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I've started a project making leather-bound journals with the signatures sewn directly onto the leather. This is the first time I've ever worked with leather, and for some reason I decided to go full-tilt and do everything from scratch. I've got a big piece of 6-7 oz. veg-tanned leather that I'll be cutting down to smaller pieces and dyeing. I have a few issues I need to resolve: 1) How would I go about smoothing down the "fresh" side of the leather to the point where it won't really "shed" bits of material? Obviously it won't be perfectly smooth and that's ok because I like the way it looks, but I don't want bits of dead skin floating around in these books forever. I've sanded it down a bit but I'm not sure if it's doing much good. 2) To make the leather pretty supple, should I just be working it with my hands or should I oil it as well? How will the oil affect the color of the natural leather? Will it affect the color of the dye that I end up using? 3) When dyeing the leather (using Fiebing's dye), would a single coat of uncut dye on the dry leather be sufficient on the top-grain side? Should I wet the leather with water a bit/oil the leather first? I've tested it out on a dry scrap piece and cutting the dye with water seems to make it too light for what I'm aiming for, whereas when the dye is uncut and applied to a dry piece it seems to be just right. Do I absolutely need a sealer? Would sealing the "fresh" side help reduce the "shedding" a bit? I'm a total beginner with this but I'd like to get it right (maybe not perfect). The finished pieces don't need to look super finished/polished, just nice enough to where they don't look like they're still a work in progress. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 27, 2012 |
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Dec 27, 2012 03:55
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:19 |
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TheNothingNew posted:
That was a lot of good information, thank you! I'm using 80-lb drawing paper also with the longstitch method, so pretty much exactly the same thing you're doing. I ended up making one sort of as a test run before reading your post, and this was the result:     I dyed the leather with straight, undiluted dye without doing anything else to the leather before or after. It turned out pretty uneven but I didn't want a uniform look, and I like the almost wood-grain look that came out. Dying the "fresh" side actually helped out with the shedding considerably (there was just a rough patch on one part, the rest was pretty good). The dye itself seems to have set in pretty well and doesn't rub off, even when hit with a fair bit of moisture. I didn't seal this one, but I'll probably seal later ones. As far as oiling, I might do that in the future to other journals. Even after working it for a while after dyeing it the leather is still pretty stiff, which is ok, but a bit more supple would be nice. The stitching came out a bit uneven, too, which is just because I was rubbish at lining up the holes while poking them, but I'm not too worried about it. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 04:37
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I love how clean that looks. And is that a blue/green thread I see on the spine? Neat. How does wax affect the leather? I hadn't even realized that was an option.
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Dec 29, 2012 08:49
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Linear Ouroboros posted:Like I said, I teach classes from time to time out of the Tandy store in Richmond, Virginia. If anyone has interests, I'll post it the next time there's a class schedule posted. I would be very interested and I'm local. I just started working with leather and visited Tandy for the first time a week or so ago and popped in there again last night to pick up more stuff. Kinda  that you post about that right after I start and post in this thread, but your stuff is really cool, especially the book and masks.The folks in the Richmond store are a huge help and a great resource of information. I went in there pretty much blind the first time and looking for a bit of information about bookbinding with leather and they had someone there who does just that and spent the better part of half an hour schooling me on the basics to get me started. Definitely making lots of return visits.
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Jan 1, 2013 21:10
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Linear Ouroboros posted:Lol. James or Nikki? Both learned bookbinding from me, hehe. I actually have taught all four of the Richmond staff, they are great. I will tell them when I stop by tomorrow they are representing well Nikki was the one they grabbed as soon as I mentioned bookbinding, and I think James was there both times and helped me out again last night. Literally every question I had they were able to answer, which is why I went back so soon after the first time. For more content, I made a few more journals. Much happier with the way these turned out.  All five pieces of leather lined up! These are all done with British Tan and Ox Blood (or a mix of the two) from Fiebing's.  The two finished ones. The one on the left is a deeper shade of red than what shows up in the image.  The stitching came out way better after making a template like TheNothingNew suggested.  Detail of one of the ones dyed with the ox blood dye. Came out way more pink than expected, but the pattern my girlfriend decided to try came out looking pretty neat, so I'm happy with it.
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Jan 2, 2013 09:01
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Leather tools from Tandy are so expensive. Are there decent alternatives for, say, stitching groovers or overstitching wheels, even "homebrew" alternatives? Also, I'm attempting to make more notebooks/journals similar to my last bunch, but I'd like them to lie a bit more flat. The leather I'm working with is about 3mm so tends to be pretty stiff and not fold easily or flat. Any suggestions for getting a more solid crease on the spine?
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Aug 6, 2013 08:04
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Pagan posted:Actually, Tandy's tools are cheap. And unfortunately, you get what you pay for. A good solid beveler from some small manufacturers is $25 for ONE tool. http://www.barrykingtools.com/page5.htm Worth it, though. Heh, I guess "expensive" is subjective. Although I see what you mean, they're more of an investment than a purchase. I would love to get everything I need all at once but I guess I'll just have to get them all separately over time or something.
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Aug 7, 2013 04:02
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Recently picked up some tools, and I have a question regarding awls. I've seen an awl used at least two different ways: a) holding the leather vertically and pushing the awl through horizontally, b) laying the leather flat horizontally and lightly hammering the awl in vertically (similar to a chisel). For either method, should the awl blade basically be sharp as your typical knife blade, or, if I'm going to push/hammer the awl blade in like a chisel should it not be as sharp?
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Aug 16, 2013 19:18
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It was definitely an awl, since I've seen the same person use a chisel (four-pronged like the one mentioned). Obviously it's not ideal to hammer an awl, which is why I was asking. Just working with what I've got. I'll just sharpen the thing when I get a chance. A question about the chisels, though: are they diamond-shaped holes like with an awl, or some other shape?
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Aug 17, 2013 17:57
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Mr. Mailman posted:Stuff Looks great. I particularly like the map case's dye job. Out of curiosity, what thickness of leather did you use for most of those projects?
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Aug 17, 2013 18:36
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I'm going to keep making dumb posts in this thread until I get things through my thick skull. So against the general advice of this thread and elsewhere I picked up the 4-in-1 awl set to get me started, attempted to sharpen one of the awls, and I think I've pretty much ground it down to being useless at this point in an attempt to get it sharp. I knew what I was getting myself into, at least, so it wasn't a total waste. At this point I'm just looking for a serviceable awl. I don't really want to spend $100+ on a Douglas awl or something at the moment (especially given my inexperience with sharpening), but I'm ok with spending a decent amount knowing what it'll get me. What are my options? I don't even really know where to start looking or for what to look.
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Aug 23, 2013 00:29
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Pagan posted:Can you post a picture or two of what you're talking about? Yes, that's the one. I picked it up from Springfield Leather but it's the same thing. The only real difference I can tell from any of the pictures I've seen is that, with the exception of the scratch awl piece, all the blades were (painted?) black. As far as sharpening: I haven't a clue how to do it, really. I did a bit of research specifically for the awl and think I did the sharpening correctly (in general), but I just could not get a worthwhile edge on the drat thing and ended up taking it down to about 2/3 of its original length--I took way more metal off than I intended. It was an experiment so I'm not really broken up about it. I don't really have a way of getting pictures up of what I did to it at the moment.
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Aug 24, 2013 00:58
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That's really clever, actually. Thanks for the tip!
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Aug 24, 2013 04:17
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I actually originally used this video as a guide for sharpening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvY9beqObiQ I couldn't really tell how hard he was rubbing on the stones, though, so I guessed pretty hard (and guessed wrong, as it were). But yeah, he suggests the very same thing, Giraffe.
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Aug 24, 2013 18:57
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TheNothingNew posted:1. Coptic binding vs. Longstitch binding. I use longstitch because I hate the spine being open like that. However, everyone else I've seen does Coptic, and I'm wondering if there's a reason I've missed. Care to comment? I, too, am curious about this, as bookbinding is my other major interest!
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Aug 26, 2013 23:07
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When back-stitching, I know piercing the thread when coming through a hole is a huge no-no in bookbinding. If I'm doing a back-stitch with really tiny holes on a piece of leather, should I avoid piercing the thread, or does it matter much? Seems difficult no to, but not impossible.
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Aug 30, 2013 03:12
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After some putzing around I finally got around to making a thing: It's a super simple notebook slipcover, to go with the notebooks I've been making. This is the prototype so it's undyed and there are numerous gently caress-ups (see if you can spot them all) but overall I'm happy with the result and have some idea on how to improve. Either way it feels pretty great. Exterior is undyed veg-tan leather, interior is some sort of pre-dyed moderately stretchy lining leather.    Before all that I made my own stitching pony. Good lord does this thing make stitching a breeze. It also cost me less than  to make. And of course, being this was the first project I'd used an awl on, I stabbed the poo poo out of both my thumb and forefinger, naturally. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 06:37
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Mr. Mailman posted:Next time, wet the leather before folding the cover to avoid all the cracks and wrinkles. Bend it back and forth a bunch of times while it's damp. Then condition the leather (after dye and everything) with Atom Balm. It'll give it a nice shine, and help keep the leather supple and bendable. Looks fantastic otherwise! This is actually something I was wondering about. Should I just be wetting the fold or the entire piece? How wet should I get it, soaked or just enough as if I were going to tool it? If I'm going to condition it, would neatsfoot oil work? I've experimented with it before and it seems to darken the leather significantly, although I may have used too much. e: I should also mention that I cut a V-groove down the middle of the flesh side of the undyed piece in order to help it fold better (more as an experiment than anything). It seems to have helped the fold, but also caused some additional cracking/creasing as you saw in the picture. I'm debating continuing to do that on future covers given the bit of damage it caused, but it did seem to help. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 19:28
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This is all great information, thanks guys!  I'll do some testing on scrap pieces with what I have and see what works best.One final bit: I have acrylic resolene which I had planned to use on any dyed pieces to give them a water-resistant finish. Would the atom wax by itself essentially do the same thing as say, carnauba creme (conditioner) and acrylic resolene (topcoat/finish)? Can I even do them one after the other?
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Sep 6, 2013 05:30
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TheNothingNew posted:Basically what Mr. Mailman said, but here's a video of a guy comparing several leather finishes. I should warn you that his videos tend to be very long, this one you can skip to about 35 minutes once you get how he's working the comparison. Funny enough I've watched that guy's videos to death as they're really helpful, but thanks for linking it! That video in particular is why I was asking about the carnauba creme and resolene vs. atom wax. Thanks for all the help folks, you're a great resource to tap.
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Sep 7, 2013 01:48
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Yeah, and truthfully I don't much like the smell of the leather after the oil has been rubbed in. Either I over-oiled my test piece, or neatsfoot really kills the typical "leather" smell. I'll go with one of the other suggestions. Given how often stitching is done in leatherwork, and that neatsfoot will eat through stitches, when is it ever really appropriate to use?
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Sep 9, 2013 04:20
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I have kind of a silly question: is there any way to retain the natural, wonderful smell of veg-tan leather after you've dyed it and applied a finish? The dyed journals I made earlier this year have retained a somewhat chemical smell (after using spirit-based dyes) that isn't all that pleasant, while the undyed/unfinished slip cover I recently made has a wonderful, heady leather smell (so much so that it's difficult to pick it up and use it without giving it a whiff every time). It's not a deal-breaker for dyeing if I can't retain the smell, but it's a quality of the material that I think is important. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Sep 25, 2013 |
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Sep 25, 2013 18:53
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Dumb question: what do you mean by "wash it"? Are we talking soap and water, basically under a faucet (or an equivalent amount of water anyway)?
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Oct 31, 2013 16:26
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Badass! I'm really impressed with the belts and vambraces in particular. They look great! I wish I could figure out how to get such a nice shade out of mahogany dye. Mine always just comes out purple or pink. The color on the vambraces is beautiful.
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Nov 1, 2013 03:17
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When you use the gum trag, what's your method?  i.e. Do you work it in? Let it sit on top? Burnish it while wet/after it's dry?
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Aug 5, 2014 19:33
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That's a lot of really useful information! Thank you! I also never really thought to use beeswax for burnishing, and I don't know why. I use it for all sorts of other things related to leatherworking and bookbinding so it should have been an obvious choice.
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Aug 6, 2014 21:16
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I've been using Elmer's CraftBond Rubber Cement. It's acid-free!  I honestly don't know if it's the best around, but it's gotten the job done, and it dries pretty flexible. I glued together the edges of a messenger bag that I then stitched, and I've been tossing that thing around for months without issue.
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Sep 10, 2014 19:00
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Looks pretty good! Hard to wrap my head around the enclosure part without playing with it myself, but it's a neat idea. I made an extremely simple messenger bag over the summer and used the same sort of style you did for your bag--one long piece for the front, bottom, and back (and top and front-flap in my case), and two small pieces for the sides with the corners cut out and the edges bent for stitching. It was a little dicey when I got the corners while stitching, but it's held up pretty well regardless. Your bag looks even more solidly built than mine!
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Oct 12, 2014 23:34
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Geop posted:I've seen saddleback offering stuff along these lines, but does anyone know how to get a nice dusty-black carbon look to their leather, like this? I'd think it'd involve some sort of abrasive brushing or something of the sort. That's a complete guess, though. Honestly it looks like nothing more than oil-tanned leather, maybe with a small bit of distressing. I've used some in the past, and it's great stuff. Supple, already finished, and smells great, too. It can take some distressing to make it look more worn, but for the most part you can literally just rub the scratches and marks out with your finger.
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Nov 8, 2014 00:54
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If you mean the oil-tanned leather, it pretty much has a finish. The leather is impregnated with dyes, oils, and waxes (which is part of the oil tanning process as far as I'm aware), and it has held up in the rain without staining in my experience. It definitely doesn't feel like a topcoat if that's what you're after. It's all very much in/a part of the leather.
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Nov 8, 2014 06:34
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Oh, yes, that is certainly a concern. The flesh side has definitely rubbed off dye onto the paper in some journals I've made, and I just rubbed the grain side on a piece of paper and got some rub-off, too (though I had to apply a decent amount of pressure). I've never bothered to put a topcoat on this type of leather but I doubt it would hurt!
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Nov 8, 2014 18:09
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Seconding that Emushka's wallet pictorial was incredible! I made small notebook slipcovers a while back that looked almost identical to those in design, but they're really rough, partly because I didn't put nearly as much care into them as you did that wallet. The process you posted was very much a, "good, now here's what you did wrong, go try again," moment for me. Thank you so much for sharing! What thickness of leather did you use for the outer section and lining? It looks so thin from far away, but so chunky in the close-ups, it's hard to tell.
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Jul 22, 2015 17:23
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Leatherworking goons, I have a bunch of stuff I'm getting rid of. Tools and scraps, mostly. I don't have a list of it yet, but I'm looking to just off-load all of it for very very cheap. I'm talking maybe $50 for about $300 worth of stuff. This would be a great way for someone to start the hobby with lots of tools and some scraps of different sizes and types of leather to try out! If anyone is interested, shoot me an email at fuzzmeetup at Google mail. If you're in the Richmond, VA area, we can work out something much more easily.
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Oct 16, 2016 19:52
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I'm always happy to see this thread pulled from the grave! Welcome to the hobby. Honestly, the Tandy kits are crap. Don't bother with them. Don't skimp on most of your tools, either, or you'll regret it. That said, you don't have to go overboard starting out. I'm nowhere near as skilled as the others in this thread, but I've learned a lot over the last few years. Awl: This is the one tool you absolutely do not want to go cheap on because you will use it for every single project that requires stitching. Go with an Osborne to start, or, if you can get in touch with him, get Peter Main to make you one. He's a leatherworker who makes really high quality awls for maybe $40, if I remember correctly. petergmain@msn.com Get a small bit of jewellers rouge while you're at it. It's a chalky substance you can rub on a piece of leather (a strop) that you then draw the blade of the awl across in order to polish it. A sharp, polished blade is the key to everything. Groover: Get a decent one as you'll use it just about every time you'll use your awl. Chisels: Hold off on these until you've gotten some experience. They're very useful for making even, professional-looking stitching lines quickly, but you can get the same effect with time and practice. Luxury item and/or for large projects or high volume. Overstitch Wheel: You can go cheap on this one to start. Just get one that has two or three different swappable heads for different stitch spacing. Hole Punch: Start cheap, but figure out if you need one for the projects you're doing. After that figure out what sizes you need. Stick with solid constructions, avoid swappable heads. Don't forget a mallet. Needles: Just get some #5's I think. It's been a while, honestly, so take that number with a grain of salt and go looking on leatherworker.net for the right size. Doesn't really matter what brand. Get yourself some beeswax while you're at it. Beeswax is great for coating your own thread (really easy to do, look it up on YouTube) and it's great for occasionally jamming your awl blade into while stitching to keep it slick against the leather as it's pushing through it. Lettering Kit: These are going to be expensive no matter where you look. Bevels: Grab one or two of these in different sizes. You can start cheap. They'll make your edges look nice even with a minimal amount of effort. Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Jan 20, 2017 |
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Jan 20, 2017 07:27
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It's all to taste, really, but the smaller your projects are, the smaller the fine details will be, so smaller-size tools will probably fit the bill. Overstitch wheels are the exception. Realize that the smaller you go, the more stitches per inch, the longer it's going to take to stitch any single portion of a project. An edge of a project that takes a half hour to stitch at 5/inch might take an hour at 7/inch, just as a really rough example. That's why you want to go with one with a swappable head, so you can test it out and see what you think works or looks better. The stitches per inch is really up to preference on how you want the final piece to look, and only when you get up to larger projects will it make any real practical difference. Though, honestly, the stitches are going to hold regardless of how densely they're done--they're tough by design.
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Jan 21, 2017 00:29
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Unzip and Attack posted:Is it kosher to inquire about a "commission" in this thread? I would like a fairly simple item made but I don't know if I want to invest all the money for tools to make it myself since I may just want to make this one item. You might have a hard time finding someone here, so if no one responds, you could try asking over at leatherworker.net. You can always give Etsy a try, too. What are you looking to have made?
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Jan 21, 2017 22:07
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GenBurnside posted:So I was looking at a cheapo kit on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06W5TFX29/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl), but now you've got me reconsidering. That set is probably fine. If you enjoy the hobby and want to keep going with it after making a few small projects, you'll want to invest in a nicer awl, but the other tools will get the job done.
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May 12, 2017 04:37
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:19 |
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Oh my gosh I love it!! You chose some really beautiful colors. The thread contrast looks great! Did you do the strap yourself, too? Straps kind of intimidate me because they're such long, straight lines. Seems like they'd be hard to fix/fudge if you mess up.
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Sep 10, 2017 02:10
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