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Good day, I'm Chuck and I operate as Dark Angel Leatherworks. A dual US Canadian citizen, my dad having been born in Montreal. We operate out of Cardinal Ontario and Ogdensburg NY. A short 1 mile bridge over the mighty St. Lawrence river separates my shops. As a younger man I was in the US Coast Guard. An old chief boatswain showed me some basic nautical leather skills and the love affair was born. Many years passes until I could seriously pursue my love. I look forward to making new friends and sharing skills.

Hello everyone, new member here I'm on the hunt for some lovely dyed-through veg tan leather. I make dog accessories and bags too, so I need something fairly thick. does anyone have their go-to shop for veg tan? it seems to be trickier than I thought it would be.. unless im searching in the wrong area of the internet! TIA pic for attention..

Hey y'all, I'm in the middle of negotiating a lease contract and have about 1,500-1,700 sqft warehouse to work with. It has a large garage door and workshop is close to square. There's a good amount of equipment to move in and I'm trying to wrap my head around initial layout. Who out here is working with a shop this size and feels they have a good setup? My thoughts are to make the flow of work move clockwise starting and ending at the door with cutting/assembly tables in the middle so you can bounce back and forth from step to step. Please critique and give your feedback on adjustment to my workflow below. We are expanding to more than just our Boulevard East line to make corporate branded gifts and private label goods so it could be anything from 50 wallets to 1,000 foil stamped notebooks to 5,000 coasters. Not everything we make will use every piece of equipment, but we all know you have to cut before you glue before you sew before you edge paint, etc, etc, etc Here's my workflow moving clockwise around a square-ish room. Try to imagine it in your head b/c I don't have drawings at this time: Inventory racks for incoming leather and raw materials (3-4 large racks) Wall of Clicker Dies and Rolling Tool Chest of Logo Stamps (100+ of each) 25 Ton Pneumatic Clicker (x1) 12" Band Knife Splitter (x1) Bell Skivers (x2) Heat Stamping Station (x2 Kwikprints) "Glue-Up Station" (Gluefast 20 Colonel and a center assembly table for all gluing needs) "Sewing Machine Alley" (x6 --> mix of cylinder arm and standard machines for various needs) "Rivet and Button Station" (foot and hand press) Edge Sanding/Slicking station (Power Edge Slicker Sander) Edge Paint Station (RC-50 edge painter and table for hand painting) "Shipping Station" - 1-2 large racks for packaging materials and 'ready-to-ship' orders **cutting/assembly tables in center of room (x4)** Does this sound like the correct workflow? What am I missing and what do you think needs to move around? POST PICS OF YOUR SHOP!

Hi, I would like to hear your ideas on shop layouts... I specialise in chaps, chinks, and armita's, and have feet problems. So that causes issues if I can't walk as much as I'd like. Any of you have the same type of issues? A person always seems to end up running back and forth for this tool and that pattern, some glue, a hammer... The list goes on. Thanks for any input and ideas!

Hello there brothers and sisters. I hope you are doing well. After working in a 15 square foot space for a year I think I am going to be at this a while and I am having a 8.5' x 24' Cargo trailer built that will be my workshop. I am looking for ideas regarding recommended benches, tables, and storage ideas you might have. I have built a 40 x 40 wood shop and I was able to lay that out where I could create efficiently but I am a bit lost on setting up a proper leather shop. I travel for work so when stationary it will be 100% leather shop. When I am going to a new location the trailer will be used to haul a corvette in addition to my shop. As a result I will need to be able to move the cabinets to the front of the trailer. I am planning on some residential base cabinets on a base with casters which will lock into the E track. I am having a laser cutter made and it will be delivered in a few weeks so there will be a dedicated rolling cabinet for that. I will build a dedicated glue table with ventilation to the outside after seeing a friends version of one. Stole the idea fair and square. Any must have design elements you would suggest other than good lighting? I am wanting to have dedicated areas for staining, airbrush, a large cutting table with self healing mats and another area for the drill press and belt sander. I am sure of the many people here there are some good "I wish I would have done this" stories to be shared. I would sure enjoy hearing your input. Thanks in advance for the interest. Scott

Tips from Uncle Dave Most useful wax: Melt Paraffin, beeswax, and neatsfoot oil. Let cool. Very soft wax. Spread on edges to burnish easily, hardly any effort. Spread on top of leather finish for nice feel, and water resistance. Take a chunk and slap it on your sewing machine somewhere the thread passes. Nicely waxed thread. Best working table top: ABS plastic. It's the same stuff your cutting boards are made of. You can get it any size up to 4x8 sheets. Mailed to you. Try places like US. Plastics online. Comes in as little as a sq ft, all the way up to full 4x8 sheets. I think mine are like 1/8" thick. If it gets too many cut marks and stains, you can actually sand it down with an orbital sander. Keep table top cleaner: I buy brown paper rolls at Lowe's Hardware (20 inches or so wide). On my cutoff saw I chop them down to 10 inches. Nailed on the side of my bench is a paper towel roll. Place the cut brown paper in the roll, voyla! Roll out the length you need, tuck the ends under the abs plastic, and you keep leather clean, have a place to draw, daub dye onto...etc, etc Best glue dispensers: Simple, I just punch a hole in the top of a pickle jar lid. My artist paintbrushes stick through.I use different width/thickness brushes for different tasks. Fill the jar with ordinary contact cement, barge, white glue...your preference. Lid screws on and keeps the glue fresher longer. Dye Mix jars and a place for 'em: At your local garden center, they sell 3- 4" pots of plants. Those usually come in a plastic container that holds a dozen or so pots. Get some! When I make mixes of dyes, I use the pickle jars (we eat a lot of pickles it seems!). They fit perfectly in those planter containers. Leather storage: I buy the round cardboard concrete forms at Lowe's. Cut them in half, and then stack 'em. Buy different sizes for different size rolls. Keeps everything organized, and visible. Dye Thinner: I use Feibing's Pro dyes a lot. Instead of a $28 qt. bottle of their dye thinner, I use a $10 gal can of denatured alcohol from the hardware store.Works fine for me. Top finish: A good alternative to Resolene, atom wax, tan kote, etc is a simple Kiwi neutral finish found at every grocery store in a plastic dauber bottle. Easy application, and lasts a long time.Rub it on...done. Anyways, you get the idea. Let's hear some of yours. UPDATE: I found Part 1 of these tips dated 2010!

Hello all, we are so excited to be up and running in Canada now.. it has been so hard finding exactly what we personally want for our own leather goods and crafting needs which is the main reason we wanted to set up a wholesale supply shop! Bringing in hides such as Horween and as well as many other very high quality hides for everyone here is the goal. We want to craft with the best and we want everyone else to have the same access. It is such an honour to be amongst all of you in this community and we are simply looking for our little space in this big world. My name is Ian, the founder and owner and if anyone ever has any questions at all please do not hesitate to reach out! OA Leather Supply

The Leather Shop in San Pedro, California is seeking an experienced leather crafter to be a team member in our shop. We hand craft leather belts, bags, wallets, dog collars, leashes...you name it. Seeking a leather crafter that has experience and their own hand tools that can build products unsupervised. We have tried training newbies and we are too busy to train someone from the ground up in leather craft. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone that truly LOVES crafting leatherwork and giving their ALL. Requirements: -No felonies, drug addicts, thieves or drunks. -HIGH moral integrity and values. -Great work ethic. -Turn key skills and must truly care about quality of work you put out. *****Bonus if you carve well. This is a FIRST class leather shop and you can see photos of our shop below and if you are interested please PM me rather than commenting. Again, this team member position is in San Pedro, California (Los Angeles Harbor area) and if you are serious about applying, let me know. I would love to meet you for a phone interview.

Is anyone at all familiar with the Sage Brush Saddle Shop in Texas? I cannot find any information online or elsewhere. I am looking at a saddle that I have little to no information about other than what is in the pictures. It is a rawhide wrapped wood tree, the leather appears to be thick and supple and the stitching is tight, neat and straight. Does anyone know anything about the maker? Or can anyone offer any insights on the apparent quality of the saddle? Anything would be appreciated! Thank you

Hello, I’m looking for a name for my leathercraft shop/business. I’m not quite ready to start selling yet, though I would like to have a name and website started and a stamp with my “brand” made. At the moment my Instagram is “Crooked K Leather”: I’m not so fond of it anymore because it’s not too professional. Here is my dilemma, I would have liked “Hoffman Custom Leather”: My last name is Hoffman which is practically unavailable in every realm. I could use my name or middle name but I don’t want anything too feminine. I thought of naming the business after my father from fort worth who is fighting cancer and donate but his name is Jay Lynn. Which is also a big name in the leather world: Jay lynn gore –(Circle Y, pattern designer, Tool maker etc.) So I’m Kind of stumped on name ideas. I want to keep it close to home and short: ____ custom Leather or ____ Leather. I like letters and brands for my logo. im doing western style items and want to do tack in the future. Any ideas would be appreciated.

How to you manage the humidity in your shop? I do a lot of vegtan tooling and shaping so I've always got projects drying. I have noticed that as my production volume has increased the leather has begun to dry noticeably slower. This makes sense of course as more projects means significantly more water trying to evaporate into the same amount of air. The obvious answer would be to add a dehumidifier, but I dont want to find myself over drying the leather by mistake, either the projects in progress or my hides in storage. I used to work at a tandy so I've seen some once beautiful hides turn into an almost unworkable dry sheet, I would hate to do this to my stocks. Anyone got a number for a good target humidity? Might adding more airflow over the drying area be enough? I'll be experimenting with a few things in the coming weeks of course but I wonder if anyone has wrestled with this issue before.

7 months ago I made the big decision to move my leather workshop out of my home and into an industrial unit. My business was growing faster than I could handle and lack of space made working fast difficult. I found a small industrial space on an estate nearby and thought all my problems were over... Wrong! I arrived with a loaded van to find the unit I'd rented was full of someone else's junk. The managing agent was great and showed me another unit - 4 times the size and said "have this for the same price for a year'. I wasn't about to argue. But I hadn't realised what I was taking on. Not even slightly... lol! Too much space is almost (note: I said almost!) worse than not enough. I went home full of the joys of spring but suddenly realised just how much stuff I'd squirrelled away under benches, on shelves, behind cupboards and anywhere it would fit. It took me almost two weeks, working flat out, to build new benches and shelving units, shift the workshop and set up anew. Okay, everything was in the new place but I couldn't find a thing... All the while I was working at home I knew where everything was (okay that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I could find most stuff). Suddenly, I had no idea where to look. There was stuff everywhere. The problem is simple, I'm a hoarder of leather related stuff and collector of old leather working machinery. I have boxes that were packed almost twenty years ago and have never been opened since. My stock of leather has been growing since the early 1970s. Mostly, I'm too busy to sort it all out. I wished I'd had a plan. Oh boy, did I ever wish I had a plan! Now, 7 months on, I'm almost sure where most stuff is, but earlier this week I decided to tear everything apart again, restructure the work areas and rebuild it all again. It was a monumental task but today I'm finally reasonably happy with the result. Some lessons I learned: Label boxes as you pack them - trust me, it is essential! Know how you are going to heat (or cool) your new workspace before you move. Don't rely on anyone to help you move. Make sure you have three times as much money in your pocket than you think you might need to make the move. Get insurance before moving machinery (my machine movers dropped my clicking press from a Hi-Ab). Measure the space before you start and make a detailed plan of where everything is going to go. It speeds things up a lot. Get rid of junk you don't need rather than move it! There is more - much more - but it was worth all the hassle. I have attached some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. Would I do it again? Definitely! Now, does anyone know where I put my sandwiches? Ray

I have been a silent participant on leatherworker.net for years now. I thought it would finally be a good time to introduce myself and show off a little bit of my work. I learned how to work with leather while I worked at Paco Collars in Berkeley, CA. I recently moved to Cambridge and have been working on my craft. I set up my little studio where I hang out with my awesome dog, Aloo and make cool stuff. I mostly create dog collars, dog tags, pendants, bracelets, and belts. I would love to have some feedback from fellow leather workers. Please let me know what you think My website: http://www.josiedybe.com/ My Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JosieDybeDesigns My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JosieDybeDesigns My Flickr Stream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123458807@N08/

Hi all! I will go to Melbourne on next Monday. And I would like to visit some leather suppliers and studios but I have no clues how to find them. Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks!

I am looking for leather workers interested in working in a new Chicago area shop. You will make hand made custom products, sewing and working with leather and felt. You must have experience in leather works, hand sewing and operating sewing machines. Let me know what area you live in and what is your experience level. I am starting a new leather shop and I need a few people to help me. Quality is our only requirement.