What projects do I begin with?

[Trunkdreamingnewbie]

Hi.

I am a complete newbie, and quite in doubt about what tools to get, and what projects to start up with in order to build the right skillset, to be able to end up with by dream project wich is a fully funktioning steamertrunk made of leather. I am prepared that this will take me years, and maybe even decades... but I have already been building my skills in other ancient crafts for 8 years... and what are ten or twenty more in the grand scheme of things? the best pictures of my dream project I could find are below... maybe some of the old dogs in here can tell from them what skills I will need and what smaller projects to start up with.

Thank you so much in advance

[Basically Bob]

I would start by buying three books: 

- the Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michaels (she guides you through projects, step by step, starting with simple projects, leading up to advanced projects.  

- the Art of Making leather Cases: Volumes 1 and 2  - perhaps three, later on.

Start with the stitching methods in Michael's book.  All the case making techniques you will need are covered in Stohlman's books.

Also, you tube has gobs of info: check out Leodis Leather and Nigel Armitage - lots more, but sometimes it is tough to sort out the good stuff from bad.

Tools: buy quality, for sure.

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Basically Bob

[ByNelson]

Hi 

The best thing to do is making a small project and do it like 10-20 times.. like a wallet... then you can practice stitching, edges, cutting until you know the process... then you can move on till bigger things...

tools... make a search.. lots of info here...

dont waist a lot of good leather by making too big projects in the beginning 

Edited June 12, 2017 by ByNelson

[Basically Bob]

JLS Leather, a regular poster on this forum, has several, simple, wallet/case patterns (free) on his website.

ByNelson's advice to start small is very good.  

Edited June 12, 2017 by Basically Bob

[Mattsbagger]

49 minutes ago, Basically Bob said:

JLS Leather, a regular poster on this forum, has several, simple, wallet/case patterns (free) on his website.

ByNelson's advice to start small is very good.  

I second this. Jeff also is good at advise and answers to questions. He is direct and to the point so don't take offence.lol

[LeatherBeast]

Great goals! I agree with everyone here, start with a very basic project so you can get all of the techniques down. Take it step by step. Once you have a good foundation of basics then you can break down any project into the smaller pieces and tackle it that way.

[Grumpymann]

Quote

 

I'm going to buck the trend. Go for gold, keep your feet on the ground and reach for the stars, let your reach out distance your grasp. Try for things that mimic what you want to do. i.e. stitched boxes, photo albums with fancy closures. Clutter up the design over engineer the thing. DREAM BIG and COMPLEX! then when your knee deep in the project,  your sick of looking at it and you just want it done. You can strip all that crap you don't want or need. in the process you will find your ... voice. experiment with what will and won't work and hold in your hand what you like and not like. And play, have fun.

[cjartist]

One thing that all of those trunks have in common is straps.  Practice making some dog collars or belts to learn how to properly finish the edges.

Will your trunks be wood lined?  I would think that would make it much easier to attach certain hardware and also hide some seams.

You may want to learn wet molding for the corner pieces like shown in the first and last photo.

[JLSleather]

2 hours ago, Mattsbagger said:

 Jeff also is ....  direct and to the point so don't take offence.lol

Wait.. what ..

Some free download patterns on my site - and this is the point.  A guycould make those little projects.  If it don't "work out", not out much of anything.  And if it does work out, then you have an actual useable item you can use or sell, not just some scraps sewn together.

For most projects, you'll want rubber cement (or contact cement), stitching awl, harness needles, something to burnish edges with ...

Edited June 12, 2017 by JLSleather

[Stetson912]

Good advice. You will find the literature basicallybob suggested to contain invaluable information. You can even practice with some projects in those books. Start with smaller projects that require the basic tools (as you will use those tools the most) develop your skills with them and you can add on l a little at a time. 

I can say for certain you WILL need a good sharp knife, a skiving knife, a few different sized hole punches(for snaps and rivets), a good awl (or stitching chisels if you prefer), and something like a wood or plastic slicker to burnish edges. That is as basic as it gets. Later on you will want wing dividers for marking stitch lines ect, a v gouge or better yet a French skiver(or both) for gouging fold lines and beveling edges. 

All these tools are mentioned in the books listed above. 

Good luck and happy making!