Howdy Y'all

[Doomgiver13]

Brand-spankin'-new leather worker perched out in east-central nowhere Missouri. I recently acquired a cheap set of what are likely subpar leather working tools from Amazon (I had a gift card, dangit) and am going to start learning something (practically) just as soon as I lay hands on some usable leather. I feel like I've picked up a fair amount of theory reading posts here and watching YouTube videos. Don Gonzales is the YouTuber that comes immediately to mind. 

My intent is to acquire some scrap and start practicing with stitching and tooling a bit before I start picking projects and making stuff to learn how it works in the real world. I am always interested in suggestions and/or advice from those with more experience. 

Thanks for letting me join your apparently amiable group. I look forward to sharing this journey with all of you.

[Ragingstallion]

Great to have you here, but word of advice. I was given a set of tools from a family member who had no more interest in it, they made a few bracelets with the stamps, and the set they got was from amazon as well. The cheap sets you can get on there, are usually made out of zinc. most of them, when you look at the model number, somewhere on the handle portion of it, will have a Z (ex. Z-x511) which means it is a zinc. these tools are made more for kids and small hobbies. I bring this up because these tools love to bend and warp easily while using them. had one bend to a 45° after only about 30 hits, and not hard either. They are great for starting out and figuring out what direction you want to go, but don't get upset if/when it happens.

best way to get into it, is just do it. you may find you hate it, you might find you love it. you could be a natural at it even. If you want to do it, then best way to do it is just start. There are lots of people and topics posted here to help you out.

Again, welcome to the forum

[immiketoo]

Welcome to the madness!  

[garypl]

Welcome and hope you enjoy and learn from all the talented people on this forum.  Everyone shares information to help improve the workmanship of others.  Look forward to seeing your projects as you progress!

Gary

[battlemunky]

Welcome! Tons of great info and experience here. Don't be shy posting pics  

[chrisash]

Welcome

Plenty of places sell leather offcuts of various sizes which is a cheap way to make small items and practic on

Etsy.com has a good selection of leather tools mostly made in the Far East which are ok for hobby guys and very cheap but reasonable quality just a wait for delivery, other site shown on the top of the page are good suppliers for the US Market

[Doomgiver13]

16 hours ago, Ragingstallion said:

Great to have you here, but word of advice. I was given a set of tools from a family member who had no more interest in it, they made a few bracelets with the stamps, and the set they got was from amazon as well. The cheap sets you can get on there, are usually made out of zinc. most of them, when you look at the model number, somewhere on the handle portion of it, will have a Z (ex. Z-x511) which means it is a zinc. these tools are made more for kids and small hobbies. I bring this up because these tools love to bend and warp easily while using them. had one bend to a 45° after only about 30 hits, and not hard either. They are great for starting out and figuring out what direction you want to go, but don't get upset if/when it happens.

best way to get into it, is just do it. you may find you hate it, you might find you love it. you could be a natural at it even. If you want to do it, then best way to do it is just start. There are lots of people and topics posted here to help you out.

Again, welcome to the forum

Thanks for the warning! I'll keep this in mind.