Joshstrange

for wallets I use 4-6 oz leather for the outside and 2-3 oz for the interior for knife sheaths I almost always use 6-7 oz but will sometimes use 4-6 and holsters and belts 9-10 oz. I order from tandy and springfield. I don't make purses (which really makes my wife unhappy) but if I did the thickness of the leather would depend on how stiff or floppy the customer wanted it to be. you will learn all this with time and asking questions here, there is a wealth of knowledge that is for sure.

That came out very nice is there a reason that you used such light leather. I have used 4-6 oz leather to make holsters but they seem to wear quicker and not look as good than a 9-10 oz. holster, but I have never made an in the pocket holster just out side the waistband pancake style holsters.

Quick question I am making some pouches that are used in the manufacture of re curve bows, I think they will be used to test the strength of the bow. I am going to make them out of veg tanned leather and wet mold it and I wanted to put some soft suede on the inside to protect the finish of the bow. can I glue suede in sew it all together and still wet form it with out ruining the suede. Once the pouch is sewn and molded it would be impossible to put the suede in. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply's. I sat down in front of inkscape and i think I figured it out for the current project it did take 6 hours but got it done. someday I may try one of the non free programs but right now my secretary AKA the wife wont let me spend anymore money on this hobby. I'm glad this forum exists, so much info. thanks again.

I never thought of that I will try that

I would like to start off saying that i am not an artist with pencil and paper. I cannot draw to save my life. So for a lot of my tooling patterns I rely on printing them off the internet and using tracing film to transfer to leather. The problem that I am running into is that I can resize the image in Microsoft paint to make it fit on my template but it takes several try's as you cant see what size it will be until it comes out of the printer, or at least I don't know how i'm not really a tech person. is there a program that I can scan my template into, size the image to the space I have to work with and print it out and it will print the template that is the same size as my acrylic template and the image will be ready to transfer over to the leather with tracing film. I have heard of Inkscape and have played with it a little, it's a little overwhelming. I was curious if anybody else has done this and can tell me how they do it or point me in the direction of a tutorial. Thanks guys and gals for your help.

I was given a side of thick veg tanned leather it is extremely hard and thick maybe 10-13oz. its just for practicing as I am new to leather work I cut a piece off of it and oiled it with neetsfoot oil and it became nice and supple but did not tool well even after I soaked in water. My question is what process should I use for dyeing and tooling it. Should I just soak it with water do my tooling and dyeing and then oil it, or is some leather just to hard for any tooling and i should just dye it then oil it. will it accept dye better if its wet? Thanks for any input.