Leather crafting book/manual recommendations

[Jang]

Hello all,  I'm looking to get into the craft and was wondering if any of you experienced folks had any recommendations on a book that would be great for a newbie like me to purchase that would be beneficial in helping me learn about the basics and even eventually more detailed aspects of the craft?  

 

Any help would be very much appreciated! 

[bikermutt07]

If you can find one F.O. Baird's leather secrets is a great all around resource. The tooling and designs are 60's Western base, but man for an all encompassing volume it is the one.

It has all the steps for tooling, it has dozens of patterns from watch bands to Western rigs and everything in between. It has several carving patterns for letters and figure carving.

Patterns for different cases, belts, and purses.

If you can't find or afford one I suggest these books.

1st. Leather Tools by Al Stohlman. This will teach you tips and tricks for tools as well as how to sharpen them. Great book.

2nd. The Art of Hand Sewing also by Al. This will help you master several different kinds of stitch.

Both of these books are less than 20 bucks on Amazon. Al really packed a lot of extra info and tips into these books.

Next I would suggest something a little more specific to what you want to make.

 

And now my personal thoughts to get you started. (Not my idea, but I elaborated on it).

Get yourself a decent single shoulder of veg tan. And start making bracelets. Do I like bracelets? No, I don't. But, it will help you develop your skills at a fast pace with minimal material.

You can learn to use the strap cutter, edge beveling, edge finishing, dying, conditioning, sealing,laminating, stamping, tooling, stitching, as well as buckles, snaps, conchos and other hardware.

You can do dozens at at a time. If you mess up, you chunk 50 cents worth of leather. And keep moving forward.

Do this and you will be off to a much better start than I.

I bounced from 1 one-off project to the next. And I was always missing a step, or my stitching wasn't good enough, or something. 

If you start with one item and make it to the point of perfection, you will have a much easier time moving forward.

Good luck.

[Jang]

50 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

If you can find one F.O. Baird's leather secrets is a great all around resource. The tooling and designs are 60's Western base, but man for an all encompassing volume it is the one.

It has all the steps for tooling, it has dozens of patterns from watch bands to Western rigs and everything in between. It has several carving patterns for letters and figure carving.

Patterns for different cases, belts, and purses.

If you can't find or afford one I suggest these books.

1st. Leather Tools by Al Stohlman. This will teach you tips and tricks for tools as well as how to sharpen them. Great book.

2nd. The Art of Hand Sewing also by Al. This will help you master several different kinds of stitch.

Both of these books are less than 20 bucks on Amazon. Al really packed a lot of extra info and tips into these books.

Next I would suggest something a little more specific to what you want to make.

 

And now my personal thoughts to get you started. (Not my idea, but I elaborated on it).

Get yourself a decent single shoulder of veg tan. And start making bracelets. Do I like bracelets? No, I don't. But, it will help you develop your skills at a fast pace with minimal material.

You can learn to use the strap cutter, edge beveling, edge finishing, dying, conditioning, sealing,laminating, stamping, tooling, stitching, as well as buckles, snaps, conchos and other hardware.

You can do dozens at at a time. If you mess up, you chunk 50 cents worth of leather. And keep moving forward.

Do this and you will be off to a much better start than I.

I bounced from 1 one-off project to the next. And I was always missing a step, or my stitching wasn't good enough, or something. 

If you start with one item and make it to the point of perfection, you will have a much easier time moving forward.

Good luck.

Thank you so much Bikermutt! I'll get on amazon and other sites and try to round these books up. Thanks for the tip on starting with a shoulder and bracelets. A plus for me on that is me and my wife do like bracelets.  

Just curious, do you have any recommendations on anyone's youtube channel that would be beneficial?

[AdamGadut]

while some leather designs are timeless, you may also want to be updated with whats generally beautiful for this generation. - Pinterest is a good resource. - not a book, but people in there post what is aesthetically appealing. This is something you may want to consider if you are looking to sell your finished leather items so you are guided what people like.. and in case a book is not enough - Youtube is a good to view - some great channels i know in there are from "Ian Atkinson" - he teaches you from the tools you need, down to how to improve your stitching., - Also - Nigel Armitage

The stitching is important for this craft - so this is what you want to improve the most. 

[Jang]

12 minutes ago, AdamGadut said:

while some leather designs are timeless, you may also want to be updated with whats generally beautiful for this generation. - Pinterest is a good resource. - not a book, but people in there post what is aesthetically appealing. This is something you may want to consider if you are looking to sell your finished leather items so you are guided what people like.. and in case a book is not enough - Youtube is a good to view - some great channels i know in there are from "Ian Atkinson" - he teaches you from the tools you need, down to how to improve your stitching., - Also - Nigel Armitage

The stitching is important for this craft - so this is what you want to improve the most. 

Thanks Adam! I jotted those names down and will be checking their channels out.

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Jang

[Jang]

If any of you would want to post some pics of your work I'd love to see it.

[AdamGadut]

here's a few i have, these were created a year ago

[Basically Bob]

The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michaels is excellent.

Al Stohlman's Art of Making Cases, Start with volume 1 and progress to volume 3

Edited June 14, 2017 by Basically Bob
Added photos

[Basically Bob]

Two more projects

 

 

[Jang]

Very nice work guys!

[bikermutt07]

Here is one of the later ones I did.

This one was for my wife. I used two pieces of 8oz Hermann Oak split down to 2oz. Laminated it together with weldwood. A line 20 snap, and some clearance conchos with clearance jeweled rivets.

Edited June 14, 2017 by bikermutt07

[Jang]

Nice work Bikermutt!

Is Hermann Oak the color?

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Jang

[JLSleather]

There are some pics on my site.. no point going on posting here.

Before recommending books / sources, I would need to know what you want to make.  Tooling?  Embossing?  Applique?  Harness? ...

 

[bikermutt07]

1 hour ago, Jang said:

Nice work Bikermutt!

Is Hermann Oak the color?

 

Hermann Oak is a domestic tannery brand that offers veg tan leather. Very high quality leather. So is wickett & craig. I am just finishing a wallet of w&c right now.

Either of these leathers will spoil you. There are others but these are the bar setters in the states for quality.

There is lots to learn about leather work for the new guys. I still consider myself an intermediate newbie due to my lack of time at the bench. But, I'm improving.

The color on the bracelet was a base of fiebings pro saddle tan with streaks of medium brown over the top. I accomplished the streaking by dipping the edge of a dry sponge in my dye and making squiggles with it. I liked the effect.

For dyes make the effort in the beginning to use the spirit based dyes.

Fiebings pro dye (sometimes still labeled pro oil dye) is a good start for your coloring.

I have never messed with water based dyes and all I see here is reasons to avoid it.

Also, go very slow on your projects. Time is your friend. Rushing will just botch it all up.

Do some digging on this site and you will find plenty of information to be had. I literally spent weeks just reading threads when I got started again.

[Jang]

3 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Hermann Oak is a domestic tannery brand that offers veg tan leather. Very high quality leather. So is wickett & craig. I am just finishing a wallet of w&c right now.

Either of these leathers will spoil you. There are others but these are the bar setters in the states for quality.

There is lots to learn about leather work for the new guys. I still consider myself an intermediate newbie due to my lack of time at the bench. But, I'm improving.

The color on the bracelet was a base of fiebings pro saddle tan with streaks of medium brown over the top. I accomplished the streaking by dipping the edge of a dry sponge in my dye and making squiggles with it. I liked the effect.

For dyes make the effort in the beginning to use the spirit based dyes.

Fiebings pro dye (sometimes still labeled pro oil dye) is a good start for your coloring.

I have never messed with water based dyes and all I see here is reasons to avoid it.

Also, go very slow on your projects. Time is your friend. Rushing will just botch it all up.

Do some digging on this site and you will find plenty of information to be had. I literally spent weeks just reading threads when I got started again.

Thanks so much on that info and tips bikermutt.  I really appreciate you taking time to help and explain.  And I will browse through the threads.  I've already seen where there is a wealth of info like you said. 

[Jang]

5 hours ago, JLSleather said:

There are some pics on my site.. no point going on posting here.

Before recommending books / sources, I would need to know what you want to make.  Tooling?  Embossing?  Applique?  Harness? ...

 

I would like to eventually make bracelets,  belts,  wallets,  purses,  knife sheaths,  and holsters. And I'm sure that'll broaden as I progress. 

[bikermutt07]

You will need to learn to sharpen stuff. Just another heads up. Sharp leather tools make life much easier.

[Jang]

8 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

You will need to learn to sharpen stuff. Just another heads up. Sharp leather tools make life much easier.

[Weaver Leather Supply]

Jang, We have started putting together a series of tutorials that are getting really good reviews online.  Check out Chuck Dorsett in his videos here.  http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/learn/master-your-leathercraft

There are multiple videos with specific tutorials on individual projects as well as numerous videos focusing on one tool or method.  I think many of these would benefit you.  

Thanks for checking them out!