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.