If You Could Only Get One...

[gregd]

Here's the question, if you could only get one book on leather carving , which one would you suggest? As a person on a fixed income( closer to broken),I really have to watch what I spend. I'm looking for a book that will tell me step by step how to carve leather. I realize there's alot of cat-skinners out there but a guys gotta start somewhere so I'm asking where's the best place. Thanks in advance for any advice, Greg

[billsreef]

This book, How to Carve Leather, by Al Stohlman is a great start. It's the one I started out with many years ago. Lots of pictures and very descriptive how to's. Covers basic florals and some figure carving basics.

[Luke Hatley]

I would Get "CraftTools Tech Tips".this book will explain the use of the tools. and there are patterns

everwhere.

[TwinOaks]

Or you could go to Leatherworker.net and look up the Paul Burnett School of Leather Ornamentation (psssst....it's right here). It's a primer for sure, but there's always the option to look at the pictures on here and 'borrow them' for carving practice. I saw a really good tip for carving practice that's SUPER easy on the budget. Get a flat pan or cookie sheet, melt some paraffin wax in it, and practice your carving in that to learn to control the swivel knife. When the surface is all carved up, remelt it, pop it in the freezer, and start over. That will help stretch your budget by not needing to buy a lot of practice leather. You can check out the Tandy website for some free patterns, pull free images off the internet (google 'free line art'), etc.