TestTube

I see now. Only problem is, I don't see Chevre Sully here or if it is here which one of these it is (in another language). Also not sure of the cost to ship to the states. Though, I did just message them to ask, so we'll see what happens. In the meantime though, and respectfully, are you positive this is the cheapest place to buy Chevre Sully from or am I just being pointed directly to the source? If not or if anyone else knows, let me know. If so, great and ty. =)

As the title asks: What makes a good or bad hot foil machine? Why are some 150$ and others 1000$+? What features should I be looking for?

So I've figured out the best place to buy Buttero / Pueblo.. seems to be buyleatheronline.com, but I'm looking for the cheapest (while still being reliable) place to buy Chevre Sully goat hides from. Right now I purchase them from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply and they price them starting at 66$ for 3.5sqft (about 18$/sqft for those first 3.5sqft) and then an additional 6$ per sqft after that. If anyone knows of a better website for Americans to purchase Chevre Sully please let me know. Thank you. =)

Yeah I was thinking that too, maybe I'll do that.

I looked at all of these before I made this post. I could be wrong but I don't see anywhere on any of those pages that indicates any one of those squares has a corked grip on the reverse side. Something about squares...they don't like putting grips on them apparently. I already own a roofer's square and I also have a corked grip 12 inch ruler but meh... Hell, I could settle for 24inch square instead if that's all there is to be had, *grip on the back*, metric measurements (+ imperial bonus). I suppose I'll go check Narnia. =p

I need a 1 yard (or meter) steel square with a grip that measures in both metric and imperial but...it seems they don't exist? I looked at www.amazon.com for about 30 minutes and I found a meter and/or yard square, with or without a grip, some with metric and imperial some without one or the other...but I can't get them ALL... 1 yard, or 1 meter steel square + bottom grip + metric + imperial. If someone can find me this, I will love you forever. The absolute only thing I could live without (although I would still kinda be sad) is if one could be found with ALL that I listed expect without imperial measurements. Let me know if someone knows of one. Thanks.

As the title says: Does anyone have experience (or especially a picture) dealing with Springfield Leather's Hermann Oak CRAFTSMAN pieces? If you have a picture, **please** post it in as high definition as you possibly can. If you don't, please describe to me - using your own words - how severe and how plentiful / spread out the imperfections were when compared to a near-flawless piece. You get magical "TestTube brownie points) for pictures of a whole Hermann Oak Craftsman Grade SIDE. But if words are all you're capable of providing, please, by all means. Thank you. =)

A little update: So @TonySFLDLTHR had sent me a message a few days ago telling me Springfield wanted to send me a replacement for the order. I have it here now and it's night and day better. I'm trying to upload a picture but my phone isn't being very "user friendly" at the moment. Anyways, thank you Tony, Springfield, and whoever else was involved. It means a lot to me that a company is willing to do that unprompted and I couldn't have asked for it to be handled any better.

Alright. Until I get the rest of the tools I ordered I can't really do much for now anyway. That does look nice in your picture though so I will have to see in the future. I'm wondering how imperfections like this happen. Are these where the animal was bruised somehow? Or is there really no way to tell / maybe you'd have to see it in person? It's as if someone took a hammer and smacked parts of the leather at random and/or shaved away parts on the back. I'm not even sure what I would call those "dips" in the leather...they're not just aesthetically unpleasing, they're actually like almost holes. The leather is clearly weaker at those spots, like I could easily rip them open with my bare hands and very little force if I was so inclined. Anyways...it IS two pounds and I won't be doing any complaining to Springfield. These pieces will serve their purpose regardless. I need to buy myself some dyes now though which I was gonna do anyway.

I live in south Jersey (New Jersey) USA. Soooo, it arrived !!!!...aaand....okay still new, don't bite my head off, but here's the quote from that link: About two pounds of vegetable tanned leather pieces that are great for small projects like linings, wallet backs, embossing, notebook covers and much more. These are lightweight pieces (2-6 oz.) that are a mix of import veg tan and Hermann Oak leather. Naturally great for tooling. Total accumulation of pieces is roughly 8 sq. ft. of leather. And here's what I received: Okay now, what am I to expect for 22$ right?, aaand YES I did buy this to practice with and to test out different thicknesses, but you tell me, is that right there what I should have been expecting? Basically I'm asking you guys to be angry or happy for me so I can jump on the bandwagon. EDIT: (Let me just be clear that I wasn't expecting 8 square feet of beautiful unblemished leather, but I definitely was at least *hoping* for some pieces useable for a small project that I wouldn't want to throw away when I was done, oh well heh. The picture on the website and that picture reminds me of the McDonalds' Big Mac commercials)

I actually, just for now purchased only the 2lbs of light veg tanned leather scraps to mess around with. I was put off by some of the reviews for the journaling leather they had for 50 bucks. Lets see what comes in the mail and also I ordered almost 250$ worth of tools so far that I need to wait on as well so, let me see what comes in and let me see what I can do with it all and I will go from there. I'm just going to return that original set I purchased considering I replaced just about every part in higher quality, and then some. In the meantime, I've been watching a TON of videos (like, way more than I normally could, considering we're all locked away in our homes at the moment, at least in the USA) Thank you guys so much for all the help, I'm already in love with this forum and I'm here to stay. If anyone else wants to chime in with an opinion or suggestion or whatever, feel free by all means, in the meantime I'm gonna do some more research and brainstorm some more project ideas. =)

Okay. I suppose in that case I will simply do what LatigoAmigo suggested and just mess around with everything. The only thing is that I want to do it as cost-effectively as possible lol. I'll take a look at some of that Ritza Tiger thread since I heard about it being good when doing some googling earlier. And that Mandala Crafts thread is *exactly* what I was looking at on Amazon just now...so I may flip a coin as to which one to purchase. I just need to find a Bonded Nylon thread to try, just to see what it feels like compared to the 2 polyester threads mentioned above. Thanks guys.

Yes, I understand. I want to hand-sew a journal cover (and many other things, always hand-sewn) and I'll be working with lighter leather. It was suggested to me in a thread that I had made the other day that I should use a 0.8mm thread. But I do suppose (especially after watching a few videos) that it does come down to preference really so... ...my real question, I suppose is: Could you (or someone else) recommend to me a few good brands that make thread appropriate for leathercrafting? Or could you tell me if this is an okay thread to use on leather even though it says polyester and not bonded nylon?: https://www.amazon.com/Mandala-Crafts-Leather-Sewing-Stitching/dp/B01N9QEIIS/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=0.8mm+thread&qid=1586194214&sr=8-2 ^I know that it SAYS it can be used for leather, but everywhere I search when I ask the question "What type of thread should be used for leather?" I get the answer "Bonded Nylon", not polyester.

^As the title says, what brand of thread should I purchase? I am going to be working work leather around the 2-4, *maybe* 5oz range, so I think what I need is 0.80mm bonded nylon thread, but when I search this on Amazon I get a million different results, most of them at 1.0mm and most of them say polyester so... ...help me out here if you can =) Thanks!

Oh my, I'm so glad I signed up for this forum and asked for some help haha.. I'm definitely going to order some of one of those suggestions sometime today. I have this image in my head of me being someone that only buys natural vegetable-tanned leather (uncolored) and just a bunch of different dyes lying around instead of buying stuff pre-dyed. ^Is there anything wrong with that like it not being cost-effective, or something else?