Leather working

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JKosprey
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Leather working

Post by JKosprey »

I think we have a couple of holster makers here, yes? I'm looking for an inexpensive set of leather tools for making and tooling. The falconry season is coming to a close here, and for the next 6 months I'm going to be stir crazy with the little spare time I've got (Between work, Skyrim, and planning a wedding, there's not much). Hoping to be able to pick up a new hobby by crafting leather hawk equipment, knife sheaths, maybe try a holster. Essentially, I think I need to be able to cut, shape, and stitch. Tools to make things look fancy would also be nice. Anyone have suggestions?
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Kommander
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Re: Leather working

Post by Kommander »

I know you saw my thread about my own work, though I should have given you some more specifics after you asked for help.

In theory you can get away with nothing but the leather, a knife to cut it with, an awl, needle and thread, and some sort of leather treatment/sealer. However while your results might be functional, they wont be particularly well crafted. So skipping the leather here is a list of what you need, is roughly descending order of importance.

-Utility Knife. The sharper the better obviously, but also get one that has as little blade movement as possible.

-Straight edges of various sizes so your not fumbling around with a big ruler to make a small cut. A standard 12" metal ruler is a good starting point though.

-Needle and Thread. I would get some narrow needles, as they will be easier to get through the stitching holes than thick ones. For thread unless you really want to be traditional waxed nylon is best as the ends can be melted at the end of the stitching.

-Contact Cement. This will let you set leather pieces so they will stay in place while you hit it with the chisel and stitch them together. A little goes a long way here.

-Stitching Chisels. As I said in my other thread these are worth their weight in gold and have made my job a ton easier. I have the cheaper type that has the multiple screw in chisels of various sizes and it works fine for me. Don't forget to get a block of beezewak to lubricate it!

Edging tools: These are the three things you will need if you want to make those nice, smooth, rounded edges that you factory leather holster has. There are numerous ways to do this, but for them all you will need the Beveler and slicker. I use gum, but other people have other methods. Google is your friend here.

-Edge Beveler. I use a size three and it has worked with every thickness of leather I have tried it with so far.

-Wooden Slicker. This thing is awesome and will work with nearly any thickness of leather. If you want things to go faster you can get one of these and bolt it to a drill, but it wont work on as many thickness of leather. Come to think of it you could bolt the wooden one to a drill too...

-Gum Tragacanth. This is what you put on the edge of the leather before you hit it with an edge slicker.

Dies and Finishes: Like edging there is a ton of different things you can do here, and the method that you use to apply the dye matters as much as the dye itself. For example with my one bottle of Briar Brown Gel Antique I can get anything from a nice medium brown that brings out any "character" in the leather if I use a rag to apply it or I can get a very nice even chocolate cover if I use a woolen dobber. There are also a number of ways to seal the leather so you don't end up with a bunch of die transfer.

-Leather Die. This is what I've been using and I like it allot. If you use it just be sure to give the leather a good going over with a damp sponge ones its dry to get all the excess off.

-Leather Sheen. I use this as a final coating and it works really well and is easy to use. So easy that it possible to overuse and end up with something looking like patent leather.


Random stuff:

-Stitching Groover. This will do two things for you. First it will make that cool groove in you leather that will make your stitching be flush with the leathers surface and therefore less susceptible to wear. Second with the non cutting tip it will make a nice even mark parallel to the edge of the leather for you to line up your chisels in. However this second function can also be done with a compass, and I find that a compass actually works better for this. I am still trying to master grooving with this tool and frankly for smaller projects its not really needed.

-Hammer or something to help flatten the stitching once your done. I always forget to do this, and it's not vital, but it certainly wont hurt. I suppose anything with a nice large, hard, flat surface you can wack the surface of the leather with should work.

-Stitching Pony. I'm still working on getting one of these made, but it should make stitching even easier.

-Pliers to pull through stubborn needles, particularly when double stitching.

If you have anything specific you want to know about let me know and I'll get into some more detail.
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JKosprey
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Re: Leather working

Post by JKosprey »

Thanks Kommander, that's exactly what I was hoping for! I'll post some pics if I'm successful. One of the first projects I have in mind is a better sheath for my Mora knife. Not happy with the dangling plastic one it comes with.
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Kommander
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Re: Leather working

Post by Kommander »

I assume that you want to make a basic fold over sheath with perhaps a belt loop. Here is how I would do that, and may do it myself since I've got a Mora too.

1) Make a pattern out of cardstock, I use manila folders because its what I have on hand. At this stage its better to have a pattern that's a bit to big than two small.

2) Apply the pattern to the leather. I would do this by just laying it down on the leather and then running one end of a compass around the edge.

3) Cut the leather. If you have any straight edges you can use a ruler or whatnot to guide you, but otherwise its going to be freehand.

4) Edge the leather now if your going to. At this point I would just edge both side of the mouth and belt loop, as your probably going to have to clean up the stitched edge.

5) Wet the leather and then wrap it around your knife and use your fingers to block out the leather, making it fit the knifes shape. Do this for a while, letting the leather dry as you do. Eventually the leather will get to a point where its still a bit damp, but shaped to your knife. This includes folding back the integral belt loop if your design has one.

6) Now that you have a rough idea of what you knife will look like cut out that belt loop. Depending on your sheathes exact construction you might want to do this when you cut the rest of the leather. If you making a once piece sheath with an integral belt loop you can obviously skip this step.

7) Die the leather. You can do it inside and out or just the outside. At this point you need to seal the parts of the sheath that are about to become inaccessible such as the inside of the bet loop and sheath. Let everything dry.

8) Do whatever is needed to attach the belt loop at this time. If yours will be like mine then you need to finish the edges of both the mouth of the sheath and the belt loop with gum and an edge slicker. Then stitch on the belt loop, more detail on stitching later.

9) Glue the leather together along the stitching line. If it does not line up perfectly that does not matter, just make sure you knife still fits in OK.

10) If you have edges that did not line up perfectly now is the time to deal with that. Trim off any excess.

11) Now you need to bevel the stitched edge, and then touch up the die. If you can get you pattern perfect the first time you don't need to worry about trimming/redyeing/beveling. You would just bevel the top of the top side and bottom of the bottom side when you beveled the rest of the sheath.

12) Now it's time to prep the edge for stitching. First use either your stitching groover or compass to mark the line for your stitching chisel. You can but don't have to touch up the dye in the groove. Test out stitching up a grooved piece of leather with die and without die first. In fact you should be using some scrap leather to practice all of this, the grooving, cutting, stitching, etc., before you do work on your actual project.

13) Use your chisels to make holes for the stitching and then stitch it up with a saddle stitch (another place where Google and YouTube are your friends).

14) Slick the stitched edge using the gum and the edge slicker and then hit the outside of the sheath with some leather conditioner of your choice followed by some sealant.

This should be it, but I might have skipped something. I would also add reinforcing rivets to beginning and end of the stitching, but I already have those on hand. If you do add the rivets do that the stitching. Speaking of rivets I forgot something important in my tools list, a hole punch set! Don't bother with the hand held ones, get one that you have to hammer through the leather. The hand held ones bend and break all the time.

Tandy has a ton of video tutorials up on YouTube on how to use their various projects. Additionally there are allot of leather crafters on YouTube that film themselves making projects.
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JKosprey
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Re: Leather working

Post by JKosprey »

My plan for the Mora was actually (at least for the first try) to keep the plastic sheath and simply wrap it in leather, while placing belt loops to hang it horizontally. I like the stiffness of the plastic sheath, I just don't like the vertical hang and don't trust the belt loop it came with. I already lost one knife from a faulty sheath. Luckily, they're fairly inexpensive.

I'm sure I could do this now, but it would be very rough, and I wouldn't trust the end result. I'm hoping to fine-tune things while I have some down time.
Aesop
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Re: Leather working

Post by Aesop »

1) Start small. The tools listed are great, but you don't need them all at once, just eventually, as you gain skills.
2)#1 is a good cutting edge. I'm partial to the Olfa circular cutters.
3) Get a cutting platter to save your blades, and table tops.
4) As you gain skills, add tools.
5) Tandy Leather, both brick-n-mortar, and online, is your friend.
6) Sewing is a fine thing, but you can rivet a lot before you sew anything.
7) For that matter, both Shoe Goo and Barge cement will solve a lot of joinery problems, and last for [strike]years[/strike] ever.
8) For awesome belt-and-suspenders work for cutting blades, you can pre-cut the stitch holes, cement the sides, then sew them, and finally use rivets. The knife will rot to rust before the sheath will fail.
9) Thinner garment-weight leathers can be sewn with a decent machine, and a leather needle (or three, because they'll break if you run them too fast). And go beyond pure sewing thread if you're going to hand sew: Kevlar fishing line wears like iron, and is hell for strong. So is braided line.
10) Allocate space. Like books and DVD, leather hides and tools will swell to 180% of allocated space.
I started out making a simple sheath for a renfaire knife. Then an arm bracer and finger glove for archery. Numerous belt pouches. Followed by a quiver. Sword baldric. Dagger frog. Leather hat. Leather gaiters. Sword sheath. Spear point cover. Vest. Possibles bag. Spur straps. Saddlebags. Custom Ruger pistol holsters. Scope covers. &c. I haven't tackled serious gunleather or larger garments, but I could if I had the time.
11) You'll soon learn from your own work the difference between master work, which is worth purchasing, versus hack-jobbery overpriced like it was custom leatherwork.
I know two master craftsmen, one of whom works for John Bianchi now, and I know when it's time to just pay for the best, rather than settle for my modest efforts. But once you learn what you can do, and what it takes, there's effectively no limit to what you can do, if you have the inclination, time, and money for materials.

Have fun.
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Kommander
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Re: Leather working

Post by Kommander »

The first time I make somthing new it always sucks but I learn allot. The second one is much better. If you look up some tutorials you should have no problem making a decent, functional sheath on your first if not second attempt. Aseop has me thinking about what I should do for a next project. I never did like the sheath my big fixed blade knife came in.
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Weetabix
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Re: Leather working

Post by Weetabix »

Kommander and Aesop need to add pictures. /armchair commentator :D
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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308Mike
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Re: Leather working

Post by 308Mike »

FYI:

When I used to fix rock climber's packs (many of which were hauled up rock faces and cliff-sides, which usually blew out the manufacturer's stitching), I hand repaired things using good ol' dental floss (have you tried to break the stuff without using a cutting device?) - and NEVER received a complaint that my work and/or materials ever failed, even with HEAVY use and much abuse. I always used waxed floss, since it moved easier through the material, plus it was pretty much water-proof. And bulk waxed dental floss is very inexpensive (but you need to keep in mind the appearance you're working towards - climbers as a bunch don't really care much how things look - they're all about function and longevity, and saving money wherever they can).

YMMV
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HTRN
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Re: Leather working

Post by HTRN »

Dental floss is strong and cheap. An option for the larger sizes is braided fishing line.

And then there's Dyneema. No cheap, hard to find outside of eBay or fishing suppliers, and almost always from China or no listed country of origin. But man is that shit strong and tough.
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