book recommendation for beginners?

[newshoes]

Hi,

I was sure this probably has been asked before, but I haven't found anything in my searches through the forum just yet.  Are there any books that you experienced leather workers would especially recommend for a beginner?  Primarily my interests are towards shoes and dog collars, but some good information on general leatherwork would probably help me with both.

[Hardrada]

The first three listed here are ESSENTIAL:

https://www.ianatkinson.net/leather/toolset.htm

[zuludog]

As in the link posted by Hardrada I can recommend 'The Leatherworking Handbook' by Valerie MIchael and 'The Art of Hand Sewing Leather' by Al Stohlman

Nigel Armitage is a widely recognised expert on leatherwork, and his book is due out soon, I've already ordered it - 'Leathercraft: Traditional Handcrafted Leatherwork Skills and Projects'

There is a lot of information on YouTube. J H Leather has videos on making dog collars, and other things. These YT channels are also good - Nigel Armitage, Ian Atkinson, Geordie Leather. Just Search for 'beginners leatherwork';  'making shoes', and so on 

[newshoes]

Thank you both!

I'll check those all out! I've seen some JH Leather videos, but not the others.  It's pretty amazing what you can learn on Youtube these days,  my problem with the videos is I tend to watch too many and then can't always remember where I saw what.  So I definitely need to get a couple of books too.  I also appreciate the tool info.

Tasha

[PhilDimashq]

@newshoes Hi there.

I'm also a beginner (started in May) and the advice already given here is great.

 

I found Valerie MIchael's book to be a good general introduction with information on a wide range of topics.

She starts with the leather itself - types tanning, the names of cuts of leather, leather weights and what they're best for. etc etc.

Then she goes onto the tools, other materials, hardware etc before getting into various techniques for leather work.

There's also a few projects included for different levels of ability with patterns/instructions etc.

A very good introduction.

 

Al Stohlman's book on hand stitching is invaluable. Once I got my copy it changed how I sew, helped me notice and start to fix my mistakes.

It's great for tips on what to do in situations that are tricky for beginners:  things like running out of thread during a line of stitching or piercing your thread.

 

As a beginner, I have found both the videos by Nigel Armitage and Ian Aktinson to be a huge help. 

They are superb at their craft and really good at explaining things. Both have very good videos on stitching which would be a good place to start.

Other youtube sources that I have found really useful are Terrick from Chartermade, Yun from Leathertoolz and Chuck from Weaverleather.

There are many, many more, but each of these has been (and continues to be) a particular help to me.

 

A tip on youtube which I didn't know when I started leathercrafting.

You can create your own personal playlists and then save videos that you like into them.

So now I have different playlists set up for videos on different topics such as stitching, tools, tutorials, techniques and so on.

Very handy, like having your own video library.

 

Best of luck,

Phil

Edited November 27, 2020 by PhilDimashq

[newshoes]

Thanks Phil!

I've ordered The Leatherworking Handbook and The Art of Hand Sewing Leather, and have been exploring some of the videos on youtube as well.  I've fallen into a bit of a wormhole watching tooling videos, lol.  It wasn't something that I had previously had any interest in, but I can't stop watching them.  That's a great tip about making playlists.  I didn't know I could do that.

 

Tasha

[chuck123wapati]

tandy website has a library of leather working books by Stohlman most are free.  https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/

Edited December 3, 2020 by chuck123wapati

[mike02130]

Harry Rogers on YouTube has been doing a shoe project.

[newshoes]

On 12/3/2020 at 9:25 AM, chuck123wapati said:

tandy website has a library of leather working books by Stohlman most are free.  https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/

Thanks!  I had no idea.

[jonesys]

For shoe making, Sveta Kletina has a very good series on youtube, including lasts, tools and pattern drafting.

[Darel]

On 11/27/2020 at 3:09 PM, PhilDimashq said:

@newshoes Hi there.

I'm also a beginner (started in May) and the advice already given here is great.

 

I found Valerie MIchael's book to be a good general introduction with information on a wide range of topics.

She starts with the leather itself - types tanning, the names of cuts of leather, leather weights and what they're best for. etc etc.

Then she goes onto the tools, other materials, hardware etc before getting into various techniques for leather work.

There's also a few projects included for different levels of ability with patterns/instructions etc.

A very good introduction.

 

Al Stohlman's book on hand stitching is invaluable. Once I got my copy it changed how I sew, helped me notice and start to fix my mistakes.

It's great for tips on what to do in situations that are tricky for beginners:  things like running out of thread during a line of stitching or piercing your thread.

 

As a beginner, I have found both the videos by Nigel Armitage and Ian Aktinson to be a huge help. 

They are superb at their craft and really good at explaining things. Both have very good videos on stitching which would be a good place to start.

Other youtube sources that I have found really useful are Terrick from Chartermade, Yun from Leathertoolz and Chuck from Weaverleather.

There are many, many more, but each of these has been (and continues to be) a particular help to me.

 

A tip on youtube which I didn't know when I started leathercrafting.

You can create your own personal playlists and then save videos that you like into them.

So now I have different playlists set up for videos on different topics such as stitching, tools, tutorials, techniques and so on.

Very handy, like having your own video library.

 

Best of luck,

Phil

Thank you, Phil! I just decided to visit the forum in search of video recommendations on YouTube. I was also curious if there are podcasts for newbies. I think it would be very convenient. For example, listening in the car while driving to work.

[Darel]

On 3/17/2021 at 1:28 PM, Darel said:

Thank you, Phil! I just decided to visit the forum in search of video recommendations on YouTube. I was also curious if there are podcasts for newbies. I think it would be very convenient. For example, listening in the car while driving to work.

I really love podcasts because they save time. I also like the concise analysis of books. Maybe there are some analyzes of books on our topic? I mean, for example, like this analysis https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/borders-by-thomas-king-analysis/ is a review of a book by Thomas King. Such a small review is very convenient to read before reading and make sure how useful it is. It would be great to find such sources.