kINGPINS noob to leathercraft thread.

[kINGPIN]

(Sorry if the title is a bit seft indulgent.)

I've posted a load of basic questions in other threads and everyone has been really helpful. I've got a tonne of other questions coming up, so in an aim to not cluttering up the forum I thought I would just stick them all here from now on. Also I'll use this as a random diary of how various projects are going. It should be useful to myself and hopefully to any other noob that stumbles across it.

First lesson learnt:

Diamond awls are delicate, treat them carefully!

My first day of leatherwork today and I snapped my awl. Got a new one coming as I can't fix it.


Apart from that hitch, I've had a great day cutting leather to shape and my sheath is coming along nicely. Making the template on an old cereal box was easier then I thought (cheers to the Canadian!).

[kINGPIN]

A little question for the future guys. Do you clean your wool daubers or just throw them away? If you clean them, what do you use please?

Cheers

Andy

[CanadianMike]

Yup, they are delicate. I've always run a round awl, until the time I misplaced it and bought a diamond awl........ preference, round awl...... mostly it get used for scoring ruler marks on my kydex prior to cutting. Lol

I throw them away, but depending on the type of dye you use (alcohol this applies to), you can put in a baggie and store in the freeze til next time.

I prefer balled up paper towel for dye application, find daubers soak too much in too fast. I prefer the daubers for flooding gun bluing on my knife blades.

[kINGPIN]

Yup, they are delicate. I've always run a round awl, until the time I misplaced it and bought a diamond awl........ preference, round awl...... mostly it get used for scoring ruler marks on my kydex prior to cutting. Lol

I throw them away, but depending on the type of dye you use (alcohol this applies to), you can put in a baggie and store in the freeze til next time.

I prefer balled up paper towel for dye application, find daubers soak too much in too fast. I prefer the daubers for flooding gun bluing on my knife blades.

Cheers mike, I'll do a test with both and see how it goes. It proves that theres more then one way to skin a cat.

I have a round awl but its way too wide and leaves a massive hole. The awl I bought has threaded tips so they are easy to change- and I bought a few extra as I don't think it will be the last time.

Heres what I managed to get done so far today. A lot of work to to still but I'm glad I managed to get the front and back lined up (still need to do the middles though).

[CanadianMike]

Thing about leather, it's made of crossweave strands. Push a round awl through it, it leaves a large hole, easy to sew, but the leather seals the hole up, simply because you aren't making a hole per se, you are just stretching the fibers out of the way leaving a hole. Is part of the reason you wet the leather when sewing, helps push the leather to seal itself. Hence the use of the lock stitch, leave the knot in the middle of the hole, the leather goes back to it's original state and locks the linked loops together inside.

[AL...]

Lookin good KP

Cheers
AL

[biker-bri]

Are you sure you haven't done this before, that's to good to be a first attempt, where are all the bits you mucked up, come on show us - where are they.
from me mate. cheers Bri

[kINGPIN]

Thing about leather, it's made of crossweave strands. Push a round awl through it, it leaves a large hole, easy to sew, but the leather seals the hole up, simply because you aren't making a hole per se, you are just stretching the fibers out of the way leaving a hole. Is part of the reason you wet the leather when sewing, helps push the leather to seal itself. Hence the use of the lock stitch, leave the knot in the middle of the hole, the leather goes back to it's original state and locks the linked loops together inside.

Thanks for the advice Mike.

Lookin good KP

Cheers
AL

Cheers Al. Its such an enjoyable craft, I'm glad to be doing it.

Are you sure you haven't done this before, that's to good to be a first attempt, where are all the bits you mucked up, come on show us - where are they.
from me mate. cheers Bri

Thats very kind of you, but yes its my first try. I used to be a carpet fitter which I think helped a bit as I'm used to using a stanley on thick material. Apart from breaking my awl, there hasn't been any major mistakes so far, but I've got a long way to go in the project yet.

I've got a new awl and some snaps andd rivets coming, so I'll wait for them before I continue.

[CanadianMike]

Working with leather like this is always about planning the layers, as in what has to be sewn on first, second, etc. before closing it up. Last thing you want is to find you've sewn your sheath but forgot to sew the retaining strap in before closing it up. At least thread can be sliced apart to start over. Lol

[kINGPIN]

Funny you should say that, I came very close to forgetting to even make a retaining strap.