Mablung

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.

Definitely nothing wrong with asking questions, but you’ll learn a bit more at a time and a bit faster if you read through the existing threads as well. I don’t say that to be “that guy” who doesn’t like it when new people ask questions—never feel bad about asking questions. But, you will be able to find a lot of information in previous threads and on YouTube, and faster than someone can give you a comprehensive answer.

Look in the Leather Tools forum for guidance on things like different flavors of skiving tools. I use the safety skiver that Aven described and my round knife for skiving. Lots of ways to skin that cat. Go read the other threads, get your wits jumbled and then reassembled, and see if you can “test drive” someone else’s tools somewhere.

Get one that’s sharp and cuts. That’s the main thing. I used to use my various pocket knives to cut leather, until I got better tools. I still use my utility knife with replaceable blades for some trim work. Don’t get too wrapped up in the shiny doodads and gimbobs of marketing, either. Decent steel with a consistent edge is key.

I use a HDPE cutting board. Punching is on a rubber poundo board. @fredk made himself an end grain punching board. Lot of ways to skin that cat.

Then there’s that? I nearly took the tip of one finger off, or would have if my first head knife weren’t so dull.

Happy to, Aven. And that summary above is a great “quick start guide” on the subject. Personally, I do my cutting and most skiving with my round knife, but I have a particular affinity for this rather large CS Osborne I got on eBay for a steal and resharpened. (Sharpening and honing is a critically important skill, to echo Aven’s remark.) Aven’s comments on using awls also introduces the fact one can use an awl to make holes instead of a set of chisels. I’m making myself and my nephew some moccasins and plan to mark my holes with a set of wing dividers, then punch with an awl, because I don’t want to use a round drive punch or try to find a set of irons with the right spacing.

Nah, post away. If I posted pictures of the first pair I made after a bit of wear, they would look hideous. I’m still refining the pattern, as a matter of fact. I got some good help by posting the ugly pictures, too. I must admit at this juncture that I’m not widely experienced with a variety of chisels. Personally, if I want small/narrow holes, I like the Tandy Pro fine chisels. If I’m not concerned about narrow holes, I use the regular Tandy ones with the fatter tines. If I want it to be particularly tight, I use my Tandy Pro M Pricking Irons and narrow awl blade. There’s a sticky in the Sewing forum with Nigel Armitage’s reviews of an impressive array of irons and chisels that will provide you far more information than I can. For your uses, stitch length can follow tine/tooth size, as hole size will be the most important factor within the range of SPI you’re talking about.

The tool use really isn’t going to differ between 4 ounce and 5 ounce. The big thing will just be making sure that the size of your chisel tine matches the size of hole that you want to make for the size of thread that you choose. And fair enough on wanting to color the leather yourself and use something a little more natural. Can’t really argue with that. if I were you, I would go and look at some of the other threads in the shoe making forum about how to condition shoes made with vegetable tanned leather. There are some good leather conditioner recipes in there, and some people talking about their experience conditioning and waxing boots in particular that are made of veg tan. Some good resources that will likely be helpful as you are trying to use that leather to make shoes. Something that another member posted a while back was a short version of his process of warm, stuffing tan sandal, mid soles with a conditioner blend in order to achieve some degree of resistance to the elements. I have not tried it personally, but he seemed to get decent results out of it. Forgot to add, be sure to post photos of your work as you go, especially the end product. I, for one, will be interested to see it, especially since I have not worked with veg tan for shoes specifically.

@Aven is a wealth of knowledge on making things like this. Are you looking to make lasted shoes or unlasted moccasins and stitchdown shoes? I’ve made a thread talking about the stitchdown chukkas I’ve made. I did those with 5mm irons, but that’s really close stitching; for the soles, my next pair will probably have half as many stitches, per Aven’s suggestion. The stitching gets really tedious. Fielder’s choice on how to stitch the uppers. I’ll probably stick with my 5mm chisels or pricking irons. As far as thread goes, I use 0.8mm Ritza or 1mm Maine Thread Co. stuff. I like both. If you want a finer thread, make sure your chisels have a fine enough tooth to make a smaller hole. I’ll offer that veg-tan probably isn’t a good choice for the uppers. Too stiff, not as impervious to water and other elements, tough break-in. I’ve been using SB Foot chrome tan, and it’s wonderful. A pair of moccasin loafers will be chrome tan/veg-retanned bison, which will handle moisture, etc., better than plain veg tan. Just a thought. On the note of veg tan, my basic Tandy chisels make a fairly wide hole in veg tan, which allows thread to shift more, if the parts aren’t cemented together. I don’t cement the uppers or sole/lower stitching on shoes. If you stick with veg tan, you will need to be especially cognizant of the size of hole made and the extent to which it will or won’t close up. My chrome tan closes up just fine, veg tan not so much.

I’d just write “Wilbur” on all the stickers. And then tell people casually that I’d eaten Wilbur for breakfast that morning.

I downloaded that free moccasin pattern to see what I can do with it, and I may look at the others as well, if one seems better suited to my needs (or I can’t reliably scale the free one). I’ll share my results, too.

Thanks much. I think the second one may get me something to work with. The first are awfully expensive, you are right.

Does anyone have a good pattern for a toddler moccasin, US toddler shoe size 9 or thereabouts? Looking to make a pair for my nephew for his birthday but don’t have access to a tracing of his foot (his mama can’t get him to stand still long enough) and haven’t found a good pattern yet.

There are some more recent threads than this 17-year-old necrothread that may be helpful. Speaking of necrotic things, why the handle “Satanicblood”? That is passing strange, at a minimum.

@SUP, didn’t you experiment a while back with finishing chrome tan edges? Can’t remember where that thread is.

Agreed that sanding can make a mess of edges. In my admittedly limited experience, it can be avoided if the right grits are used, but not always. Really clean cuts help, of course, but sometimes the whole point is to clean up a less-than-ideal cut. I’ll look into small planes at some point.

Welcome from a fellow Alabamian. I go to the Hoover, AL Tandy store pretty regularly. Good guys in there who are really helpful, nice guys. If you live nearby or are in the area, you should stop in at some point.

I haven’t tried using a plane, rasp, or Dremel, mostly because I’m trying to rein in my spending right now, but I find fine grits of wet/dry sandpaper used for painting to work very nicely. I got a variety pack of 220, 320, and 400 grit and find that gives a much cleaner edge. 220 does a pretty good job of cleaning up slightly frayed edges, and the other grits further clean and smooth the edges.

Sorry to see you go. You do unique, fun work. But, I assume you have your own reasons for wanting to depart altogether, so I wish you the best.

I use mine for very fine cuts and for some trimming work. Different blade styles lend themselves to different uses, so there is some utility there. I don’t use them much, but that’s because I use my large round knife for nearly everything.