Humble308

Thanks Mark, I think my budget will be around $300-400 (or at least we'll see if that does it haha). The BK set looks to have alot of nice tools in there for sure, I think for my budget I should still be able to assemble a decent beginners set. I do a bit of lathe turning wood and that is certainly a tool vortex as well, especially when you get into carbide cutters. It's funny you mention oil painting as I recently decided to take a stab at it after they put ol' Bob Ross on Netflix haha. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that suffers from polyhobbyism :D BikerMutt, what kind of guns do you shoot. I'm a gunsmith for my day job, always fun to talk toys.

Thanks very much to both of you! Tooling before final dimension sounds like the best way to prevent that. Tuga I have been watching Ian's videos sporadically and find them pretty helpful. I really like how that spyderco knife sheath turned out. Thanks again fellas, can't wait to get started. All the best!

Thanks for reply. Springfield leather looks great and their prices are quite a bit cheaper. Nice lead on that edger too, looks exactly like the solution to my dilemma. Would a strip cutter be a good idea? It looks like something that could be reliably used to square up piece of material. When backgrounding I understand that the leather is being displaced to create relief. But it has to go somewhere, will heavy backgrounding distort the project? I'm assuming the thicker the leather gives you a little more wiggle room. Thanks for the advice again, I'm looking forward to getting started

Hey guys/gals I reckon this will double as an intro post. I've been interested in leather working for some time now, but have hung back due to other hobbies. This past weekend I took a basic Carving/tooling class at Tandy for kicks and was really taken aback how calming tooling was. I was also pretty impressed how quickly a carving came to life even in novice hands. Anyways, I think I'd like to get into it a bit more but had a couple questions before I really dive in. A couple projects that immediately spring to mind is a guitar strap or two, beer koozie (I had a specific design I found but wasn't sure about posting others works on here), little pouch for guitar picks, and perhaps holsters. I've come to understand that I'll need a good quality swivel knife, basic carving stamps, a good no bounce surface, a variety of cutting tools like edgers and skivers. I guess my question is are there any tools in particular that stand out to you now that you wish you would have had as a beginner? I don't have a problem investing in intermediate level tools to start with. I come from several tool laden hobbies and know its buy once cry once haha. I would like to start with hand sewing, I've heard Al Stohlmans book on this is quite mandatory. Right now I have the Leatherwork Manual by Al and others, How to Make Holsters, and The Leatherwork Handbook by Valerie Miachel (sp?). They were all quite helpful. My last question is about leather itself and buying it. I spent a fair bit of time wandering around after the class and found that a large section of the store is dedicated to kits. I'm not sure if that's my thing but it seems some folks recommend them? Once you've bypassed the kit level what is the best way to buy leather? Browsing the straps I found several for the size of belts but thought they were quite high priced, is it more economical to buy the large pieces? If so, what tools should I be prepared for when breaking down from large pieces? I'm sure I've missed some things, any input is greatly appreciated. All the best Sermper Fi, Derek