and the colors are a lovely design choice to match the knife.

The lacing chisel looks like this: _ _ _ _ It makes flat slots in a line for decorative edge lacing, using flat lacing and lacing needles. A traditional pricking iron or stitching chisel looks like this (more or less): \ \ \ \ or \ \ \ \ or \ \ \ \ depending on the size you have (usually millimeters, measuring either the width of the gap or from center of each tooth to the next center). a pricking iron: you use it with a light mallet stroke only to MARK the holes on one piece of leather, then, as you sew, you use a stitching awl to make the hole on that mark.Can be used as a chisel, but not meant to be. Straight or lightly tapered. a stitching chisel: you put the two pieces of leather together (usually glue), then use a heavier mallet stroke to punch through both pieces at the same time. Straight or lightly tapered. Diamond stitching chisel is like the above stitching chisel, but it opens up larger, diamond shaped holes rather than the narrower, slit-like holes. The tips have a much heavier taper than the sides of the teeth. Preferences: The lacing chisel is used for lacing to decorate/protect an edge. It's a traditional technique, that works well with certain period pieces. You can also sew using those holes, but you might not like the way it looks, with a lot of empty hole showing. I only use it for the few projects I lace (like this one or this one.) Some very good hand stitchers use the pricking iron method -- Nigel Armitage has quite a view videos discussing it, and he is considered by many on this forum to be the master of this old-fashioned technique, which is how stitching was done for centuries. It creates a lovely diagonal stitch which is the mark of a hand-stitched item (machines can't do it) with a particular flair. It makes some practice to do it well, since you must have absolute mastery of the awl to make the holes perfectly straight on the "back" side of the leather (Nigel Armitage's videos, again, show how this is done.) To do this well (and smoothly) you must learn to stitch without putting down the awl. This is why many of us use the stitching chisel: with care to align the chisel straight vertically and on the line of the stitches, one good whack (or more) makes a quick line of aligned, matching holes through both pieces of leather. This allows us to stitch without having to also hold the awl in the hand along with both needles, and makes the stitching time faster. It also can be used to create the traditional diagonal stitch (or if you want, you can make straight stitches too). I used a stitching chisel on a long wallet project -- you can see what the stitching looks like on the outside and the inside: For the pricking iron or stitching chisel or diamond chisel: You can vary the size/spacing of the iron/chisel and the thread size to match the project-- heavier projects will use bigger thread and fewer stitches per inch, whereas smaller ones (like watch straps) use smaller thread and more stitches. The diamond chisel, to me, seems to be more for thicker leathers -- the tapered teeth mean that the hole on the BACK side is smaller than that on the front side. It opens up a bigger hole. They look like this on the leather: So to recap: Lacing the pieces together? Lacing chisel. Barely visible slit-like holes with tight spacing (requires more care with the needles to avoid stabbing the thread)? Pricking iron/stitching chisel Bigger holes okay (may be easier for some to stitch because of the size)? Diamond chisel. In ALL cases: wing dividers to make a stitching line! Some people recommend a stitching groover (so the threads go below the surface of the leather) but I don't use mine anymore, finding the wing dividers a lot more secure and flexible to use: fewer goof-ups, and quickly adjustable to width. And polished chisels are SO much easier to use, since those polished teeth don't "stick" in the leather like the rough machined teeth do. Either pay a premium for polished chisels, or buy cheaper ones and prepare to spend a few hours polishing them. I started with only an awl (because I was young and dumb, and didn't really think to ask anybody), then a lacing chisel, then the diamond chisel, and now I have two different sets of stitching chisels (3 mm and 4 mm). Others with more time and experience stitching have some other recommendations or tips for when you might prefer one over the other. It will be interesting to see differing ideas than mine!

Ditto to the above: 1) Gold foil glued on (flexible, fragile-- will tear and scratch easily, too. Perhaps a protective finish can be put over it?) 2) metallic-gold leather (may be more money that you are willing to spend) 3) Acrylic paint (cheap, flexible, less fragile than foil but maybe not the look you want) Is there a particular reason you don't want to actually make these out of metal (not gold, of course!) and then apply a gold metallic finish to them?

I don't claim to be a leather expert, but I'll share the little bit that I know: The word "top grain" is really a marketing blurb, as you suspect, rather than a description of leather quality. For example, look at this <https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+does+top+grain+leather+mean&ia=web> You can see that it only describes the kind of leather, rather than the durability or quality. For leather to strip away in layers like that is not a good indicator that this is solid, good-quality leather. It could indeed be bonded, as you suspect. If that's the case, then the price point should indicate this. For somebody to create mass produced phone case, like what you show there, at a price that won't make people gulp in shock (what was the price, by the way?), that can't be high quality leather. Or, they could raise the price to what high quality leather goods should cost, yet use cheaper leather to increase the profit margin.

Cross drawing is probably the way to go here. You can put shorter blades on the same side as the drawing hand, or even a back sheath. I have a dagger simulator (for rapier and dagger fencing) which has a sheath which mounts on a belt and rides in the small of my back, sticking out towards my right side. Some Elizabethan artwork shows similar things. My rapier rides in a traditional rapier hanger, low on my left side. Of course, the real question is this --- is the person going to be actually wearing the machete into the bush, and using it, or is this just a protective sheath for transport, rather than designed to be worn? There are many, many different ways to mount the scabbard onto a belt -- you can spend hours searching through images of how it can be done.

You're welcome. There's so MUCH information hidden away on this board that sometimes it's hard for a new person to locate it without sifting through hundreds of conversations over years of posting! Your reasoning for the punch style makes sense. Have you had problems with thread tearing through holes before, so you want the holes a bit wider apart? Under normal use, the holes shouldn't tear. I have a watch strap I made years ago (first one I ever tried...I'll never show it because it's UGLY!), but it shows no signs of the holes tearing through. Instead, I can see wear on the threads. Perhaps when you are sewing it, you are pulling too tight? I've done that a couple times... learned quickly to watch my tension. Watch straps use a lighter, thinner leather than many projects do, so I can see how that could be a concern. What you state about inconsistent stitching patterns is the basic struggle of beginners and hand stitching! It takes time and effort and concentration to keep one needle up and one down, cross one over the other, pull up with one and down with the other...for EVERY SINGLE STITCH! Repeat hundreds of time for big projects! Then you realize that 5 stitches back you messed up, and you have to pull stitches out to redo that one...grrr... and then when you pierce the one thread with the needle...grrr... Heh! It takes concentration and a fair amount of practice to get into the smooth rhythm that people like Nigel Armitage shows in his expert instructional videos on hand stitching. At any rate, if you (and any customers) like the round hole stitching, then it's a matter of preference or style, and therefore not wrong! (There are even people who use a drill press with a very small drill bit to make stitching holes, because they find it easier.) The baseball strap you posted a photo above is a great idea -- I have been kicking around the idea of doing a wallet using basketball leather.

Heh! It's great!

For longer blades, like swords, a back sheath is pretty much Hollywood -- you can only draw the sword the length of your arm, which is shorter than the lengths of most swords. (For a quick, fun illustration of this problem, look at this video: Shadiversity -- Drawing a Sword from the Back) But for a shorter blade, like a machete, it may just be possible to draw it from a back sheath. Use cardboard and mock it up before devoting leather to the project. I don't think you could cross your face and draw it -- that would be a lot less draw length. Drawing it up over the right shoulder (if right handed) would be the way. Or make a down-draw sheath, as illustrated above.

An interesting experiment! Thanks for sharing your results. If the pen is permanent, then it has a lot of potential.

My understanding is that the angled slits allow more stitches per inch, but also give the thread more "meat" to grab, meaning the stitches are less likely to tear out through the leather. For a small size project, like a watch band, this may be important. The angled slits also mean the holes are smaller in size, so you don't need bigger thread to 'fill' the hole. So the stitches per inch and the thread size are the two variables, rather than having to account for the hole size, also. Round holes are different -- to punch them out removes a bit more leather, and they can't be placed as close together as the angled slits or else you get a postage-stamp perforation effect. (I see that many commercial kits use round holes -- I don't know if it's because it's easier for a machine to do that when cutting out the pieces of the kit, or because it's easier hand stitching for the beginner who is the market for the kits.) I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the diamond shaped awl (which is paralleled in shape by pricking irons and stitching chisels) pushes the leather fibers apart, whereas the round punch cuts through them. (I suspect that in reality they all cut through at least some number of fibers, but the round hole would cut more) Imagine a piece of woven cloth, where you push a needle between the fibers, leaving them intact, or cutting a tiny round hole, breaking some of the threads, thereby weakening the structure. I can't verify that this is actually what happens in leather, though, so I am merely sharing this as a possibility. If you are using the diamond shaped holes, or the traditional angled slits from an awl / pricking iron / stitching chisel, it is possible to get a "straight" stitch. You basically have to know how to correctly do the angled stitch, and then not do those things. It's not BAD technique, if that's the look you want! The angled stitch has historical precedent -- it's a marker of hand-sewn saddle stitching, the way it was done for many years. Machines can't do that -- they do a straight lock stitch. In the end, it really is up to you and how you want your stitches to look.

Ditto what Wizard of Tragacanth said: round holes are not going to give you the small, tight stitches you want for watch straps. Diamond-shaped holes won't give you what you want, either. You need the flat, angled teeth of traditional stitching irons/chisels.

Welcome to the forum-- there are many friendly and skilled people here, with years of experience in just about every type of leather work. If you search this forum for "stitching pony," "stitching horse" or even "stitching clam," you will get a good variety to look at. Some people with excellent wood-working skills have done some gorgeous work. You say that you are unsure of what tools you will need, but that's fine! That just means you won't go out and drop hundreds, or even thousands of dollars on tools which you don't ever use. There are quite a few resources that can help you discover what you need to start with. Check out Ian Atkinson's video page (https://ianatkinson.net/leather/videos.htm) where he has some good tutorials and some discussion over what tools you might need to start with. Of course, that depends on if you are interested in doing tooling and decorative work or not.

I can't answer your machine questions, but I do have a Newfoundland question. I spent 3 years in St. John's, going to Memorial U. Are you out 'round the bay in an outport somewhere?

I have no advice -- I don't own a machine that will sew leather. Maybe someday... For that, your best bet is to locate the section of this forum that deals with leather sewing machines and seek expert advice there!

The biggest problem is figuring out what you want to do, so that the tools you get help you with that kind of leatherwork. You can actually do quite a lot with a handful of tools -- I began with an Xacto knife, a modeling spoon, needles and waxed thread, an awl, a mallet, one stitching chisel and some hole punches, plus a rubber pounding/cutting mat. That's really not a whole of money to start with! Over time, I have collected various tools AS I NEEDED THEM for a project, rather than just going out and purchasing a bunch of tools. There are a few tools that I purchased which I rarely use at all -- the stitching groover, for example. I find wing dividers much more versatile.

Welcome to the forum! Your question is a very common one. First, it would be helpful to know where you are at, so that we can direct you to resources in your area. Start with a video such as this: Top 25 Recommended Leatherwork Tools--> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTfMRaVyCd4&feature=youtu.be>

Welcome to the forum! You'll find that there are quite a few of your own countrymen who post here, so you'll find information that is relevant to UK members, in addition to the vast range of helpful, experienced folks who can help you with leatherwork.