Homemade tools and ways you have saved money on tools

[VTleather09]

On 12/29/2016 at 9:11 PM, tnhomestead said:

If you have access to a grinder, shouldnt take but a few minutes to make a diamond awl or even a belt sander. Hmm, gives me an idea!~

Yes.  The sky is the limit if you have a grinder.  

[cjartist]

15 hours ago, Tob said:

Do keep your eyes on craigslist.  I found a set and some leather for free.  I misplaced some of the tools like an idiot.  There was a good amount of everything.  Food coloring works for non brown or black dyes.  I have made a barely passable beveler out of a nail.  550 cord could be a source of thread, use wax.  It is braided, not woven and a bit thick.  Almost forgot to say that you could use a sharpie to color it black brown or whatever color.

Ditto on this.  I got several gallons of Fiebings dye for free from Craigslist.  A realtor was tasked with cleaning out a property and posted it.  I probably won't have to buy any dye for years.

[Sheilajeanne]

When I was a kid, I did leatherwork using a pocket knife with a broken blade. I shaped the blade with a file until it came to a nice cutting point, and used that for cutting leather. I also used nails and other bits of metal that I shaped with a hammer and file to cut and stamp. Sewing needles and embroidery needles were used for stitching. I waxed button thread - the strongest thread my mom had - with wax I got off a ball of cheese!

Lots you can do with a bit of imagination!

 

[JenGranger]

I love love everyone's creativity and resourcefulness.  As someone with a very low income, I've always had to be creative and resourceful.

[YinTx]

I have been looking for this post for some time.  Wanted to add some simple items I use regularly.

First, a moving company moved my stuff some time ago, and wrapped everything in this brown paper to keep it from breaking/scratching.  I now have piles of it, flattened and folded, that I draw from every time I glue or dye something.  Keeps the tables clean!

Then, most all laundry soaps nowadays come with a plastic measuring cup as a lid.  When the soap is done, I clean the lid and use it for mixing dyes, 50/50 TanKote, holding alcohol for cleaning, etc.  Also have accumulated a pile of these lid/cups, and use them regularly.

When a sponge is too raggedy for doing dishes, cut it up into squares and use it for dye.  Same for worn out T-shirts, etc.  Great for buffing.

Scrap bits of thicker veg tan leather make great glue spreaders.

Those heavy metal binder clips work great to hold things together while you sew, or to keep something together while the glue dries.  Use them over and over and over...

YinTx

[Willie0]

I have made quite a few stamps from nails.  Granted most are pretty ugly, but some are really useful.  I like the undercut bevelers better than my storebought ones.  Also I use cheap clothespins to hold leather while gluing.

[chrisash]

I am on limited budget (retired) so I rang around all the local upholstery makers asking if they had any off-cuts, ended up with about 10 kilo of chrome leather in all colours and sizes, some large enough to make Tote bags from

Amazing how they reject the leather for such minor scrapes or blemishes, most were marked by chalk and you really had to search to find the fault why they had rejected using it

[YinTx]

20 hours ago, Willie0 said:

I have made quite a few stamps from nails.  Granted most are pretty ugly, but some are really useful.  I like the undercut bevelers better than my storebought ones.  Also I use cheap clothespins to hold leather while gluing.

Those are cool!  Would love to see the impressions they make.  Any issues with iron oxide on the leather over time?

YinTx

[Grumpymann]

Off topic. But I have a few punches I could part with if you want them.

[Riem]

Where I live I don't have easy access to leather shops and especially not shops that sells tools and accessories. Besides I'm a hobbyist and have only sold a few items, I'm certainly not funding my leather addiction yet ... When I started looking at doing some tooling, it became pretty clear that the mallet I used would not be adequate. I had the choice of either importing one or attempting to make one from empty milk jugs, a ready source of hdpe plastic which melts easily. My tooling maul is below. It consists of roughly 18 2-litre milk jugs melted down in my kitchen oven @ 180°C. I think it took close to three hours to complete the melting. The handle is a 30 cm long water pipe, covered with a veg tan scrap. The complete homemade maul - "Moker" - weights in at 736 grams, handle included.

My tooling surface is a granite washbasin cut out I picked up from a local manufacturer of bathroom ware. The edges are tapered and were quite sharp when I got it, but I used an angle grinder with a flap disk to smooth it down.

[zuludog]

Search YouTube for 'Mallet From Milk Jugs' and you'll see there are several examples

I don't do tooling so I don't need a heavy slab, but for skiving I use the glass oven door off an old cooker

[bikermutt07]

On 7/30/2018 at 8:00 PM, Riem said:

Where I live I don't have easy access to leather shops and especially not shops that sells tools and accessories. Besides I'm a hobbyist and have only sold a few items, I'm certainly not funding my leather addiction yet ... When I started looking at doing some tooling, it became pretty clear that the mallet I used would not be adequate. I had the choice of either importing one or attempting to make one from empty milk jugs, a ready source of hdpe plastic which melts easily. My tooling maul is below. It consists of roughly 18 2-litre milk jugs melted down in my kitchen oven @ 180°C. I think it took close to three hours to complete the melting. The handle is a 30 cm long water pipe, covered with a veg tan scrap. The complete homemade maul - "Moker" - weights in at 736 grams, handle included.

My tooling surface is a granite washbasin cut out I picked up from a local manufacturer of bathroom ware. The edges are tapered and were quite sharp when I got it, but I used an angle grinder with a flap disk to smooth it down.

Now that's what I call homemade. Hat's off to your ingenuity.

[chrisash]

I would offer to swap wives with you, my wife would have killed me, if i melted plastic in HER oven

[bikermutt07]

8 hours ago, chrisash said:

I would offer to swap wives with you, my wife would have killed me, if i melted plastic in HER oven

I shared the technique with my wife. She asked me not to do that in the house.

I was also thinking.... If it melts at 180* then you could make molds out of wood. Right?

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by bikermutt07

[YinTx]

20 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

I shared the technique with my wife. She asked me not to do that in the house.

I was also thinking.... If it melts at 180* then you could make molds out of wood. Right?

 

Must be time to build that outdoor forge you've always wanted, then.  Perhaps a shop to keep it safe in.  Must have it to save money so you can make a maul, right?  

YinTx

[Riem]

16 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Now that's what I call homemade. Hat's off to your ingenuity.

Thank you Bikermutt! Although I believe I've seen a thread about melting plastics for mauls and other stuff here on leatherworker.net before I attempted this one. I haven't bookmarked it, but if it wasn't here, I certainly got the idea from a search on the Interwebs, so I stood on the shoulders of giants...

[Riem]

10 hours ago, chrisash said:

I would offer to swap wives with you, my wife would have killed me, if i melted plastic in HER oven

Hahaha - indeed it did raise more than an eyebrow... More like a frying pan! Seriously though, it didn't smell much at all if you do it in the oven since the plastic is not exposed to flame or direct heat. The trick is to cut the milk jugs into small little pieces - squares of no more than 2 cm X 2 cm, pack that tightly into a metal container, crank up the heat to 180°C and let it bake for about an hour before removing it (welders gloves work great) and then compacting it with something heavy. Then it's back to the oven for. Another 30 minutes and then "rinse and repeat" until you are satisfied with it's density, shape and size.

Of course you can add additional plastic throughout the process as long as you achieve a more or less uniform melt. The plastic never gets into a molten state, it becomes slightly tacky if you get impatient and crank the heat up too much. Smell? Surprisingly very little. I was able to drive it off by opening windows and running a fan in the kitchen.

Was Mrs K angry? Well... She was out meeting a friend, and by the time she returned the house smelled completely different. Bacon and fried onions leave a pleasant aroma...

[Riem]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

Must be time to build that outdoor forge you've always wanted, then.  Perhaps a shop to keep it safe in.  Must have it to save money so you can make a maul, right?  

YinTx

Eish, this approach has potential... Outdoor pizza oven, man cave... Whatnot!

[Riem]

Another useful older post... I'm learning a lot by going through older posts! Just my "standing on the shoulders of giants" learning approach....

[bikermutt07]

@YinTx, I like where you're going with this....

[zfcjr67]

I built a stitching pony out of scrap wood and a few pieces of hardware I got at the store.  It was under 10 bucks US and I think better than the deluxe tandy version.  

[ScoobyNewbie]

Or kool-aid. 

I mean, maybe you could use kool-aid for dye. It works on hair and Easter eggs...

Edited August 4, 2018 by ScoobyNewbie

[fredk]

On 8/2/2018 at 5:15 PM, bikermutt07 said:

I was also thinking.... If it melts at 180* then you could make molds out of wood. Right?

What is your thinking on this? I find the question rather vague

[taketothetrees]

Popped down to my local marble worktop workshop and was allowed to take a look in their skip. Two nice pieces of granite. Small one approx. 11" x 12". Larger piece approx. 12" x 21". I stuck some split leather on the back so I can place them on my worktop, or on top of each other, hopefully without scratching them. Saved me some money there! 

[AndiMH]

I’m using a plastic kitchen cutting board and office clips as a stitching pony.