Getting started in LEATHERCRAFT - Tools you will NEED!

[Music] [Music] [Music] the number one thing you're going to need before you start leathercraft is a good cup of coffee nay a great cup of coffee we can eat that laser focus and that energy just the goodness of caffeine so get one of these it'll be well worth it the first thing I ever made out of leather was this leather camera strap before leather craft I was a professional wedding photographer and I needed a strap that would last me a long time and that was a high quality strap so I decided hey why not make one I like making things with my hands and designing things so let's do it I went on Amazon and looked up leather starter kit or leather tool kit for starters and I found one for about a hundred and twenty dollars I purchased it not knowing exactly what was in that tool kit and just tried to figure things out by myself back then I wish I had some sort of guidance as to what tools to buy or what I wouldn't need in that kit so that's what today's video is all about just helping you get started in leather craft hopefully what you see here today will help you figure out what to purchase and what not to purchase and where to put your money so today I'm gonna kind of guide you through what tools you're going to need in terms of making small leather goods when you start in leather craft I think it's smart to do some other things before you start making bags and satchels and and all those bigger things so today we're gonna kind of go through or walk through the steps to making a wallet and what tools you will need to do that the number one thing you're going to need is a template if you do not know what size to make the pockets of the wallet or how big to make the wallet that can be a little frustrating and you can waste a lot of leather and a lot of time so I've made that very easy for you shameless plug you can go to my website and you can purchase a wallet template print it on some cardstock and have at it I'll put the links in the descriptions of everything that I'm gonna be talking about today if the links aren't in the description it's because I do not know where to get it don't message me asking where do you get that because I have no idea and I probably won't get back to you anyways let's keep going so the next thing you're going to need before you start anything sorry my floors are very squeaky but you're going to need a cutting mat and a large surface to do your leather craft on I have a big table here with a cutting surface or cutting mat already installed so my whole workshop or my whole work space is cuttable so I don't have to worry about using a mat but I suggest getting a mat like this and something like this like a punch pad just a quick reminder everything that I talked about I'll be putting links in the description next thing you're going to need is a good knife and there are many different types of knives you can buy different styles they do different things but these are the knives I suggest again the number one knife it's probably the cheapest knife that I own is a Olfa rotary cutter and this is the sixty millimeter cutter it's got a nice depth right here so you can cut through some thick leather and it's really really useful I use this all the time especially cutting out quick patterns or cutting really straight lines with your ruler I definitely suggest this another knife I suggest is a straight blade or an exacto knife I use this knife here this is called the Lin dispensable knife by vergas blanchard you can use these knives for intricate cuts smaller cuts that you probably can't get with a rotary cutter just a quick note a lot of the tools that I started with I gave away or I upgraded because I no longer use them so I'm going to be talking about the tools that I use personally they might be a bit more expensive but you can always get a cheaper version or a cheaper model of the tools that I use just keep that in mind another knife that I use is a Japanese skiving knife this knife is used to skive down pockets or thin out layers of leather that are too thick so when you're stacking layers together on a wallet and get really chunky really fast so the inside pockets so when you're stacking pockets on top you can skive them down or thin them out to create a thinner pocket and this is what you would use this is called a Japanese skiving knife also many crafters use this knife for their whole project so they use it as their straight blade you hold it like this and you pull and you cut towards yourself like this you'd use it as a skiving knife you put your leather and then you just guys pushed through and thinned out your pockets that way so some crafters use this knife and this knife exclusively so Japanese skiving knife so after cutting out your patterns you're going to want to glue the pieces together and what I suggest are foam brushes and these things come in big packages of 25 that I buy from Amazon and they last quite a long time actually if you keep them in a container such as this actually one of my buddies from lift ride live sent me one of these containers to try out you can actually put your foam brush in there close the lid and it will keep your brush nice and wet for a long time actually up to a day which is really really great so a foam brush I get a lot of questions about what type of glue I use and I use Eco weld from tandy Leather it's a water-based contact adhesive and it is a really good option to those more stronger Barge chemical smelling glues I really don't like using barge a lot of people use barge and I just can't stand it because you want to be able to smell the leather and not the glue that you're using so I like using this Eco weld after gluing all of your pieces together you're going to need a wing divider to mark your stitch line and a wing divider is a little device like this I've got three of them because I don't like changing the sizes all the time so I have one for my stitch line I have one for my trim allowance and I have another random one that I can use for different sizes or different measurements so a winged divider is a device that allows you to mark a line on your leather for your stitch line and they're very very cheap and they're very very useful and I suggest getting a few of them so that you don't have to keep changing your sizing but if you're on a budget one is perfect I use a sewing machine and I also hand stitch so depending on what you have if you're on a budget or if you're just starting you probably will not have a sewing machine but what I suggest is getting some pricking irons or stitching punches when I first started in leather craft I bought really cheap tools that really helped me along the way this is a four in one punch from tandy Leather and this thing was really great to learn with the only thing I do not like about this is that the holes don't up exactly you know they're not in a very very straight line but it was a great tool to start with and I know a lot of crafters that still use this today and it's a very very effective and cheap tool you can get a whole bunch of these you can replace the teeth of them and they work very very well depending on what kind of a stitch you like you can use different types of pricking irons or punches I've upgraded to the sinner brock's stitching punch and this produces round holes and a very very straight and consistent line it's a higher quality tool and you're going to pay the price tag for it if you feel like you're going to pursue this craft and kind of continue in it I suggest getting a higher quality tool like the center box this is the stitching punch I don't tend to use a stitching punch very often I use the pricking irons and pricking irons are for more refined looking stitches so with the smaller thread they're more angled stitches and I I just personally like the way that the stitching our pricking iron looks like on leather goods but that's just me there are also different types of pricking irons this is actually called a round dent pricking iron and it has these little teeth that produce a smaller hole for a more refined stitching as well but in a different style than the slanted ones so it's totally up to you it's totally your call on how you want your stitching to look but you're going to need a stitching punch or pricking irons to hand stitch your leather goods when using a stitching punch or pricking irons you're going to need a mallet and something that has a little bit of weight to it is really good when I first started I actually used a mallet that was very lightweight and I'd be you know using a lot of force to get those pricking irons through the leather but I suggest a heavier weighted mallet this is a mallet from Barry King like I said there's many different styles and price ranges of stuff but this is the one that I use and I suggest one thing to remember is to not use metal on metal you'll start to mushroom out the top of the head there and it will ruin your pricking iron or your punch or whatever you're using it's better to use a mallet that has a plastic head just to remember that depending on which pricking iron or stitching punch you're using you can use different types of thread this is thread from main thread and this is vini mouth red I used this when I first started because I like the chunky looking stitch and I used it with the round stitching punch the one that produces the round holes the bigger holes but then I moved on to a more refined look with these pricking irons and I switched to a smaller thread which is a bonded nylon this is a Japanese thread it's a little bit more expensive I really like the way that it looks and the strength of it it is a very strong bonded nylon depending on what type of thread you use you're going to use different types of needles these are John James needles you can see that they're different in their size depending on which thread you're using you're going to use different types of needles and I will leave again links in the description where you can get these needles when you're stitching you're going to need a really good stitching pony I have bought stitching ponies in the past that were terrible and they were really frustrating to use and I was really wrestling my leather project but thankfully the company called Dream Factory has made these amazing little stitching clamps that works so well you can take them anywhere they're very very collapsible literally take them anywhere on the airplane you can use them at your kitchen table on your workshop anywhere because they fold up really nice they clamp onto your table with this little screw they open up like this put your leather project in there your wallet use this to close this up and you can adjust it with this little knob here amazing amazing stitching pony I cannot say enough good things about this you will need one of these so after stitching your wallet together you're going to want to sand the edges down to make them nice and flat and smooth and you're going to want to bevel that extra lip that happens after you've sanded so I suggest getting just any sort of sandpaper I use 240 here you can go all the way up to 600 a thousand it really depends on how smooth you want those edges and how glossy you want the finish to be edge bevelers there are many different edge bevelers that you can buy many different companies that make them they range from you know really cheap to really expensive I use this craft tool one I've bought a few of these ones because the tips tend to break they're not the highest quality but they're good budget-friendly quality tool I use pelo Santo tools and they are some really beautiful handcrafted tools with a higher quality steel that stay sharper longer and you can strop them to keep them nice and sharp but that's something that I've upgraded to over the years that I've been using them Palo Santo tools they come in different sizes I've got a number one and a number two the difference between them is actually pretty substantial the one takes off just a hair of the of the edge there to make a nice little bevel and then the the number two takes off a little bit more to make even more of a bevel so it really depends on what you're going for what look you're going for if you want a nice big bevel or a smaller bevel edge bevelers are a must so after beveling you're going to want to finish your edges and what I suggest the only thing I suggest to finish your edges is token ole token all was a huge game changer for me this stuff is the best finishing agent you could ever use I don't suggest using gum trek tranq gum tragacanth I didn't even how to pronounce that thing I don't suggest using gum I suggest using token all it leaves a nice beautiful glossy finish on your edges and I will not ever go away from the stuff it is beautiful I can't say enough good things about it as you can tell I also got a lot of questions about if I used token all as a glue and I don't I just put this glue inside a smaller token or container after applying token all to your edges you're going to want to use a slicker and I use this thing so much I have a burnisher machine behind me here this thing it's a cocobolo burnishing wheel or a burnishing cylinder but I find myself burnishing a lot of my kids by hand and I just used this really cheap pen slicker it's great I use it all the time I love it and after a while it develops like this patina in there and it just works even better so you're going to need a hand slicker this is an amazing tool this is another tool that I suggest getting it's a a very cheap tool you can get it from Amazon it's called the threads app - and it's used to burn the ends of the thread after you're done cutting them and it melts the thread down and then you can use your finger to kind of rub it into the leather and it just finishes your thread which works super super well and it's fun to use I like it if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me where the heck I got this acrylic marker from it's an edge dye marker I would be a very very rich man the problem is where I got it they don't sell it anymore so if I haven't answered you where I got this thing it's because I have no idea and if you know where to get this thing please let me know there's one place in the UK that sells it but I don't know where they sell it here so I'll put the link of this in the description of where you can get it I think it's in the UK but I'm not sure you can get it there but this is a really cool edge dye marker that you can fill with dye and you can use it to dye the edges of your leather goods I use it after I apply token all to my edges and then I wipe it off Andry burnish the edges a few other tools that I forgot to mention that I'm gonna mention now are one this edge rougher this is another tool that a lot of people have asked me about it's a craft tool Pro edge rougher and it's a tool that roughs up the edge of the leather or your leather where you want to glue so that the glue adheres better and so this is a really popular tool and a really cool tool to have in your tool Arsenal if you don't want to spend the money for this tool you can also use sandpaper or a knife sideways and you can kind of scratch and score your leather so that the glue will stick to it better another tool that I forgot to mention is a very important tool and that is called a scratch awl a scratch awl is a tool that you use to mark your leather especially tracing out your patterns on your leather or marking holes that you're gonna punch later it's a really important tool very cheap but very necessary a ruler you're gonna need one of these I think they're pretty self-explanatory this is a corner punch and corner punches are also a little bit more pricey but if you don't feel like spending the money on this you can always use a knife with a quarter you know you put the 25 cent piece or quarter or whatever you use to have a round corner and cut around with a knife but if you feel like spending the extra money to get a punch like this it's worth it I use this all the time to finish the corners or cut corners on my leather goods the craftool punch you can also get this tool as the kayo Chanel tool it's also a corner punch and it works well but if you don't want to spend the money on something like this you can always use your knife and cut your corners that way another tool that you might want to use which I find very helpful after you finish your leather project is called a bone folder and it's a tool that you pretty much put in your pockets to open up pockets so that the glue if you've over glued you can kind of open up and just stretch out the pockets a little bit it's a really useful tool I use it all the time when I'm finishing like I said a bone folder really good so there you have it ladies and gentlemen I'm sure there's many other tools that you could possibly use but I suggest these tools to get started all of these tools are not the cheapest but like I said you can get cheaper versions of them and I will try and put them in the description so you can shop and buy things that you will use and that you will need for now I hope you enjoyed this video I hope this helps you with your journey on starting leather craft and that it takes you somewhere somewhere cool you never know what you can make with this stuff or where it will take you thanks so much for hanging out with me today I appreciate all of you guys thanks for your love and your support if you would like to support this channel I now have a patreon you can check it out I'll also put that in the link below and yeah anything would be great anything a dollar to whatever's on your heart but hey no worries I will be doing giveaways through the patreon so if you are a patreon of mine then I will be doing exclusive giveaways of wallets and templates and all that other good stuff so thank you so much for watching subscribe like share and we'll see you in the next one peace [Music]

Channel: Little King Goods

Views: 1,109,626

Keywords: little king goods, leather craft, leathercraft, handcrafted leather goods, leather goods, leather, leather vlog, Ryan Savin, maker, born to create, creative, art, handmade, handcrafted, made by hand, handmade leather goods, edelkrone, Shell Cordovan Wallet, ASMR, saddle stitching, hand stitching, dream factory, getting started in leathercraft, starting leathercraft, how to leather craft, leathercraft tools, beginning leathercraft, working with leather, tools for working with leather

Id: 71ZEFw2tbKk

Length: 18min 34sec (1114 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 28 2019