LeftyFretz Report post Posted March 24, 2012 Hi there! My name's Neal, I've been leatherworking for a grand total of 3 days now I bought the Tandy leatherworking kit to try and learn the basics, but I hope to eventually be able to make some nice straps for my guitars. I have some questions though! The kit came with contact cement for attaching the leather to some backing cardboard to keep it from stretching - is this really necessary? After seeing a guy on YouTube wreck the back of his leather with the same contact cement I bought some rubber cement. It works well but it leaves the back of the leather fairly sticky feeling. Is there a better way of doing this? When i'm wetting the leather how much water should I be adding, and is there a foolproof way to learn when the best time to start tooling is? I've so far made the two coasters that came with the kit. I just added water until it started taking a while to absorb and then started hammering away after 2 or 3 minutes. Seemed to work okay, but the guy I've been watching on YouTube waited 30 minutes so i'm not sure. Can you recommend a good book/DVD which I could purchase to learn a bit more than the basic stamping and whatnot that the Tandy kit teaches? Keeping in mind that I would like to make guitar straps. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtclod Report post Posted March 24, 2012 I've been using contact paper to keep stuff from streaching, like what in your kitchen cupboards sense i read about it on here. It brings the nap up the leather but i didn't notice it being sticky. I just spray ( wet ) things i'm going to stamp. You need to wait till it looks almost like it did before you start. You can use a hair dryer to help along drying. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike516 Report post Posted March 25, 2012 I'm new too but so far the best book I've bought is "Leatherwork Manual" by Stohlman, Patten and Wilson. It doesn't have any guitar straps in it, but I think you'll find it very useful. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
terrymac Report post Posted March 25, 2012 (edited) Get some clear 3M packing tape and attach directly to the back of the leather. Will not leave a residue on leather as the cheaper brands are prone to do. This will normally stop the stretching. On different type of pieces, you can apply the rubber cement to the packing tape and glue to some type of packing. I personally like to use plexiglass, just hard to do with belts or straps. Concerning your moisture question, a general rule is the closer you get back to the original color, the better your impressions and burnishing will be. Takes patience and practice to get it right, but it is critical to good tooling. Checkout Bob Park's tutorial on casning leather in the "How do I Do This" section of the forum. Hope this helps. Terry Edited March 25, 2012 by terrymac Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LeftyFretz Report post Posted March 25, 2012 Thanks a lot Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted March 25, 2012 Can you recommend a good book/DVD which I could purchase to learn a bit more than the basic stamping and whatnot that the Tandy kit teaches? Keeping in mind that I would like to make guitar straps. You will not find any bette rthan the new DVD's that Chan Geer has out. They are exceptopnal Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
