Reddit mentions: The best leathercrafting books

In my experience, Tandy tools tend to be higher priced than a lot of USA-made tools, and are of lower quality. While that kit covers everything you would likely need, I think you would be better off searching eBay/Amazon/Springfield Leather for better tools.

For $600 you could build a set of tools tailored to your needs, and they'll last forever. I've had good luck with CS Osborne tools, and all three of the above listed retailers carry them. There are also vintage tools to be had on eBay that are works of art in their own right, and have many years of use left in them.

This is my favorite leatherworking book on leatherworking. This is an incredible book that will teach you the ins and outs of the finer side of leatherworking (stitching/dyeing/glueing/tools/techniques/etc). You may also want a book on leather armor or tooling (I don't tool leather so I don't have a recommendation).

Based on Tandy's picture, I see a lot of tools you may never need, so you might as well get the right tools for the money you spend.

I would start with finding the following tools:

-Diamond awl

-Scratch awl (for marking)

-Wing dividers (for marking stitch lines)

-Square

-Ruler

-Soft mallet (weighted)

-Sharpening stone

-Strop and stropping compound (for keeping knives and awls razor sharp)

-Natural Vegetable-tanned leather (3-4 oz or 4-5 oz for small items, 8-9 for belts/straps).

-Waxed thread (research the sizes to match the number of stitches per inch you plan to do).

-Rotary cutter

-Exacto knife/blades

-Contact cement

-Stitching clam

-Pricking iron (goodsjapan sells very affordable irons for making your holes, and they are of good quality)

-Fiebings dye

-Fiebings Tankote (finisher/sealer)

-Needles

This is a basic list of items you will need, but to be honest, you could make just about anything with the above tools. As for actually tooling designs into the leather, the list of tools grows longer (stamps/finishes).

On a sidenote, I would not buy my leather from Tandy. While they do have sales every so often, the sale price is still right about what you pay at a place like Springfield Leather or Maverick Leather. I have not dealt with Maverick, but I buy my leather almost exclusively from Springfield. I keep bringing them up because they are extremely helpful and accommodating, and you can purchase USA Hermann Oak tooling leather for a good deal less than from Tandy (who tend to sell imported leather at high prices, anyways).

I don't mean to keep bashing Tandy, but I have spent a good deal of time and money replacing their tools with USA/European/Japanese tools at a lower cost.


As you get back into leathercraft, you will find that as you hone your skills,the need for more specialized tools will arise. For now, focus on building a set of tools to get you going, and then move forward from there.

Good luck!

Ah, I see, so it's important for it to be commission-quality.

tl;dr: glue it with the process I recommended and Barge, Weldwood, or equivalent; if you have time and resources to stitch it down after that, you can. Glue will never be as permanent and nice-looking as stitching, but Barge is significantly superior to any craft glue I've used, so it will probably do the job anyway.

Unfortunately, if you don't have time to custom-commission the boots, I don't think stitching it on is really going to work well (stitching before construction is much, much easier) - and doing a professional-looking job of stitched leather overlay requires special equipment (if machine sewing) and some practice. This is a super well-written book on it, if you're curious. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Leather-Inlay-Overlay-Techniques/dp/0764351214

The special roller foot is absolutely required, and it's easiest to use on an industrial machine (particularly with the matching feed dog and throat plate); however, there are some home machines that have a similar foot (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wplg5DlmsZ8), and a high shank home machine might be able to take the industrial foot (it will fit on the needle bar, but there might not be enough space above it for the hinge on a flip-up model). I recently retrofit my industrial garment machine to set it up for this kind of work, so if you have a suitable industrial, PM me and I can walk you through it.

That said, stitching and gluing aren't mutually exclusive; since leather can't be pinned, most people glue before stitching. If you're planning to stitch it, you don't have to use a glue quite as durable as Barge, but Barge will work just fine.

I can point you to the same resources I went - it's all over the internet - but without doing videos it's tough to tutor online. I'm no expert & I only post the stuff I don't sell - as some of the bondage stuff, tracking via photo recognition can out people in sensitive jobs...whips making is that weird intersection of indiana jones & western culture (high morality) combined with bondage people ... it's to such an extent many whip sellers put special notes on their pages asking people who do bondage not to contact or buy from them.

You want books - if you're serious you need books.

• How to make whips by Ron Edwards - Link
  
• Whip making by David Morgan Ed 2 - Link
  
  Either of them gives good perspective - Edwards book is my recommendation - it's more comprehensible.
  
  You will want to watch some video's ...
  
  
• Bernie26 - Link - Bernie is the man most of youtube learned from & many of them directly reference him in their first video's.
  
• Nick - Link - is pretty chatty & ADHD. He does both nylon & leather whips.
  
• Midwest Whips - I forget their channel - but they do the american bullwhip. The American bullwhips are generally easier to make than the super fine karagoo whips, but they are harder to cut.
  
  I have some goofy projects I've done on madidos.com ... I love testing things & rarely make the same type twice. I'm still working on categorizing & finishing most of the posts as my ADHD makes it hard to remember to photo every step.

Stohlman's How to Make Leather Cases Vol. 3 has plans for a very nice scabbard, but it's not for a 10/22. Still, it's chock full of useful information for the leatherworker. Very heavily western-inspired, however, if you prefer the European look you might want to get The Leatherworking Handbook for inspiration. No rifle scabbard plans there, however.

Your bag looks like the first bag I made. It has the earmarks of being made by someone who has experience sewing fabric and apparel. Fabric sewing and leather craft have many shared skills, but leather has stand alone skills that you will need to learn. Many crafters here have learned through on-line tutorials. I started with this book, which I would recommend. https://www.amazon.com/Leatherworking-Handbook-Illustrated-Sourcebook-Techniques/dp/1844034747. This book is also a wonderful resource for bag designers https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9887710806/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's a pretty good breakdown of gussets in [The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michael](The Leatherworking Handbook: A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of Techniques and Projects https://www.amazon.com/dp/1844034747/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ExzwybMH8RT6S). I remember coming across it in a Google search as well, maybe Andersen leather? (Apologies if that's not it.)

EDIT: I just looked at my copy and the gusset you described is found on page 57-59.

If you're looking for info on tanning it on your own, I've been told by many people that Deerskins Into Buckskins is the best book for it. :)

This subreddit recommended this book. I bought it and it's pretty good.

I second just diving in. Also get a really good book. My favorite to this day is the leather working handbook by Valerie Michael. Cheap investment lots of projects and very detailed manual. [link to book](Leatherworking Handbook: A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of Techniques and Projects https://www.amazon.com/dp/1844034747/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_n-RIwbYMFGGR3)

I'm almost positive it was The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michael. Very well done book.

Depends on what you want to do.

I like Valerie Michael

On stitching leather, get Al Stohlman

I'd recommend this book. It covers everything from start to finish.

http://www.amazon.com/Deerskins-into-Buckskins-Brains-Edition/dp/0965867242

Book

The first hide I tanned I have about 16 hrs into it. Once you figure it out you can get it down to about 8-10 hrs. I use lye for my buck solution and eggs and sesame oil for the dressing.

Pics
i know the scraper is rusty I just hit it with a brillo pad and soap before I use it.

For the record buckskin is like a suede leather that adsorbs water but will also dry soft it is machine washable and to dry it you just let it air dry. Tanning to get deer hides into leather you basically soak the hide in a tannin solution for a few weeks to several months and then soften

I just got this book. It has every bit of info you need. Warning; tanning doesn't seem to be something that is quick or easy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0965867242/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Deerskins into Buckskins

An eBook on shoe making.

https://www.amazon.com/Deerskins-into-Buckskins-Brains-Soap/dp/0965867242/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1542063960&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=tanning+hides&dpPl=1&dpID=513MHSX5GKL&ref=plSrch

I was advised to get this book. But I haven’t done my first hide yet.

Deerskins to Buckskins is the tanner's bible. It not only describes to process to tan a hide, but explains why, which methods work and which don't. I'd recommend it highly.