New here! Learning leather working

[lovemycarbs]

Hi all, Newbie here. Hoping to get to know more of you on my learning leather journey ;-)

I noticed there are different ways to secure leather works together. Alot of what I see is sewing methods. I also don't understand 'ounces' in leather because I go by thickness so Is there a way to compare ounces to thickness? 

So back to the faster part. What kind of sewing machine does it take to sew leather? I have a sewing machine,  it's pretty basic for sewing fabrics but I don't know if it will do leather also what type of needles?

In talking about Fasteners I also see little screws and Rivets. 

I'm enclosing a picture I took of a fastner/ closure of a leather piece of which I'm assuming it's some type of rivet(?). Could someone tell me what this is? 

I'm having troubles showing another picture of the other side but it's flat on that side. 

Thanks for your much appreciated help

[Beehive]

You're gonna need a better picture. If it's a rivet. Do you have any tools like a dremel, drill with a drill bit or unibit? Any files or a hack saw? 

 

Removing rivets is a huge PITA but it can be done.

Edited February 14 by Beehive

[BlackDragon]

8 minutes ago, lovemycarbs said:

Hi all, Newbie here. Hoping to get to know more of you on my learning leather journey ;-)

I noticed there are different ways to secure leather works together. Alot of what I see is sewing methods. I also don't understand 'ounces' in leather because I go by thickness so Is there a way to compare ounces to thickness? 

So back to the faster part. What kind of sewing machine does it take to sew leather? I have a sewing machine,  it's pretty basic for sewing fabrics but I don't know if it will do leather also what type of needles?

In talking about Fasteners I also see little screws and Rivets. 

I'm enclosing a picture I took of a fastner/ closure of a leather piece of which I'm assuming it's some type of rivet(?). Could someone tell me what this is? 

I'm having troubles showing another picture of the other side but it's flat on that side. 

Thanks for your much appreciated help

Welcome to the forum!

When we talk about ounces it refers to the thickness of the leather. 1 ounce is .4mm, 2 ounces is .8mm, and you add .4mm for each ounce. So 5 ounces would be 2mm and 10 ounces would be 4mm thick

There are a couple ways to secure leather. Sewing is the most popular, either hand stitching or machine. There are rivets and Chicago screws. Gluing, which is the weakest. we usually glue things together to keep them aligned when sewing.

To do hand stitching you need a way to make the holes; diamond chisels, pricking irons, or an awl. 

Using a machine is usually a very high investment, normally in the thousands of dollars. Standard household sewing machines aren't designed to sew leather.

The important question you need to answer is: What do you want to make? If you want to do leather upholstery you need different tools than if you want to make wallets, or horse equipment, or shoes. 

Can't really tell what your picture is. If it's a rivet I'm going to guess that it may be a Jiffy rivet.

[Northmount]

5 minutes ago, BlackDragon said:

When we talk about ounces it refers to the thickness of the leather. 1 ounce is .4mm, 2 ounces is .8mm, and you add .4mm for each ounce. So 5 ounces would be 2mm and 10 ounces would be 4mm thick

@lovemycarbs

Or if you work in inches, 1 oz is 1/64"  thus 8 oz is 1/8" and so forth.

[Northmount]

43 minutes ago, lovemycarbs said:

So back to the faster part. What kind of sewing machine does it take to sew leather? I have a sewing machine,  it's pretty basic for sewing fabrics but I don't know if it will do leather also what type of needles?

Look at this thread 

 

[BlackDragon]

9 minutes ago, Northmount said:

@lovemycarbs

Or if you work in inches, 1 oz is 1/64"  thus 8 oz is 1/8" and so forth.

I've worked in Japanese manufacturing for so long I fall into metric instead of Freedom unit more than I care to admit. 

https://maverickleathercompany.com/hide-thickness-conversion-chart/?gad_source=5

[Northmount]

56 minutes ago, BlackDragon said:

I've worked in Japanese manufacturing for so long I fall into metric instead of Freedom unit more than I care to admit. 

https://maverickleathercompany.com/hide-thickness-conversion-chart/?gad_source=5

Great reference material!

[lovemycarbs]

I apologize for the not so good picture. It would only let me post 1 picture of 1.46MB and I tried to downsize the picture but it didn't work out so well. I'm not very tech savvy. I really appreciate all the information! It was so helpful! 

[SUP]

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest you go to theleatherguy.com.

They have great instructional segments about the basics of leather - from types, to how to measure thickness and types to just about everything else.

Weaver leather also has something similar.

Between the two, you should get most of the information that you need to start leatherwork.

They have tables and pictures of everything - I downloaded everything when I first started leatherwork and it really helps.

They should also have the tool to check leather thickness -  a handy little plastic thingy that tells you the thickness and corresponding ounces. after a while, you will learn to discern that with just a look.

Good luck!

[Hags]

Welcome! You can compress your photos with any number of apps to make them smaller(less bytes). I use photo puma, it's free with ads. Never had a problem.

[TonyV]

The term 'ounces' relates to the old measuring method of leather in 'ounces per square foot', which worked fine in English speaking countries, really doesn't work well in most parts of the world these days.  MM thickness is used in most of the world now, but 1/64 inch/ounce is still commonly used.

No idea what part is in your pic.  Possibly a damaged snap.

Rivets, glue and sewing are used where you want permanent attachment in your project.  Chicago screws are used for assemblies in which you want adjustability or replaceability in your project. They are like a rivet that screws together.  Snaps, zippers and buckles are for frequent opening and closing.

Start out learning to hand sew on small projects.  It's a valuable skill to have.  Even many machine-sewn projects can have hand sewn parts.  Sewing machines can be very expensive and can be a separate hobby to themselves, but are often necessary if you have a lot of stitching to do or if you plan to make any money in leathercraft.

Edited February 15 by TonyV

[Northmount]

@lovemycarbs

If your files are too large to post here due to file size restrictions, you need to resize your files to fit.  Follow this link for some helps and suggestions.  https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/15122-how-to-post-pictures-on-lw/?do=findComment&comment=551171  
There are lots of Apps, software, and online tools available on the web, or even built into your device to enable you to reduce your file sizes.  800 pixels in the longest dimension is quite adequate.  Smart phone screens and many monitors don't display high res files in high resolution.  People that live on the fringes of the internet appreciate smaller file sizes and high res photos may take from 10 minutes to hours to download.

Reducing your pics to 800 pixels in the longest dimension will produce files in the neighbourhood of 50kB, lots of room to post many pics.

 

[Klara]

Decent Smartphones also allow to decrease the size of a picture... Your picture looks like the female part of a riveted snap to me. Do you want to repair this leather piece (what is it?), or make another one just like it?

[lovemycarbs]

On 2/14/2025 at 6:50 PM, SUP said:

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest you go to theleatherguy.com.

They have great instructional segments about the basics of leather - from types, to how to measure thickness and types to just about everything else.

Weaver leather also has something similar.

Between the two, you should get most of the information that you need to start leatherwork.

They have tables and pictures of everything - I downloaded everything when I first started leatherwork and it really helps.

They should also have the tool to check leather thickness -  a handy little plastic thingy that tells you the thickness and corresponding ounces. after a while, you will learn to discern that with just a look.

Good luck!

SUP, I can't thank you enough! Very useful information! I will definitely check the site out.

[SUP]

I hope you get everything that you need.