Tooling Books/Guides

[DanOutWest]

If there are other posts similar to this, if you could point me to it, that would be appreciated.

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That being said, Im looking to improve my tooling.  I know practice makes perfect but sometimes you need a guide.  Ive watched a lot of YouTube videos and even went down to Tandy yesterday to see what they have.  But I didnt really see what I was hoping to see.  Or maybe Im expecting to much.  Or it was just out of stock.  Who knows.

So I figured I come here and ask the sages of this community.  

If you wanted to learn and improve your tooling, what books, youtube channels, etc. would you recommend?  Im not really looking for a step by step but something that will help me to take it to the next step.  In particular, I would like to focus on traditional floral, animal and western carving.  I know thats a lot but I love the classics.

In advance, I appreciate your help.

 

[TomE]

The Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal's online store has books and DVDs(?) on various carving techniques.

[tsunkasapa]

Tandy has many books that you can download, some are free.

 

[sparctek]

For youtube channels I recommend Don Gonzales saddlery and Joe Meling. Don is a more Sheridan based style while Joe has his own style. Both very good at what they do.  Don has a 4 video series where he tools a free downloadable pattern and explains his process and why he does what he does and in what order. If you already know the basics and are looking to improve I suggest downloading his pattern, watch the videos and then tool the pattern going to reference the videos as needed.

I started with Tandy and simple tooling patterns, then watched Don's videos and started practicing on his patterns. Here is one of the first patterns I tooled after watching his videos and purchasing the pattern. It is a legal pad portfolio. it is not perfect by any means but I was pretty happy with the result.

I highly recommend Don's videos. Hope this helps

 

 

[Sinbad395]

Joe Mehling UTube video   Improve your tooling in 30 minutes      Its an excellent technique demonstration

[DanOutWest]

Thanks for the advice everyone.  I will check out all those sources.

@sparctek = I like the legal pad.  If your doing that after watching a few videos I need to check out Don Gonzales and Joe Meilings videos.

[sparctek]

To be completely transparent, I ran through quite a bit of scrap practicing before I attempted that. :-)