DJole

I doubt there is a substance on earth that will get that old leather supple again, unless you can find a time machine! ;-) But if you really want to restore it, you'll need to find an expert who can actually look at and handle the leather, to find out its thickness and what kind of leather it is. It is possible that people who make bellows-blown bagpipes, such as Northumbrian pipes, Irish Uillean pipes, and Scottish smallpipes would have a good idea about cost and time involved. You'll have a much easier time finding those people in the UK than over here in the USA. That would sure be an unusual project. How is the rest of the forge, I wonder?

Well, I don't go to Starbucks now, and I have been to Tim Horton's a few times; I shopped at Dominion and Sobey's stores as well; and I got used to using Celsius and Kilometers (not to mention buying gasoline by the liter). I need to work on my apologizing. Sorry about that...

I lived three years in Newfoundland (going to university there). Can I be an honorary Canadian? ;-)

Interesting! I have never used Tiger thread, but now my interest is piqued. The next time I need a thread color, I'll replace it with some Tiger thread to experience it myself.

That's a good starting project -- it got you experience in a few things (hole making, lacing, lacing around corners, dyeing) so you can use what you learned in your next work. What dye (and color) did you use there? and on a humorous aside, never apologize for using "scrap" --- all that word means is small leather bits you haven't found a use for yet! ;-) I've got a fair bit of scrap around, just waiting for the right moment when I need a piece of leather just that size....

Let me add my 2 pennyworth to the mix here: I find that after sewing for a while, the waxed thread starts to get unwaxed (it rubs off as you pull it through the holes). So I have a cake of just plain beeswax that I run over the thread. Nothing fancy, and I haven't found any reason to do anything else yet. Maybe Zulu's (or other people's recipes for wax stuff) holds up to wear (such as wallet stitches) better than what I do. This seems to be related to thinner threads; thicker threads probably hold more wax in their fibers.

Seems to me that the only answer to this question is this: if this makes the tooling better for you, then "switch-hitting" is fine. As a right-hander, I have metal tool in left hand, and mallet in the right, and it seems to go fine. Then again, I've played the violin for years, and so perhaps my left hand is used to finesse work.

Over in my tool box I have a few spools of waxed linen thread in a few different colors, which I purchased from here: http://www.royalwoodltd.com/cat14-17ar.htm They have a good selection of colors, and the waxed linen is good for historical re-enactment stuff, and it wears well. I use 4 ply in the 50 gram size spool, which is a good amount of thread. I often separate the threads so I have two 2-ply strands for lighter stuff. I also have some Tandy black, white, and natural waxed thread, for less "fancy" work. It seems to work fine. I am using no special needles-- just a general use 10 pack from Tandy, and some glover's needles for garment leather.

Oh, yeah, that breaks at least two copyrights, like you said! But putting that aside, it's a lovely mash-up concept!

You should go to Youtube and check out the videos that Ian Atkinson has posted for his small shop, Leodis Leather. He has some great material there, and I think he does what you are looking for (not tooling, but leather bags and wallets and such.) Start with this one: Top 25 recommended leather tools.--> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTfMRaVyCd4

Welcome DocDaddy! Do you know how to do a search in this forum? There's an oval "Search" bar with a question mark up at the right hand top of the screen. If you type search terms like "starting out" or "essential tools" then you'll find discussion threads about those topics. The short answer is basically what are you trying to do (tooling? shoe making? saddle making? bags and purses? hand stitching? machine stitching?) and how much money do you want to spend?

That is some NICE, careful work. It's beautiful, and I would be very proud to make (and own!) a bag like that turned out. That's like a marathon of hand stitching, and you completed the 26 mile run!

My wife's family lives across Dayton from you, over in Fairborn. Welcome to the forum!

You have good photographs of your work, too, which really helps present it to the buyer. Can you describe your setup? Some of us might benefit from your experience here.

That's nice work. Some classic, simple lines there that work well together!

One resource I know of is Brettun's Village up in Maine. They do custom shape cutting -- email them for rates to see if they match your needs and price range: Website= http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/, email = info@brettunsvillage.com

That's a nice "soft" impression on the design. It almost makes me want to touch it to check if the texture matches what my eyes are seeing.

Yes, there's the big takeaway -- there's so many puzzles to solve that teach us how to work with the material. The finished piece is very attractive -- a unique bag that should last for years!

Heh! I got a nice piece of polished granite countertop (13X9X1") the same way! It has a projecting bit where it was broken, but I can use that kind of like an anvil horn. Yours is all nice and smooth and square...but mine was free just like yours! I'm still holding out for some lovely white marble..

That's a really eye-catching piece of work! I like the personalized touch of the antler buttons,an

Is that the Klingon empire symbol on that axe sheath? You have some nice smooth quality work here.

Would an antique style stain help pop the tooling visually?

Lovely work -- so clean and crisp! Is that the color of the leather or did you dye it? (If you dyed it, what was the brand and color?)

If I were young and single, able to pack up and move to a more expensive area, and didn't have a family to support, I'd take a serious look at that apprentice offer. I guess it's difficult to find that young rootless person who is also a leatherworker, or not going to college instead! Paging Mike Rowe... Mike Rowe, to the courtesy desk please...

That's a nice little corner back there, with some spiffy machines!