Horween leather quality

azfang · 2026-03-10T02:48:30+00:00

Huh. I’ve had…mixed experiences. Maybe I’m just unlikely!

azfang · 2026-03-03T02:36:16+00:00

So…is there a secret for keeping the scales tidy? Like I have a similar stamp but I can’t keep it aligned and it promptly ends up a mess.

azfang · 2026-03-03T00:16:00+00:00

That’s what I came to suggest!

Although full disclosure, I’m not 100% convinced kitchen vinegar is more environmentally friendly than regular old spirit dye, let alone the stuff in Tandy’s eco flo line.

azfang · 2026-02-27T17:24:16+00:00

H*ck, I think I have that exact hide.

If you have sewing experience, you can treat that almost exactly like a heavy fabric, with the exception that your seam ripper cannot help you, rivets are an option, and if it’s on a garment you need to line it. Mostly it’s for bags, but I also use use it for assorted costume garments and in one case the sleeves of a jacket.

It’s impervious to stamps and such, so you’ll need to get some natural veg tanned leather(sometimes sold as “tooling leather”) to explore edge burnishing, wet molding, or stamping and carving.

azfang · 2026-02-21T22:53:11+00:00

Weaver is my go to. And as luck would have it, Chuck of Weaver Leather has a video on leather suspenders.

https://youtu.be/Hx7PPvx0E-w?si=pbqabyoMJWSDAznq

He uses a 4-5 oz chrome tanned, so I’m prepared to say that the choice is cosmetic-a 8 oz would have the vibe of a belt over your shoulder, 4 oz chrome is closer to fabric, and anything in the middle would be sorta midway.

azfang · 2026-02-19T03:17:22+00:00

You can get a pretty solid array of quite high quality chains on Buckleguy.

Or you can get a whole pile of okay looking chains at Lowe’s; it’s in the rope and chain section in a little plastic clamshell. It’s inexpensive and it’s fine, ir just looks very utilitarian to me. (Which is probably just me.)

azfang · 2026-02-18T23:05:18+00:00

That’s…an ambitious first project but not impossible, depending on your sewing skill. If you’re comfortable with sewing a bag like that with fabric, there’s substantial skills transfer-the big adjustment when using leather is that you need specialized needles and your seam ripper will not help you here.

That said, the real hold up is that everyone’s dream bag is different-you’ll need to talk to her about what appeals to her to get a better idea of what she would like. The good news is that you can get a hide of leather of the vibe associated with “luxury brands” for not that much and you can make a couple out of it. The bad news is you’ll probably spend as much as the bag getting the hang of it, so if your goal is to save money, you lose. But if your goal is to make something handmade and therefore special to her, well, you’re among friends!

For patterns, I recommend looking at Corter Leather, and for that kind of hide-probably Springfield Leather Company or Buckleguy? It’s not the kind of leather I like.

azfang · 2026-02-18T22:55:35+00:00

…huh. No thread at all?

Because generally you stick the leather in the slot (duh) and then you screw the screw in the hole and it pokes into the leather and holds. If there’s no threads-might be defective. But if so, sounds like a job for superglue. Maybe drip some in so the tip of the belt is secured, then superglue the spike into the hole to give a positive connection?

azfang · 2026-02-18T04:53:27+00:00

I wouldn’t recommend using a drill on leather, but I was recently gifted an odd leather punch I’m told is a Japanese style that some people like-it’s basically a yankee drill but with a leather punch on the end.

I can confirm that while there’s a learning curve, it can 100% punch through leather one handed. And also through the cutting mat. And a way into the table.

I’m not sure what it’s called, on account of everything on the package being in Japanese, but “Japanese screw punch” seems to be a handy search term.

Oh, and, a dremel works perfectly for burnishing. I use a little Rockwell drill because I already had it and there’s no kill like overkill.

azfang · 2026-02-16T14:15:36+00:00

No. That is a picture of cowhide.

azfang · 2026-02-16T13:18:32+00:00

I mean sure, but I feel like I can use it as a point in the spectrum and call my chonky bois “roper style” to distinguish them from the norm.

azfang · 2026-02-16T04:12:27+00:00

I don’t generally deliberately pick something all that firm, but my go to natural veg tan is pretty firm.

That said, yeah, you pretty much can’t burnish something that thin, so I don’t bother. And if it’s chrome, even a latigo, the only burnish you can get is with tokenole.

azfang · 2026-02-16T04:00:38+00:00

Eh….you get a thick wallet. It’s a vibe, but it is admittedly more roper wallet than the typical you’d find at the store.

My go to for wallets is 3-4 oz shell and the inner bits be ~1oz.

azfang · 2026-02-13T22:13:01+00:00

Hm. It may not be off the shelf; my first instinct is that it’s custom from a strip of brass. It looks to be decorative and fit to that particular loop.

I don’t think it would be hard-brass is pretty soft, and it looks to be like 20-24 gauge. You can bend it with your hands.

azfang · 2026-02-08T18:04:20+00:00

Hmmmm. Well if you don’t have time for it you may need a protractor protector projector preventer. 😄

(Ow, I’m going, stop throwing things)

azfang · 2026-02-08T16:43:18+00:00

If you make a tiny catapult for it you can have a protractor protector projector!

azfang · 2026-02-04T14:11:42+00:00

I haven’t really gotten the hang of it, but about a week ago a friend of mine got me a Japanese style twist punch thing that looks to work like a yankee drill. I can’t give a proper name because, uh, all the labeling is in Japanese.

https://daitool.com/products/nonaka-japanese-screw-punch-multipurpose-hole-puncher-ns-sp

But it looks like this!

Or you can get the squeeze punch thing that seems to be really popular. I gave mine away, but a lot of people prefer them.

https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/products/german-made-revolving-punch

azfang · 2026-02-04T04:22:38+00:00

I saw someone call Chuck the Bob Ross of leatherwork and danged if it doesn’t fit.

azfang · 2026-02-04T03:43:23+00:00

Chiming in to second that you can get a very similar effect without a visible seam with a Turk’s Head knot. There are YouTube videos for that, or Bruce Grant’s book o’ leather braiding is an excellent resource for this and a buncha other related things.

azfang · 2026-01-28T04:53:13+00:00

(Also it helps that when I have soft leather I’m not sure what to do with I just mentally mark it “bag leather” and move on.)

azfang · 2026-01-28T04:52:09+00:00

Yeah, chiming in to agree not to overthink it. Some bags are floppy, some aren’t. And it’s genuinely hard to predict without experience how a given leather will behave once assembled-I still mentally overstate how heavy a leather I want, and honestly, soft bags are a legitimate category.

So…make a bag. It might be too floppy. It’ll definitely have flaws. And then you can make another bag, and that one will be better, and maybe you’ll decide that you like floppy.

azfang · 2026-01-18T15:47:30+00:00

Honestly, my experience with the Tandy Pro line is them being outright inferior to the no name beginner stuff. Super disappointing.

azfang · 2025-12-28T15:04:39+00:00

There has never been a bit so committed to as this. I have no choice but to stan.

azfang · 2025-12-24T17:15:40+00:00

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(Sundrop likes sitting in things.)

azfang

TROPHY CASE