bob21804

Interesting thread! so, I'll add it to. I work at a stainless steel tubing plant, as the Safety Coordinator. Been there almost 29 years now - worked in production much of that time. I enjoy focusing on safety and the fact that the role gives me more freedom to move around rather than being stuck at a machine. It's not bad. I enjoy it, but even more I enjoy many hobbies, including gardening, old VWs, leatherwork and more. I'm more motivated by life than by money, but I do sometimes wish I was born rich instead of good looking. Bob

Beautiful work. I have to say it - sometimes I'm surprised when a post doesn't get a lot more comments, and this is one of those times. I realize most people are just so busy with everything we do, that we don't always have to time to check every post and comment. But I just had to comment on this. It's gorgeous. Being basically new to leatherwork, I can only dream of having the talent and skill to make something like this. Bob

Cool design, I'd be interested in seeing the completed project. I've just started looking for a not-too-complicated tribal design to try on an eyeglass case for my granddaughter.

I love that basketweave, Bob. Beautiful.

Bump I'm wondering about this too.

Thanks for all the congrats, I spend quite a bit of time today cleaning up the craftool stamps, as well as the edge bevellers. There was a bit of corrosion on a handful of the tools, but fortunately, no pitting on the working surfaces. Now I need to start thinking about making a couple racks to keep them organized and within convenient reach,

Ahhh, very good. Thank you. It's always nice to know what those odd tools are.

Here's 2 more pix. One is the wooden chest, before I dug into it. It's not a huge chest, probably about 32" long x 18" wide, but definitely plenty of room for lots of goodies. The other pic is a wooden handled tool, about 4 1/2" long overall. The handle is 3 1/2", and the working end has 7 prongs, 1/2" long, arranged in a circle. Can anybody tell me what that is? Is it just for making decorative marks in leather, or something else?? Thanks, Bob

Nothing wrong with that at all. I love a good deal. I drove past the 2ndhand shop today before turning around to check it out. I really didn't think he's have anything. I was on my way to Michael's, to see if they might have some double domed snaps. After loading that heavy wooden chest full of tools into my truck, I never did make it to Michael's. lol.

This is actually my 2nd jackpot, although the other time was a smaller haul. A few years ago, I picked up several hundred dollars worth of leathercraft supplies at an auction, for $25 - still nothing to complain about. Here are a few pix of today's haul - not all of it, but most of the tools. The alphabet set had a powdery white residue, but between a brush on my Dremel and a few minutes in my Harbor Freight Ultra Sonic Cleaner, it looks good - no real damage. The last pic shows about 111 stamps. They're not rusty or corroded, more dusty than anything. I think they'll all clean up well. There is some light rust on a few pieces, but I think they'll also clean up fine. I threw very little away, and no tools, except a metal ruler. I am working on loosening up a few tools with stuck parts. There's also several bottles on older Fiebing's dyes (older labels), a couple full and a few less. Also, 4 spools of the older lacing that has some moisture and smells a bit musty, but I think they'll clean up okay too. There's also an organizer with probably a few thousand assorted rivets, snaps and spots in fine condition, and a couple dozen belt buckles that unfortunately are kind of corroded. And there are a few old-style custom makers stamps, but I don't think I'll change my name to Wayne Butler to make use of them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pix. Let me know if you see anything especially interesting.

I'm a hobbyist who recently got back into leatherwork and I'm really enjoying it this time around. Over the past several weeks I've been working on projects most days and ordering from Tandy and, more recently, Springfield Leather regularly. Today I stopped at a 2ndhand place and asked the guy if he had any leatherworking supplies, thinking he might have a tool or 2. He said he had a bunch, and led me to an wooden trunk full of tools and supplies. I sure wasn't expecting that. I guess he picked them up at an estate sale or auction. It was like a shop in a chest. He left me alone to look through the stuff, and of course I wanted just about all of it. I ended up making a deal with him - $175 for the lot. After I got it all home, started going through it and cleaning things up, as I looked up prices online, I came up with just about $2500 worth of stuff - mostly hand tool, various sizes and types and shapes of punches, skivers, edge bevelers, chisels, alphabet stamps, knives and older lace, and dyes. There's well over $300 worth of items I already had on my Tandy and Springfield Wish List. There are over 100 Craftool Stamps, mostly vintage and much, much, much more. I may have to post pix of a few item that I'm not sure of. There's still quite a bit to clean up, but I feel I really hit the jackpot today.

I stopped eating animal product almost 2 years ago - for my health, no other reason. I also work with leather and love it. I suppose I'm an "unethical vegan".

Thank you Tinker Tailor. I appreciate the response. I actually watched that video about a week ago, and I will watch it again. Great stuff. I'm really in awe of much of the work many of you experienced people do.

Thanks for posting it, I like that!

First a quick introduction - I started getting into leatherwork as a hobby a few years ago, with a Tandy Deluxe set. I had fair results with a few small projects for myself and friends. I did buy some more tools and supplies beyond the original setup and worked with them a bit, developing my skills a some extent, but nothing like what many of you guys accomplish. After a bit, and a handful of ugly/inconsistent results on other projects, I set the leather aside as I concentrated instead on other of my many hobbies. (I think my biggest challenge is good decorative cutting and stamping skills - which leads to my question) I picked up my leathercraft tools and supplies again recently, made a few more small items which turned out ok. I am feeling more comfortable working with leather, but still need a lot of improvement on the many skills involved. Now I'm in the process of starting my biggest project yet - a purse, from a Tandy pattern, for my oldest granddaughter, who will be turning 16 in a few weeks. I've cut most of the leather and punched holes for lacing - looking good so far. Soon I'll want to start decorating the flap and gussets with a design (and I'm nervous about that because I know I lack the skill to do a very good job). Also, the Sheridan style honestly isn't something I love, and my daughter also feels it's not my granddaughter's style either. We're leaning towards something simpler, with finer lines, not elaborate at all. After some searching around online, we found a simple scrolling design with little leaves. (I'll attach that below). I used my swivel knife to cut that design into a piece of scrap veg tanned tooling leather just for practice, and it looks "ok" to me, but I know when/if I try to do something such as bevel and shade it, it'll start to look more and more like the work of a 5th grader (no offense to any 5th grade talented leatherworkers on the board ;-) I'm thinking of just using the spoon end of my stylus tool to open up and smooth the fine lines and allow the design to show up darker when I apply the stain. I don't know if this is a good plan, or if you might have other suggestions for me. Maybe it's a terrible idea to even use such a design - I don't know. I do know I won't be developing enough skill within a few weeks to tool in a beautiful Sheridan or other fancy style design for my granddaughter's purse. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I do want/plan to continue in this hobby this time around and develop my skills, possibly even turning it into a hobby that will at least help support itself. I've made stuff (gifts) for friends and family, such as a knife sheaths, a couple wallets, bracelets and belts, and have recently had a few people offer to pay me if I would make something for them. I don't think my skill level is such that I would or should charge much more than the cost of the supplies at this point but maybe that's a topic for another post. For now, I'll be happy to give my granddaughter a purse that I'll feel good about giving her, and she'll really love. Thanks!