Leather Crafting – Projects

May 26, 2022

Basket Weave Holster and Belt

My leather work only improves through practice, so practice i do. I saw this great YouTube video from Adams LeatherWorks who also sells beautiful holsters and magazine pouches as well as patterns which are available at https://www.adamsleatherworks.com. I decided I had to give it a go, and fortunately Tandy Leather was having a sale on culattas at my local store.

The Culatta from Tandy was pretty nice Veg-Tan leather, but I always try and layout personal practice stuff from the less desirable areas like the belly, so I can save the nicer portions for gifts for others. You can see that there was a ton of real estate left once I did a basic layout. I hope to share what the rest went too soon.

The pattern from Adams leather work was pretty easy to follow and like I noted above with a link. A great tutorial video on how it was created and how to use it is available. I really think buying the pattern was worth the under $10 kongbucks it cost for the results.

Tooling Practice, finish, and Basket Weave

BasketWeave_Holster_antique — BasketWeave_Holster_oil

I also got in some practice “tooling” a basket weave pattern on the holster. Really the only way to improve your tooling and stamping is to do it. I had to do several test pieces before I was comfortable enough to move on. Once it was no so wonky I did a oil and antique to the panels prior to assembly. I have referenced Don Gonzales’ https://dgsaddlery.com tutorials before which are also very great.

Assembly of Holster and Magazine pouch

I did saddle stitch the holster by had so the stitch lines did not match the pattern completely. I also joke around that I figured out why they are called pancake holsters as they look like pancakes prior to wet molding them to the gun. I need to practice my saddle stitching to improve the look, but the point of this holster is practice! I know the mahogany edges and purple thread were not the combination I envisioned, but like how it came out.

A Belt to match

A new basket weave holster would not be right without a matching belt, so I did a little more practice. I joked on Instagram that I need to go on a diet, so my future belts are less work. I did get lazy and sew the belt stitching on a machine so the thread is not a match. I also got some nice straps out of the culatta, so bonus. The stitching was not perfect but it still amazes me what a Sailrite LSZ-1 will sew. It got a 8-10 oz culatta strap with an 4-8 oz double shoulder liner sewn together. I’ll admit it was not perfect sewing as the 6-ish mm (about 1/4 inch) barely fit under the presser foot and needle. I did not feed the belt smoothly it would vary the stitch length or break the needle. Oops! I am really wanting to try the new portable servo motor upgrade but cannot justify the expense when I can hand crank. I got the Sailrite as I wanted portable. If I continue to do thick leather maybe giving up portable for a cylinder arm machine may be another option.

Not a bad result considering it was my 3rd holster attempt. I am proud of the outcome but see things I can improve on. Having a multimold gun to form the holster is nice, so I don’t have to wet mold leather around a gun. I will need to expand beyond the 1911 commander, so either more multimold or blue guns are in my future.

Like I said I’m proud of the results of a third holster attempt.

April 14, 2021

Raspberry PiCase Overkill

Scope creep is a project issue many of us have. I always creep when I decide to mix media of my hobbies. This one gets 3 of the many hobbies.

I started with the idea to build a simple plywood box to carry a Raspberry Pi and some associated tools for on the go hardware troubleshooting. What did I get? A leather wrapped treasure chest of troubleshooting tools. I wanted to have a “pirate chest” motif with a “sample case” style flap opening that could hold the keyboard and tools. It had to highlight the “edge grain” of the plywood too. I may have gotten close on the aesthetic I wanted, but the scope creep made this more than a simple case.

The Contents of the box before cable management.

Raspberry Pi 4 8G
JYE Tek DSO Coral Oscilloscope
Bus Pirate V3
fx2lafw compatible Logic Analyzer
USB C/HDMI Full HD LCD from KYY
40000 mah USB C power brick
USB mouse and keyboard
probes and cables.
3.3v and 5v compatible USB TTL serial adapter
breadboard and 3.3v and 5V adjustable power supply

The Raspberry Pi 4 is setup with the stock OS with my favorite Sigrok and pulseview setup for the fx2lafw compatible logic analyzer. Sigrok/Pulseview is my go to tool for troubleshooting serial, i2c, and 2 wire things. I have also added my buspirate v3 inside the case for good measure, but don’t mess with JTAG much anymore. Arduino IDE is also installed including the ESP32 and ESP 8266 stuff setup as well. More on those projects to come.

PiCase woodworking

I wanted to highlight the “edge grain” of the plywood, so I used my Milescraft saw guide to cut the 18mm (3/4 inch) Baltic Birch plywood into strips and re-laminated it back together to make panels that show the “grain.” That inexpensive saw guide amazes me with the consistency and ease of use for the small price. I then box jointed the bottom for extra glue area strength and inset supports for the contents. I left the top open so the leather skin could wrap and form a rounded top. I also decided to skin the outside of the wooden carcuss with 3mm Baltic Birch plywood for extra support of the leather. Of course I used Danish Oil on the wood because it highlighted the layers.

PiCase Leather work

Springfield Leather Company always confuses me. I bought a 2-3 ounce grade “D” veg tan leather side to use for structural reinforcement for some other projects from them. It was nice enough that I started dreaming up this leather case. The description definitely under sold the quality of this 33 square foot discount side. It will make great stiffeners for other things, but made some nice “show” panels for this case. I could not justify cutting up the bend area to get the brand mark on this case, but thought about it. These mostly clean panels came off the shoulder area. I love leather for the character that it was once a live animal. If I wanted perfect I would use vinyl.

A quick swipe with the strap cutter to make some accent strips and some Fiebing’s Pro Dye in chocolate. It made the accents and I tried a new Renia Aquilim 315 contact cement to assemble and attach the panels to the case. I do like the water based cement and did not have to get “high” to make this project. Saving the last few brain cells is always good. I added some copper cut nails as accents to add to my pirate motif, as well as some snaps and a buckle to keep the sample case flap closed. I of course treated the leather with my Leather Balm V0.1.

PiCase finsh

It was a fun project that started from a simple idea to a joecad 1 cm = 1 inch scale drawing. Oh yes, I mixed metric and “freedom units” in my build. I initially did a FreeCad mock up of a wooden case, before unrolling the leather and getting scope creep and deciding on changing my design from a simple plywood box to a leather wrapped treasure chest of troubleshooting tools. I may consider adding a TS80 USB Iron to the kit, but that is just more scope creep.

It will not replace my “lab” workbench but it is mobile.

March 19, 2021

Leather Balm Batch V 0.1

I really like Smith’s Leather Balm, but I cannot justify sending an 8 dollars starter tin to everyone I make a leather item for. I know you can get them in bulk at a discount, but as I am still trying to justify a startup and if I’m going to sell stuff. I’m a tight wad. I recommend their balm you should try it. However if your like me. Monkey see monkey do making I decided to try my hand at making some balm. I started with the Wikipedia recipe for British Museum Leather dressing variation with the neatsfoot oil as I had that on hand.

50 g Bee’s wax
20 g anhydrous lanolin
30 ml Neatsfoot oil
5 ml cedar oil
50 ish ml of custom corn degreaser

Making the British Museum leather dressing based balm

LeatherBalm_Lanolin — LeatherBalm_beeswax

It is pretty simple to make. Just weight out the ingredients. More liquid oils can make the finish product a bit softer at room temperature. Melt the wax and lanolin in a “double boiler” and add the other liquids. Remove from the heat and add the solvent while stirring constantly. I skipped the hexane of the true British Museum Leather dressing and used some custom corn based degreaser which resembles “moonshine.” It is sourced by a friend and so I don’t ask many questions. It is great for cleaning parts, and is cleaner in my opinion that off the shelf isopropyl alcohol. I used the “cut” version about 80-ish proof. It is also less toxic that hexane or X-4 solvent. I also used less solvent as I did not want it to flash off to much even if it has a higher water content. I ordered some little 1 oz tins from Amazon which is the perfect size.

Leather Balm V 0.1 results.

I tested it this first batch on a very dry 1-2 oz veg tan leather made into a luggage tag. It did not darken the leather too much as you can see on the left treated vs untreated on the right. It did however do a nice job of softening this very dry leather. It is a little flaky in consistency in the tin, and I suspect some other essential oils may be added in the next batch, as the cedar oil has a strong smell. I may even rip off smiths and use some sweet almond oil as I like that smell.

I will use up this batch and see how the results compare to other treatments I’ve tried. I’m also working on a source for bees wax as I see some woodworker’s paste wax recipes coming soon too.

February 27, 2021

Holiday Pocket Journal Covers

I continue to work out processes to improve my leather craft and have been toying around with the idea of a little side business selling products. One big factor in doing this is to get consistent results. I decided to go and make a batch of Holiday pocket journal covers for my family for the holidays. Learning experience as I got distracted and it was well into February before they were in the mail. I did learn a ton on consistent crafting and process.

Die cutting with a clicker press

The first step in my learning process was to really utilize steel rule dies and clicker press. I am still working out using the laser cutter to make my own steel rule dies, and it is a slow process but now that I have a few sets of import dies. It gives me an understanding of what I need to do to get this working.

This project used a Journal cover from LEETHER Store on Aliexpress It was well made and inexpensive. They are a great resource and shipped my selections almost next day, so the delay from China was not too bad. I also used a clicker press from amazon, as prime free shipping saved me a boatload over direct from China ordering. I want one of the Weaver master tools Mighty Wonder presses, but my hobby budget cannot afford it Yet. The more I use my current dies and clicker the more I learn what I want in tools.

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_clicker_results

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_clicker_dies

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_clicker_size

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_clicker_remnants

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_clicker_press

Leather Edge Craft

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_edges_internal

I have also worked to improve my edge craft. I did a light burnish on the interior exposed edges prior to assembly using Tokonole. That stuff is magic. A little slicking with the Tokonole and then a polish with some canvas cloth and a rubbing stick.

A touch of water can be used first to really get a slick edge. See the main photo of the assembled covers edged. Slicked with water and then Tokonole with the drill press burnisher from Pro Edge Burnishers who’s website sadly has the 404 of sadness. I hate to see small business go, but the current pandemic climate has been hard on folks.

Journals Final Assembly

I made a glue template to reduce over gluing the pieces, and used some Barge contact cement. Once the glue had dried. I stitched the edges with the thread color of my family’s choice. I still need to work on my edge guide and straight stitching. The pen loops caused a bit of an issue with consistency. I was stitching at the limit of my Sailrite Ultrafeed lsz-1, even with the walking foot. It had a hard time with the slippery and stiff vegetable tanned leather during layer transitions. I think I could do some minor bobbin tension adjustments to get a better underside stitch, and some foot pressure adjustment to get the missed stitches during transitions under control. The transitions near the pen loop on the pattern are 3 layers of 4-5 oz leather and gauge right at 7mm (0.275591 in)assembled. The Journals are all 5.5mm (0.216535 inches) most other places but have a slope towards the edge due to the inside pockets. I will have to skive the pockets in the future for easier assembly. I have sewn thicker belts 6.5 MM (0.255906 inches) which is above the published limit of the Ultrafeed lsz-1, but all one consistent thickness. The Salirite Ultrafeed lsz-1 handles those belts perfectly especially with the monster balance wheel.

Sailrite also has some new SD1 point needles from Schmetz which may tear out the veg tan less with the new point shape. I’ll have to try some out as the DIA i’m using does tear the veg tan on exit just a bit. I some times use round point if it is too bad, but those break sewing heavy leather.

Once I got the stitches in. I did a quick 3d printed embossing stamp for each family member’s name and embossed their journal cover. These are created in OpenScad and Tony Buser’s OpenScad Bitmap Font’s Module. I update this module to mirror the text and then use my clicker press to emboss the name onto the journal cover.

Per usual I do a coat of Smith’s Leather balm and you can see in the photo how it brings out the beauty of the vegetable tanned leather. The three on the left of the rack have been balm’d and the 4 on the right are naked and pale, as are the ones in the stitching color photo.

Finally I trimmed some covers on some pocket journal sized fillers and loaded them up. I trimmed the covers as it makes it easier to insert the Pocket Journals which are 90×140 mm or 3.54×5.51 inches, into the covers without too much bending.

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_Smiths_leather_balm

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_glue_template

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_stitching_color_choices

Holiday_pocket_journal_covers_embossed_name

I will likely do one more batch test before committing to actual sales of these.

November 6, 2020November 6, 2020

Tin Foil Hat Wallets and more leather craft updates

TinFoilHat_Wallet_MissionDarknes_TitanRF

I went to a talk ages ago at DefCon that discussed “drive by” attacks for RFID credit cards. My bank refuses to send me a card without “tap to pay” so I started making my own Wallets to protect myself. This Tin Foil Hat Wallets TM building is really why I started Leather craft, and here is my latest.

Tin Foil Hat Wallets TM

I use a single layer of Mission Darkness TitanRF Faraday fabric bonded to the outer shell to provide the protection for the wallet contents. My last 3 Personal wallets used this construction technique. I am just now getting into the electronics of RF testing as being from Missouri the “Show Me State” I don’t believe anything I have not seen for myself. I will update accordingly as I determine the fitness of this Faraday fabric. I will post an electronics blog post once this is proven good.

You can see the improvement in the new form factor on the right over my last revision which went a year. The new “card wallet bi-fold” doesn’t have a bill’s pocket which was a hang up for me in the past. I just don’t carry cash like I used to. The old revision had the Titan RF in the cash pocket.

I will miss the Natural Veg-Tan patina but like the combination of the Wicket and Craig Slate Skirting sourced from District Leather Supply and Sunguard Sunflower from Sailrite made a much nicer compact wallet. The Skirting is very nice to the touch, and I see myself using some more of Wicket and Craig’s fine leather in the future. District Leather treats even small crafters like myself very well, and my orders from them have always processed promptly. It is why I do business with companies like them and Sailrite. Treating the small guy like one of your regular large volume customers always gains my business.

Sewing at the Limits for Leather Craft and more

I made the decision over a year ago to go with the Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 It is a great compromise for hobbyist like myself. I want a cylinder arm machine but would never do with out my LSZ-1. I push the boundaries of sanity sewing things it may have never been designed to sew, but it has taken everything I have thrown at it and only broken down once. Sailrite made it right by sending me a replacement next day even after I told them what I was doing. I self repaired it and it continues to amaze me. They provide great YouTube videos for their customers on How To sew and repair. Here I sewed 3 layers of 5.5-6 Oz Wickett and Craig Skirting, just over 6MM about 1/4 of an inch. It handled it. I did get the thread tension mal-adjusted so it was not the prettiest stitching as after pulling the first attempt the existing holes in the leather caused the needle to wander and break a few times. Operator error.

You can see here during my testing before I messed up the tension adjustment. Smooth even stitching and even backed up into existing holes evenly on top with the Size 22 needle. The bottom with the Size 20 was fraying the V92 size poly thread just a touch, so I moved up a size.

Hybrid Sewing

I Decided on the Ultrafeed LSZ-1 because I do a lot of hybrid sewing so it was a great compromise. Even if I push its limits. This padded chrome book case is an example. Canvas and leather sewn with a rubber backed carpet padding sandwich construction. Zig-Zag stitches to keep the padding in place in the panels and leather accents and gussets. I even used binding to give the inside a finished look with the Sailrite binding attachment. I could have gotten a bigger machine but would have had to give up zig-zag and sewing more delicate things with smaller threads. I just have to get creative on setup to sew some things like the leather handle loops.

CanvasAndLeather_ChromebookCase_zig_zag — CanvasAndLeather_ChromebookCase

Up Coming Leather projects

I have been testing steel rule dies to click out Leather craft project parts as I may start gifting or selling small scale goods. Here is a teaser of the Journal covers, card wallets, and flap top card wallets I’m testing construction on. Tin Foil Hat wallets TM will be as always a special request item. I tested pre-punched stitching holes too, but my hand sewing is worse that improper tensioned machine sewing. Not to mention I would have to charge a ton for my time. I could always sell kits like the people on that annoying pin subscription site which clogs google image search with mandatory sign up request before you can see image. Must be good business as he who pays google the most gets the top two pages of search results.

December 19, 2018January 28, 2019

Tooling Leather rabbit hole.

I had been watching leather craftspeople on Instagram and there is some much beautiful work out there. I keep getting drawn in to try new things. I have also been watching YouTube videos as well and it is amazing the amount of information people will share. Don Gonzales at dgsaddlery is one of those whos incredible work is an inspiration to learn new things, and he shares his knowledge and experience to make everyone better.

That said I started learning a bit about leather tooling. It is super relaxing and pushes me to be more patient. My first serious piece is a simple basket weave belt, but I also started working on hand tooling from dgsaddlery’s patterns.

I have also started looking at different tools and had to laser cut a testube rack to hold the tools. I also tested non traditional colors mixed with antiques.

tooling rack conversion

December 15, 2018January 28, 2019

Wallet testing continues

I have continued to test patterns for making wallets. The construction also improves with each revision. You can see from left to right versions one to four. I switched from vertical to horizontal pockets, because it was pointed out to me that cards may fall out.

I continue to work on my pattern making skills by laser cutting pattern pieces. The TitanRF shielding also is being tested as I continue to see walk by exploits on tap to pay in the wild.

plywood patterns for testing.

August 26, 2018January 28, 2019

Bifold Wallet version two

Version two of the bi-fold wallet came out a bit thinner which is good. However it is wider/taller. It is still a mess and I need to start taking more care on the edges especially with the glue once it leaks out no edge kote stick very well.

function before form — No awards for beauty

Mostly the same construction with thinner leather. I did only make one bill pocket which depresses me as I loved two so big bills can be “hidden” when getting funds out. I have not broken down and gone all plastic. I could just carry the minimalist card wallet.

staining the leather — Nice color when still wet

I think darker leather is growing on me. The pieces had a great color when we which of course was much less when the tan dye dried. I may order some pre-died Cordovan for the Version three once I decided on a style.

July 4, 2018January 28, 2019

Down the rabbit hole of leathercraft

So I went down another rabbit hole. I have an old wallet that is falling apart, but cannot find one that fulfills my desires, wants, or needs. We all know where this goes…. One starter set of tools later and now I have yet another hobby making things.

I will admit that the tin foil hat protection provided by RF shielding backed by Tyvex liner is nice. I do not know why my bank insist on sending me a debit card with “tap to steal” contacts in it.

tin foil wallet — Layers to make it modern.

I built an NFC /RFC panel just to collect and test that. It is easier than you think and people walk by these readers all the time without thought. I started that paranoia when reading the door access logs at one of my day jobs and seeing CC data in there. Is that system PCI complaint? Now I make wallets with RF shielding built-in because I lack trust. I see people bump their wallet and bags on the readers at offices all the time.

This initial test wallet has to be the thickest and you cannot sit on it for long. I don’t know what I was thinking with 5-6 ounce veg tanned leather, when doubled up it is almost 6mm or about 1/4 inch thick. It will last forever though.

A first for me was using Fiebings Antique Stain in tan to dye the raw leather. I think I got a pretty uniform color that looks great. I am already looking forward to my next revision that will be a touch smaller.