Advise for beginning leather work.

[DirtyPhill]

I would like to start making my own leather sheaths. I would like to know what are the minimal for tools I need to get started. And if I can get these all in a kit or I have to buy them individual. And a couple good sites to purchase these tools from.

 

[Theodoric]

Where's your closest Tandy Leather store? I bet they have a kit.

 

[Zeasor]

Google for "leather working tools" => many sellers, much advice.

 

[batosai117]

All I've ever used is my knife and a needle with 65 pound spyderwire fishing string(it's the threaded line that cost about 12 bucks at wally world).

That pretty much covers everything. Now you just need to have a knife that you want to make the sheath for to get a general shape for the leather.

Some people have used (including myself) a milk carton to make home-made kydex. You just cut it to size and bend it to shape and burn the edges to make it "weld" itself in place. Great stuff to use as a liner for your leather sheath. This is of course the "poor man's" way of making a sheath, but hey, it'll be the one that you aren't afraid to mess up.

 

[StretchNM]

I was in the exact same predicament one year ago. I went to Tandy and bought a $40 kit with book, awls, needles, thread, stitch groover, stitch marking wheel, and some other stuff. It was expensive, but it got me started. It has EVERYTHING you need to make a sheath except leather, dye, contact cement, and finish.

After making two sheaths, I realized what other tools I needed and what tools I previously thought I needed, but didn;t need. Get the kit... it's basic but you'll learn alot from it.

These two are among the first sheaths I made:

The only thing extra that I bought not in the kit was cement, dye, finish, and some rivets ( a little riventing kit with different sizes and a setting anvil - about $6)

 

[raythebigfoot]

If you want to make decent sheaths from the beginning my list would be the following:

diamond hole punch 4 prong
diamond hole punch 1 prong
barge cement
needles
waxed thread
edge beveler (not exactly needed but makes your edges look a lot better)
neatsfoot oil
leather dye
some sort of finisher (I primarily use tankote)
cotton daubers or something to apply the dye and finish
rubber mat
some sort of knife to cut the leather
few small scraps of canvas material to finish the edges
wax
and of course some decent leather

You can make some very decent sheaths with the above following items (think I've got everything on there); you might want to spring for a few stamps to since that really adds to the sheath. You might get a piece of cocobolo (like the size of a knife scale) and shape it into a nice burnisher as well!




Hope that helps!

 

[Mahoney]

There's only a few things that have not been mentioned:

I'm a big fan of the "Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl" They are available new, used at flea markets, and I've seen clones at places like Harbor Freight. Easy to find and fairly inexpensive. I've found that clamping the leather in a vise near where you are stitching will make it easier to force the needle through. Alternately you can pre-punch the holes or put a piece of cork or soft wood on a table and use it as a backer behind the leather as you force the needle through.

If you put Rubbing Alcohol from the drugstore on leather it will make it pliable enough to stretch around handles, etc and hold a "fitted shape when dry.

2-part rivets that don't need any tool beyond a hammer and a firm surface to install are worth searching out, either at the hardware store or the leather supply

I recently bought some leather pieces from Leather Unlimited and was fairly happy with how much I got for the money, http://www.leatherunltd.com/leather/pieces/pieces.html

 

[rayban]

If you're fortunate to be close to a Tandy store, and if the "right" employees are on hand, they will not only point you to the bare essentials for making sheaths, they will also show you how they are used. Some stores even offer free beginner lessons.
(I heard recently that word has come down from corporate, that they are now to point you to the shelves for the tools, and if you ask how to use them, they point to the instruction books and tell you, "it's all in there"....but that's a whole nuther story.
)

Oops....just realized how old this thread was....but the info never gets old, right?