Wysiwhee Report post Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) Hi, newbie here trying to cobble together my starter kit and need some help! I'm interested in making small leather items like wallets and bracelets for a hobby and as special gifts for friends/relatives, having been inspired recently by Jim Linnell's tutorials. I'm honestly a lot more interested in developing my skills in the carving/stamping part, my end goal is to be able to carve out my own illustrations onto leather, if I ever get good enough. So far, I have these picked out from LCT: Kyoshin Elle Pro Swivel Knife + blade Diamond Awl (Small) Pronged Chisels 2mm 1 & 4 prongs Other tools like needles, wing dividers, dyes, etc. I'll be hunting for in my local area (I'm in SE Asia). At the moment, I really need some help regarding a core stamp list to learn the Sheridan style. I've added the 6 stamping tools listed under the Basic Leather Carving Tutorial stickied in this subforum, and added a few choice picks of my own. Camouflage C431 Veiner V407 Background A104 Mule Foot U858 Seeder S722 Beveler B702F Beveler B701F Pear Shader P233 Pear Shader P206 Beveler B892-C Beveler B60 Is there anything in that stamp list that I can do without? I'm already way over budget and I still need to buy a lot of other things from local shops. I thought maybe I'd need a minimum of 2 sizes of bevelers, 2 of pear shaders, and a few undercut bevelers to start with. Can I just make do with one of each, and if so, which beveler, pear shader, and undercut beveler from the choices on that site would be better? (Preferably around the Y900 range) I'm also wondering if I'm better off just buying one of those budget Chinese stamp tool sets. I hear the quality isn't good and that the tools break or deform, so I've been really hesitant to go that route. Considering I'm still just a beginner though, maybe it's better value for money at my stage? Would also appreciate anyone looking over the rest of my starter kit, if it's not too much trouble: Swivel knife + blade Awl Pronged chisels 2mm, 1+4 prongs Stylus w/ modeling spoon Jeweller's rouge Mallet/maul Cutting mat Rubber mat or poly cutting board Tracing paper Needles Thread Large box cutter X-Acto Blade Wing divider Cobbler's hammer Edge creaser Edge burnisher Metal + transparent rulers Leather dyes + stains Leather finish Dense sponge Leather glue Spray bottle Vegetable-tanned leather 2mm (outer work/carving) Vegetable-tanned leather 1mm (inner work) Leather cords 2mm Would love to know if I left anything out, or if there are things I can remove to ease the budget. I'm pretty excited to get into this, but I don't want to be careless about my first purchases, especially considering my tight budget. Sorry for the lengthy first post! Thanks in advance for any help. (Posted an earlier version of this yesterday on Reddit, but I took down the post and made an updated version here instead. Apologies if this seems a little familiar!) Edited October 24, 2018 by Wysiwhee oops forgot a thing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted October 24, 2018 It's a big jump to try and do Tooling and leatherworking at the same time I would suggest making a few leather items first untill you are able to make some nice items and than move onto tooling My thinking is even if you make the best tooling in the world it will look bad if the object it's on is poorly made A cheap chinese set will cost only a few quid and when you know there limitations, you will have the expertise to know what better tools you need, then be able to spend your money wisely Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niakulah Report post Posted October 24, 2018 Do you read Chinese? If yes, then I would recommend Taobao. You can find both the cheap and the high quality stuff there. By LCT I assume you mean leathercrafttools.com? You are planning to buy the 2mm thonging chisels? Just FYI, that is not for stitching. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wysiwhee Report post Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) 29 minutes ago, chrisash said: It's a big jump to try and do Tooling and leatherworking at the same time I would suggest making a few leather items first untill you are able to make some nice items and than move onto tooling My thinking is even if you make the best tooling in the world it will look bad if the object it's on is poorly made A cheap chinese set will cost only a few quid and when you know there limitations, you will have the expertise to know what better tools you need, then be able to spend your money wisely Hi Chrisash, thanks for the reply! That makes sense, thanks. The carving part is seriously the one thing that's drawing my interest in leathercraft, to be honest, and if it were a choice between the two I'd really rather learn that first. Is learning carving alongside making small items like plain wallets and bracelets still too much too soon? 10 minutes ago, niakulah said: Do you read Chinese? If yes, then I would recommend Taobao. You can find both the cheap and the high quality stuff there. By LCT I assume you mean leathercrafttools.com? You are planning to buy the 2mm thonging chisels? Just FYI, that is not for stitching. No I can't read Chinese, sorry. Is it more advisable to get the Chinese stamping tools, then? I can afford a few pieces from LCT like what I listed, but can just go for a Chinese stamping set if that's more advisable. Honestly can't differentiate which sets are quality and which aren't, though. And yup, I'm kind of going by what Jim Linnell did in his videos and found the leather lacing attractive. I thought that's what the thonging chisel is for? Edited October 24, 2018 by Wysiwhee Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niakulah Report post Posted October 24, 2018 53 minutes ago, Wysiwhee said: Hi Chrisash, thanks for the reply! That makes sense, thanks. The carving part is seriously the one thing that's drawing my interest in leathercraft, to be honest, and if it were a choice between the two I'd really rather learn that first. Is learning carving alongside making small items like plain wallets and bracelets still too much too soon? No I can't read Chinese, sorry. Is it more advisable to get the Chinese stamping tools, then? I can afford a few pieces from LCT like what I listed, but can just go for a Chinese stamping set if that's more advisable. Honestly can't differentiate which sets are quality and which aren't, though. And yup, I'm kind of going by what Jim Linnell did in his videos and found the leather lacing attractive. I thought that's what the thonging chisel is for? Sorry, I meant for the the rest of your tools. I don't do stamping or carving so can't comment on that. Well as long as you are aware they are thonging and not stitching chisels, since you called them "pronged chisels" (stitching chisels also have prongs). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wysiwhee Report post Posted October 24, 2018 51 minutes ago, niakulah said: Sorry, I meant for the the rest of your tools. I don't do stamping or carving so can't comment on that. Well as long as you are aware they are thonging and not stitching chisels, since you called them "pronged chisels" (stitching chisels also have prongs). I see! Thanks, that's an interesting idea. I saw some sets that do have most of what I'm missing. If there are still large gaps in my list after I'm done searching locally, I'll take another look at them. Thanks for clarifying, re: chisels, my bad. I'll keep a closer eye on the terms I use. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
