Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!

[howardb]

Got this idea from reading this thread. I thunk outside the box...

I had a very rough & ugly flesh side and it needed serious help. I got out an old iron (the newer one we actually use to iron shirts two or three times a year (hahahaha)). Anyway, I put a little heat on the flesh side and then rubbed a stick of beeswax into it & then repeated until the surface was covered & iron'd flat. I haven't tooled yet, so no design to hurt. Now the flesh side is nice and smooth! The ragged loose fleshies are all gone and it looks nice. Certainly not for every project, but it rescued this mess...

Oh, and skiving simply made more loose fleshies, hence my desire for a new method. Probably some seriously old leather...

Brent

[Jordan]

Thrift stores for old belts, cut off and reuse the hardware, there are some nice buckles out there for a dollar or two, a little elbow grease and they look brand new.

[JohnD]

To add to Jordan's post, I went to Big Lots ( a close out store) and found several crappy belts for a buck apiece They were new so no need to clean up the buckles. Just cut the belts off and discard ( or find another use for the vinyl or pvc straps that have the words "new york" bedazzled onto them).

John

[WVTriker]

What a great thread!

I've found thrift stores good suppliers for hardware and things, too. Occasionally I've found real leather handbags/purses and belts that are in good condition for $1-2. I/d getting ready to de-construct a purse to make a business card holder for my son and a coin purse for a co-work of my wife's.

I suspect many of you have heard this idea but some may have not: use bandannas for linings. They come in a myriad of colors/designs, are readily available and cheap. Obviously they aren't the best choice of all projects but are dandy for many,

Can't wait to see more suggestions. I am a lover of all things savings/re-purposing related (my family calls that being a 'cheapo'; I call it resourceful! )

Greg

[8thsinner]

The charity shop beside me changes people every day because they are all volunteers, the woman on monday is nice enough to give me for free any leather jackets, skirts and pants they have when ever they have them. Otherwise still a good resource the rest of the week...

Old skips outside closing down pubs and renevating type companies often have old leather sofas going to the dump.

Might take you thirty minutes in the skip cutting it up but often the old stuff is better made and well worth the effort..Just needs a bit of cleaning up.

Cheaper run down areas too often have skips piled with goodies...

Pallets are a goodsoure for wood as has been discussed, in the uk the blue ones use a better quality wood...

thats all I have for you, sorry theres not more

Great idea for a thread.

[carr52]

1. free boxes and envelopes through the usps website.

2. at comic shops on wednesday (shipment day) you can get larger boxes and packing material for free. some of the boxes are good to use for shipping, some are good for storage. also the dividers/protectors are fairly heavyweight can be used for templates that don't need to be folded.

3. need wood for something? hit up construction sites. they'll usually give you very usable scrap wood. I've got a lap table that also had my mini anvil mounted on it that was made from scrap wood.

4. keep all your scrap pieces of leather. sit down one day when you're tired of making your usual stuff, dig through and use your imagination to come up with something new. some of the stuff I've come up with just to use up scrap leather have been me biggest sellers and got added to the usual assortment.

5. find alternative places to get some things. places like harbor freight, the dollar store, etc. as an example I needed a new poly punch board. dollar store time! look in the kitchen area for 'em. the kitchen cutting board is the same material and loads cheaper and a bit more surface area. plus it has a handle so I can hang it up.

6. keep an eye out for places going out of business and think if they might have something you can use. mannequins, fixtures, or whatever can be gotten cheap sometimes. if it's an office place going out of business or closing up, file cabinets, folders, binders, lamps and other stuff can sometimes be... oh, what's that magic word? oh yeah! free!

7. (this one's showing my old punker roots) go dumpster diving on college campuses at christmas time and end of semester when the kids move out of the dorms. chairs, desks, shelves, clothes, tv's, vcr's, dvd players, stereos and all kinds of stuff gets tossed out because they got a new one or they just don't want pack it out.

8. keep an eye out while driving. you neverknow what you'll see on the side of the road. my dad has a LARGE collection of zippos because of that, we've both gotten several tools that way (love that old craftsman warrantee), and I even found a bag of about 20 bootleg movies that way. tossed the crappy movies and kept the cases.

9. after-holiday sales at craft/fabric stores. as an example I got a full roll of stretch vinyl that's normally 9 bucks a yard for 80 cents a yard. you can get some pretty snazzy prints and materials cheaply that way.

10. ask around! sometimes it's amazing where somebody gets something.

I worked at a major university and you'd be surprised what you can find at the end of the year when the students are moving out. They figure daddy will buy them new stuff when they come back next fall. I am sitting in one of the office chairs right now. My best find was a TV, in good shape.

Tom

[carr52]

Man there are some grear ideas here. I posted this somewhere before but I'll stick it in here again. Buckles, from flea market and yard sales. There are some really nice belts and shoes at them. Even if you dont like the item the buckle is still worth something. We all know the price of buckles. Just cut the buckle off and Viola, cheap buckle. I've gotten some really nice buckles, 10 and 12 dollar buckles for 50 cents to a dollar. Plus you can always find a use for the left over belt .

Tom

[cdthayer]

Let's have a thread about saving money in the leather working shop. There are lots of ways to recycle and/or substitute- what are your favorites? Post the obvious and the obscure.

My creations aren't very fancy, but they get the job done and I am recycling leather.

I had been using a cell phone belt case made out of a recycled leather purse, but it only lasted about 2 years before it got holes in it.

This time I made one out of a Justin Roper boot top.

The snap is the only thing included that wasn't part of the boot. As you can tell, I'm still learning how to guide my stitches on my Singer 29K70 boot patcher. The bottom seam was done on a Consew 225. My only concern is whether the vinyl pull strap will hold up since I more or less "perforated it" to attach it as a belt loop.

CD

[Elegant]

Scrap leather:

• Many folks use undyed vegtan scraps for bird chew toys.
  
• Itsy bitsy scraps...I toss them in a jar with a few drops of leather scented oil and make leather scented sachets
  
• Leather gift bows from scrap strips of soft leather!
  
• Keychain fobs or bookmarks as surprise freebies with orders.
  
• Donated unwanted scraps to elementary and middle school for crafts...and a tax deduction for you!
  

Pattern Paper

• Photographers backdrop paper is nice and stiff. They have long rolls of it and when a section gets dirty they tear it off and toss it (or they give it to me). I am also using it this year for wrapping presents in my little effort for a greener holiday.
  

Keep 'Em Sharp!

• Yes, Virginia..you can resharpen rotary blades.
  
• I save all the fingernail files my daughter and I use for fine sharpening of tools
  

Freecycle.org

• Ask for stuff you think someone might have and keep an eye on things people are getting rid of. I have gotten marble slabs, sewing trim, a photographers screen, manequin heads etc etc
  

[SmokinP]

Great stuff here.

I made some very large round punches from stainless pipe. i have access to a lathe but a machine shop would probably do you a favor maybe in trade for some leather work. Simple job to bevel the edge and stainless holds pretty good edge.

Gotta haves lots of Q-tips. Good for edges and small area dyeing.

35mm film containers are great for holding screws, stitching needles and other small stuff. (Remember 35mm cameras?)

File a flat on all round handled tools so they don't roll of the bench. Saves a bunch of rebuying.