VabaX

Their nat veg tanned roos are great. i've cut up half a dozen in the last few months. One thing to note, however, is that there appears to be a very light coating of some sort on them that in some parts resists dye penetration, which becomes particularly noticeable with darker dyes. If you already clean your skins before dying, you'll probably have no issue, but just a heads up. It can give it a real 'patina' sort of aged look, which I kinda like anyway, but if you're wanting a perfectly consistent dye, and it does turn out like that, i'd imagine it would be very frustrating

Most expensive? idk, take you pick of rare/exotic/endangered animals, its probably one of them. Lets go with the Tassy Tiger... Most durable? probably cow.....

as in, the tooled/acrylic painted areas form cracks in the acrylic paint (or in the leather?) when you coat the item with an acrylic top finish? Have you tested with an uncoated but painted item to see if it still cracks when put under the same kind of abuse? It may not so much be an issue of the top finish, as it is the acrylic 'dye' (read: paint)

1) take your time with things. If you're feeling at all rushed when doing something, stop. It will only end up with mistakes. just take it easy and work on making things right before you worry about how long it takes you 2) experiment, and try different ways/methods/processes for doing things. Personally, I have a 'great' habit of thinking that the way i am or have been doing something is the best way, and being stubborn to trying to do things a different way. You have to make yourself just bite the bullet and try doing things a different way, even if you think it isnt going to be as good, because often it actually does turn out better. Thats how i've done approximately 50-75% of all of my learning/improving. 3) dont get put off by mistakes. Every time you make a mistake, its an opportunity to take a look at what you did, why it went wrong, and figure out how not to do it next time. eachmistake, you get better. keep making mistakes, its good.

I to can hardly understand what OP is talking about, but I think that what is being refered to is the distortion of an edge, the 'rippling' if you will, after stitching. For that, the solution can involve a) moving the stitching back from the edge next time just a little bit b) not pulling your stitches as tight and c) beveling/sanding edges after stitching, if all else fails (that way you'll be beveling-off/sanding-off any distortion that does appear) alternatively, you may be talking about the whole edge of a piece becoming or appearing to become warped or curved (which was previously straight) after stitching. In that case, i'd say make sure the pieces are glued properly beforehand, and as above, dont pull the stitches quite as tight. Not really sure, apart form that.

You sure it's the dye fading and not just the leather itself tanning in the sunlight?

Excuse my french, but thats absolute crap. By far the biggest cost in the small-scale production of quality leather items is labor. When we're talking about some uber exotic alligator skin or something, then the materials cost starts to get up there, but still not usually going to be as high as labor. Yes, LV and H have enormous margins gross profit margins per piece, but thats because the economics of their operation is COMPLETELY different to yours and mine. For the purposes of cost accounting, theres not even any point in looking to them as an example. They have millions of dollars in overheads, fixed costs, financing arrangements, tax considerations you've never even heard of, and distribution costs. Their marginal labor expense being a small portion of their final sale price does NOT mean that yours will be too. If you look at your ACTUAL costs, the cost of the thread, the glue, the leather, the shipping expense, the fees, and apportion the overhead fixed costs like a website for example, then all of those factors will still be tiny in comparison to the cost of your time. If a wallet uses 1 sq foot of leather, even some pricey stuff, lets say $10 for that, a negligible cost of thread, glue, etc, you might have $11 worth of marginal materials costs in there. But if it takes you 4 hours to make, and you want to be banking $15 an hour, then the total cost on that product is $71, of which the vast majority is labor.

Shell cordovan is not really relevant to just about any other discussions about normal leather. It's not even made of skin. It's literally a piece of muscle-y-type material that gets tanned into leather. in the biological sense of which way the material is oriented in the horses body, sure, you could argue it's normally presented flesh side out, but when talking 'leather' in general, flesh side refers to the side with the loose fibers hanging out. in that sense, no, the normally presented side of shell cordovan is not the flesh side. physically, the material that makes up the smooth side of shell cordovan is not the same material that the flesh side of regular leather is made of. To actually add to OP's thread though, does anybody have any good methods for slicking the flesh side a bit in a way that doesnt cause it to ripple and crease when bent, as if you've just applied a film over the top of it, that has only stuck to the very outer fibers? Applying resolene makes it do this, and just looks/feels terrible....

Tandy in Straya is just a joke. just about everything I've ever needed can be found at Birdsall, and anything else (which is not much) I just get from overseas. In terms of leather, I get that from Austanners down in Geelong. great quality/pricing on their nat 'roo skins (they just changed their pricing on ebay: $50 per skin INCLUSIVE of courier charge. Even Birdsall want $80 per roo skin PLUS flatrate postage of $12 per order.)

I use water and a piece of 125gsm paper for burnishing. theres no need at all for anything fancy or any special product. You wont lose the line between the leather by burnishing, thats not possible. if anything, a very fine sand and a burnish will make it more distinct. a good burnish will make the edge nice and hard too, so the fibers wont wont get roughed up by scraping the edge on something burnish first, seal/oil/wax later. I do my burnish until its as glossy and smooth as I want it, then I apply resolene to just the edge. a good trick i learned is to do several burnishes with sanding with 800 grit in between. each step removes more and more un-evenness and makes it super smooth by the end, like a mirror. just with burnishing with water, i find its best to let the burnished edge dry out fully once done before sealing with anything, otherwise it can remain a bit blotchy looking if water is still trapped in it

Acrylic is just acrylic, mate. This type of plastic is literally surgically implanted into people, it's fine for use on leather goods. The cosmetic surgery industry literally uses raw acrylic plastic micro-balls to inject under the skin for cosmetic procedures as a soft tissue filler. Its also used to make dental prosthetics. It's even used in certain types of bone cement. It's just about the most inert, safe plastic you can find. about the only risk with this stuff would be an intestinal blockage if you eat too much of it...

Re your comment about the dye turning grey after soaking in, I've had the same thing happening, even with mid-light browns. In my case at least, I suspect it has something to do with a presence of some sort of finish/coating/light wax or something on the hide I use thats only present in small areas. other than that I got no idea. I'm not even sure that its even the same thing as what you're talking about, but anyway... Will follow this thread to see if anyone else has thoughts

sorry, but from a chemistry/physics perspective, that is not at all how dye absorption works. It has nothing to do with the dye being applied by force. no matter what method you use, It is absorbed through the leather the same way that a sponge absorbs water; going from a wet/concentrated medium into an unconcentrated/dry medium ala ozmosis effect. ie, it gets sucked in to the material the ONLY reason why airbrushing doesnt usually penetrate as deeply as wool dauber application is because you're applying far less of it. I will bet you my life savings that if you measure out identical volumes of dye and apply them to fixed/measured out areas of leather, one sprayed on in very heavy volume, and one applied by sponge/dauber, it will have exactly the same penetration. The solution to more penetration is to open up that airbrush nozzle and let the leather drink up as much dye as it can. still better than dipping because its still more efficient in terms of dye use, far less messy, lower spill risk, easier to do several colours of dying in one batch, etc

100% agreed. Just with most aspects of leatherwork, there are as many ways of doing things as there are things to do. The main difference between those two glue types is, if you re-read, in how you must apply it, and seeing as Rustic here does not use glue at all currently, and stitches loose pieces together, I dont think that wood glue's lack of immediate bonding upon contact of workpieces is going to be a limiting factor in his (potential) use of same; It will still be lightyears better than the method he uses now. If that's all he can get his hands on in Paraguay, then no big deal, imo And Rustic, mate, if you absolutely must use a binder, theres no point in sewing twice. the glue will hold the pieces together while you trim and sand the edges of the leather, so you can then do one line of stitches to sew the binder and leather all together at the same time. I cant beleive im even 'recommending' anything involving the use of such webbing, but whatever, theres my 2c

Eh, honestly, I've only ever used cheap wood glue purchased form the supermarket, and it's worked just fine. Once it's bonded, its strong enough that the glue bond doesnt break before the leather starts tearing apart. any glue that bonds strongly enough to have a higher tensile capacity than the actual leather is perfectly fine. The only differences from that point, as far as I see it (i'd welcome any other comments on the matter) is the properties regarding how it is applied and how it sands/burnishes (an area in which the wood glue is also fine; its sands right down once cured, no gooey gumminess, and has absolutely no impact on the burnish) See for yourselves on my instagram, moreyatelier. my latest post is a billfold wallet with burnished edges, glued with $2 supermarket wood glue. for what this guy needs (rusticleathershop) literally any glue would be better than what he does now

Not unless you're airbrushing with stencils/shielding I feel like I have seen some works that appear to have been 'painted with dye' after tooling, but thatd be a little bit different to doing it on untooled leather

I did the same as chrisash, but with 800-1200 grit sand paper to get the teeth razor sharp, specifically so that I can use them as chisels and punch all the way though. But I work with roo leather, so im rarely punching through more than 3mm.

dunno 'bout you, but I use a ruler....

Mate, your edges need to be practically finished already with sand paper BEFORE you even start applying the first layer of paint. You cant just start painting right after cutting the pieces, on sharp edges, and expect it to come out nice and rounded. As a rule, I never start applying paint to my edges until I have the raw leather sanded so smooth and rounded that it already looks semi burnished. Aside from your refusal to listen to anyone (why bother posting in the first place if you've already decided you dont want advice?), that is your only problem. Well, that and the fact that you're trying to use a grinder instead of fine sand paper, but thats a different matter