Mablung

I think sole leather is tanned a bit differently as well to make it a bit harder and tougher. That’s just what I’ve gathered from a little reading, so I may be incorrect.

I had to rub it down a little bit. That took a bit of the top finish off the grain side, but that’s easily remedied with crazy horse leathers I’ve used recently. That aside, I haven’t had trouble with it coming unstuck or leaving residue, when a little friction was applied. Doesn’t take much, just a few quick rubs after initial application.

I used a couple dieselpunk.ro patterns recently. Scotch tape seemed to work just fine without leaving residue. It did, however, pull up some of the fibers when removed from the flesh side of veg tan, but that is likely inevitable.

Often a slick 1911 or fancy revolver, from what I understand. I wouldn’t mind a Dan Wesson or Nighthawk with nice grips in a well-tooled holster. I had a shot at getting a former range rental Dan Wesson for a good price years ago; should have grabbed it. Needed a few parts replaced, but I could have held on to the gun and replaced the components as I went. Youth is stupid.

There is no possible way Bed Bath & Beyond sells patchers. They don’t even sell regular light-duty fabric sewing machines.

The one probably most germane to your purposes is her Simple, Ecological Shoemaking book. It’s what I used to make my chukkas. It’s got a bunch of patterns in it, up to a women’s 10 or so, I think. My feet are substantially larger, so I just measured out the difference and modified the pattern to my preferred toebox profile.

To truly change the size, I think you’d need to be able to change the overall length of the sole as well.

Don’t forget to buy the leather. In all seriousness, sounds like you’ve got a lot of bases covered. So, go start making things. You’ll find out what else you want/need as you go.

For your first piece, that's great work. How are you marking/making your stitching holes?

Unless you're devoted to hard work restoring steel, I'd pass it up. Bruce convinced me not to take on a similar project with a CS Osborne in similar condition, which was a good call. The CSO has softer steel. I found one in much better condition that just needed edge work (reprofiling the bevels and honing), which was a good choice. Restoring something like that takes a lot of dedication.

My personal opinion is that grooving the surface doesn’t generally weaken the leather to an appreciable degree. With leather that’s already thin, yeah, grooving weakens it. Leather that’s the thickness you’re talking about, not likely. I use a groover mostly on veg tan for things like knife sheaths and gun holsters (using leather anywhere from 6 to 10 oz) to recess the stitches. Lately I’ve used wing dividers to make a shallow crease/mark. Varies by item I’m making.

Tandy is good for this. Resharpening is pretty easy. Strop over jeweler’s rouge to get the outside of the tip sharp. Then draw a piece of thread with jeweler’s rouge on it through the hole of the cutter in the opposite direction of cutting.

Personally, I would not. It’s probably not impossible, but the juice likely isn’t worth the squeeze. Your best option is probably to use a utility knife or something similar, as it’s a bit more versatile than a rotary cutter anyhow.

That’s a rarity outside of your area. I grew up in Middle TN and have visited your area many times over the years, and the emphasis on old crafts and history is what makes the difference there, I think. Outside of similar areas, it’s far more rare to find a cobbler. There are a couple near me (NE Alabama), but that’s unusual.

As alluded to already, there’s a lot of “art” and feel to this stuff. You’ll learn what you like using and what produces the look you want. I even do some beveling with my round knife, if my push beveler doesn’t produce the effect I want.