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I recently found on Instructables, several free patterns for leather items. The same patterns, in a more polished manner, are for sale on Etsy. I wonder which came first? Several are too similar to be just coincidence. Now, when I want the pattern of something, I plan to check Instructables first.

I hope you get everything that you need.

Welcome to the forum! I suggest you go to theleatherguy.com. They have great instructional segments about the basics of leather - from types, to how to measure thickness and types to just about everything else. Weaver leather also has something similar. Between the two, you should get most of the information that you need to start leatherwork. They have tables and pictures of everything - I downloaded everything when I first started leatherwork and it really helps. They should also have the tool to check leather thickness - a handy little plastic thingy that tells you the thickness and corresponding ounces. after a while, you will learn to discern that with just a look. Good luck!

Eco-flo is notorious for transferring, so cannot say. Diluted Resolene or something similar, with buffing, might help, before you use the balm. Buff until there is no more transfer onto your buffer.

If you are happy with the dyeing, now would be the time to use the Balm with atom wax. Atom wax contains mainly Carnauba wax which forms a protective, water resistant layer and gives a shine to the leather. So it is a finishing balm. Is there any specific reason why you conditioned with Atom wax before dyeing? Before dyeing, neatsfoot oil is normally used and it works well.

These are really good. They were recommended by someone here, I forget who or in which thread. They are silver pens with refills at a very reasonable price. I lost the top of one of the pens weeks ago and it still works fine! I doubt I will need to buy more in this life! LOL I mean 4 pens with 50 refills...50! Amazon.com: 54 Pcs Leather Marking Pen Silver Fabric Markers Pen Set, 4 Pcs Pen Barrel with 50 Pcs Silver Leather Markers Refills for Sewing, Leather, DIY Dressmaking, Quilting Supplies

Try a coat of petroleum jelly. Apply and buff off a couple of times. It makes leather pretty water-proof and is the main ingredient of Aussie's leather conditioner which so many swear by. It is probably perspiration which dampens the leather and causes the dye to rub off, in which case this might help. Check this thread for more information about petroleum jelly/Vaseline.

I just realized today, that in earlier times, oak gall ink was made by soaking powdered oak gall in water while also, in a different utensil, soaking old iron nails etc. in Vinegar. Both liquids were then strained separately and mixed to make the ink. No different from the reaction that leatherworkers use to dye leather black with Vinegaroon. I know the same reaction can be used on wood too. So that is two completely different ways the same reaction was used - as an ink and as a dye. I wonder if there were others.

Nice! I have to make a couple of new ones too.

Immediately after dyeing and drying completely, before any further treatment, you needed to buff the liner until no more dye came off on the buffer. An old clean T-shirt works for this. The buffing removes the excess dye. Right now, if the dye comes off, buffing might still work. You can follow that up with Neatlac or diluted Resolene in several coats. Buff in between coats so that if the coating affects the dye in any way, you are taking it off. Allow to dry before buffing.

One way would be to decrease the tannins by using washing soda or tannin cleanser on the leather first before treating with Vinegaroon, since tannins are needed to get a deep black color. Another way would be to make a new batch with very little iron added, so that the Vinegaroon will be very dilute. Try it every few hours on scrap leather until you get the shade that you need.

Oops. You caught me. Good idea about the dropper bottle though.

Oh. Okay. I'm lazy, I'm afraid. So I'll stick to the wax block until someone enterprising, like you () comes up with a good recipe for making that wax in a bottle and shares it. However, if I don't use the wax block, I have the headache of needing to cut more splits, more frequently. Melting and hardening wax is infinitely easier than doing that. It also is the safest for the tips of my chisels. I have never ever punched right through the wax block.

@toxo why noy make a brick of coad and rub that along the stitching line or run your thread through it before stitching? You can make it as hard or soft or sticky as you like. Punching on wax helps the chisel slip out of the leather easier. Coad on thread might help as well, getting onto the 2nd needle through a stitching hole, the first going through a clean hole and pulling the waxed thread behind it, and waxing the stitching hole enough to wax the 2nd needle. This site has plenty of information on coad, only not easily available right now as the site recovers from last week's hack attack. You could buy it but where' the fun in that? Search on google for 'coad wax' though and the first item you see is the thread on this site from 2016, with a good recipe.

@Sheilajeanne Oops! I remember it was @fredk But I thought there was a second person who mentioned it too and I thought it was you. Maybe I'm wrong and I got some other idea from two people...... Anyway, It is very convenient. Great idea @fredk. Thank you for sharing. I use it all the time. Sometimes I also use thick pads of leather splits. I got a few from Springfield Leather that are very thick. I flatten them and cut them to different sizes as I need. They work well. As they get holey, they get a bit limp and I discard them. They are inexpensive and easy to make. I use these for the thinner leathers. Mainly though, I user well waxed thread - was looking up making coad today. Fun to do and I can wax my thread to the extent that I want. I do not much like Ritza... I know that goes against popular opinion but it appears to be too much a price for a product that I do not think is worth it. They also do not have as many colors as I would like. But then, maybe it is needed for the items that I do not make.

Yes, I do the same. I use plain Tokonole. Sometimes I dilute it a little so that the original color of the leather is visible.

Chrome tanned leather cannot be burnished like Veg tanned leather, to a gorgeous, homogenous shine but it can be burnished to a point where it does not look like a raw, unfinished edge.

I gave in and bought a prototype. I received it yesterday. It is small but very light and surprisingly easy to work with. Not yet used it on chrome tanned leather but will, sometime this week. I will update this post after that.

Wow! That looks appealing and fits so well in your hand. I'm sure it makes working with it much more comfortable! And love that handle.

That solves the problem the best, I should think.

@dikman yes I have heard of that. So not bought it any time, even when recommended. But this time, I think I will. And take care to not give the rags a chance to combust. I will probably use just one rag and dry it out thoroughly, spread out, as suggested.

What a lovely idea. And those bags are beautiful!

The tips are perfect actually. I can use them even now. But I want to take care of them first. So BLO and putty it is. Thank you for guiding me on what to do.

Hmm. Some lemon pledge! I washed it and scrubbed it to get rid of layers of grime. Any lemon pledge or anything else is long washed off. I read about it - lemon wood retains a mild scent for years and is noticed sometimes when the wood is wet. it disappear when it dries. @Beehive do you mean that I should rub it with BLO daily for a week, after an initial soak for a few minutes? I can do that. What about the crack? Can I fill it up now or after the BLO treatment? And staining? Sorry. I'm not a wood worker. Just pick up stuff as I go.

The wood seems to be lemon wood. I had to wash both handles because they were very grimy and when examining them closely, I realized that they smell of lemon.