Getting Started in Leathercrafting

[Music] hi I'm Chuck Dorset for Weaver leather craft supply and we aren't gonna get a start in leather work you are going to be amaze right off the bat how much you can make with leather in fact it's so prevalent in our world we almost don't notice it here's the coolest thing there is no end to the possibilities of projects with leather now we're going to look at some pictures here kind of get a little inspiration going but in these pictures I'm not just going to drop in you know our our standard leather projects pen holders key fobs know we're gonna look at some cool stuff some out-of-the-box projects that you can make literally on your kitchen table in leather we don't need a big shot we don't need a lot of equipment or ventilation or electrical everything is done with hand tools and they are all inexpensive now here's the biggest point to this whole video if you take nothing else away from this take this leather is just elements and they are all easy to learn a few of them we can spend our lifetime trying to master but you'll be surprised at what you'll be able to do the first time you sit down and work on some leather now also too if you feel like you don't really have a creative streak you're not gonna believe what you're able to make that creative streets gonna bubble to the surface you're gonna have more projects than you can make in a year alright so I'm rolling I know there's so much I want to say but we're gonna back off a little bit let's take a look at our first pick let's get a little inspiration going here belts one Avenue alone with unlimited possibilities shape design color decoration width length the cuffs mystery braid crosshatch again unlimited tassels four strand braids and the last item there the mask now I say the mask for last because this is the perfect example of what I'm talking about we're not having any limit to our possibilities okay so that's a fox that is simply some leather some die and some acrylic paint but think of all manner of animal we could mold but at the same time let's step that up birds fish or say mystic Gryphon dragon all possibilities even say maybe a gargoyle very cool but let's take that a step further let's don't paint the animal or the bird or the gargoyle let's use some kind of a paint scheme some kind of a design with our paint or maybe even an abstract design cool okay we're getting there now one more step there say you've got an Egyptian theme to your home there's Anubis masks as decorative x' in your home matching paint schemes alternating paint schemes paint schemes that match your furniture okay and this is not even going into the full line of hardware we can add to that all right again I'm rolling but you kind of get the feel there's no into some of these possibilities all right let's do this let's go to another pick these are projects we're gonna step it up a little bit the briefcase absolutely handmade and you can make that on your kitchen table knife sheath guitar strap again an avenue unlimited possibilities spur straps and the Sporn I saved that for last and any purse bag clutch pouch same tools same techniques tools inexpensive techniques easy to pick up but here's the biggest difference your project your call you call the color the shape the decoration the whole nine yards make it yours all right there are two things we need to talk about both weights and types of leather now these are easy to pick up but it's the foundation of leather work and these two items are gonna make everything else make perfect sense so right off the bat chromium tans or chrome tans now these are our garment and our upholstery leathers furniture clothing car seats bags because of this usually lower weights maybe four to five five to six outs as a max and this will make sense very shortly but also too because of the end-use usually very supple now the best thing about Chrome's beautiful bright colors that only the tannery can create gorgeous prints embossed patterns know into the possibilities with the chrome tan now I tend to call chrome tans cutting south now that's not an industry term and by no means does that diminish that leather because it's about 80% of the leather tan in the world today but that's going to make sense when we jump over to my favorite tanning veg 10 or vegetable tan sometimes you'll hear me just say Finch this is an all-natural tannin in fact the recipe here millennia old Roman documents mentioned veg tan leather all natural but here's the coolest point there are so many characteristics here we can fold it mold it carve it stamp it diet antique it top coat it paint it hook again I'm rolling but all kinds of options here now veg 10 this is the perfect weather for holster and sheep the veg 10 it's not going to react with metals so therefore no tarnishing whereas the chromium's high chromium salts those will absolutely tarnish metals weights in veg 10 everything from 2 to 3 ounce and up this is a great leather to stamp and carve we can form it mold it simply with a little bit of water and then we can dye it and finish for some gorgeous rich colors so you can see why I love working with the veg 10 it's the perfect leather for the beginner because chrome tans you can usually only by those in whole hides or sides which is half of a whole hide with veg to decide and work our way down a weaver leather we have some single shoulders and they're gorgeous very affordable multiple weights this is the perfect place for the beginner to start now I mentioned weights that's what we're going to talk about now on the surface this can be incredibly confusing but they're really not you're gonna see we're gonna talk about three basic weights in fact two of them I keep in my shop all the time the third I have but it's just a liner weight I use it once in a while this is going to make perfect sense so let's do this let's start here eight to nine ounce standard belt weight one-eighth of an inch thick or about three point five millimeters now this is a great weight to start with because it's such a common weight and we can make so many projects with it it's not gonna mold as well as our next leather but this is perfect for belts holsters bucket bags laptop cases saddle bags and all manner of projects now let's do this let's cut that in half now we're down to a standard pouch weight 4 to 5 ounce roughly 1/16 of an inch thick or maybe 1.75 to two millimeters but now we can mold tight corners and edges still durable but we can really mold that this is a perfect leather for journal covers masks cuffs sheaths now let's cut that in half we're down to a liner wait this is a 2 to 3 ounce or roughly 1/32 of an inch or maybe one millimeter now it will take a beautiful mold but it's not going to be very durable but great tassels great braids now it's a liner wait so what I'm going to do is line my holster or my arm guards or my bag or clutch with this it's gonna bump up that exterior weight and make it look incredibly professional and that's exactly what we want to do make our projects as professional as possible alright so we talked about the difference between Chrome and veg big difference easy to spot there we've also talked about weights no mystery there anymore we've got three standard weights now you can fine-tune these in fact you're going to you're gonna make a project that's a little too heavy or a little too light that's how we learn to fine-tune the weights okay that's out of the way let's do this getting started first off three tools every project no matter how complicated or simple starts with three tools right off the bat we're going to need a square now this is the beginning of every project and you will use this on everything from here on out for patterns and cutting leather a knife simple enough there are all kinds of ways you can go with a knife from round knife to scissors in all honesty I love the box cutter the blades are inexpensive easy to replace it's comfortable in my hand and the best part it locks that blade closes so don't have an open blade on my table and last of course we simply need something to cut on that plywood will work for you if that's what you have and in fact you might have two of the three tools at home most of us have a box cutter somewhere in the house and it's a great tool now the steel square that is a definite we carry one of the best ones I've used but you will use that on every project from here on out great tool now next step these are five tools this is kind of a second-tier because now we need to punch and we need to set a rivet we need to connect two pieces together but like always these are going to make perfect sense to you and at the top of the list the quartz slab and the revolving punch the most used tools in a leather shop now a mallet we can certainly go with a rawhide or a poly both very durable now the punch board not necessary right off the bat but that will double as a cutting board in a punch board and the last well we want to nail two pieces of leather together we're going to use a double cap rivet so all we need there a simple hand setter and some double caps so at this point we can make projects that are simple to absolutely complex and here's a perfect example we have a project tutorial on this this is a fringe purse what a great project I bring it up now because 99% of this project is either cutting punching a hole or setting a rivet that is beautiful and it's a great project for an even maybe one to evenings at best but also to that's a good point if you watch our project tutorials you're gonna see every one of these tools used over and over they're the foundation of leather work but at this point the tools are going to become more job specific say we want to set a snap or a grommet or an island here's the funny thing they all set the same way just a little different tool so we're gonna touch on just a couple of topics here get a feel because the point of this video leather is just elements and they're all easy to learn so let's do this I'm going to grab some leather and a couple of rivets and I'll meet you at the courts now with rivets all kinds of rivets out there but we're going to deal with the double caps my absolute favorite first and foremost because I can take a post in a cap I've got a crimp in that post and I can snap that together that's going to be a big help here in just a minute three sizes roughly quarter three eights and a half give or take technically 7/16 or seven and five sixteenths but here it is easy enough small to four to five back to back step up to the medium to six to seven s back to back and the large to 8 to 9 s back to back in fact I even have a little extra room there Mike could squeeze in another piece if I need to so let's do this just rivet two straps together now don't think of just straps because we could absolutely close the pouch without sewing or lacing with rivets and it's going to look great there we go all right cap on one side snaps in cap on the second rivet now I can move my work around on my table without it falling apart that is very frustrating rivet setter simply a concave in drop that on my cap there we go notice how my rivet has impressed just a little bit that's a good bite that's gonna last for years and on the back nice clean flat cap very professional so rivet easy enough alright next step and this is one of my favorites we're gonna stamp a cool little border stamping a piece of leather we'll see how easy that is to do setup and ready to go very nice now we're simply going to do a border stamp and is that not gorgeous all right we've got a groove line we're gonna talk about that or do that here in just a minute but also too I've sunk my stamps in and I've added an antique we'll get to that very shortly so with our sample I've dropped in a groove line now this is for sewing but I put a groove line on every edge really dresses up that edge makes it look very finished now we're going to case our leather now always joke this is simply water but always joke if you have for leather people in a room you're gonna have eight opinions of how you should do it and and you're gonna hear every one of them in my opinion I want about the top three-quarters wet but I want a little dryness back here because I don't want my stamps to be mushy I want them to be very crisp and you're gonna see exactly what I'm talking about now my leathers wet notice it's taking just a second for that water to wick in so I'm going to let this set for just five minutes then let's add that border stamp there we go okay notice our leather it's got a very clean very chestnut look to it this is ready to stamp so we are going to add a border stamp now the tools we're going to use this is a veiner this literally is for adding the veins into leaves when we're carving we're gonna look at that just second take a quick peek but also makes a great border stamp so what I want to do is I'm going to drop that right in on my border look at that every detail in that stamp head is visible okay I could certainly just walk this across makes a great border but what I want to do so I'm gonna add in what's called a continuous mules foot it's just one of hundreds of geometric shapes we do use this in the carving though so I'm going to drop this in one of my favorite border stamps because it actually brings the border a little more into the project just work these across and let's just drop in one more to get a good feel for the look well that looks great very crisp consistent and clean that's exactly what I'm looking for now once you pick up these tools once you kind of get a feel for using the tools you can stamp up to the carving now alright my carving is heavy handed and a little bit rough but here's the two biggest points I love doing it and I'm happy with the outcome that's the point so we've got stamping got a little bit of feel for this so let's jump over to the main table we're gonna do a little edge work again make our project very finished very professional now for our edge work this is going to make our products and projects stand above everything else out there here's what we're doing now we've got two straps here alright no edge work looks alright it's gonna last it'll work for us but now we add that edge work in we've got our groove I've bailed and we're gonna do all three doubled my edge now I don't know if the camera can really pick this up but my edge is now rounded and it is high-gloss smooth it actually feels nice to my finger think of purse traps or gun holsters or knife sheaths that's all we do now we're going to use a gum track to burnish this but you can use water absolutely this just makes it a little more durable a little easier to do alright so we've got a strap here this is an adjustable group I can adjust this arm out there's my cutting head I've got this set at 1/8 and marked because I set all of my groove lines at 1/8 of an inch unless I'm working more groove lines in deeper so I'm simply gonna but this arm right next to the edge of my leather all right I'm gonna come up maybe 40 percent or 40 degrees maybe 45 and I'm simply going to add a little pressure all right pushing too hard not the point and I can make multiple passes but let's don't do this let's make make that line so deep that this becomes a tab and tears off all right other side too good grooves okay that till is easy enough to learn right all right let's jump over to a bevel or an edger now if you think of bevel glass that's exactly what we're doing we're knocking off that hard top corner from our edge so I've got a little V in my tool there that's where my cutting head has I'm gonna drop this on my leather I'm gonna come up about 45 degrees and maybe out about 45 I'm simply going to push the tool does the work for me all right let's do all four sides and our back as well so if you ever have a little bit of fuzz on your edge your bevel will knock that out a little bit harder it's not got that top grade okay so we're just a little bit there now let's do that so let's take some gum track or gum tragacanth now like I said you can you can slick wet with water but the gum track is gonna make this a little bit easier and it's gonna add a little bit more durability to it now I want to be a little easy here because I don't want gum track onto my top grain now we're gonna take what's called a burnisher or a slicker easy enough multiple sizes for multiple thicknesses of leather I'm gonna drop right down here we're working with a six to seven actually maybe this middle cut will work there we go I'm just gonna run that back and forth now pressure not the point here I don't want to add so much pressure that this develops a lip on it I'm just gonna go back and forth smooth and easy now already my edge is becoming rounded and slick so I'll do so I'll work both sides of this and we go look at that beautiful already okay again I'm not sure the camera can pick that up but my edge is now rounded glossed and actually nice to the touch so three simple tools always inexpensive durable but here's the best part easy to learn all right now we're gonna step over we've got two more steps we're gonna look at but this is one of my favorites I wanted to make sure this is in here we're gonna add spots because they're inexpensive easy to set and they look great I use these on almost every project but again pair of Spurs here don't think of just first think of leather jackets that you already have you can add a spot in to decorate that or hundreds of them or purse or bag whatever you can add these spots to pre-existing projects as well as those you're planning so let's step over here and we're gonna see how easy it is to set a spot now three ways to set a spot first and foremost we have a machine called a little wondering it really is it will set all manner of spots rivets grommets eyelets not-it's not motor-driven so it will bolt onto your table very affordable alright we don't have one so let's go to our next step this is a setter now these are size specific to our spot I need to make sure if I have a current spot I've got a quarter inch setter now all this is come out there we are so we've got post concave down and a throat that's all it is so let's say I want to set a spot right there now I'm going to take this take my spot I'm going to work it up in there I'm going to load my setter throat I'm gonna set that right down on my leather and close that but what we need to do let's do this we need room for those tines to sink in so I'm gonna put a piece of scrap under me there we go drop that in very cool now I want to put about 70% of my pressure here and about 30% on my post well cool darn sink in nice alright that's not bad tides are clean it's straight on the back so what I want to do is simply bend those over and my spot is set pretty easy okay now we're gonna step over to the way I like to do it it takes a little more time but you're going to see a major difference in the outcome a couple of steps all makes now this is just a pallet it's just pieces of cardboard taped together but this is going to give my blade room to move through the leather without dinging so let's take our spot let's mark we're gonna drop a spot right there alright I'm simply going to press that spot in and that's gonna give me two marks but let's do this let me make them a little more visible for the camera okay so there's my tine holes I'm gonna take my pallet drop that down craft knife now this is a sales pitch of course we have the best craft knife in the business solid brass very comfortable very durable now notice to our points typically match our times I don't want more hole than time that's going to look awful so I just want to keep that a little bit tight in there now let's drop our spot in push it through very cool notice very flush that's one thing I'm looking for in spots now not enough to ding this but on our palate let's just get that a little bit of a hit now there we go it sunk in it's clean it's flush flip this over take my craft knife and I'm up in my tines inward or outward doesn't matter now last step let's drop this on our marble now again not enough to dig my spot but when I map my palate I'm gonna give that a good pop now I can run my hand across that I almost can't feel those times so they're not gonna snag and they're not gonna grab anything that's a perfect set no no major holes on either side flush clean and tight so setting spots how easy could that be now let's go back to our main table because we're almost done here but we're gonna take a minute to talk about some dye some finish and maybe a couple of end punches will easy enough every step every process extremely simple the tools all easy to learn durable and very inexpensive now we've got some points we have not talked about dying finish or setting buckles or snaps because in our project tutorials just about every one of those is covered repeatedly in fact in almost every one I add a topcoat and several we add die for those you can get some great detail there now in punches we didn't talk about these but here's a great point the English point this simply is going to punch the end on a belt that's all it is English point punch but if you watch the product video on that there are some cool things we can do with that tool have nothing to do with a belt alright at this point one more pick let's do this and you'll see where I'm going with this because now we're going to look at a wide variety of projects but here's the funny thing they're starting to look familiar recognizable the spur straps we know how to set a spot we know how to set a stamp we can do our edge work and we can set a rivet that's an evening project at best the burgundy rifle sling right there that's the stamped border we were working with a whole array of projects but here's the funny thing they're all the same tools the same techniques the same decorations well there we have it leather is just elements and they are all easy to learn in fact every step in that pick recognizable but also to one thing I hope you're starting to pick up from this video is the unlimited creative possibilities and leatherwork literally sky is the limit now we didn't go into great detail on leathers we talked some weights and types but as a beginner I would suggest what's called a single shoulder now Weaver we have some of the prettiest single shoulders I've ever seen but here's the great part about it it's fetched and so we've got all the characteristics but it's affordable and that's a major point because when I'm starting out I don't want to break the bank on my first piece of leather I don't be so freaked out over the cost that I'm afraid to dive in goes against everything we're doing here so through this video I hope this gives you a little confidence jump in dive in have a great time with it create some beautiful stuff good luck with your projects [Music] you

Channel: Weaver Leather Supply

Views: 527,737

Keywords: getting started in leathercrafting, overview of leathercrafting, leather project ideas, weaver leathercraft

Id: 3ZvcMVgEN0o

Length: 24min 25sec (1465 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 16 2018