blueblade3000

Thank you all for the guidance. Looks like I need the right awl and to prep this leather. I will probably pick up that video on turnshoe making also. Great forum, you've been very helpful!

The sole itself did not tear through, but it seems to want to separate like flaky pastry. And I think a couple of the holes joined together as the thread "cut" through, but I couldn't tell for sure.

https://imgur.com/a/jHI0Nj0 The picture with the tear-through is the test piece I intentionally tore. How close together should my stitch holes be?

I can't upload a picture right now as I'd have to reduce the quality due to permissions, and I don't know how to do that on my phone. The leather is 1/4 inch thick, but one of the needles I'm using has a "spoon shaped" flat section that's over 1/16. I suspect that's my mistake. As far as sole bend tearing, on a test piece, if I pierce through, it pretty easily tears if I try. A little twist of the awl will do it. Is that abnormal?

I'm working on my first leather project, a pair of Jorvik turnshoes. I found a few tutorials online and feel like I understand the technique, but I ran into an issue with execution. I'm trying what one tutorial refers to as an "edge-flesh" stitch, stitching through the flesh side and coming out of the edge at an angle. This is with veg tan sole bend from Tandy Leather. The problem is that the sole bend is tearing very easily, sort of separating and losing its integrity. I think one problem might be that my stitch holes are too close together at about 1/8 of an inch. But even after punching the awl through the first hole, I could see the problem. What am I doing wrong or what can remedy this? Should I wet or oil the leather?