what resource was the most help to you when you were new at this?

[Colt W Knight]

I have been learning the hardway. Just recently picked up a few Al Stohlman books. Those things are a wealth of useable knowledge. Wish I would have gotten them a long time ago.

[facok]

I started leather craft ,when a rucksack I bought from morocco gave way by yje straps, I went for a day course , bought Al Stolhman book, started buying tools . and spending time on youtube Ian Atkinson ,Neil Amitage ,and others that i felt useful. mostly I also learn by doing as well

ayodele

Edited June 6, 2014 by facok

[joet]

When I started working leather craft, I bought one of those boxed sets with the tools and several kits. The instruction booklet was ok, but I found the best way to do it was just pick up a tool, look at the picture in the book and give it a try. After several attempts it got a little easier, but mistakes were still made. Then I bought several of the Al Stohlman books and studied them and tried to do what he did. I wish at the time I had the Tec Tips Book, as that really covered what I needed to know.

Then there was the old Make It With Leather magazine with articles on how to do things. I feel that magazine, and the current Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal were the best thing for any beginner to have at their disposal.

The George Hurst's videos also were a great help as he showed you how to do something the right way.

So, as you can see, there was more than just one thing that helped me learn.

[LoneWolf1973]

I would have to say the resource I learned from the most starting out as a kid was my grandpa...but since I got back into it a few years ago, I find leatherworker forums have been a big help. I have books both hard copy and digital but here has been a big help.

[sos]

I've been collecting internet things for awhile.

I've got 2 or 3 books on braiding - but honestly my head wasn't prepared for changing the way I think enough to use them. Example, worked on turkshead knots off Grant's book & couldn't get it - so found a pdf set on here (dead link & missing first file). Since the beginning was missing it took my another 3 months to go back & another month after that before I progressed at all.

I pick the brains of the guys at tandysleather in Bloomington, MN for stuff & then internet.

There's a local MN leather guild (http://www.leatherguild.org/) chaired by Johan Potgieter of South Africa and Ron another excellet cowboy leather worker. ( http://www.johan-potgieter.com).

I'm an every three months type of leather worker, will spend a week or two figuring out a new design. I kicked off a blog where I could record the online stuff - lately I go here in these orders:

• etsy.com to help me see what is out there from other people & see if there's better ways than what I have in mind
• pinterest.com has tons of resources taken from books
• instructables.com .. I adapt their normal clothing or whip instructions to make my own stuff ... sometimes you have to dig some
• youtube.com, but it's not as good as instructables for me, though it's a great supplement to the ground work laid on instructables
• here ... I normally compare what is on instructables to a search of this website for differences on leather versus other types of material

One of the things I really miss out on is advice like - which progression of skills to acquire for ease of learning, the substitute for expensive tools is always hand skill & tricks for "perfect" or less imperfect cuts. Example: I started cutting leather on my floor for smoother edges & setting up a full workshop isn't an option.

Edited July 17, 2015 by sos

[Stewart]

Started this in the 70s than 30 years of life happenings. Retired in 2009 and picked up tooling again.

Did the hit and miss thing for a while than stumbled onto this site. What a difference it made.

From this site I became friends with Luke Hattley and he has suffered since. there is more than enough

knowledge here to get things right. I have seen things that I have done and figured it was fine than see almost the same

that others have done similar but better and studied it.

Thank you for this site, thanks to Luke Hattley and thanks to masters that mentor to others.

Joe Stewart

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Back in the days when I started, computers were something you used for work and not much ore. I got going with the Stohlman books and a lucky chance to talk and correspond with Ann Stohlman personally when I was as she put it "just a youngster". Those were the stepping block that started me off. I still refer to those books today, Al really packed a lot into them. Today I think that this web sight goes a long way towards helping learn.

Bob

[Steve75]

This website was the most help to me when I first started. In a close second were the books by Al Stohlman.