Anyone ever do an apprenticeship? Was it worth it?

[JC2019]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:55 AM, RockyAussie said:

I don't work with caiman skins so I cant say what size they use normally. The size of the salwater crocodile (porosus) skins we use varies a lot but an average would be around the 40cm. The sanding is from the back when sanding the bones. A couple of pictures of some bags I made show this better perhaps -

This one shows that sometimes the skins can be very thick and as I said some good sanding machinery is needed.

Note that the bones are very carefully sanded out at the edges as much as possible.

These are all, as I said before attached to a fabric to stabilise the skin behaviour

Here you see that the inner curve section has to have a zipper sewn to it and the outer edge has to be able to curve over and be sewn into the back of the bag

 

 

Ah very nice. I dont have a belt sander right now but maybe I should get one or perhaps start with a dremel.

Have you ever milled leather? I have some alligator skin that is less supple than others. Is the process just badically a washing machine style process that tumbles the leather? I am wondering how long this process takes. I dont think I will ever do this but seems interesting.

[RockyAussie]

Yes I have in the past milled leather in a drum which is like a large tumble dryer or front loading washing machine. The time it takes varies on the skin or skins being milled. Often pieces of carpet and even old sandshoes get thrown in to help it happen faster. The falling action helps it to soften. There are a lot faster machines for normal leather which use a series of pegs on one drum with a series of holes in alignment on the other drum. These turn and pull the leather through and can be a very aggressive method. Either method if overdone will wreck the fibres eventually and the softening process should ideally employ some oils if possible along with or instead of. If the skin you have is glazed then I would not look at milling it as it would craze crack everywhere. Not knowing the skin and how it is tanned I can only suggest applying several coats of Nivea cream(the one without any alcohol in it)  and letting it soak in between applications. If it is a glazed skin a bit of quick rough sanding on the rough/flesh side can break the tension and make it a lot better to work with. This must be done so as to not let the sanding get hot in any one position or the skin can end up burned and harder. I think I may have shown a bit of this earlier in this post on some glazed skin cut for bangles. A dremel wont be of any help on this.

[JC2019]

On 5/17/2019 at 8:03 PM, RockyAussie said:

Yes I have in the past milled leather in a drum which is like a large tumble dryer or front loading washing machine. The time it takes varies on the skin or skins being milled. Often pieces of carpet and even old sandshoes get thrown in to help it happen faster. The falling action helps it to soften. There are a lot faster machines for normal leather which use a series of pegs on one drum with a series of holes in alignment on the other drum. These turn and pull the leather through and can be a very aggressive method. Either method if overdone will wreck the fibres eventually and the softening process should ideally employ some oils if possible along with or instead of. If the skin you have is glazed then I would not look at milling it as it would craze crack everywhere. Not knowing the skin and how it is tanned I can only suggest applying several coats of Nivea cream(the one without any alcohol in it)  and letting it soak in between applications. If it is a glazed skin a bit of quick rough sanding on the rough/flesh side can break the tension and make it a lot better to work with. This must be done so as to not let the sanding get hot in any one position or the skin can end up burned and harder. I think I may have shown a bit of this earlier in this post on some glazed skin cut for bangles. A dremel wont be of any help on this.

Thanks for all the great info. Non glazed just crusts. 

[RockyAussie]

5 hours ago, JC2019 said:

Thanks for all the great info. Non glazed just crusts.  

So you have to dye them yet? Are they veg (tan colour) or chrome (green grey) tanned or a retan?

[Ken Nelson]

It costs to learn.  I learned to build saddles using 2 book series.  The Stholeman books and Harry Adams book.  After I built over 50 saddles, I went to work for a really good saddle maker for 9 months.  I didn't get paid much but if I had went to a school and learned as much, I would have paid a LOT of money. I have had a full  book for a lot of years since. 

[JC2019]

18 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

So you have to dye them yet? Are they veg (tan colour) or chrome (green grey) tanned or a retan?

The crusts? They are just white and I'm not sure what kind of tanning they went through.  One is an ostritch leg I got from springfield: https://www.springfieldleather.com/Ostrich-Leg-Crust

 

[Studio-N]

I hope it's different in the leather business, but in the machine shop world Apprenticeships have another name - slave labor.