Practicing The Craft In Pittsburgh

[Wrumble]

Greetings from the 'burgh! I've been dabbling in leatherwork for a couple years, more seriously working since last May. Started as just making hackjob gun holsters because buying them is so expensive. Then got into making wallets, notebook covers, knife sheaths, etc after finishing college last spring. Can't find any good pictures of my sheaths or holsters at the moment, but here's a sampling of stuff I made for the family for Christmas. Please feel free to share any critiques, I've learned all I know from observing other work on here or the web so advice is greatly appreciated!

[TXAG]

Don't like finishing your edges?

[Wrumble]

I've tried burnishing them but they never seem to turn out like other things I see online. I usually make sure they are all even and then rub them with a wooden dowel I have until they shine up but they never look as good as I'd like. Advice?

[Bev478]

Welcome to the forum mate. Only just introduced myself on here as well. Only got a couple of responses.....but they were slightly friendlier lol

Love your notebook cover. Make quite a few A5 covers myself so enjoy seeing other people's work.

How do you find using the snap when there are glasses in the case? I'd be a bit concerned about putting too much pressure on!

As to the edges - I haven't perfected that skill myself yet. All I can suggest is reading the tutorial by Hidepounder (pinned to top of How Do I Do That section), find any other threads on the subject (which will mention all sorts of tools & techniques to help) & plenty of practice

Edited January 16, 2014 by Bev478

[Wrumble]

Thanks for the friendly response, I was afraid that scuffle would kill the thread

The notebook cover wallets have been more popular with my family than I thought...thanks for the compliment. I think those are my favorite recurring project (I've made a handful).

As for the snap in the glasses case, that's something I didn't fully think through when making. I made 2, for my mom and MIL for Christmas. I haven't asked them how they're doing but I presented them as glasses/junk pouches for their purses so I'm not sure if they're actually using them for glasses or not lol.

Thanks for the heads up on the tutorial for edge finishing, I've read a couple that were mentioned in other threads but I don't remember seeing that one yet, I'll look it up. I figure that skill is one of those that takes a while to get down pat.

[SteelcityK9Cop]

Welcome to the forum! Hope Yinz enjoy yer stayn'at!

[electrathon]

Welcome. You will learn a lot here.

You did not ask for a critique, but as to edge finishing there is a sticky thread about it. The little details make all the difference.

Aaron

Oh yea, Bev478... hello to you too.

[Jax]

Wrumble, I have found this is excellent.

http://leatherworker.net/bob-park/FinishingEdges-2-15-11.pdf

[Wrumble]

Thanks for the tips guys -

SteelcityK9Cop - do you have anywhere in Pittsburgh you buy supplies or do you just buy online? I like being able to see stuff in person first but I'm having trouble finding stuff (just moved up here in April).

[SteelcityK9Cop]

Wrumble... there is a Tandy store in Greensburg which is fun to visit. The "Pitt Pounders" Leather Guild meets there every two months. We are also not far from Weaver's in Ohio. Unfortunately there isn't anything "in town" as far as leather stuff goes. My mail order tends to go through SLC.

[Wrumble]

I can't believe I hadn't noticed there was a Tandy store so close, I'll have to check that out. I'm still somewhat ignorant on some types of leather, etc, so I've been buying leather in scrap boxes from other workers on eBay for cheap while honing my skills. I was thinking of sucking it up and ordering from a supplier myself soon, so I"ll have to check out SLC. Thanks for the info!

[SteelcityK9Cop]

So far I have found the best deals on scrap leather at SLC. They sell 5 pound bags of tooling and 20 pound boxes of horse tooling... I called to see if they had 20 pound boxes of cow tooling scraps and they made one up for me. A bunch were almost 9" square if not larger and range from 3-4 to 8-9 in thickness... great stuff to practice cutting, sewing, furnishing, and whatever else you want. The scraps Tandy sells at the store are crap.. expensive and you can't do much with them.

[Wrumble]

Thanks for the heads up, I'm looking at it now. It looks like their shipping prices are a bit higher than I expected...do you just order in bulk or find a way to get free shipping?

[Wrumble]

I ended up talking to them on the phone and apparently their shopping cart / shipping calculator is screwy, they ended up shipping me 9.5 lbs or cow tooling scrap for $39.50 shipped. Is that about what you've paid?

Also, my wife and I lucked into 2 antique sewing machines last night (she's a hobby seamstress and makes lots of baby stuff on a newer machine), one of which is a Singer 66 which I see some folks on here have used. Hoping to clean them up and maybe use them on some of my lighter work (starting to dabble in canvas/leather combo stuff). We'll see!

[Ulfberht Leather Works]

I'm digging the notebook cover! Nice work.

[SteelcityK9Cop]

That's about right give or take a few bucks. They were nice "scraps"... could easy make a few cheepie practice holsters out of them or other larger tooling projects. Hope you do as well!

[Wrumble]

I'm digging the notebook cover! Nice work.

Thanks!

That's about right give or take a few bucks. They were nice "scraps"... could easy make a few cheepie practice holsters out of them or other larger tooling projects. Hope you do as well!

You weren't kidding man, I talked to Springfield 3 days ago and it came last night, talk about quick! And I ordered 9.5 lbs and they sent ~14! (according to the shipping sticker). And the stuff is way better than what I'd been getting online. I think I'm set for a while! Thanks again for the tip.

[EmbossingDieCompany]

Welcome from NY Wes!