New here - Not sure what I want to do

[heySkippy]

When I was a kid, I remember my dad making belts and gun belts and holsters and hats and 3-leg chair seats from leather. He had a box of die tools and a leather mallet and would pound designs into all these leather pieces that were very cool. He did this for a few years and moved on to a different hobby.

So that was 40 years ago. Last week I was home for my annual visit and asked my dad if I could take his leather tools home and give them a try. It sounds like fun and I'm a creative kind of guy, so I want to try. Now I just have to figure out where to start. Times have changed and gun safes have replaced gun racks. So, what to do?

I reckon that's what I'll be doing here. Looking for ideas, looking for sources, having fun. I know I'll be wanting to tool leather with my dad's tools, so I guess I should start by finding some leather and drawing a pattern and giving it a whirl. If I could find a way to make something that interfaces with my serious car hobby, that would be excellent.

I've got a single example of my dad's work here. Sometime soon I'll take a picture of it (rifle holster) and also his tools (which must be antiques now) and post.

That's my story. Nice to meet y'all.

[ArtS]

Welcome. There is a lot of knowledge here. You'll be surprised what you can pick up on this site.

Art

[TomSwede]

Hello and welcome heyskippy!

You're on the right track signing up here. Study around and read threads and you'll get now more about the tools. If yopu have old punches/stamps I bet they're better than the cheaper ones we buy today. take the pic of your tools and post it to get help with identifying them and their use.

If you have a Tandys store or other local leather store, check their scrapbin for thicker vegetable tan natural leather to test tooling on, they're just bits and pieces that the dealer has not much use of and they sell it cheap.

Don't be shy to ask any questions here, the atmosphere is very open and friendly!

The board is highly addictive too.

I have people asking me for some type of bags to have in their precious old american cars like first aid kit or toolbox matched to the interior of their cars that tour competitions here. So off course you can match things to your car. Door sides would be really cool with lots of tooling.

Tom

[BruceGibson]

Welcome aboard!

The rules don't require that you have anything specific to do here. Heck, just run with the rest of us!

[Luke Hatley]

hey Skippy..............40 years ago dont make the tools antique, seems like

only yesterday for me.....

anyhow use the tools and make your Dad proud.

and we're glad you found us.

[heySkippy]

Thanks everyone. These are the tools I brought from dad's house.

He did a lot of leather work, mostly in the 60s. When I was there last week I saw quite a few gun belts and holsters. This rifle holster is the only thing I have that he made.

It's suffered some stains somewhere along the road over the decades.

I believe I will order a couple Tandy wallet kits and practice on them. There's a Tandy store in Tampa that I'll try to get to eventually.

I will post my results!

[Greybeard]

Your dad had some talent, its a shame he stopped.

I dont know if you thought of this, but You might want to clean those tools up, before touching new leather. Had some rusty ones my self ,once, and ended up with some nice brownish /red fingerprints and stray marks. (Grrrrr)

When i first started I practiced on old leather belts from the flea market, thrift stores, and yard sales.

and other stuff i could pick up cheap. Nobody ever buys them and u can usually get them pretty cheap.

There is a lot of talent in this group....

And I learn from everyone.