Scrap Leather

[cowboy bowhunter]

What is the smallest peice of scrap leather you keep. What do you do with them? Do you just throw away your small peices?

[RonDrake]

What is the smallest peice of scrap leather you keep. What do you do with them? Do you just throw away your small peices?

i make hand tooled 1-1/2" leather concho's from my scraps and use them on various projects. ( the smallest i have used is 3/4" )

take a hole saw and grind the teeth off them' sharpen with a file and chuck it in the drill press and cut the leather circles and tool however you wish.

scraps that are smaller than that , i run through the sewing machine as a test strip to check my sewing and to make sure everything is ok before sewing my next project.

the sharpened hole saws also work well for making patches from cotton or other materials if you shoot blackpowder.

waste not ------ want not

[Chief31794]

I use them to test sewing machine for stitch length, tension, etc. I also sometimes use small pieces to test dyes for color before I dye the final project. I use them to test leaf liners to make sure I've got the diagonal lines going in the right direction, I use them for quite a few things.

Ken

[Glendon]

I like to use 1" by 1" squares as stamped price tags when I go to in person events. I've taken long but super thin scraps and cut them into lace to tie things up with. I can use small rectangles that are a few inches long as attachment points for D rings. My rule of thumb is, if I look at a piece of scrap and something to do with it doesn't come to mind, I pitch it.

[GoldenKnight]

(SORRY ABOUT ALL CAPS ... MY CAPS LOCK IS STUCK)

I SAVE MY SCRAPS TOO AND FOR VERY SMALL FRAGMENTS, I USE THEM TO GRIND UP IN A SMALL WHOLE-BEAN COFFEE GRINDER TO MAKE LEATHER DUST TO MIX WITH BARGE CEMENT TO FILL IN WHEN DOING EMBOSSED TOOLING.

Edited August 6, 2012 by GoldenKnight

[Mijo]

Great thread, as I'm always looking for ways to use scrap leather. Glendon, I've been meaning to get a "$" stamp made so I can make price tags out of scrap leather as well (thanks for the reminder). Since I make small dog accessories, i've been using scraps to make id tags. The id tags are only 5/8" by 1" so I can use really small pieces for scrap leather. If I have scraps that are about 2" long I save them and use them as strap keepers, on my collars and harnesses.

For large pieces of scrap leather (or leather too soft to be used for collars, harnesses or leashes), i've been making book marks and dog bag holders.

[Sylvia]

I know someone that uses the Dots removed from hold punching. She glues them together in interesting ways and makes pendants and earrings out of them. I'm not sure I would be patient enough so save enough "dots" but they do look cool.

[dawn]

i keep everything. Even the thin strips when i bevel the edges. i have started to do 3D sculpting. i can find use for any of my scrape no matter what size. No such thing as waste.

[JLSleather]

Long as it's firm leather, you can use it for "plugs" for embossing leather. When I use it to test dye colors (which I do) I make a point of using a "scrap" from the same hide as the project is coming from (yeah, it matters). I always seem to end up with a bit much, though. Fella down the street came by about a week ago and picked up a box of scrap - probably 12-15 pounds - for free. While I use it, there's only so much room in my 12 x 26 shop, and eventually it's not worth the cost of the "scrap" to have it taking up space. That said, this guy makes knife sheaths, belt bags/pouches, small holsters, etc. Seems a bit wasteful (I'm still looking over my shoulder in case my wife has the broom) but I know if I get behind this [really decent] fella would stitch up some stuff for me if I asked, so it all works out.