nstarleather

If you draw it out plenty of places can make it I’d guess $175-$200 for a 3/4” high wood filled die.

The die would be crazy expensive if you included all those holes. Without them it wouldn’t be as bad.

Yes! It's 3-4. you can email me if you want, for some reason this site isn't sending me updates on this thread.

Doh! I didn't see this alert! yes I have plenty more. Also have some light weigh Espresso DHF from Horween as well.

Is it just a rectangle? Total blade length is more important that size. Obviously your head should cover all of most of the die but an 18x10 rectangle could have the same cutting edge as a much smaller did with lots of internal details and punches. I have a huge double headed clicker that cuts huge pieces like 3’+

Let Bill know I sent you

District Leather offers custom cutting service.

Sold All of it!

If you like it I have a bunch (newer) at a decent price over in the for sale section. Normally like $20-$30 a spool

Nice! I got someone call angry once because my site said "veg-tan" and they had read it as vegan...this is what I should have told them.

Technically Vegans don't want it even it it's no harm to the animal, they aren't even supposed to eat honey.

I agree that getting basic definitions established legally would be great. Full grain means "x". Genuine means "y." One that I go back and forth on is whether leather that's just been embossed with a pattern is full grain (if it hasn't been sanded)...SB Foot considers their embossed leather to be full grain. Unfortunately a true grading scale of quality is simply impossible because there are tons of different factors...this isn't something that will have 4 different characteristics that you can pick out to judge quality. There are dozens of things done at the tannery that will make a leather good or not....then you have you intended use: I love W & C Bridle leather but I challenge anyone on this site to make me a pair of gloves from it. Horween's Chromexcel or SB Foots Copper Rough and Tough are great, but a couch made from them would leave your close waxy and stained. I soft deer skin but it's not going into my heavy work belt... There's also the fact that you could have lots of different leathers that are the "same" when it comes to all the descriptive words but that are better or worse depending on the tannery. Lots of places sell leather that is meant to imitate Horween's Chromexcel and from a descriptive point of view they might be waxy pull up leathers that are combination tanned but they aren't the same as actual CXL. A tannery could make a firm tempered veg-tan treated "the same" as W&C Bridle but it wouldn't be... It's like how you can "grade" beef, but you can't really grade an entire meal at a restaurant because some many things happen after the beef gets graded that the original grade plays a part but it's not really the most important. Is it seasoned properly? Cooked properly? What's the preferred cooking style, could that change depending on the chef or the customer's mood? How about presentation? There's also what you feel like at a given moment: I love a fancy meal at a premium place but if I've got to pick it up on my lunch break, I'll have to make another choice. So there are tons of different ways to make a leather great or terrible and full grain or not is just one of those ways.

I don't normally make belts but because we're a leather shop in a small town we keep a bunch of Weaver blanks to make belts for locals...I see an Amazing amount of Walmart belts that have failed after barely any use. The "genuine leather" one gets me on both sides of the myth...both the idea that the public at large don't understand that "genuine" doesn't actually mean anything in terms of quality and the other side of the coin that "genuine" means a specific low quality leather. There are plenty of companies and crafters who use the word "genuinely" just to mean real...I see it all the time on Reddit: Some person usually from Eastern Europe or another non-english area posts something they've made that's obviously a very nice hight quality leather and says "I made a genuine leather 'x'" and a bunch of people who don't know better say "but "genuine" is the second worst grade of leather." You also have Red Wing Heritage using it on nice full grain boots and Alden stamping it on their insoles... We also got to get away with the idea the full grain is always good as well...there is a such thing as cheap full grain. One company that people have commented to me about since I started trying to debunk both genuine and full grain is this one: https://slidebelts.com/collections/belts You can see they offer belts in genuine, top grain and full grain leather...do you think someone doing mass production is sourcing from different tanneries and that the full grain is actually the good stuff? I've read experiences that support that the "full grain" they use doesn't hold up. If it's super-thin or heavily painted it doesn't matter all that much that it's full grain.

It’s crazy how syndicated television came from a Latino, I’m amazed how much Spanish there was in I Love Lucy, but by the time I was a kid, there was a lot less and like no Cubans on TV. Now you see Spanish more but it’s a recent thing. I’m not Latino but my wife is Colombian and I’ve learned the language.

That voice is unforgettable

Supposed disclose "bonded" with most products but I'm sure they figure ways around it. Lots of car makers also do real leather on the "seat part" but all the sides and back are synthetic, which is not good long term.

Those all great and I’ve heard versions of them all. I especially think that one about historical stuff is a good one…anyone who have been to a museum know how many things form days long past were made with a real artistry and attention to detail…just because leather doesn’t age as well as metal and jewels doesn’t mean the work wasn’t done with great care.

So once again the Brits got it right… In the USA the negative connotation has a lot to do with a viral video that said as much and a corresponding “Leather 101” that was posted on the video author’s site. That 101 got copy/pasted into tons of other fashion blogs and here we are today. Back in the day genuine was a positive. Here’s a blog post I did some years back: https://nstarleather.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/genuine-leather-has-become-a-4-letter-word/

While I agree that companies will trick people, they can do it with "full grain" as well...full grain just means it's not been sanded...were you to toss out all other "quality factors" you can make full grain pretty cheaply, which is why you'll see it more an more in mass produced goods. Genuine as a low quality leather is actually a myth too...or at least a huge over simplification. The idea that "genuine" is some specific low grade/quality/tier is actually my least favorite myth because it's so common and even people who should know get tricked because it's repeated so much. So NO, not everything marked Genuine will be layers of low quality leather...yes sometimes that's the case but it's not specifically what "genuine" means. The "leather" they describe in that article is actually called a "finished split". Both Horween and SB Foot say it just means "real" : https://www.thetanneryrow.com/leather101/2016/9/8/moksha-sample-blog-post-01 https://imgur.com/a/Tdtbjge Call up a tannery, you can't buy anything just called "genuine leather"...they'll give you a blank confused stare.

What's your fav? Some of the ones mentioned on Reddit besides these was the idea the leather goods last 50 or 100 years...things wear out. 15-20 is about as good as you'll get for most items that see everyday use.

Hi folks, posted this over one Reddit and it was fun to hear what people have heard over the years from customers or even other leatherworkers...let's talk misconceptions and myths common to our craft! I'm sure over the years a lot of us have gotten customers who will insist on something they've heard on the internet about a particular type of leather is true, insisting that I do or don't use a specific type of leather because of something they've read. Here are a few that I hear frequently some are very egregious, others just assumptions that are more or less harmless: Full grain leather is the full thickness of the original hide. (probably the most demonstrably false of the bunch). Genuine is a specific kind of (low quality) leather Leather that has a light edge isn't fully tanned "x" type of leather is the best (veg-tan, full grain, bridle, CXL, etc...we all know there are a lot of good leathers) All veg tan is natural veg (not that people say it but they get confused if I show them a "normal" leather like Essex or Dublin that happens to be veg). Anyway those are a few I've heard...one bonus one I heard just this week: "You wouldn't want to use veg-tan for a backpack because it will bleed color"... Obviously some of these have a grain of truth that got exaggerated. Which ones have you heard that bother you?

I can't think of a perfect way to be consistent with pressure but you could always come up with a "ideal" pressure and make a mark on the handle and on one the press that you line up so you know how far to pull down, then you're getting some consistency.

Yes this is exactly how my machines work and it's great. I was assuming that OP doesn't have the ability to attach the die to the press...if he does, that totally changes the game. Another "quick and dirty" way to do it if you don't need super-precise stamping is just to "nest" the die into one that you've already stamped with the machine, tape the item down and then just put the next ones right on top aligned with the edges...it's less accurate but still close...works great with items like pouches that are going to be turned and the exact placement won't mater if it's off by 1mm or less.

Ok I’m going to assume you don’t have a way to attach the die to the press? If you do then I have two really easy ways to create a setup…because that’s what you do with a heat press. But if both your item and your die are mobile from the pressure you can do what I do when I use the clicker to emboss. I’ll give you an example using circles for simplicity: Lets say you have 4” round circle and you have to stamp a 2.5” circle in the center. First take some heavy card stock or even leather and cut the 4” circle. Then set a perfectly stamped coaster (a poster child)in the hole you just cut out. Next, cut into another piece of poster board a hole the length and width of the design you’re stamping…in our example a 2.50” circle. Slide the top piece with the smaller hole over the other piece where you’ve set the poster child piece until you see the design perfectly framed by the top piece. Hold the placement tight and tape or glue the two pieces together. Now you have a jig that will hold the leather in the bottom and allow you to perfectly seat the die on top. Put your item in the bottom die on top, press, rinse and repeat.

If it’s just speeding up getting placement right there are all sorts of jigs you can employ. Even with a heat press, we have a few different ways we make things to get placement right. Let me see your stamping setup and I’ll give you the idea.