Beginner tools for leather work.

[kINGPIN]

LMAO That cracked me up.

You know what I mean- a cutting ruler, but one thats designed with raised edges so you don't cut your fingers off.

[welshdragon]

as for waxed thread has anyone used detal floss it is as strong as anything you can get and does the job only draw back smells of pepermint i use it for my hoods

all my Birds have lovely shiny beaks and nice smelling breath lol

[kINGPIN]

^^ I think I vaguely remember reading about that in the lofty wiseman book or similar.

[CanadianMike]

LMAO That cracked me up.

You know what I mean- a cutting ruler, but one thats designed with raised edges so you don't cut your fingers off.

Ah, ok, sounds handy, I clipped the end of my middle finger one day with my utility knife when scoring kydex with a metal ruler, pressed too hard and the edge caught the ruler and it cut a good four inches across the ruler..... and about 2mm off the tip of my finger. Was mostly dead skin, but it did bleed. Lesson learned, score lighter and more often rather than increased pressure, and have only about 1/4" of blade sticking out of the knife.

[welshdragon]

about a month/two months ago i was making a hood and i stuck the awl through my finger and out the other side ouch that hurt lol

[CanadianMike]

Can't wait for FishyFolk to come along and outline his long list of self inflicted injuries. Lol

[FishyFolk]

Can't wait for FishyFolk to come along and outline his long list of self inflicted injuries. Lol

lemme see...there was this time when...

Nahhh!

[kINGPIN]

Ouch.

I got the reccomendation for the ruler off a youtube vid, made sense to have one for those straight cuts.

I was a carpet fitter for a few years so I've had my fair share of cuts off stanley blades. But my boss won the crown for worst injury. He was using the 'knee kicker' (the tool you push into the carpet and use your knee to drive the carpet on the gripper), and his knife got in between his knee and the tool. Just goes to show that no matter how good you are at your trade, you can still hurt yourself in stupid ways.

[JonnyP]

I have no special leather working tools, but I do ok. I use either a battery drill or a dremmel thingy with a small drill bit, and drill every hole 5mm apart. I go against a metal ruler to get a nice straight line. I use sail mending twine and needle for the sewing cos its what I had knocking about.. Jobs a goodun..
Some of the boys on here have seen the tool roll I made. I have also done knife sheaths and axe masks..

[kINGPIN]

A little update; I bought most of my tools from the site Tony recommended. He was good to deal with on the phone and very helpful. The tools were on my doorstep 2 days later.

I also bought some tools from bowstock. No dispatch email yet, but I'm in no major rush as I will be buying my leather next month.

One of the problems I have in my house is absense of a work bench. We have a heavy duty pub style bench in the garden, but the weather has been a bit rubbish so I can't rely on that. So my dining table will be my main work station. So I went to my local fabricators (I deal with them all the time) and had some 100mm thick plate steel cut up and a lump of scrap 2x4 steel welded on top to make a table protector/anvil. Its just big enough to place an A3 cutting mat on it. It cost £50 but its saved me having to buy/make a proper work bench. I'll post up some pics of it soon.

All in all I have spent about £250 so far which isn't too bad as I have just sold some unused equipment to pay for it all. Work starts next month, thanks very much for the help guys.