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

[chromedome]

My name is Jack, I first got started with leather work 17 years ago when i was in High school and shooting black powder with a muzzleloading group. This lead to doing some reenactments and i realized i needed some moccasins. I have always been one that loved to cut several pieces out attatch them together and have something, so I WAS HOOKED. As i was making things for my costume i aquired a tandy catalog and i wanted to make a small saddle that hangs from the rear view mirror for a friend, i then realized i have no tools. So i took the plunge right out the gate and bought the biggest starter kit they had. Word got around that i was piddlin with it so a friend brought me a saddle to fix. I told him i know nothing about saddle repair, he said i didn't ask if you knew how to fix it, i want you to fix it. Well when i got finished with that one he then brought me five to repair. I have been going ever since. I made a couple freinds from the tandy store and they helped to guide some, but most of what i have learned (I still love to learn more) were from Stholman books, and alot of practice. I really enjoy this website, i have had alot of questions answered that i have wanted to ask someone for years, but just didn't know anyone else that did any amount of leatherwork. I just thankful that someone finally came up with the idea for this website. Well that is just the basic from my start with leatherwork Hope you enjoy!!

Happy Crafting

Jack

Lucas,TX

[firefly67]

I marked 'learned the hard way, no help' because that's pretty much how it is. I'm just beginning, and other than books, I don't really have anyone who is working in leather doing what I'm doing.

However I do get some much valued assistance from my husband, who may know little about leather but knows a lot about pattern making & sewing as he was a parachute rigger in the Navy & learned also to design & make his own utilitarian clothing. I also have a longtime friend in California who has had an international business for many years, building soft shell musical instrument cases out of leather or cordura. He admits that his work is 'carpentry' not 'aesthetic' but his designs are nonetheless elegant as well as functional. I can email him or call him & he will attempt to answer my newbie questions.

Still, all in all, I'm struggling along on my own. I could really use some classes on pattern making, how to line up lacing holes better, what hardware to use where, etc. etc.! I do feel lucky though, that I'm already an artist & have a small established business making & selling bead jewelry & handmade glass beads that I make, and this has given me the confidence to go ahead and branch out into leatherwork, to which I was exposed decades ago and always wanted to study!

I was thrilled to find this forum & hope I can find answers to some of my ongoing questions here, too. Clearly there are some fantastic artisans here, whose work will be very inspiring to me.

[Miss Denise]

The public library books, the internet, leather-craft magazines, of course this site, other guilds, friends and Tandy Leather. The main teacher trial and error!

[kwelna]

I got my start when looking for a belt. I am a big (fat) guy and I the only thing I could find in my size was garbage. So I thought how hard canit be to make a belt? I went to tandy latehr and bought a blank, rounded the tip adn punched some holes, stained it and added a buckle. Awesome I am now a leather worker...........LOL............. Next i wanted a holster..... OK how hard can that be? I am a leather worker after all, I can make belts....Well 5 trys later I had my first holster. I stil have it. The stitching is aweful, the edges are aweful the whole thing just aweful LOL. From there I got a couple of books and took a class from Tandy on making saddle bags. I took the course to learn how to saddle stitch and this class got me started. After that class I was now a leather worker that was an expert on stitching and saddle bags........yea right.....So what better way to show off my new expertease buit to make a messenger bag for my daughter. that actually turned out pretty good except fopr the stitching '-) I used the messenger bag for a week or two just to see if it would survive and I litteraly was inundated with interest and questions on it. I ended up selling a buch of them adn I still do . In the mean time there were some unsusal holsters and mag holders that i wanted so I designed up and made those as well. Again teh interest in them was suprising sdo I made more and they also sold very well. With the help of this site my stitching is now up to OK\Good and all my work has improved. SInce then I have made a ton of belts and a few wallets, holsters, dog collars and a number of messenger bags. Now I am interested in purses and other unique items (I am a bit compulsive\and ADHD when it come to my interests) It's still only a hobby for me but it seems to be paying for itself..... Well other than the acute tool fetish I seemed to have develpoed....Alas I digress.....In answer to your question, I wll have to give Tandy and the instructor (Beth) the initial nod as to my learning and then this site for my improvement and current abilities such as they are. This site also gives me insparation to try new things and improve my current abilities. Without this site, I doubt that I would still be doing any kind of leatherwork other than the occasional belt. So thank you (I think) Leatherworker.net

[shahbaz]

Hi

I'm new at this site plz if anybody have some knowledge on leather jackets waxing and tumbling guide me

Hi

I'm new at this site plz if anybody have some knowledge on leather jackets waxing and tumbling guide me

[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.