Small Tricks For The Leatherworker

[lightningad]

just remembered my other re-purposed thing...

My wife makes lots of silicon moulds, and occasionally the residue that's left in the bottom of the mixing pot creates a little 1-3cm thick disc of silicon. Its perfect for using as a Needle cushion - keps them all safe and easy to find.

i also used one to create an anti-topple base for a tall thin bottle of solvent. Just cut a hole in the silicon fractionally smaller than the bottle, so it grips it tightly. Now it has no chance of tipping over, and i can jam the brush handle into a small hole in the silicon so the solvent applicator is always with the bottle.

[Renaissanceman]

Putting bees wax on your punches makes them cut better and easier to remove leather from inside the punch, also for smaller punches (say 1/16") use a thin needle to clear out leather. For threading a needle, use a flat mallet to smash down lace/thread, works very well on waxed thread.

[lightningad]

a mallet? thats a bit violent isnt it? I find its easiest to flatten the waxed tip between my two thumbnails before threading..

[rcsaddles]

I use parifin wax instead of beeswax on my punches. Beeswax is a little sticky and parifin is not.

[GrampaJoel]

Several years back my wife gave this to me. A shower suction handle stuck to a cutting ruler. I absolutely love it, and I use it at least once on every project.

[silverwingit]

I thought of another one. It has to do with accurately centering a hole punch on a spot marked with an awl or pen.

I struggled and struggled trying to "hit" a marked location with a hole punch. I always seemed to "miss" and have the hole slightly off position. I finally figured out a pretty much fool-proof method. I position the hole punch (single tool or rotary punch) over the mark and very gently depress the punch by hand only enough to lightly mark the perimeter of the hole onto the surface of the leather. Then I lift the punch only far enough to see the relationship between the temporary circular mark left on the leather to see what adjustment needs to be made in order to hit the exact spot I'm shooting for. It's then easy to repeat the process. If you do this gingerly enough, the previous (very light) circular mark will be at least partially "erased" by the next mark. Finally, when I get a temporary circular indentation from the hole punch that's exactly centered over my target mark, it's easy to re-position the punch and make the final hole. Then the action of the final punch stretches the surface of the leather enough to remove any telltale test marks. As with anything else in our craft, after you do this a few times you get better and better at it and only need one or two test shots before you hit "paydirt."

[Murf]

My magnet compass, took a extendable shop magnet and fit it to the lead side of a regular compass and found a small super powered magnet. stick the un-attatched magnet under the leather and pop down the compass the extendable side rotates and the old pointer side acts as a scratch awl thus not marking the leather and providing a perfect circle. takes some time to get the hang of it but it works.

My log, i love my log. I wanted a stamp holder but i didn't want to pay the price so i grabbed a chain saw and cut out this way to big section of a tree stripped the bark and started drilling holes, about 3 rows of holes in i thought "i would have to be a millionaire to own this many stamps" so i stopped.

over the last 5 months this log has become the hub of my work space i made several larger holes for markers, pens, pencils, styluses, and a center groove for my glass burnisher. i added a strap along the outside to hold awls among other things and now its a monstrosity of sharp objects and tools. It seems simple and no-brainer but its functional and super ugly (Let the wood dry for a long time before you go all drill happy on it or itll split).

The most recent thing i saw and fell in love with was Nigel Armitage's log work station with his stitching pony on it, as soon as i saw it I drew up one thats similar (didnt see the whole thing in the video) and currently have my uncle who does chainsaw carvings working on it.

Love the parafin wax idea, i had heard of bar soap but didnt care for that idea to much, i have alot of beeswax and parafin around cause i blend it to make my edge wax. thanks for the idea

[Jazznow]

You can use the Head of a big Hammer as a Mini anvil too.

Tip i got from ukray: use a Block of soft Lead as a counter when punching holes. It ont damage the hole punches and you can flaten the surface by hammering it.

[WScott]

Like to see a pic of that tool holder log, Murf

Just to see how you organize things into it

Scott

[Django57]

Just a very simple tip i found , when you go to a petrol station ( gas station ) they sometimes have a dispenser with free plastic gloves to protect your hands from the fuel , they make ideal disposable or even re-usable gloves for when your dying leather.