None of your beezwax!

[Mjolnir]

May be a misleading title, but I thought it was fun. I'm a beginner, I have a lot of art supplies; tools, paint...etc, sculpting tools, papercraft tools blah blah. I have tools, I mean lowes tools. I like wood work so I have some of that stuff too. After starting leathercraft sometimes I've hit a dead end and I have used what I have.

For ex. Recently I've been very impressed with using wood stain on leather. It accentuates the leather, the saturation of color is a little thin. Metallic paint from hobby lobby works very well. Metallic spray paint does not! It stains but the color isn't accurate. Inks seem to work well. I've read that some of you use sharpie markers for your edges.

What other alternatives are there for leather that do not have the leather price tag?

PS I actually love beeswax. I am about to purchase carnuba wax. but I could probably get some car wax cheaper.

Alternative ideas anyone?

[alpha2]

The only alternative I have for beeswax is more beeswax. But, I have family that supplies me with beeswax. From the bees themselves. They don't know. Sshhhh!

I've heard the Sharpie marker thing, I tried it once. Okay, twice. I didn't like it. Too black, too shiny. Too easy to do it right with dye or edge paint. 

That's all I've got.

Jeff

[Sheilajeanne]

i use a granite floor tile that I got for $9 bucks from Home Depot as my surface for tooling. Had it for going on 2 years now, and it has yet to crack or chip. And if it does, I can replace it numerous times for what a marble slab from Tandy would cost me! 

Bought 3 glass shot glasses from Wal Mart for mixing dyes. The clean up really well when I'm finished, and so far,  I've yet to knock them over, as the bottoms are nice and heavy! Before that I was using the disposable ones, and they were so light in weight I had to be REALLY careful not to knock them over.

[Mjolnir]

8 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

i use a granite floor tile that I got for $9 bucks from Home Depot as my surface for tooling. Had it for going on 2 years now, and it has yet to crack or chip. And if it does, I can replace it numerous times for what a marble slab from Tandy would cost me! 

Bought 3 glass shot glasses from Wal Mart for mixing dyes. The clean up really well when I'm finished, and so far,  I've yet to knock them over, as the bottoms are nice and heavy! Before that I was using the disposable ones, and they were so light in weight I had to be REALLY careful not to knock them over.

nice. I'm not cheap, but I do use what is laying around. Plastic bags from my local grocery store are what I stain on. For large projects I use a trash bag and once the stain dries I use the trash bag

[garypl]

2 hours ago, Mjolnir said:

nice. I'm not cheap, but I do use what is laying around. Plastic bags from my local grocery store are what I stain on. For large projects I use a trash bag and once the stain dries I use the trash bag

I bought a roll of brown paper at Lowe’s for about $15 - it is 36” wide and there is quite a bit on the roll.  It feels about the same as paper grocery bags, but a little thinner.  I tear off a piece that is @15” long x 36” wide, fold it in half and use it to cover my granite surface while gluing and staining.  When it gets nasty I flip it over to the clean side and depending on how bad it is I can sometimes turn it inside out and use it again.

Gary

[Brooks125]

Prepaid shipping boxes from USPS.  The big ones make a great work surface for the bench.

 

[bikermutt07]

 A Lowe's or hd brand mini plier sets come in handy. You know the tiny ones with needle nose and straight jaw pliers. There are usually 4 or 5 different ones in the set for 10 bucks. I use those things all the time. Automotive sand paper. 

Wax paper. Super useful for gluing. The contact cement barely sticks to it. Works great for the spray adhesive too.

I have read of others using coffee to stain leather as well.

[Mjolnir]

16 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

 A Lowe's or hd brand mini plier sets come in handy. You know the tiny ones with needle nose and straight jaw pliers. There are usually 4 or 5 different ones in the set for 10 bucks. I use those things all the time. Automotive sand paper. 

Wax paper. Super useful for gluing. The contact cement barely sticks to it. Works great for the spray adhesive too.

I have read of others using coffee to stain leather as well.

I don't know why wax paper didn't occur to me. I'll try that, thanks! I have wondered about coffee. I have used tea to stain hemp with good effect and of course to make an old looking treasure map!

[Double Daddy]

I don't do a LOT of decorative stamping...couldn't find a decent granite piece in my area for cheap...went to HD and got a 12x12 tile, a concrete landscape tile of like size and a tube of heavy duty construction adhesive...100% coverage with proper allowance for "slack time" before sticking them together permanently...been 5-plus years and it's held up well as a flat work surface (rivet/snap setting, belt ends cut off, decorative stamping, etc)...I have no plans to replace it with anything more pricy.

I keep all of the boxes my leather, etc arrives in...works great for workbench liners for dyeing longer pieces or if I have something laying on the bench already and need to dye something else, I just grab a piece of box and put it in my lap...instant/temporary dyeing surface that can be set aside on one of my shelves with the work still on it. I even label the pieces by dye color (black, dark brown, saddle tan, etc) to get multiple uses out of them...I've been known to do the same thing with paper plates, latex gloves, daubers...stretch those supplies, son!

When I run out of Resolene, I'm gonna try the Mop n Glow, per several professional recommendations on here...their results speak for themselves...it's WAY cheaper than the Res and available locally.

[Matt S]

Jars. Spice jars, jam jars, mayo jars, mustard jars. They are great for holding rivets, eyelets, rolls of thread (put an eyelet through the lid), decanting dyes and glues from large bottles. Put the word around your friends and relatives and you'll be overflowing with them. If the glue goes off in the jar... throw it out and grab another. Fiddly little rivets get tipped into the upside-down lid before use and tipped back in when done.

Hammers. I don't do carving/tooling so my mileage may vary but I don't use anything branded for leatherwork. I have two nylon hammers, good ones that work well for hitting punches, pricking irons, bits of machinery, the neighbour kids stuff that gets in my way, wood chisels... Plus a slack handful of regular tack hammers, claw hammers, a couple engineers hammers... oh and a 18" 4lb thumb detector in Radioactive Orange. Very handy for reluctant large punches. Mostly just stuff that someone wanted rid of and I could find a use for.

Sponges. Tandy wants £2 for a sponge. I get 20 for 28p at the supermarket. Still works.

[Mjolnir]

27 minutes ago, Double Daddy said:

When I run out of Resolene, I'm gonna try the Mop n Glow, per several professional recommendations on here...their results speak for themselves...it's WAY cheaper than the Res and available locally.

what, what!? Details please.

 

21 minutes ago, Matt S said:

Sponges. Tandy wants £2 for a sponge. I get 20 for 28p at the supermarket. Still works.

I've been using generic q-tips, ( not sure if that is an international term... cotton swabs you clean your ears with) for glue application and for applying edge dye or small dying areas. (funny that I use a dish rag for everything and you guys are stuck with a tea towel

[fredk]

On 2/27/2018 at 0:37 AM, Mjolnir said:

...

PS I actually love beeswax. I am about to purchase carnuba wax. but I could probably get some car wax cheaper.

...

Don't with the car wax; it usually contains additives like silicon which are not good for leather.

Beeswax, carnuba, neetsfoot oil mix feeds the leather and gets right into it. Car wax doesn't and remains on the surface

>>>   Plastic bags are too expensive here [yes, really, about $1 each for a small bag for a few groceries and they fall apart as soon as you use them] I use the free newspapers that come thru my letter box

Same as Matt; cheap sponges from supermarket shop

Edited February 28, 2018 by fredk

[Mattsbagger]

Resoline and mop and glo are basiclly the same thing.Acrylic finish.Still cut it 50/50

[Mjolnir]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

Don't with the car wax; it usually contains additives like silicon which are not good for leather.

Beeswax, carnuba, neetsfoot oil mix feeds the leather and gets right into it. Car wax doesn't and remains on the surface

>>>   Plastic bags are too expensive here [yes, really, about $1 each for a small bag for a few groceries and they fall apart as soon as you use them] I use the free newspapers that come thru my letter box

Same as Matt; cheap sponges from supermarket shop

uhm. plastic shopping bags that are free here and go into land fills? I reuse as much as I can, my small town has no recycling program. Tell me I'm misunderstand you. Oh!! so you guys don't have the waste that we do. Makes sense. I think ill start using the cloth bags.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Mjolnir
add

[Mattsbagger]

England basicly outlawed the plastic carrier bags yrs ago everyone brings there own and packs own groceries. We have about 20 Sainsburys reusable shopping bags and confuses people when we pack our own groceries. Lol

[Bigfoote]

Wax paper for gluing and dying on. Q-tips as well for glue. I put a little resoline in a small jam jar that just fits a wool dauber, leave it in there, get a lot of mileage from one dauber. Don't fill past the wool, the shaft will rust quickly. I keep a little bowl of water next to me when I am dying, drop the dauber in that as soon as I am finished then when I have time wash them out and reuse. Old socks for buffing your leather. Wet dry sandpaper taped to my slab for sharpening instead of a stone. I'm pretty cheap but that's all I can think of right now, lol.

[fredk]

5 hours ago, Mattsbagger said:

England basicly outlawed the plastic carrier bags yrs ago everyone brings there own and packs own groceries. We have about 20 Sainsburys reusable shopping bags and confuses people when we pack our own groceries. Lol

As Matt says; All 4 home countries of the UK have banned or limited the use of throw-away plastic bags. In each country shops charge for what used to be free. In England/Scotland/Wales the shops charge about 15p [22c] a bag.  But in N.I. we pay more for the plastic bags. In N.I. most shops charge between 30p - 75p [42c - $1] per bag. So we buy other bags to last longer.  We've reduced the use of throw-away plastic bags by  about 98%.

I'm thinking of branching out and making 'life-time'* shopping bags out of upholstery leather I have

* re-useable shopping bags are known as 'a bag for life' in the UK; but I have a swmbo

Sorry - wandered of topic there

 

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by fredk

[zuludog]

I don't do any tooling or carving, so I don't need a thick, heavy slab. But for skiving I use the glass oven door off an old cooker. I got it originally for painting model planes on; it's very easy to clean

[fredk]

Up until recently a friend used an old microwave as his spray painting booth. He knows his electrics so he disconnected the heating element so he could have it on with the door open and the turntable turning slowly. His micro had a vent which he connected to a pipe leading outside to take fumes away. I've thought of doing the same, for spraying small leather goods

[Rockoboy]

I use a cardboard box for my spray booth. I hooked up a computer fan through the back to take fumes away. It sort of works ... a little bit.

I was told the only way to go for stamping was a 35 - 40 mm (or heavier) marble or granite slab. Nothing available in my area that I could find, but I did find some 20mm marble tiles. Local tile shop was throwing out some damaged bags of tile adhesive ... so I now have a few ~40mm laminated marble surfaces, around 400 x 400mm, that are stronger than the real stuff because the flaws don't go all the way through.

[Double Daddy]

12 hours ago, Mattsbagger said:

Resoline and mop and glo are basiclly the same thing.Acrylic finish.Still cut it 50/50

Plus...I'm kinda curious to see how a lemon-scented Lady-Smith or Ruger LCP holster turns out

[billybopp]

Unfortunately, there are a few instances of things that are pretty much leather only - edge creasers, bevelers, stamps, stitching chisels and irons, and a few others.  Even with those, you can sometimes find a creative substitute.

But fortunately there are also a LOT of tools and things that CAN cross over!  

Sharpening stones and strops don't much care what is sharpened on them - leather tools, straight razors, kitchen knives, woodworking tools - you name it.  (now that I've learned to sharpen leather tools, I have to warn the family when I've been at the kitchen knives so as not to scare them).

Cutting surfaces are more or less universal.  Self-healing cutting mats don't care what's cut on them.  While I wouldn't return them to kitchen use, a retired cutting board can be really useful.  The same goes for silicone cutting mats - they're really nice for gluing as the glue peels right off.  Retired silicone spatulas and basting brushes can be used for gluing as well and clean reasonably easily.

Hobby knives (X-Acto) have too many uses to count.  The usual #11 blade is a little too flimsy for leather IMHO, but the #2 scalpel blades work great.  Same knife handles either way.  Good for leather, wood, paper, fabric, even occasionally in the kitchen.  

For the most part, a ruler is a ruler is a ruler.  Same for a square and any number of layout tools.  I'm fond of combination squares, and have a few different sizes.  They do excellent double-duty as square AND ruler.  Being metal they are also excellent for guiding your knife as you cut.

Utility knives have all kinds of uses, and most everybody has a few.  Worth noting, however, disposable blades such as these and hobby knife blades are OK from the package but can be improved with some stropping!

More or less, mallets, mauls and hammers can cross over easily.  Same goes for chisels.

So there are a TON of possibilities.  

- Bill

 

 

[AdamPCain]

I use a Yoga  cork block to jab all my awls, needles and other sharp objects. Its pretty big 10x5x6

[Sheilajeanne]

Here I pay .05 for grocery bags, and I do it willingly. I use 'em for dog poop, dog hair,  regular garbage, etc, etc. and don't know what I'd do if I had to go to the reusable ones. Guess I'd be buying Glad Kitchen Catchers instead!  

Next time I need to replace my shower curtain, I am going to save a big piece of it for dyeing and gluing my leather work. Waxed paper just isn't big enough to cover everything, and if you use several sheets, dye can leak through the gaps if it spills.

Oh, and I have a ball of cheese wax from some Edam cheese that I use to wax thread ends when I'm sewing and they start to separate on me! Also works for waxing bow strings!

Edited February 28, 2018 by Sheilajeanne

[bikermutt07]

Oh for dying I have a huge ⅜" plexiglass sheet from church. It was the type you put on the floor for a computer chair.

I set it up when I am dying or laminating the big stuff.