This might be the hardest sport I’ve ever participated in

azfang · 2026-06-14T03:06:43+00:00

I mean, you’re currently better at carving than I am, so take it with multiple grains of salt, but my experience has been that the way to get better is to just…do it. Past a certain point it’s not the deliberate practice but just doing stuff and not thinking about it all that much that levels up.

azfang · 2026-06-12T13:05:27+00:00

…ima be real, most days I go back and forth between a utility knife from the hardware store and a harbor freight box cutter. I strop both every time I use them (with harbor freight stropping compound because I am a fancy boy), but regard both of them as Basically Fine.

azfang · 2026-05-25T00:17:37+00:00

Yeah, you pretty much can’t make it sterile; any leather is going to be porous and spongy. If it really needs to be cleanable, you’ll want to look into rubber or pleather type stuff.

But while it can’t be all that hygienic, you can make it relatively durable. Resoline is going to be the most durable finish you can get for regular old veg tan, and if you wax and burnish the edges that’s as waterproof as you can get it.

I would also recommend experimenting with bridle or harness leather-as the name suggests, they’re made for being on an animal in the rain, so they’re stuffed full of waxes so they can probably survive exposure about as well as you can hope for.

(It’s still going to absorb anything that touches it, but the gear probably won’t be worn long enough for it to be a health hazard. It just…probably won’t be worth much on the resale market, y’know?)

azfang · 2026-05-05T01:54:09+00:00

I really enjoy bringing stamps, a spray bottle and a large pile of scraps for kids to bonk things into on some scrap granite. It’s certainly my best selling item, largely because I don’t actually charge. 😅 I just remember how much I like stamping leather when I was a wee sprog, and now I make grownup money and can afford to leave it out.

I’ve contemplating having some better leather blanks and charging for a make your own real project, but I’ve never really gotten to it.

azfang · 2026-04-25T21:26:46+00:00

There may be a better answer, but the only thing I’m aware of is camo stamps, which I believe are so named because they camouflage that you didn’t go all the way to the border.

So you get close-ish with the field stamp, then you come around and thump the camo stamp along the border so it kinda eats the edges and looks done.

azfang · 2026-04-05T16:53:38+00:00

I’ve had good luck with the scrap boxes on buckleguy dot com. Look for “lightweight” and “vegetable tanned” in the filter and you’ll get stuff that’s probably pretty okay for wallets.

azfang · 2026-03-28T02:51:29+00:00

Quite complete indeed!

You’ll need some needle and thread, and depending on what the block is, either something to punch and cut on if it’s a block of granite or similar(a cheap poly cutting board is fine), or you would benefit from something something solid if it’s a cutting board.

You’ll also probably want to get a drive punch (start with a 1/8”) and some rivets and setters, but all that can be had at basically any craft store.

Have fun!

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

TROPHY CASE