Leatherworkers are always filled with new ideas, and most of them are good. But when I searched around social media listening to beginner leather craft advice, these experts are steering newbies in the wrong direction. To save you time and frustration. I took the time to separate the good from the bad advice.
00:00 Intro
00:46 Tools You Don’t Need
01:54 Mistakes
02:48 Hard Surface
03:24 Plywood
04:23 Olive Miracle
04:45 Multiple Passes
05:44 Wet Your Leather
06:33 Hobby Lobby Leather
08:43 Don’t Copy Anyone
09:42 Halloween Project & Free Template
My mother gave me a cutting mat when I was in elementary school and its held up for so long, though a bit ugly now
Thanks a lot
Thanks for this lovely advice! I really liked you last advice, since I recently started a small buisnes. I learn from challenging commissions from friends and yes, copying what I see. But this gives me great oppotunity to learn and try new technikes.
And I never thought of waxing my punches before but I typically have only done quick projects or repairs.
Been working with leather for s few years now. I agree with all of these points.
And thanks for such nice video 👏🏼
To be honest, if i would like to start agian , i will just buying cutting dyes, chinesse one, and with arbor press, with less than 200$ you will strart makeing great high quality work Even if you are new, cutting leather by hand is nice and you will learn alot, but for me was a waste of time and less quality product, make few projects, like 1-3 but make it perfect is the right way. To start. Inshalaah.
A great one I heard was to buy your headstone early and use that for a base. You'll have to buy it someday, and if you use it for leatherwork at least you'll get to enjoy it for a while.
I recently retired from owning my own custom leather shop and totally agree with your advice. Especially the advice about NOT starting out with expensive tools and leather. EVERY new leathercrafter is going to make mistakes. If you buy a $300 custom-made round knife, but don't know how to keep it sharp, you're soon going to have a $300 unusable tool. Instead, buy a $75 round knife from Tandy and learn how to keep it sharp. Later, after you've really mastered that skill, if you want to splurge on that custom-made round knife, go ahead, but I'll warn you… you'll probably find that your super-sharp $75 knife works just as well as the expensive one. The same advice goes for leather. Contrary to what the "experts" tell you, there's nothing wrong with starting with medium quality leather. You're going to make mistakes, so make those mistakes on leather that is $5 or $6 per square foot, rather than the stuff that's $15 a square foot.
Once I started actually started making decent projects I started ordering from the closest site I could find, the hides even all come from local hunters who otherwise wouldn't use them for anything ☺️ but getting a few bags of scrap to play and work with to start was SO important
Hokieland, eh? Anyway, got a couple projects I've been wanting to start, but have been hesitant. Think I may get started with some practice pieces tomorrow now. Thanks!
If your type of humor is what it takes to start leatherwork then I am all set. 😂 Good video.
I'm just about to have a go at leatherwork, and actually just bought some hobby lobby leather on sale a few days ago😆. thankfully I hadn't heard nor would have believed these myths, but I appreciate your video. definitely want to try to find a sink cutout!
First off, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's made a lathe burnishing tool! So much time saved with a dowl and 10 minutes of work! I have been using the hobby lobby scrap packs for about 6 months now and they actually have been getting fairly high quality scraps recently!
On the "Don't copy" bit: I've recently run into some fairly bad wallet patterns, so much so that I ended up grabbing some graph paper and made my own style of the same thing as what they sold, with much less waste. As someone who has experience with designing laser files, I'm not stranger to throwing my own flair on a concept I like. Thanks for the wise words!
Thanks for the tips. I'm just starting so I need all the help I can get 😉
Great video! Thank you
Excellent pointers. I've been dying to get into leathercrafting, and research alone has been very enlightening. The best tip you gave is "Don't be afraid to fail." I heavily look forward to using cheap leather and copying many people with fun ideas, and I don't mind failing at all. Learning and becoming good is impossible without failures along the way. Fails teach us what to do differently, and things to avoid. Failure is one of the greatest teachers.
This video was great, just subscribed! My first ever project was as sheathe from a very old scrap that had been on a quiver. Maybe it was because the leather was so old, but it wouldn't wet form at all! That was 2 years ago and after making some more sheathes and even armor, I think I'm ready to start my journey into the world of tooling. Thanks for all the advice in this video!
from a person who's done just a small about of wood carving, what he says about a dull blade being dangerous is so true. Sharpen your tools, whether they're chisels, knives, whether they're for wood or leather or whatever else. If you're using a razor blade, replace it often. It'll make your work SO much easier AND safer
The “do not push” sign behind you kept grabbing my curiosity.
I bought a panel of genuine leather when i first started, probably in 2020, i made a wallet out of it, and it is still looked great, maybe it was mislabelled by the seller or each seller has different definitions to genuine leather
Great advice! To add to it if people are reading through the comments I'd say if you already have a dremel or power drill, instead of a hand burnisher, you can pick up a burnisher bit on amazon for real cheap and they are awesome. When I first started, burnishing was my least favorite thing. get some jeweler's resin and always strop your blade, even if it's new. it will even make disposable blades cut better and last longer. A good source for practice leather(if you can find it) is leather furniture people sometimes leave by the curb.
I bought scraps for beginner projects. I love Black leather, but…. It is SO hard to see what i am working with. It reflects the light really bad
Theyre a little cheesy, but i genuinely enjoyed the little jokes you included, i could see that spit take coming a mile away but that didnt stop me smiling at it! I've been wanting to get into leatherworking for a while now, maybe this will be the thing that pushes me over the edge….. that sink cutout idea is genuis, btw, i'll have to keep that in mind! Definitely earned a new subscriber with this one, excited to see this channel grow, you've got a great presence on canera
I have not done much leather work but my father worked horses and I spent many hours watching him repair harness , then as adult I riveted thousands of sections in swather and mower knifes . Two things I learned , use as solid a workbench as you can build , hardwood top 4-6 inch thick . And a section of railroad track for anvil
My best tools all categories are: a piece of square metal tubing I got for free and use as a anvil, a cheap plastic hammer from lokal hardware store for punching holes and rivets (protects your tools), my edge cutters and polisher, the swan neck (don't know what you call it – like a floor standing anvil that helps you get deep into shoes and my swiveling knife. When I started to buy better stuff I decided to buy good quality edge tools and learn how to sharpen them. My next adventure is stomping tools.
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"Cheap" Hobby Lobby leather? Saw a veg belly for 39.99 at my local one. Best places for cheaper leathers I've found are Springfield Leather, Rocky Mountain Leather, and Tandys runs some great black Friday and Christmas sales. Springfield is also really good because for $30 a year you can purchase a wholesale subscription. This applies to their hardware and they have a lot of nice Conchos, buckles, and many other things.
Good Advice Sir, I always start with a fresh blade, my fingers are worth it! Blades are cheap compared to a missing finger or stitches. With each new project from Sheaths, key chains, Belts and soon I will be making Back packs and bags. Leather ended up being a passion and my shop slowly expands 😉👍
I'm gonna need you to push that button labelled "Do Not Push"….
I buy my leather by the 1/4 and 1/2 cow, I can sometimes get deer,rabbit and sometimes exotics from the Tandy leather supply company 40 miles away, it’s a trip but I get to pick out what i want including if I want colored hides or any parts like rivets and buckles and a lot of other stuff while I’m there
when newbies come into the shop to buy stuff I always tell them start with basics to make sure you enjoy this before you buy a 90 dollar knife just get the box cutter first. All the tips you gave I give to my customers before i had a tandy near me i use to do Couch hunting and would cut off the backs, and the seats. Was so happy to use this cheap stuff just to get my skills down.
New to the world of leather work and still trying to find my nitch.Thank you for the information, it's a far cry different from what I've been exposed to.
I've been leather crafting for over 20years and still use granite sink cut outs. My wife actually saw them one day and thought of me. They are great. We move quite often and they transport well. That is excellent advice. Thanks for sharing.
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Great advice and thanks for the free patterns
The hobby lobby leather one hits home. I got some from there for my first project and almost gave up because of how bad the quality is.
Love it … straight forward info.
Hi sir seeing this video and you in a tech hoodie. Are you local to that area.
if you cut the eyes and mouth out before cutting the outline shape you have stronger bigger project to safely work on.
cool advice thanks!
NEVER make a video with a "DO NOT PUSH" Button in the background!
@DePoppeLeatherworks loves any advice I can get
I have a small case that has my tools and some small projects. When I have to wait somewhere I take it out and cut or sew or things like that. For some reason this brings me joy. I only have a few tools like the advice here and I am able to do quite a lot. I made a lot of projects from kits before I started making my own templates. This video was spot on.
Good tip for the granite I looked on offer up and got a 3×4 slab for 25.00 on offer up of all places.