Beginner's Guide. Tool Recommendations,tips, Techniques And More.

[DavidL]

I want to share the things I learned so far in leather working, in terms of the basics, styles of leather working, types of tools, breaking down which tools work best for what. This is only based on the tools I have used so far and doesnt include some tool as I have no reference.

*Add comments and I will put them where there are question marks (?) as they are something I'm not entirely familiar with and I'm basing it on what I hear.

Tools (Knives, edgers, overstitch wheels, pricking irons, heating tools, burnishing tools)

Knives

Exacto/Scalpel or leather knives (excluding round and english/french style skiving knives): (light to medium thick leathers): Recommended: OLFA cutters or surgical scalpels.

Good for: Very light skiving, overall cutting.

Bad for: Cutting thick leathers

Clicker Knives: (light to medium thick leathers): Recommended: Knipschield knives. European style clicker knives.

Good for: Precise cutting, turning corners. Cutting out from a template

Bad for: thicker leathers as multiple passes have to be made, although can be done.

Round Knives(?): (light to thick leathers): Recommended: Custom Makers, Vintage Makers

Good for: Any skiving besides chrome tan. Any leather. Heavy leathers which can be cut easier because of the pushing motion or rolling motion of the knife.

Bad for: Extreme curves

Japanese/French(?)/English Leather Knives(?): (Light to thick leather): Recommended: Japanese branded utility knives. Vergez blanchard french knife.

Good for: Cutting long straight lines. cutting leathers flush when glueing liners. Cutting a straight line that will be 100 percent straight

Bad for: Not as good at cutting heavy saddle leather as round knives because it can't roll. Not as good as scalpels/ at turns.

Rotary cutters: (light to medium leathers, and chrome tanned): Recommend Olfa rotary cutters

Good for: long cuts with a ruler, Cutting chrome tan without stretching and distorting the material,

Bad for: turns, hard to sharpen.

Marking tools + awls

Reg. Rulers + 90 degree rulers: I recommend to buy these rulers from art stores where you can test out the weight. Most companies make rulers thousands at a time and quality isn't a concern. Thicker, heavier rulers don't slips as much as lighter rulers. Some with cork help with slippage. With 90 degree rulers check that the edges are flat and not rounded.

Scatch Compass: One of the most used tools. Useful in marking a parallel line on leather for stitching, or for measuring distances. Any decent quality scratch compass would work, preferably with a bolt to tighten the legs from moving.

Groover: Cuts a groove in the leather letting the thread sit under the leather preventing it from wear.

Overstitch wheel (used with a groover) and pricking iron (recommend Vergez blanchard):

For the most part overstitch wheels (makes evenly spaced holes for stitching) no matter the quality will produce identical marks on the leather from brand to brand. More expensive overstitches are more polished tools.

Pricking irons are different from overstitch wheels . They mark slants as well as space the stitches and are hit with a hammer, also creating an indent in the leather. In my opinion pricking irons create a better stitch (more pronounced and slanted) than overstitch wheels.

Creasers: In the form of a hand tool, or wooden tool. Creates a slightly indented line parallel of the edge for decoration and is sometimes used for marking a line for an overstitch or pricking iron.

Awls: Most used tool in your tool box. Vergez blanchard sells awls in several sizes and are superior to tandy(not remotely usable), osborne, japanese brands, ect. They do need a good sharpening out the box. Different sizes correspond to different stitch lengths.

More to come... Dyes, finishes, storing, smoothing out, moulding leather, tooling leather, Skiving, burnishing edges, hot seal edges, misc. tools. Essentially, any thing that is used.

*Do add your thoughts on dyes, finishes, moulding and skiving especially. There are some finishes that I haven't used before, and I haven't moulded any leather or tooled any.

*Common beginner slip ups, habits to prevent headaches. Techniques to get a consistent end result.

Please share your thoughts.

[Fonzarellis]

If you are going to cover basics I would think you would have to include the obvious ones as well.

1. Selecting the right leather for your project (veg tanned for tooling, thicknesses, terminology with regard to cuts & grades, etc.) Tanage types, leather definitions, thickness vs application, different cuts

2. Properly casing your leather (link to tutorial) I always did it wrong before and worked it way too wet.

3. Sharpen your swivel knife before you use it (link to sharpening) (and another) I struggled with this one before reading about it here.

4. Basic knife use (link to tutorial

5. Basic beveling (link to tutorial)

I'm sure there are a few more but from a newbie point of view these are the things I would have wanted to read before I invested a dime. Should be a "sticky", as they are sometimes referred to, entitled something like "So you want to learn how to do leather work" or "Ten things every beginner should know". I probably spent four or five weeks searching out answers and maybe a week or two actually tooling and practicing before doing my first project.

Great idea DavidL!

Edited January 4, 2015 by northmount

[Northmount]

General Knife Sharpening Instructions

Items 4 and 5 from above post are combined (along with other steps) in a couple pinned topics here and here.

[Fonzarellis]

General Knife Sharpening Instructions

Items 4 and 5 from above post are combined (along with other steps) in a couple pinned topics here and here.

Thanks for posting this. I have little to do but surf this site and have seen all of those. I was simply saying those are the first things that came to mind and if one were to include them in a compiled list, then the the link should be included to make it simpler for the beginner. Wasn't particularly asking for the link, only that it should be included in any listing of basic tips.

I would like to see a lot more contribution here if some of you "pros" could offer what you think is important for a newb to learn/practice at first to save a lot of heartache and disappointment when starting out.

[Northmount]

Thanks for posting this. I have little to do but surf this site and have seen all of those. I was simply saying those are the first things that came to mind and if one were to include them in a compiled list, then the the link should be included to make it simpler for the beginner. Wasn't particularly asking for the link, only that it should be included in any listing of basic tips.

I would like to see a lot more contribution here if some of you "pros" could offer what you think is important for a newb to learn/practice at first to save a lot of heartache and disappointment when starting out.

This site does quite well at replying to people's queries, even when the same question is asked and answered many times over. So the "pros" in some cases are getting tired. Since you have lots of time to surf this site, perhaps you could take it upon yourself to put together a list with links of all the topics that a new person would be interested in.

I added links to your previous post to aid any others that might be following this thread or come across it later, whether they are of interest to you or not. I think it is good form for posters to link to other posts instead of just making a list, especially when the poster already knows where the answers are located. The search function works well too.

Hope you are interested in helping others find their way around this site. You may expand this thread, and we can pin this or a new thread if it turns out to provide a roadmap that will be helpful to many others. Don't restrict it to just tooling and carving.

Tom

[Fonzarellis]

I think I may have inadvertently hijacked this thread and for that I apologize to the OP. I would like to address a few points from northmount's post above if I may.

"perhaps you could take it upon yourself to put together a list with links of all the topics that a new person would be interested in."

What a great idea, but not sure if I am qualified to do so. Being a newb with only limited knowledge in a few areas. I would not know where to begin with compiling references for beginners in other facets of leathercraft like making bags and satchels for instance.

"I added links to your previous post to aid any others that might be following this thread or come across it later, whether they are of interest to you or not. I think it is good form for posters to link to other posts instead of just making a list, especially when the poster already knows where the answers are located. The search function works well too."

Ouch! It is difficult at best to know the intent when something is simply typed and is the single most reason I don't text on my phone. Too easy to misinterpret feelings or intent. I spologise for my inability to accurately convey my thoughts. Perhaps it narrow minded of me to think you were trying to help me with adding the links and in retrospect I appreciate your doing so for the reasons you stated. I will take your criticism under advisement and consider myself chastised for the "bad form".

As far as using the search function, I'm not sure what exactly would I search for without a glossary of terms to help me. If there is one I would definitely appreciate the link to that and I'm sure other newbs would as well. I have only made it to the fifties in the pages of this 'how to' forum and I will make a note of anything I think would be appropriate for adding to this post.

"Hope you are interested in helping others find their way around this site. You may expand this thread, and we can pin this or a new thread if it turns out to provide a roadmap that will be helpful to many others. Don't restrict it to just tooling and carving."

I am, indeed, interested in helping others, and this 'road map' you mentioned is a great idea and was actually my intent when posting my 'list' of things to include . I was, however, asking the pros for help in adding to the list of things to include and would help narrow down any effort to use the search function. I apologize if I came across as a smarta$$. If you feel it is inappropriate to add to the list without the links, I would welcome anyone to PM me with additions to the list and I will be happy to do the leg work and compile it as I do, as stated, have the time. This seems like a worthwhile undertaking that would help a lot of folks. I think that was the OP's intent in starting this thread. The question remains...what to include?

Edited January 6, 2015 by Fonzarellis

[Northmount]

Fonzarellis, thanks for your comments. It is easy to get under someone's skin, even when talking face to face, let alone via text. We don't have those visual cues to help interpret a person's feelings or expressions.

There are so many different areas of leatherworking that could be considered. Maybe one thing to do would be to look at the forum titles and use that as a guide to split the roadmap into useable sections, making a roadmap for each section that could then be pinned. As people's work load and interests change, the amount that someone contributes will ebb and flow. So this idea could take a long time to complete, but I think it could be very helpful. Maybe the topic could be stored in each section of the forum as a beginners guide to xxxxx. What do longtime members think of this idea?

Let's as a group of LWs see what we can do with this idea/project. We can edit a thread (or put the map/guide into a PDF) if needed to make it more useful once we have the content. And newbs probably need to help with this, since they are the ones that will ask many of the right questions for others with more experience to fill in the gaps with their knowledge.

Tom

[Fonzarellis]

Just in the minutes following my last post I began to rough out an outline and came to the same conclusion....this could take months! Having had a few moment to think about how to go about this, it occurs to me that the most helpful things to a beginner such as myself would be as follows:

The OP's start by listing basic tools was spot on and was at the top of my outline. The foremost was a glossery of terms so that a new could understand what was being talked about in various posts. Consider for a moment what I call 'churchspeak' with regard to new believers. Same difference.

The pinned post would I think be more basic like the first few pages of a "Beginning Leathercraft" book might contain...

Glossary of Leathercraft Terminology

Leather Selecton – parts of a cowhide, thickness, types of leather, quality, & project planning

Categories - leather carving & stamping, bags and satchels, wet forming, etc., etc.

Under leather carving and stamping could include these basics like your roadmap division suggestion.

Casing your leather – preparation, maintaining moisture, tooling time

Basic Leather Tools – Ruler, marble, mallet or maul, knife, awl, square,

Additional Tools –stylus, edge beveler, groover, stitching wheel, rivet setter, snap

setter, burnisher, punches, thread needles, lacing needles….

Carving & Stamping Tools

Categories - Floral, borders, gometric design, and figurecarving

Basic Floral Styles - Classic Western, Sheridan, Spanish, etc.

Perhaps a separate pin for Basic Tool Use

How to use a swivel knife, a beveler, a shader, backgrounder, etc.

Another for Stiching how-tos and types. Gotta me a lot more than you and I who might wish to contribute to this project.

How about we let the OP keep this thread as a separate one and we move this discussion to a separate thread on creating this outline and how we might sub-divide it?

Edited January 6, 2015 by Fonzarellis

[DavidL]

It would be interesting to get a real beginners guide going and have members write up suggestions, tips and tricks and general information and we can submit a small write up on a specific subject and if it is approved by the moderators or a poll then it is added and those who can add on more in-depth can submit a version of their work. For a single persons perspective it would take a long while to get this written, with everyone involved there would be a more complete guide from everyones experiences.

we can refer back to the guide for new members that have the same questions like a textbook . We can incorporate already made pdfs like hide pounders edge burnishing guide if he allows it and there are a bunch of those who have knowledge first hand in making saddles, bags, belts.

Here are a few categories that would be helpful- A sub thread would be interesting in how do i do that? There could be a sticky of the main write up by the members and we could have categories that you can submit a pdf write up sort of like how hide pounder's burnishing guide is but an entire section dedicated to tutorials.

old recipes - conditioners, dyes, sealer, waxes

tips and tricks - jigs, techniques

common beginner mistakes

I think it could be a step up to have all the information in categories and all the questions in how do i do that.

[Fonzarellis]

All good suggestions. I never intended this to be one person's perspective, just offering to help compile and organize. You got the ball rolling. My thoughts and ideas were just that, but only mine after all. We absolutely need as many as possible to contribute to the thought process to produce a viable format that the majority of folks can live with. There are already threads and pinned threads for "Beginner mistakes" and "tips & tricks" we might want to include by simply moving them over under one main heading like the one you chose for this thread. Subdivide that into categories or areas of interest like you suggested and we're off to a flying start. Perhaps a poll is in order. Your thoughts?

Gotta go help my daughter move so won't be able to respond till later this evening or in the morning. Till then...