steveb’s leatherworks: daily blather

Ya got to have tools when you tear into a bike, like Freddy’s Fat Boyee. an of course ya got to have a clown like me getting in the way with his camera. Ha ha!

Thinning out a piece of leather (skiving) is a common and important chore when making something that needs to blend, or blend. Leather is not one of those things you can just bend sharply and not expect it to crack, so you need to skive. I have a few blades that can skive, you’ve already met the Mighty [...]

I dye alot of belts and use an airbrush when browns, reds or any fade is called for. Great way to make a big mess.. using airbrushes and not having a spray booth or backstop. I needed a way to secure a belt in a spot that I could dye it. ..minimizing over spray, maximizing [...]

One of the rules of taking care of your tools is to use them correctly. Screwdrivers should’nt be used to pry or be pounded on with hammers (unless they are someone else’s), ratchets are not breaker bars, knife blades are not screwdrivers, etc, etc.
In the leathercraft world we dont use metal hammers very often, and [...]

Anvils are one of those tools - you don’t know how much you need one, until you’ve got one at your disposal. I punch a lot of slots, tips, holes, etc - and find my anvils essential to a clean, neat and safe punching job. Nothing provides a more stable surface and you want a [...]

Good to have a selection of hammers - craftsman lump for punching tips and slots, ancient cobblers for flattening folds or setting stitching, small ball peen from my college jewelry making days for fine tuning copper rivets, traditional rawhide mallet for lighter punching duties, silver workers hammer for fine seam flattening and metal tapping .
I [...]