Starting Leather Working

[immiketoo]

HEre's a read that may help you.

 

https://medium.com/@jasontimmermans/a-comparative-study-of-leather-hardening-techniques-16-methods-tested-and-novel-approaches-8574e571f619?fbclid=IwAR2gSSIg1JQvTMOQOMo-mJSaNuDdsoB65d-jEy6HOkEmhbANBudIz8rawsc

[Chief Filipino]

A lot of people poopoo Tandy Leather but when I first started it was a great place for me to pick up decent enough tools and people who have some knowledge of leather working to get me started. Looks like there is one in Seattle: 14713 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133 

I wet formed my skull mask and used my face to help me form quite a bit of it. I used a bunch of cloth and wrapped it around to hold it on my face and would work the leather into shape every few minutes. I think within about an hour (or less) it was dry enough to hold the shape I wanted and then I just left it to dry for 24 hours. Though I live in Arizona the air will suck all the moisture out quickly. If you are making armor for yourself I'm sure you could just use your own body as the form.

Take this with a grain of salt because I have NO experience making a full suit of armor: For thickness, that could depend upon whether or not you wanted to wear it into combat, with groups like the SCA there are specifications it will have to meet to be allowed. I am planning on making my own armor some day and will be using 10/12 oz for the torso area, 8/9 oz for the bracers/arms/shoulders. For straps I would recommend 8/9oz for straps supporting a lot of weight and thinner for straps the smaller areas. 

As for tips you should absolutely know... find the method that works for you. On this forum you will get a dozen excellent methods from experienced leatherworkers who make amazing stuff, you need to find what will work for you. Along those lines there are a LOT of specialized tools for this craft, but many of them can be recreated using other tools you may already have you do not have to have all the tools find a way to make it work for you. With that being said the specialized tools make it MUCH easier and quicker to get work done. If this is something that you see yourself doing for years and/or trying to sell the expense of quality tools is well worth it!