Leatherbug Infection

[jinrui73]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this whole thing, including posting any threads online so please bear with me. I made a wallet once in boy scouts about 25 years ago and for some reason lately my mind has really been nagging me to get involved with leatherworking again. (sometimes the voices can't be ignored, lol). So I started googleing (?) and found this site and a few other websites (mostly suppliers) and Paul Burnetts' website. I bought Tandys' deluxe leatherworking starter kit and a pound of scraps, have had it about a week and there is nothing I don't like about it. In fact I sat for like 3 and a half hours the other day just practicing cutting scrolls! I didn't even realize it. I felt really good about it. I even went to work yesterday without practicing and felt bad, so I sat for another couple of hours when I got home. I haven't started any of the projects in the kit because I don't want to ruin the perfectly good pieces there so I am going to continue to practice until I'm satisfied with my progress.

My goal is to be able to put whatever I can picture in my head onto a piece of leather for wallets, bags, cases, anything that will accept tooling and to be able to make shoes/ boots and jackets, and possibly leather armor.

I do have to ask, is it possible to cut a smooth, evenly spaced scroll with the standard square blade swivel knife in the tandy kit or do i need an angled blade? Maybe the knife just isn't sharp enough? I used the jewelers' rouge on a piece of the scrap leather and polished the crap out of the blade, it seems to cut pretty smoothly (not alot of drag). And how do you keep the leather from moving while walking a stamp? I got the technique of holding the stamp slightly off the piece and not moving the whole width of the stamp but trying to hold the leather still with my pinky or the side of my hand is proving most difficult. Maybe I just need to practice more? And any suggestions you folks have on technique, learning websites, etc. is greatly appreciated.I hope I haven't bored anyone away, sorry I tend to be a bit long winded. I appreciate any input anyone can offer. Thank you for your time and for this awesome website!!

[Ferg]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this whole thing, including posting any threads online so please bear with me. I made a wallet once in boy scouts about 25 years ago and for some reason lately my mind has really been nagging me to get involved with leatherworking again. (sometimes the voices can't be ignored, lol). So I started googleing (?) and found this site and a few other websites (mostly suppliers) and Paul Burnetts' website. I bought Tandys' deluxe leatherworking starter kit and a pound of scraps, have had it about a week and there is nothing I don't like about it. In fact I sat for like 3 and a half hours the other day just practicing cutting scrolls! I didn't even realize it. I felt really good about it. I even went to work yesterday without practicing and felt bad, so I sat for another couple of hours when I got home. I haven't started any of the projects in the kit because I don't want to ruin the perfectly good pieces there so I am going to continue to practice until I'm satisfied with my progress.

My goal is to be able to put whatever I can picture in my head onto a piece of leather for wallets, bags, cases, anything that will accept tooling and to be able to make shoes/ boots and jackets, and possibly leather armor.

I do have to ask, is it possible to cut a smooth, evenly spaced scroll with the standard square blade swivel knife in the tandy kit or do i need an angled blade? Maybe the knife just isn't sharp enough? I used the jewelers' rouge on a piece of the scrap leather and polished the crap out of the blade, it seems to cut pretty smoothly (not alot of drag). And how do you keep the leather from moving while walking a stamp? I got the technique of holding the stamp slightly off the piece and not moving the whole width of the stamp but trying to hold the leather still with my pinky or the side of my hand is proving most difficult. Maybe I just need to practice more? And any suggestions you folks have on technique, learning websites, etc. is greatly appreciated.I hope I haven't bored anyone away, sorry I tend to be a bit long winded. I appreciate any input anyone can offer. Thank you for your time and for this awesome website!!

Welcome to LW forums. You will find it is difficult to stop reading the entries in this site. That will also whet your appetite to do more leather butchering. Lots of tutorials here on just about anything you might wish to know about leather work.

Have fun and keep practicing

[TwinOaks]

Yes, you can cut scrolls with a square blade....lean it back a little so only the corner contacts the leather.

For stamping, rest the heel of your hand on the leather, or mount it to a backer board.

Yes, it takes a lot of practice.

Now that that's done.....

Welcome to Leatherworker.net, best site on the entire internet!

Suggestions for places to read/learn.....well, you're already here. You might also take a look at YouTube, and do a search for leather topics. Though the person in the video may not be doing exactly what you want to do, the tool techniques are pretty common, i.e. How to use a swivel knife.

Spend some time reading, look at some inspirational images, watch a few vids.....you'll have this down in no time. If you run into problems and need help, don't hesitate to ask.

Bathrooms are down the hall, break room is over there ------------------------------------------------->

grab a stool at the tooling bench and stay a while. Johanna will be by sometime in the morning with fresh coffee.

[alb]

Good advice already but I thought I'd add one idea that will help with keeping the leather from sliding around. You will eventually get the hang of keeping it stationary just using the side of your hand while walking a tool, but it can be frustrating when starting off. You can take some wide clear packing tape and tape the back of the piece so that it overlaps an inch or two off each side of the piece. Then fold the tape under the piece and stick it to your surface.

Enjoy!

Ann

[gtwister09]

You might want to consider a leather weighted bag. Various things are used to hold down your work, Here's one discussion.

Discussion Leather Weights and Bags

Regards,

Ben

[terrymac]

I agree with what everyone has said about holding the leather in place. The only thing I would add is that I would not worry about holding a tool above the leather while stamping. I have heard this before and makes no sense to me. As long a you are not applying a downward pressure on the tool, you will not mark the leather. Too me, correct tool placement would be a heck of lot harder if I was trying to hold it above the letter rather than letting it rest on the letter. Good luck!!

Terry

[jinrui73]

Thank you all very much for the advice, I am going to try everyones suggestions and see which ones work best for me.

[jinrui73]

Yes, you can cut scrolls with a square blade....lean it back a little so only the corner contacts the leather.

For stamping, rest the heel of your hand on the leather, or mount it to a backer board.

Yes, it takes a lot of practice.

Now that that's done.....

Welcome to Leatherworker.net, best site on the entire internet!

Suggestions for places to read/learn.....well, you're already here. You might also take a look at YouTube, and do a search for leather topics. Though the person in the video may not be doing exactly what you want to do, the tool techniques are pretty common, i.e. How to use a swivel knife.

Spend some time reading, look at some inspirational images, watch a few vids.....you'll have this down in no time. If you run into problems and need help, don't hesitate to ask.

Bathrooms are down the hall, break room is over there ------------------------------------------------->

grab a stool at the tooling bench and stay a while. Johanna will be by sometime in the morning with fresh coffee.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome! It is an honor to be among the talent i see in the postings! I hope I will be as good one day, till then I'll just have to keep butchering cow hides!!