Heading To Tandy Tomorrow - But Need Advise. Want To Make Carved Collars.

[meagain]

Hi. Total newbie here. I'm interested in making leather collars - for myself and friends. Around 2 inches wide. They will me limited slip collars. No sewing. Hoping to do Sheridan-ish - florals, scrolls, and basic stuff to start. Hardware to be held by rivets of some sort. I also hope to add swarovski crystals with rim sets unless I can find them ready to go.

I think I'm going to get a Barry King swivel knife and maul (16oz?) but am lost on the tools.

And the size of them for a 2" wide design. I'm also worried a bit about buying bad tools yet don't want to spend $25-30 a pop for each. I'm hoping to get by with maybe 6 tried and true tools for now. Go-to tools.

Tomorrow I plan to go to Tandy and buy scrap, and I'm not sure what else. Are there any tools at Tandy that are ok or should I search for Vintage types? My fear is spending a ton of cash on stuff I won't be happy with when I get better and playing the upgrade game.

Taking advise on a nice go-to set of tools that are the gold standard. Thanks much!

[LTC]

You get what you pay for. If you want good quality tools, they ARE going to cost around $25 or more unless you get the imported trash tandy sells. Before anyone tries to correct me, I'm talking about edge bevelers and tools like that.

If you get the junk tandy sells, you're going to eventually end up replacing them with good quality tools and no one will buy that tandy stuff off of you.

But if you're just doing this as a hobby and are not a perfectionist like I am, who knows. Maybe the tandy stuff will be good enough for what you want to do.

[Bob Blea]

If you are already planning on a purchase from Barry King, I would recommend getting some of his bevelers. They work well and you will never need to replace them. The pro series tools at Tandy I am told are comparable (never tried them myself) but I think for the price Barry King has them beat.

[papaw]

Most of tandys is junk or scrap buy once and be done. It is maybe a good place to buy practice pieces but even that may not give you a good sense of what good leather will be to carve or stamp, I've learned the hard way don't wish to see others doing it that way. Just my .02

[CTaylorJr]

BK tools are hard to beat, however, if this is your first venture into leather working, I'd get a starter set of the Tandy stamps, a Tandy backgrounder, and the BK swivel knife. The starter set of stamps will get you going and let you know if you'll like this hobby (madness?).

Before trying to make your first collar, cut some scrap pieces into 2" strips and practice your casing, carving, and tooling. That would also be a good time to practice your finish work as well.

Once you decide to get serious about leather work, then you can begin to amass your tools one or a few at a time. As I began selling pieces of my work, I would take 50% of my gains and apply it toward tool upgrades or tool needs. If you plan to make a lot of collars, I highly suggest a quality strap cutter as well.

Fill in your information about location and such and someone local to you may be able to provide a bit of mentoring or assistance as well.

[Red Cent]

Research, research, research, ................................

[silverwingit]

+1 for anything Barry King.

You might be interested to know that Barry has a recommended size list in which he lists "starter" sets for different sized work. He offers these sets for $400, and they are a $480 value. You would never have to replace these quality stainless steel carving tools.

http://barrykingtools.com/sizelist.htm

Thanks,

Michelle

[Jimbob]

Well, seems you are a beginner....dont even know if you like it and not shure what to do....guess what....thats how I started 30 years ago....( still dont know what I am doing...according to my wife...hohoo..)

Tandy has cheap stuff and no way it is usable to do pro stuff...BUT the only place to buy leather tools for small amount of money...that one said, I cant afford to spend 25 dollar on a single beveler so I buy what I can and make it work for me.....think about making your own stamping and beveler tools if your handy with metal !!

You need basic stuff like a rawhide mallet, a good swivel knife BArry King is GOOD ( keep it sharp and learn how to sharpening it...) , small and medium beveler, a modeling tool and some border stamps to do amazingly lots of stuff...buy lesser and do more...then learn and buy more educated...Sheridian is a hole different world....stay with basic floral designs and have fun....look for some hardware at other places too, like Ohio travelbag company, buy leather by the full side and cut your own straps and as said here...research, research and research some more....thats it...you good to go !!

Ohhhh and always practice, practice, practice and....well you get the idea...hahaha

James

[meagain]

Thanks guys! Well I did make that trip to Tandy and felt compelled to buy their Pro Swivel knife which was on sale for $54.99. I wanted a smaller one but ended up with this. The bigger diameter with 3/8" blade. Yes I bought some tools and scrap leather.

Well - I've watched a ton of Youtubes and I'm not getting the swivel knife results I want. The videos I've seen - notably Bruce Cheaney - show the blade flowing like butter and the blade making a thick or wider cut than I'm getting. I.e.; My lines are thin - more like Exacto blade/razor and just - pissy. The lines I see on Youtube are wide and pretty/interesting in themselves.

Detail lines I'm trying to make are wiry thin and 'nothing'. So I'm not sure what I'm doing here but something's not right I think. Maybe I should return it.

[camano ridge]

Ok, several thing could be the reason or reasons you are not getting the results you want. THe first one it is a Tandy knife, so did you sharpen and or hone the blade? I can almost quarantee it is not as sharp as it should be. If you don't have the eqipment ot the knowledge to sharpen the blade. Call your Tandy store speak with the manager and see if they will sharpen it for you since you just boght it. I know the manager at my local store will. Next are you casing your leather before your trying to cut or are you cutting dry? By casing i don't mean just quickly wiping a wet sponge over the face of the leather. What style of blade did you get? I think the tandy library has some tip sheets on using the swivel knife, you also should be able to find some tutorials on using the swivel knife. Practice, practice, practice, there is a learning curve with the swivel knife. Also post a picture of some of your cuts we may be able to give you soem help.