metroplexchl

Thanks, do you get all your leather at tandy? They seem high according to some other online shops, but I have no experience on the best quality reputable places to buy leather online. Where do you get your leather? Chris

I am brand new to leatherworking. I don't plan on ever making it a business, but I do want to make it a fun hobby. One thing I assumed in the beginning was that I could buy a big roll of some type of leather and make a small bag or sack, a wallet, a belt, a briefcase, or anything. It seems that it's turning out to be quite different. One should use certain kind of leather for certain projects....or at least it appears so. I know that some things can obviously be made with many different kinds of leather, but is there a general rule of thumb for choosing a leather for a project? Chris

Thanks Flux41! GOod advice. Especially the keep copious notes part... I think I'll start doing that as well. I'm very new to this. I've been making little draw string sacks for years with my dad...but always with same exact type of suede and in the same pattern. So I'm basically starting from square one. So each little project i do is basically a little project full of small mistakes. Each one a learning opportunity. I'll get better over time fast by taking notes.

Haha, me too Mr. Sheldon! My writing is awfully doctor'ish. I'll have my wife write something. I'm going to start researching this now. Thanks for the help amigos. chris

I'm pretty new here, so please forgive if this is posted in the wrong place. But I would like to learn how to do this type of staining or dying of words on a wallet I'm making. I thinks it's beautiful, but i have no idea how to start researching and learning it. Anyone know what this is called? Chris McCollum

Yeah I found that one last night. That is EXACTLY what I'm looking for. Any ideas on what its called (so I can search for it) or where I can get some?

Whoa....just saw saddleback leather for the first time....amazing stuff. I looked at the seatbelt webbing but feel like its too thick. I was thinking some sort of fabric that doesn't stretch (like polyester maybe? there may be others) but comes in sheets (that can be cut into strips or small swatches) or strips. Like maybe duct tape thickness at most?...something that wouldn't show an obvious bulge from the inside.

I just had a great idea....I found a bunch of old used menus on craigslist for super cheap. I'm going to pull out the clear plastic sheets and cut those to size. I'll glue them between the leather exterior and the pig skin interior sheet. Boom. chris

Haha. I'll give it a shot....I'll look and see where I saw this. It was some older website I think and it was referring to using dye in those little spray gun things. I'm really new to leatherworking, so forgive my ignorance here. :-)

I read on some old post from somewhere else that someone used hot water at a 1/1. I wonder if that would work?

Can you get that at a CVS or Walgreens type place? What ratio of dye/denatured alcohol do you start with? Or do you just start somewhere and test on scraps? thanks for your response! chris

That's an awesome possibles bag. I'd love to get his wax recipe and how you waxed the canvas!

I have some reducer on order that will be here in a week or so, but I'm curious....are there other ways to reduce dye? Simpler ways? Why ca't you just use water? chris

"No, its for the LEATHER, honey!"

So i have a few bags that I've made that have points on them where the leather stretches out a little over time from the constant use or at weight bearing points in the bag. I've thought about sewing in some polyester strips or fabric in between the outer leather and the interior layer of garment leather at those points that have a tendency to stretch out. I thought polyester because it would not stretch like leather does, but I'm open to suggestions. Any ideas on where I can find something like this? Not sure what they would be called actually....a search for polyester stripping reveals countless inapplicable solutions... thanks, chris

These are awesome suggestions amigos. Thanks a lot. Not trying to open a can of worms, but what's a good adhesive y'all use? I've been using basic Eco leather weld adhesive.

Anyone? how do y'all create rigidity in something like this? Plastic sheet? Tyvex?

Gracias sir. I just bought some reducer and some little disposable ramekin bowls with lids. I'll run a test at 50/50 to see if that helps any. thanks again!

So I made my first attempt at dying leather today, and it didn't work as I had hoped it would. I used Fiebing's alcohol based green dye (catalog # CATSS-5258717 ). It is so dark that one cana barely see that its been dyed green. It's almost black and othing liek the sample color that was on the website. When I applied it, i used the little wool dauber that came with it, I saturated it completely with the dye, and then quickly spread it around the leather in just coat. The instructions say nothing about watering this stuff down or anything.... I'm confused how I could make it lighter. Any thoughts? chris

All, this is my first post on this awesome forum, but I've been reading a while. I'm new to leather working and am in need of some help. I am sewing a leather folder and a leather portfolio. See pics below of what I am attempting to do. The leather is relatively thin (3 oz ?) and is to flippy floppy as is. So, I want to sew in some pigskin on the inside (suede side), but in between the leather outside and the pigskin interior I'd like to add some sort of stiff board or sheet of some rigid material. I think the kydex sheets that one uses to make holsters would work.....but do ye old gentlemen know of anything as stiff and light as the kydex but cheaper per sheet? Without some sort of stiffiner, the entire portfolio and folder will just crumple into an ugly blob. Chris