JohnnyLongpants

It's beautiful. Can you give an idea on the price you are looking for?

That is a huge assortment. I hope some leatherworkers are able to make it and score some sweet deals. Thanks for sharing!

For the price of one CS Osborne 1/2" punch (which is definitely a better tool, but...) you can buy a set of 19-50 leather punches in shapes, available on Amazon and other places. These are sharpend and made of ribbon tool. They are way better than freehand. One such set looks like this: 50 pc leather punch tools in shapes for $20

These are pretty awesome: Cheap digital calipers on Amazon For about $11, you can get a pair that measures to 1/1000 of an inch.

It is along the x axis. Coil two belt blanks glued together around something like a five gallon bucket and when the glue dries you will have a double-layer belt that naturally has a curve with no wrinkling. I figure a five gallon bucket is common enough to use. Ideally, they would be glued against a mannequin or curve of the exact size/shape of the wearer. To have a bend on the z axis, the top and bottom of the belt blank must be different lengths, either cut like a trapezoid or cut on a curve. Practically, it is much easier to just have two identical belt blanks, use those, and let them "break in" through use on the wearer.

In a sense, it would be great to glue the belt on a curve. The main issue this brings up is for people who hang their belt by the buckle and want them to hang straight. (Some people roll them up and some people hang them.) Any easy-ish approach to this to use a glue and not a contact cement (like Barge). The white leather glue is good, or any wood glue. Be sure the outside belt blank is a little longer than the inside one. Then coil the whole thing around a five-gallon bucket and hold in place with plastic wrap from the kitchen. Let it dry overnight. ------=====------ To avoid wrinkles if the belt is glued while flat, I prefer to use a softer/stretchier leather on the inside as the liner. So, if the belt is very thick, such as for a sturdy holster belt, it would contain, typically, two thick belt blanks glued front-to-back, and inside the belt a liner of boot suede, milled vegtan, etc. (For those concerned about the transition from their burnished edge to the suede/liner, lay the belt face-down on your workbench after the glue is dry. Use your groover to cut through the liner and keep the liner centered, then bevel to remove any remaining glue.)

For those who found this old thread, here is a separate thread that may help: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/96691-links-for-leathercraftlibrary/

Tandy's Leathercraftlibrary page has a lot of mixed-up links for the various free doodle pages, pattern packs, ebooks, etc., that they offer. (When you click on the item you want to read, it gives the right description but when you click on the Read Now link, other patterns appear.) For those who can't go through each page to find the pattern they wanted, attached are two versions of the same file. Each file contains clickable links for all 999 of them. The one ending in .docx should work in Microsoft Word. The one ending in .rtf should open in Wordpad. In either file, click Ctrl-F to search for the name of the one you want, or go one by one and download. You should be able to just click on any of the items and have it open the webpage. Don't forget to save each one you want. This should not violate any rules or laws, as it's just a list of their own links. Enjoy! -JL leathercraftlibrary_links-210803.docx leathercraftlibrary_links-210803.rtf

One thing you can do is use synthetic thread. These are very hard to dye (use boiling acid, etc.) so if they are not fully white they just need cleaned. Saddle soap is good for that. The other option is to use linen. Wax it and then apply a sealer, like resolene. Keep applying wax as needed, esprcially paraffin (checking canning section on supermarket). When done, clean with saddle soap.

platazote can be purchased from shoe repair supply shops. Among others (Franklin, Southern), Landwerlen Leather in Indianapolis carries it in various thicknesses. This particular foam is used commonly in braces, orthotics, prosthetics, etc. It has a very specific softness/firmness for things like diabetic insoles. There are other foams like neoprene, latex, or eva "cloud" that are good for backing leather because they use similar adhesives. These are commonly used in shoemaking and shoe repair, so have the same skin contact as a belt would, basically. This stuff is simlar but softer than what cheap flipflops are made of. Cloud is probably the cheapest, and starts at about 3mm thick. I usually pad things with neoprene foam (scuba suits, mouse pads) or I use wool fleece or shearling. There are other, cheaper foams but if they arent made for shoes or something else used a lot then they dont last long.

Buy a piece of cork that is an inch thick or better. I bought a 12x24" piece that was 1/2" thick and glued two layers together. Mark/punch your holes on the outermost layers. Then, glue the inner layers except the innermost layer to the outer layer. Lay those out flat on the cork and use your awl to push a hole through all the layers. Do thesame thing to the innermost layer--lay it on cork and use awl to push awl straight through. Then, apply adhesive to the innermost layer and next layer up. Don't press it together. Start sewing. You have a needle poking through 2-3 layers through an existing hole, and the other needle coming in through 1 layer with the holes premade. As you stitch awl-free, align the edges. I suggest cutting each layer slightly large in order to be able to cut or sand the excess off when done sewing. Yes, a master could sew through this thickness on one fell swoop with just an awl and have the back look as good as the front. A $4k sewing machine could too. But if you dont have 10+ years to master awl work or 4k to spend on a machine, this will get you very nice results. It's just a little slower, unless you compare it to 10 years.

Lexol Leather Conditioner (a liquid) is the one that has the most science behind it, besides British Museum Leather Dressing. I suggest Lexol because it is readily available at Auto Zone or Walmart and absorbs very well, even into exotics Nearly any are good. It's like choosing the 'best' soap for your skin.

Five years later and both the post and the profile are active. Maybe the site could use more maintenance.

Here is what's weird. Six years later, and this post is still sitting here and the person's account is still technically "active".

Why don't you tell us specifically what you are trying to achieve, because your original question was so broad and vague that it would be nearly impossible to give a targeted answer specific to your situations and requirements. If you want a glossy finish on a piece of leather (without saying whether you wanted aniline translucent-type dye or and even, surface-only, opaque type dye), and that happens to be bull--which, we will assume, is cow instead of the myriad of other species of animals from which they make leather, since 'bull' mostly just means that it is from the male of the species... I don't know if you are dyeing shoes or dyeing automotive interiors. So, my last answer is this: use leather-specific acrylic surface dye aka acrylic paint (but only acrylic paint that is specifically made for leather). Examples include Angelus and Wood-N-Stuff Leather Restore. After you apply a few thin coats, use a very fine abrasive surface to smooth out the layers you have applied, and then applied a glossy topcoat that is made by the same company. Use only one company's products for this and be sure to follow all directions without skipping anything, including prep or sealer. Linseed oil has its own problems. Among them, the rags you use to apply it can spontaneously combust. Shellac can work great, too, but it is sensitive to alcohols. Urethane has its own problems. Among them, you need respirators to apply it via a spray gun like automotive paint and if the respirator is not used, just a few seconds of exposure can cause permanent, irreparable, brain damage. But it will last the longest. See the challenge? If you want a permanent solution that can be applied to an un-specified surface without giving any indication of what it will be exposed to, then it is very difficult to answer the question correctly the first time because we have to guess your experience level, what material you are actually using, how sophisticated your setup is (home hobbyist or large-scale manufacturer), etc., etc., ad nauseum. Even the solutions I gave you will not last forever. What you SHOULD do is buy leather that already has a finish that matches what you want. That way, leather chemists and experts can use industrial processes and safety procedures to create those finishes. Maybe that's too expensive and you are doing this on a shoestring. How would anyone know? All of that information was left out of the request. Shoe polish works great... assuming you apply it correctly. But it will not last forever. Neither will the leather. Again, what are you trying to achieve? In fact, none of these solutions will work forever and none of them will stick forever unless you get into a plastic or vinyl-based product. That creates its own ethical, pollution, moral, and environmental concerns. Even rocks wear away. Better questions will get better answers, but they won't be from me. Can you see the difficulty or frustration someone trying to answer you could face?

In general, you will want to dye it, not apply too much oil to it (as oil can make it difficult to make it shine), and then either coat it with diluted Resolene or shine it up with cream polish (shoe cream) and paste polish (shoe polish)... depending on the type of glossy finish you want. You can also coat with Resolene after polishing. Search Youtube for videos on the specifics of shoe shining, as they are shining leather shoes. ... unless you are looking for something like a patent leather finish, in which case you will be dealing with either linseed oil or urethane to obtain the sheen.

Stainless is the one that changes the least, I'd say, but that means all of your hardware will be silver colored. Solid brass will dull over time but just needs some polish to restore it. Some people like how it patinas. That will be gold colored. If you prefer silver but do not want stainless steel then you can buy CB (chrome-over-brass), which has a coating so that will eventually wear off but at least it will not rust after that. Don't go with anything that is brass-plasted or nickel-plated or plated with anything else. Usually that means it is mild steel with a coating on top and that coating eventually wears off and then the steel underneath rusts. If you do not want it to ever change colors or looks you only have a few options: black nylon (the plastic hardware used on backpacks) or solid gold. Everything else looks different over time. Even rocks wear away.

For something like a bible you will want relatively tight stitch spacing... say, 7, 8, or 10 stitches to the inch. You can get by with bigger stitches but in general that will give more of a rugged look than a fine look. Most stuff sewn commercially will be 8+ stitches per inch, because it's easy on a machine. Most things sewn by hand will be 5-9 stitches per inch. For that kind of stitching I would skip hand sewing thread and move to machine sewing thread, in size 138. This is approximately 0.41 mm thick and works well for many kinds of fine stitching. It's plenty strong.

This started off as an old thread but since we are talking about experts now... An old-timer once told me that "an expert is someone 50 miles from his hometown, carrying a briefcase."

The deal is a good price. The main concern I have is that it is upholstery leather. The wallets shown in the original post work well when made out of veg-tan or out of shoe/boot/bag leather. Those types of leathers tend to be firmer. I would suggest 3-4 oz or a little thicker or thinner. Upholstery leather tends to be quite thin and also quite floppy. Used for wallets, it would be fine when it had cards in it, but when empty would be limp. For making drawstring bags, garments, or other soft stuff, that leather would be great.

This is the traditional way to sew. Back then, people needed to be able to push with force and so their sewing clam (stitching pony, but held between legs at an angle) rested against one leg. Before the modern tools, people (especially saddlers) had to be able to push through very thick leather with only a mark on the front side. To make it easier, you can hold a cork in the left hand, such as from a bottle of wine. Besides, it gives an excuse to open a bottle of wine. Push the awl through the leather while holding the cork against the back. Then, withdraw the cork and carefully feel for the awl. Then, rest your left needle on top of the awl blade (in the back where you cannot see), and as you pull the awl back through you learn to follow it with the needle. It take a LOT of practice to be able to stitch a straight line in the front and also the back. Usually the less visible side will look a little bit like the Alps, but the front will look great.

Mulesaw, I love this project you have made. That is the kind of awl that I would like to purchase. I know that there are many expensive awls and hafts out therep, and I have bought a few of them... but my most dependable awl/haft combo is a basic awl (though it may be Blanchard, I don't remember), that has been so polished and sharpened (I strop every time I pick it up) that I use it very frequently. I mostly use that one awl, whether I am stitching 4 stitches per inch or 12 stitches per inch. The funny thing is that it is in a very cheap, brass haft that I bought on Amazon, with some sort of tape I wrapped around it for grip. Prior to this new, favorite awl, my previous favorite awl was one that was stuck into an icepick handle. Very fine leatherwork does not require expensive tools. It just requires lots of attention to certain details. Thank you for sharing. Since I feel confident in working an awl into the shape I like, if you ever feel like making another one I will gladly buy it--no matter how imperfect. :-) In the meantime, very nice job... and thank you for a bit of inspiration! Cheers, -JohnnyLongpants

That is a smart approach. I had not considered cutting quite so oversize and using masking tape to hold things together. Thanks!

That 'cigarette burn' trick is a pretty slick idea. I agree that putting a couple of grommets (and possibly, matching ones on the right side) could be a pretty elegant solution. No one but the original owner would know anything had been repaired.

On finished leather (i.e. any commercial good), you can get respectable results. Attached is a piece of veg tan that I wrote two Sharpie permanent marker squiggles on, then removed one. I had to adjust the light so you can see that there is still a bit of a shadow where the first one was. I actually had to write the second squiggle again because I got a little to eager with the spot remover. The arrow points to where the first squiggle was. This leather was not pre-finished from the tannery. I haven't touched it in months but all it had was some Lexol and one of the Fiebing's products we all use. Tan-Kote, maybe? On unfinished veg tan, I agree with you it is so porous and dry, it absorbs very easily and won't let go. Heck, even water can stain it. Of course, not all inks are the same, either. The best I have seen on plain veg tan is taking the ink from black to gray, but the marks were still visible at a distance. (Hopefully, no one here is trying to sell finished leather goods made out of unfinished veg tan). I don't want to overstate it, so I'll be clear: this wouldn't work if someone spilled quality fountain pen ink on a brand new side of unfinished veg tan, but it can help someone who gets a mark on a saddle, briefcase, wallet, or shoe. I think OP wouldn't do terrible to invest a few dollars and try a quality spot remover. If spot remover doesn't lighten it adequately (hopefully this is not one of those Uni-ball pens with the anti-check washing ink), plan B is going to be live with it, and plan C could be to sew on a patch. :-) Cheers, -JohnnyLongpants