What got any of us started with leather?

[gunfighter48]

I got into Cowboy Action Shooting about 12 years ago. This is a target shooting sport and a BIG part of it is dressing the part of a cowboy or TV cowboy. This includes a double holster rig and belt, shotgun ammo belt, knife sheafs, etc. I wanted a set of holster from El Paso Saddlery but couldn't afford the price as I had just spent $2300 on guns and reloading equipment. I lived in Spokane, WA at the time and there was a Leather Factory store in town. So I dropped in one day and ask what I needed to make a couple of holsters. The folkes were very helpful and knowledgable. They got me started (and didn't take advantage of a newby) and I've enjoyed leather working ever since. For a kid that grew up in the 50s with all the cap guns, bb guns, etc. there's no better sport than playing cowboys with real guns!!!!!!!!! I had to give it up about 5 years ago because of back problems and I do miss it but still like leather working.

Edited December 7, 2007 by gunfighter48

[Warren]

I had a leather working kit as a kid but never got the hang of it. The kit is long since gone. Last year while recovering from back surgery I was going crazy from boredom. Having always been active sitting around not doing anything was driving me crazy. I had some guys that I worked with at the fire dept. who had done some leather repairs for me. I would watch them and think "Hey I can do that". So one day I went to the leather shop by my house and looked around. I had in mind to make a holster I had seen in a magazine. The article told you how to make the holster and I was bound and determined to try. I bought the supplies and a hand stitching kit and went home. I made some key fobs, phone holsters,etc. and worked on learning how to do stuff. I found this forum a couple of months ago and the rest is history. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences!

[Washroad]

When I was in college back in the late '60s, my brother came by one day with a unique watchband. I looked at it and asked him how much he paid for it. He said it was something like $10! (OK, in the '60s and going to college, it was quite a bit of dinero, I mean, when a job was only paying you $1.25 hour before taxes....). I looked at it and thought I could probably make them as well. I went to a Tandy shop in Anaheim (long since gone) and purchased a bunch of leather scraps and some hardware. I wasn't into tooling, just sorta making straps and riveting them together.

I made a few and they sold! right away. I kept making them and people started asking me for belts. Back then, we used to wear belts that were about 3" wide (along with our bell-bottom pants!). Back to Tandy, bought more stuff, made belts and they sold. This did a lot to finance me in college for awhile until I got tired of being broke most of the time. I dropped out of college after 2 years 'cause I thought getting a job and chasing women would be much more fun! So, I did, built me a fastass '56 Chevy and started street racing for money on weekends. Leather kinda went on the side....

I kept what tools I had. Every once-in-a-while someone would hit me up to make or repair something and I had the stuff to do it. This went on for several years, all through the first marriage....lost my tools in a divorce (along with several other things)...

I met my wife Gail in '87, I asked her to dance, we were at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana (where all the Orange County cowboys hung out! ), we moved in together several months later, moved from Anaheim to Truckee up in the high Sierra mountains. During a trip down the hill to Reno we saw a Tandy shop. We went in and I was looking around. Gail bought me a bunch of stuff, tools, leather, hardware, what a gal!!! I married her in 2000! Not going to let this one get away!

So, I started doing it again.

Then, found this website a few months ago!

Now I read this forum almost everyday and learn a lot, enjoy the company, drink a lot of coffee and steal a donut whenever I can!

[Maxone22]

Whenever someone ask how/where did you learn leatherwork I like to give my "captain ron" answer - Rehab.

Those that can't help themselves will ask, "for what?" I answer "Which time?"

The bad part was that we weren't allowed sharp objects. Or any paints, dyes, glue, or finishers. Now that I think about it, maybe I didn't learn it rehab. Thats where I learned poker.

None of that is true. I picked up the hobby when I saw a complete kit for sale at a secondhand store. Wasn't near as cheap as I thought.

I like those that hear that line and reply with "that explains a few things"

[Big O]

I had a pistol, a Springfield XD45 Tactical with a 5" barrel. Couldn't find a leather holster for it. Found plenty of holsters for the shorter-barrelled .45s, a few for the 9mm and .40 Tacticals, and a whole bunch for the shorter-barrelled 9mm and .40 versions......just not for that particular combo.

So, I decided to make my own, and started researching it. I bought a piece of leather that was way too big, and decided to make more holsters. Friends saw the holsters and asked about them and, before long, they each told a friend, who told a friend, who told a friend.........and before long, I was buying more leather......

[roo4u]

i had an old saddle that needed the skirts relined as it was hurting my horse so i went to a tandy and got some fake sheepskin and an awl and new saddlestrings and did it up. while there i looked around at books and such, but didnt buy any. well my mom had a nice rawhide bosal and one day her little dog got it and chewed the heel knot side buttons and the nosebutton off of it....so i remembered a book called how to make cowboy horse tack by bruce grant went back to tandy and bought the book and some calf lace and now been braiding for 20 plus years but only serious for the last few.

[Double U Leather]

Well....here's my story. I started tooling leather when I was a kid in 4-H. I had an uncle who was a saddle maker and he kinda helped me some.

Then I got my hands on a sewing machine while I was in high school. Since I was a high school rodeo bum (bullrider), I figured I could make a little money by building chaps. I made chaps for a long time, and one of my proudest moment was having Lane Frost buy a couple pair from me. In fact, he was on the cover of the Sports News in a pair I made.

At that point, I had about quit tooling, and was just making chaps. Back then, not many chaps had tooled yokes. At the time, I was still riding bulls. Then, in the early '80's God put me on a different career path. I started announcing rodeos. Somewhere along the way, I started pounding leather again a little bit. I was just doing basic basket stamp stuff then.

Fast forward to 2007. I had been wanting to do something other than basic basket stamping, and started really looking at and studying Sheridan style tooling. Try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to make that work. Then, while announcing a reining horse show in Denver, I was introduced to a man who is a very talented leather craftsman. I was at the announcer's table trying to draw circles for Sheridan style patterns with no luck. He sat down beside me for a couple hours, showed me how the flow of the vines was supposed to go, and lo and behold, I figured it out...sorta.

It's amazing to look back only 3 short years ago and see the progress. I just finished a notebook a couple weeks ago that is night and day different from a notebook I'd done a couple years ago. I thought the one I did a couple years ago was the cat's meow. Now, when I hold up the new one, I can't believe I even carried the old one around!!! My next challenge is to perfect Sheridan style belts.

I do have to say, LW is an awesome place, and I have learned a ton hangin' out around here.

Be Blessed ya'll!!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

My Mom started leather working in the early 50's when Dad was stationed at F.E.Warren AFB in Cheyenne Wyoming. She was a great leather worker, and got me started when I was young. I ended up teaching the LW merit badge at a couple of BSA camps years later. I drifted away for a number of years, but recently got back into it.

[druid]

For me, it was out of necessity.

Hunting cabin with my dad, uncle and cousin......my fixed blade knife is an heirloom handed down from my great grandfather [skinner blade style]. The sheath was probably as old as the knife itself and fell apart. We went into town [general store] to find a new one, none to be had in that blade style. However, there were leather work bibs and a Handy stitcher [sewing awl]...so I made my own.

Since then, the things I make are more "utilitarian" in nature...only having started to dabble in "art work" as of late. I rarely post my works because I don't think they are nearly as quality as what I see here.

[rcsaddles]

While in Australia in 1988, I bought a Ron Edwards book. I started braiding belts there. In 1993, my wife got me the Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant. In it I found Mary Fields who lived about 15 miles from me. I met her and see "took me under her wing" and taught me how to make and braid rawhide.

In 2004 a friend talked me into going to Saddle Building School. My employer gave me a 6 week leave of absence to attend. I was blessed with most of the equipment I have also. Been doing leatherwork since 2004.