AussieTanker

Thank you. That is very helpful. I appreciate the detailed advice. And I've just discovered that a store about 5 minutes drive from my place sells them Does anyone have any other thoughts on the Vergez Blanchard leather scissors compared to other brands mentioned in the thread?

How do these compare to the Vergez Blanchard brand is scissors? And any suggestions as to the best size / sizes of scissors to buy for general leather work? Just discovered that the Olfa rotatory cutter also comes in several sizes. Any suggestions as to which sized Olfa is best for a beginner

Great tutorial. Thank you for taking the time to do such a good comprehensive write up that includes all the "little details" I wish this could be kept or marked as a sticky! Cheers

What is black Dublin. I googled it, but still none the wiser

Great looking set up. What is the tool on the far left with the flattish slightly overlooked white "head"

That's really interesting! I think that you did a great job actually. How did you make it? Is it actually 60 odd little squares individually cut out and glued down or is it strips weaved over and under?

I think it's absolutely awesome!

Very nice. And a great job with the tooling. I saw this design somewhere else a while ago. I think that the template was for sale. It's a very clever design. What thickness leather does you use?

I really like the dragon scale one. He does some great stamps. I'm hoping to pick some up on a month or so when I've been able to save a little more. Sheaths look great. Well done!

Thank you. I will probably go the same route when I'm ready. Appreciate the heads up!

Some wonderful projects there. I would be extremely surprised if you didn't sell pretty much all of them at some sort of craft fair! Well done! Some wonderful projects there. I would be extremely surprised if you didn't sell pretty much all of them at some sort of craft fair! Well done!

I hate to quote myself, but I priced up what I thought was a reasonably comprehensive "beginners" set, consisting of S, M & L sized stamps in each of: > Bevellers:smooth & checkered. > Backgrounder; thumbprint, lifters, > Veiners: wiggler, smooth, mule feet > Seeders: couple different patterns > Camouflage: couple different patterns > Borders: couple different patterns And just that lot, without any fancy geometrics, came to almost AUD$2,000! So i decided to spend some time buying up a bunch of vintage craftplus stamps on "that other place". Mainly focused on the very early ones where I could. I think I have about 250 stamps coming. Altho i tried to avoid it as much as possible, there are probably a couple of duplicates in the bunch, but hopefully not too many. I will keep these as spares or sell them off here in Australia. I managed to paid on average a little under USD$3 per tool. I think that will be a good starting point, at least until i know what I'm doing. I also noticed that some sellers on there are selling Barry King stamps for significantly more than you pay buying them direct from the BK website!

Thanks for that info. What machine did you end up getting and where did you get it from. Are you happy with it? Thanks for that. I will google them. And might send you a private message closer to the time that I'm ready to purchase of that's ok TBH in not really sure. I'm only just starting my leathercraft journey. It's really just gathering info and ideas at this point in time. Thank you. That was very helpful!

Extremely helpful. Thank you for taking the time to write it all up. There is so much useful info on this site from so many experienced artisans it's wonderful.

That is one mighty fine looking belt. Is it hand tooled as well? If so, how many hours to make the entire belt, start to finish? I also really like the colours that you used. It's beautiful! Thank you for that info. It's really helpful What would a reasonably priced machine cost? Not top level, but one suitable for an enthusiastic hobbyist. I have seen some basic sewing machines advertised in the headers on this website. They are hand operated. You pull a lever and the needle and thread moves forward one or two positions. They seem like they might be an easier starting point, altho I think that they might be rather tedious in a long belt, considering how many times you would need to pull that lever down. Does anyone have any thoughts on those types of machines?

Yes. They aren't cheap! I'm in Australia and because of our poor exchange rate, almost everything from overseas is expensive. Does anyone know if "ProLeatherCarvers" is a member on here?

Please let me know when you do this. I'm really keen to learn your thoughts

Thank you for posting this. I enjoyed watching it!

Hi Folks Another question from me. I'm looking to purchase some leather carving / stamping tools in the next few weeks and have been doing some research on the various brands, trying to figure out a basic set to purchase. I know that Barry King and Sergey Neskromniy leather stamps are highly regarded in the forum here . I'm not as familiar with the Barry King range, but I know that some of Sergey's stamps are very unique. I was wondering if anyone on here has had any experience with a chinese (i think) brand of CNC machined leather stamping, carving and shaping tools called Sozo. I've come across them on a couple of sites during my research. They seem to be quite "high end" and i would really like some feedback from anyone that has used them. Thank you

Another great idea! This thread has been really helpful to me. Thanks for all the ideas guys. Yes, I'm in Adelaide. I hadn't been to Adelaide Leather as yet. I will google them and go investigate. Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you everyone! All the responses were extremely helpful and have given me a whole range of ideas and differing materials to use for my own projects. I have really appreciated the extensive replies. Thanks again!

Thank you for the reply. That's very helpful. And is there an "official" product to stiffen leather?

Hey Folks I've seen some nice looking items, such as small wallets, key fobs etc that have some sort of "bulk" or padding between the layers of leather. I think this is just aesthetic but maybe it also adds some stiffness and grip to the items. Can someone please tell me what sort of product is used between two layers of leather to add this bulk ? I've been searching of google but keep on getting references to using water to stiffen leather which is not what I'm looking for.

What is Girth elastic?

Thank you everyone. It's been real interesting to see the wide variety of responses. I think I have it sorted now. I'm going to use a combination of some of the above suggestions and will see how I go with that. Thank you everyone for your impute and help.