Working In Apartment

[Ellen]

Question for those who have to work in a fairly small room in the city, that serves as living space as well, with no outside work space or garage.

I'm working with vegtan.

One of the ways to downsize is to make small things, that will not require large worktable for processing.

Buying kits from Tandy for them is cost prohibitive, their single shoulders are a middle ground (acceptable by size but not by quality, too much goes to waste, so cost goes up again), and clean leather suppliers (tannery) sell sides only.

Sides could be put rolled on the wall shelf for storage (not under middle of the room cutting table, forced air heating blows across). Usually one needs more than one thickness, so two more sides go on two more wall shelves.

The biggest space taker is a cutting table, that have to be large enough to accommodate half-unrolled cow side for selecting clean place and cutting.

Add space for dyeing, drying, processing (finishing, assembling, gluing), sanding edges, tooling, small storage - it's quite a lot.

How do you reduce the space required for work?

And a small thing:

What do you do with waste leather, not good enough for clean untooled things?

Do you use it at once or let a pile to grow?

Thank you.

[TwinOaks]

Hi Ellen,

Have you considered using a table that folds out from the wall? It's a great way to save space because you can simply put the table away after using it. For your leather concerns, I suggest contacting Springfield Leather (see ad banners) for your leather needs. They are the only supplier I personally know of that will cut leather per your request. That saves you space and money (though there might be a small fee for the cutting- I don't know), in that you won't have whole sides needing storage. You can call them and tell them what you're looking for and from my limited experience, they are great to work with. I have NOT seen any negative comments on their service. For setting up multiple stages of production, the easy answer is to get a couple of cheap table cloths. Simply cover the table with the appropriate cloth for dyeing/staining/glueing, etc. That reduces the number of physical work stations you need. For waste leather (is there really such a thing!?!?!?) make some flesh side out ( aka rough-out) pieces that don't rely on the appearance of the grain. I ordered a double shoulder of leather from Springfield at a fantastic price, but the stipulation was "These hides have some grain damage". That was certainly the case, as there are scratches and cuts all over the grain side. But, I'm happy with it because I got a LOT of leather for a very little $$, and I fully intend to use that leather in ways that the scratches won't matter. Welt material is one of those uses. Making 'rough-out' IWB holsters is another. The grain simply won't be seen, so why pay a premium for a clean grain that doesn't matter? What about decorative inlays? Do you have pieces suitable for that? Do you have dye test pieces? Do you mix dyes for custom colors? Make up color tabs and write the recipe on the back of the piece, then punch a hole and hang them all together on a ring or bead chain......instant color swatch book. Thinking outside the box helps a lot, and as long as you can find something to do with it, it really doesn't count as waste leather.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Get a sturdy dining room table, and use it for working on , as well a dining. Just toss a thick cover over it to protect the surface before using. Could even put a piece of plywood on top to make it a multi use work surface. Just stand it against the wall when you are done, or eat off of it too.

Lay a piece of plywood on the bed for cutting, laying out, etc.

Hang the leather in a closet instead of on shelves. You can hang a whole side in there. This will also keep the hide flat instead of curling.

Do your dye wok on the stove top, and use the fan to vent the fumes. Do not do this if you has pilot lights on a gas stove top.

Scrap leather has many uses. Testing dyes/rivets/stamps/etc, key fobs, buttons, ground up and used in sandal soles, donated to Scout groups or other community organizations, industrial uses like pads/washers, charred it can be used for pack case hardening, mosaics, leather puzzles, stacked for knife handles, and lots more.

Edited November 14, 2010 by BIGGUNDOCTOR

[JLSleather]

A couple of thoughts from a northern boy who is often shoved in a corner (5 kids). I have one room, which I can lock to keep the little people away from knives and chemicals.

For storing leather, grab 2-3 of those little clips used to hold the edge of a tarp. They will clamp on any thickness of leather - lets you HANG the leather on a wall. This is a plus for being able to see what you have AND space, and keeps the leather free of wrinkles/stains from laying flat or rolling up. NOTE: Do not hang in direct sunlight, or hang FACING wall.

My work table has 6 drawers. Sewing / lacing in one, coloring tools in another, etc. Cutting patterns hang on the walls. Eliminate multiple tables .... use your tooling bench for coloring by covering with removable stuff -- a piece of masonite works well. When done coloring, stand the masonite against the wall behind the table. It's $4-5 a sheet and will last a LONG time, even if one side is used for cutting. Or, a fold-up table used just for coloring and cutting ... doesn't need to be all that sturdy if you aren't tooling there ...

I don't like those kits, either ... too much money and too little quality (which is nicer than saying they're cheap junk). I squirm when I buy a side, too .... I know I'm getting 5-7 feet of belly (if I was doing saddle seats, for example, that would be fine). Most of the time I use double shoulders ... fairly economical cutting compared to other cuts (there's always SOME waste, but minimal).

Plexiglass makes great cutting patterns. Stores easily (drill a hole in one corner of each piece for that project, tie 'em together with a piece of heavy thread, hang the thread from a nail, picture hanger, door knob, drawer pull). And you can see through it to see the leather you'll get frm the cut (I like the stuff tinted a bit with lavender, seems my eyes see well through that without glare).

Wow ... this was alot longer than I intended ...

[Ellen]

Fantastic ideas, guys and gals, incredible help! I searched Internet a lot, but some things you told me newer were mentioned.

Thank you so much!

[BAD HIDE]

One thing I love about leatherworking, if you're just starting out and don't have sewing machines and lots of tools, you can do acceptable work on any table or in any space. I started out just pounding away right in front of my computer, just move the keyboard and get to work. I now have a 2 bdrm apartment, and besides one corner for oil paints, I have the majority of the room to work, and the neighbors below me haven't complained about the hammering yet.

For a cutting table, I use my drawing table swiveled flat and up against the wall, and push the roll against the wall or drape it off the backside. I really only see about 1/3 or 1/4 of a full hide at a time. Need more room occasionally? use the floor or commandeer the kitchen table. Other than that, most of my work is done on the same 4' x3' sturdy table in the middle of the room - one side near a wall, but I can walk around 3 sides. For storage, I have 3 track shelving strips with 2 long brackets on top and 2 shorter brackets each strip - basically 4 shelves without actual shelves, mounted high on the wall so it's out of the way. I toss all my rolled up hides and even belt blanks across the brackets. Smaller pieces go on a shelf or in a box. I have 2 metal shelving units as well, and store most of my tools in various boxes or hung on a peg board. Stamps are in leather cups, dyes in squeeze bottles. For protecting surfaces and keeping things clean when doing finishing, I use a roll of red rosin builder's paper, available at any home improvement store for like $12, and it also makes decent test patterns.

Using up scrap before you make more scrap is half the battle. If all you make are larger things, you'll have lots of scrap lying around. Having a varied assortment of patterns on hand so you can turn small pieces into bracelets, card holders and whatnots keeps the scrap box low - and if you do any sort of craft shows, that's the things that sell. Ugly pieces? make it look ugly on purpose. Dying clean leather solid colors is nice, but leather with character is a whole new ballgame. Dye it one color, then rubbing a mostly dry dye rag over it with a darker color and you get some crazy cool things going on. I've even taken a framing hammer to leather, getting a grid pattern with every strike, to really ugly it up. Too small for even a key fob? I take all my un-oiled, un-finished veg- tan scrap and dump it right in the compost bin. It takes quite a bit longer than the banana peels, but it does work. Chrome tan and finished leather probably would compost too, but it'd take a lot longer so unfortunately that goes to the landfill.

[Ellen]

Using up scrap before you make more scrap is half the battle. If all you make are larger things, you'll have lots of scrap lying around. Having a varied assortment of patterns on hand so you can turn small pieces into bracelets, card holders and whatnots keeps the scrap box low - and if you do any sort of craft shows, that's the things that sell.

Thank you! Glad to hear that I'm not alone working in such conditions. Learning from others' experience allows organize all better, and I appreciate your input.

About using scrap leather.

I'm not going to craft shows, mail order only. This means spending quite a lot of time on visiting the post office, and this is not a paid time, so making $5 - $15 items is not worth the time spent.

Orders are usually the single item for each person. Packing (adhesive tape) is also quite loud, walls are thin and I can here neighbors talking, if slightly above quiet talk, so I have to cut any noise making activity as much as possible too. :Sigh:

Still have no idea what can be made from not a prime leather without tooling, have to check rough-out too, never heard of it before. Holsters are here frown upon, as well as importing blue replicas for them for molding. Problems, problems...

Ah, I have quite a lot of tools, quite a fortune was spent on them through the years, and not many of them were practical for use.

Gomph's fine prickling wheels comparing to Tandy's set of embossing and stitching marking wheels for example. Burnishing wheels, half-wheels and turned burnishing sticks that has too big diameter to use in complicated shapes, still have to use ball pen for that

Edited November 15, 2010 by Ellen

[dbusarow]

For storing leather, grab 2-3 of those little clips used to hold the edge of a tarp. They will clamp on any thickness of leather - lets you HANG the leather on a wall. This is a plus for being able to see what you have AND space, and keeps the leather free of wrinkles/stains from laying flat or rolling up. NOTE: Do not hang in direct sunlight, or hang FACING wall.

JLSleather, can you post a link to or image of these clips you are talking about? They sound interesting and I can't image what they are.

Cancel that. I just googled "tarp clip" and now I see what you are talking about. I'm amazed I have not run into these before. Aside from hanging up leather I also use hay tarps. Since the grommets are the part that goes first these will save me quite a bt of money on new tarps. Maybe that's why the ranch supply store doesn't have them out front

Thanks,

Dan

Edited November 15, 2010 by dbusarow

[tat2]

What I did was buy the leather then used the clicker dies to cut up all the leather then store in a box or shelf. This way you are not having loads of leather laying around. As for waste.... I tried to keep it then saw I did not use it so I keep it in the car for that oh so fresh cut leather smell!

Think about higher storage units. Your cutting table could be on the floor to reduce space or a fold away table.. One mate had a two bedroom apt as with each project more materials and tools were bought..

Best of luck!

Question for those who have to work in a fairly small room in the city, that serves as living space as well, with no outside work space or garage.

I'm working with vegtan.

One of the ways to downsize is to make small things, that will not require large worktable for processing.

Buying kits from Tandy for them is cost prohibitive, their single shoulders are a middle ground (acceptable by size but not by quality, too much goes to waste, so cost goes up again), and clean leather suppliers (tannery) sell sides only.

Sides could be put rolled on the wall shelf for storage (not under middle of the room cutting table, forced air heating blows across). Usually one needs more than one thickness, so two more sides go on two more wall shelves.

The biggest space taker is a cutting table, that have to be large enough to accommodate half-unrolled cow side for selecting clean place and cutting.

Add space for dyeing, drying, processing (finishing, assembling, gluing), sanding edges, tooling, small storage - it's quite a lot.

How do you reduce the space required for work?

And a small thing:

What do you do with waste leather, not good enough for clean untooled things?

Do you use it at once or let a pile to grow?

Thank you.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Turn your scraps into business cards. Make little thank you items for customers ; luggage tags, key fobs, etc..

Small items could be sold through consignment in a local store, if you don't want to handle them yourself.

When I first read the thread I thought you were just a hobbyist, are you doing this as a profession?

This is just a thought, as some others are doing this for various business dealings. Rent a storage unit, and use it as a shop space. Some units have power available, and 24 hr access. Does your complex have a rec room? Laundry room?, or some other space available to tenants?

The only other option I have for sound control is hanging something on the walls to deaden the sound. Look for a local acoustics shop, or check with a music store. There are sound deadening panels available.

[Ellen]

When I first read the thread I thought you were just a hobbyist, are you doing this as a profession?

This is just a thought, as some others are doing this for various business dealings. Rent a storage unit, and use it as a shop space. Some units have power available, and 24 hr access. Does your complex have a rec room? Laundry room?

It's not even close to even a minimal salary, so it still hobby

Maybe if I figure out how to make a functional workshop in my conditions and what else could be made with less dyeing, without hammering and manual molding of heavyweight leather, then I'll get more chances.

I'm in half-size row house (smallest possible), and asked about apartments because my conditions are much closer to them than to detached house in suburbs or farm . I have damp-ish basement, so far riveting and punching is done there, but still so thin walls!

I can't pay for anything else right now, and unlikely storage units have heating, but at least now I could know what could be possible in future, thanks!

[Ellen]

"tarp clip" and now I see what you are talking about. I'm amazed I have not run into these before.

Dan, I had seen the photo of a small Japanese leather shop. Two medium sized tables, aquarium, and above them medium sized precut pieces of leather are hung, just like clothes in the closet, tightly one next to another. Pity that I didn't pay attention then to the type of a hanger, something applying even pressure along all side of a leather piece. Could be interesting, but unlikely readily available here.

Just a thought.

[dbusarow]

Dan, I had seen the photo of a small Japanese leather shop. Two medium sized tables, aquarium, and above them medium sized precut pieces of leather are hung, just like clothes in the closet, tightly one next to another. Pity that I didn't pay attention then to the type of a hanger, something applying even pressure along all side of a leather piece. Could be interesting, but unlikely readily available here.

Just a thought.

I order 20 of the rhino brand clips for under $40 shipped. Granted that's not as cheap as a clothespin but you could use them to create a hanger system like you describe.

Dan