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I have been experimenting with using a laser cutter to do carving and engraving. One of my next projects is armor for a ranger of Gondor, from Lord of the Rings. Here's a work in progress shot  That silvery effect is just the light catching the edges after polishing, but it still looks fantastic. I haven't finished cutting all the pieces, but I'm eager to see the finished product.
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Jan 4, 2015 00:51
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Bitter Beard posted:That's great man, what kind of laser is it? It's an Epilog Laser, which I can use at a local makerspace in Providence. It took a few projects to get a feel for the right settings and what kind of designs work best. It does leave a rather strong burnt smell, but once I cleaned and polished all the pieces that went away. The final result is better than I anticipated.
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Jan 5, 2015 01:27
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Sammyz posted:Anyone ever made a pair of custom Moccasins before? I'm looking to make a pair for myself and my wife and I'm hoping to get some experience based tips No, but Tandy sells a kit, and I would start there. It's not too expensive and at least it'll give you a good idea of what to expect.
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Jan 6, 2015 18:19
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Well, what are the moccasins actually FOR? Just house slippers? You don't need much of a sole. To actually take hiking? In the summer, the winter; in the woods or on pavement? Different story. I've seen hiking shoes with tire tread as the sole. Ray Mears wore a pair of First Nations moccasins that were nothing but tanned furs, built with the leather facing out. They are perfect for winter snowshoeing, but you'd tear them up walking on hard ground.
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Jan 10, 2015 17:09
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Sammyz posted:If they look acceptable enough I'd wear them as kicking around casual shoes. Mostly at home or in the office, for travel to the car or to any given indoors location. You know...shoes I don't know how fancy you're thinking, but high end men's dress shoes, the soles are made out of thick layers of leather. Looks like polished veg-tan to me. Easy to work with, and I'm sure it would last a long time, too. You could find some really thick veg-tan, or laminate a few layers of thinner material.
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Jan 13, 2015 01:29
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unpacked robinhood posted:Would I be able to give a nice scent to a piece of leather by keeping it in a box for a few months with some fresh cedar shavings and maybe some tobacco ? You're better off cleaning and polishing it. A lot of that "leather" smell comes from the various fats and chemicals used to keep the leather supple. Start with saddle soap. I have been busy the past couple of weeks. In part because New England has received about 4 feet of snow in the past two weeks, which for us is.... unusual. For some reason I can't find imgur's BBCode links, so here's the full album with descriptions. http://imgur.com/a/cda2y If there's a better image host, let me know and I'll switch things around. A pro tip I figured out - clean leather with acetone before dyeing. Long version follows. The first time I dyed that quiver, it came out terrible. You can see it hung up next to the shield. That's because my genius self decided to clean it with saddle soap. Which leaves a glossy shine, which is a reside that prevents dye from seeping into the fibers. When the quiver was spread out, it looked fine. Once I cleaned it up, it looked terrible. At first I thought it would work out, maybe look kinda weathered or something, but no, it was terrible. I carefully wiped the veg tan part down with a paper towel, slightly damp with acetone. Didn't scrub, but just gently cleaned all the leather. I let it dry for about an hour. After that, the leather looked really dull and flat. I applied the alcohol based dye (feibings USMC black) and it worked. You can see in the final shot; ask yourself, how much blacker can it be? The answer is none. None more black. Pagan fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Feb 12, 2015 |
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Feb 12, 2015 14:14
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This was a project for a friend of mine, who needed an archery quiver. She's also a fan of Hunger Games. I didn't want to copy the Mockingjay logo for several reasons, so I decided to make my own logo. But first, I had to learn how to draw birds. This is one of the images that influenced my bluejay. I like how muscular and powerful the bird looks in this shot.  A good shot showing the wings and head. I used many reference pictures to learn how to draw these birds.  This was my first attempt at drawing a bluejay. Not too bad, but I had a lot of work to do. I do NOT consider myself an artist when it comes to drawing. I've never been happy with my drawings, but I figured practice would pay off.  I filled up about 100 pages of my sketchbook with practice drawings, and ended up with this. Here, I've taken the completed drawing and I've transferred it to wet leather, and then I follow it with a swivel knife and various stamps to create different impressions.  One of my goals with this drawing was to capture the feeling of a bluejay so well that the extra colors wouldn't be needed.  I used a paintbrush to carefully go around the edges with this layer of black.  This shows the two major different pieces, and you can see all the various carving.  I used ribbon to lace up the back, and here it is with a few arrows.   I'm pretty happy overall. I think I need to work on making my stamps smoother and more even, but overall I'm pretty pleased.
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Jun 11, 2015 02:19
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Here's a commission from Etsy, a Steampunk Alice in Wonderland gun belt. This is my pistol; the girl who ordered it has a more steampunky-version. These aren't 100% completed. This was my first attempt at the holster. my Cheshire cat came out mediocre, but even worse...  My sewing machine screwed up on the bottom. That machine has been a blessing and a curse. When it works, it works amazingly and I can sew things in seconds. When it screws up, it ruins lots of in progress work. I couldn't send out a piece with ugly stitching on the bottom, so I remade the entire holster. Annoying, but I think the 2nd version looks much better.  One of the things I love about this hobby is how much better things look when you do the final color and polish. Look at how shiny and perfect the leather looks in this shot, compared to the first ones. The back is going to have some pieces added, but I carved this little scene of the white rabbit and a hat. Adds a little more detail.  Instead of cartridge loops, I added these flask holders. The customer has a small waist so I didn't have room for more.  Almost done, and I'm going to get some pictures of this on a model in costume. I sell these on my etsy store, and they're pretty fun to make. My favorite part is the final polish and assembly. It's satisfying when a bunch of pieces of raw leather suddenly look like a finished, high end product. Edit - shots of the gun on the model   Pagan fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Jun 19, 2015 |
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Jun 18, 2015 13:24
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Emushka posted:no lining, just the flesh side? why no lining? Cost; customers can pick what they want to spend.
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Jun 29, 2015 23:20
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For the knife sheath, if the bottom is stitched you should be fine. Maybe form it so the sharp part of the blade doesn't face the stitched edge. 8 to 10 oz veg tan is pretty sturdy. Also, just leave the tip open. This will help drain any moisture or other bad stuff that might be on the blade. It'll still hold it safe; the sheath can be longer than the blade, and the knife will stop when the handle hits the top of the sheath. I hope I'm explaining it well without being confusing.
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Jul 1, 2015 19:14
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Ghetto Blaster posted:Hello leatherworking thread! Im interested in making a few items maybe as gifts, how much do i need to spend to get myself setup with tools and materials to begin with? If someone could post or point me towards a kit list that would be awesome. This may be contrary to a lot of other advice, but I'd say find your local Tandy and get one of their smaller kits. http://www.tandyleather.com/en/category/starter-sets The Basic and Deluxe are both decent, and you can do some starter projects. After that you'll realize where your interests lie. If stamping and tooling doesn't interest you but sewing does, spend your next $50 on better sewing tools, etc. You could also build up a tool kit one piece at a time. I'd say an absolute bare minimum would be a knife (I mostly use a cheap utility knife with disposable blades) and a way to sew, along with a way to set rivets. What kind of projects are you thinking about making?
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Nov 26, 2015 20:59
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Ghetto Blaster posted:Belts/wallets/sheaths smaller items I guess. In in the U.K and have been googling around to find shops that might stock this sort of thing without much luck, so will probably be ordering online.
This doesn't even touch tooling and carving, which is a skill on it's own. That requires more tools; a swivel knife and basic stamp set is going to be at least $30 for the cheapest cheap stuff you can find. Realistically you're looking at $30 for the knife itself, and between $5 and $20 per stamp. That or find a machinist who owes you a lot of favors.
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Nov 29, 2015 15:09
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Unzip and Attack posted:A very basic scabbard/sheath for a fencing sword that looks almost exactly like this. Basically a sheath with a thin strip/flap that goes over the hilt and buttons to the other side to keep the thing in place, and a shoulder strap so I can carry it. I have to lug the thing to practices and events by carrying it via the handle and it's a PITA. It doesn't even have to be leather really - some sort of nylon fabric would be just as good. Do you want a full length scabbard? You might be able to make a sleeve that just fits around the center of the blade, near the lugs.
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Jan 29, 2017 06:13
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Re : Belts. I agree that even low effort real leather is better than high quality faux leather. I noticed that my hand made leather belts NEVER fall apart. I have several that are pushing a decade, and the worst is they have some stretched out holes where the belt tongue goes. But they don't crack, split, or delaminate like store bought belts have. I've also found that leather improves a lot as it ages. I've done a few experiments where I put no finish other than beeswax on a piece of leather, and let it age. Looks better and better every day. Natural materials in general tend to improve with time, as long as they are taken care of. Your belt looks great! Edge treatment can be time consuming; I think it's worth trying to rig a machine to help. I like to put a black edge on all of my pieces. Best way I've found is a piece of t-shirt wrapped around the little cotton daubs that Tandy sells.
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Sep 18, 2018 17:43
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Yeah, order of operations matters a lot. I need to get in the habit of punching holes AFTER dying, but I never do. I think it looks a lot better, but I am in the habit (somehow) of cutting and punching holes in the very beginning.
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Sep 20, 2018 16:45
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Glad to see this thread is still alive! And Trabant, great work on that video on minimal tool usage. Tools are expensive and time consuming to collect, so it's good that new folk can see what is possible with every day items.
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Jul 16, 2019 19:36
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I have been selling at SCA and cosplay events, and I'm always looking for un-served niches. After all, every leather vendor has bags and pouches, swordbelts; how do you set yourself apart? One thing a few people mentioned was the lack of good shoes. There are apparently only a handful of companies that make shoes for SCA and reenactors, so I figured I would try my hand at it. Took a few tries, but I eventually drafted a good pattern and made some shoes for myself and my partner. Now I'm thinking about selling these; something custom made so you can choose the colors you want.  https://imgur.com/gallery/G3XZFsj
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Feb 2, 2020 14:43
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Toolchat for leatherworkers : What is the best cutting knife you've seen? I mostly use a utility knife with disposable razor blades, but that works best for straight cuts and isn't great for curves. Next favorite is the round knife. I have a love / hate relationship with this tool. It's weird shape makes it difficult to use, but it's thin blade does cut pretty well. I've also made a few knifes of my own, and one or two shapes have worked out in varying degrees. So, what do you like for cutting leather?
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May 17, 2020 11:36
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Trabant posted:Honestly, I've yet to find something I truly like for anything other than long straight cuts (an Olfa round cutter) and it's annoying. For curves, I've mostly tried going small and thin, but with things like X-Acto blades I often end up putting a bevel on my cut instead of keeping it square. I guess I don't keep the knife vertical enough, so this is almost certainly a problem of practice on my end. And/or next time I'll try something with a stiffer blade, like one of those box cutters with snap-off blades. Violently uncomfortable is accurate. It's the perfect shape for catching a little razor sharp corner under a finger nail, and for driving that some point into your wrist when trying to use it.
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May 20, 2020 11:03
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