Lionelgee
30th June 2022, 04:15 PM
Hello All,
Where do you buy your leather work tools and your hides from in Australia?
I was tootling through a Tandy website which had an .AU suffix and I had order sorted out. As I went through to the shipping stage it soon became clear that everything was going to get posted from the US of A for about $135 USD. That order did not go any further! I then started to look more closely at sites which actually had an Australian address and their postage mentioned Australia Post.
My first lot of leather work goodies arrived in the post over the last two days. One square metre of vegetable cured buffalo hide arrived today. Yesterday, the awl, stitching chisel and stitching groover arrived in the post. My first project will be a mobile phone case that can be hung off a lanyard around the neck. Why buffalo? My daughter-in-law is Hindi so cow leather is out of the picture.
Today, I made a quick visit to one of the el-cheapo stores and bought a small bamboo server and a white poly cutting board. The bamboo server is 15 x 13 cm - with a bit of a grab handle on one end. I will place the bamboo server under the leather when I hammer the stitching chisel. I also visited the local saddle maker after I learnt a lesson about buying stuff as a novice online. Osborne awl blades only fit Osborne awls. The awl blade I bought online was an Osborne. However, the awl I bought online is not an Osborne. So off to the saddler I went. Gee not much change from $25 for one blade! I was told it was made in Sheffield, England and it is a good quality item.
I bought the awl for times when I do not want to use the stitching chisel.
I have also been spending a bit of time on YouTube learning about wet forming leather and how to do saddle stitching. Do you have a favourite leather worker on YouTube? If so who is it?
I will be making my own stitching pony out of pine boards after a visit to the shed to check supplies. I saw some different designs on YouTube too!
What other items would you recommend would make up a good 'starter" kit? I have seen some online and in catalogues. However being a novice, I do not know whether all the stuff will actually be useful? Some starter kits are valued at $100 and some other companies go up to close to $1000.
At this stage I am not looking at stamping or carving. Doing something with braiding to form straps is part of future plans. These tasks might make it easier for a leather work veteran to form a list of tools to make up a starter kit.
Kind regards
Lionel
Where do you buy your leather work tools and your hides from in Australia?
I was tootling through a Tandy website which had an .AU suffix and I had order sorted out. As I went through to the shipping stage it soon became clear that everything was going to get posted from the US of A for about $135 USD. That order did not go any further! I then started to look more closely at sites which actually had an Australian address and their postage mentioned Australia Post.
My first lot of leather work goodies arrived in the post over the last two days. One square metre of vegetable cured buffalo hide arrived today. Yesterday, the awl, stitching chisel and stitching groover arrived in the post. My first project will be a mobile phone case that can be hung off a lanyard around the neck. Why buffalo? My daughter-in-law is Hindi so cow leather is out of the picture.
Today, I made a quick visit to one of the el-cheapo stores and bought a small bamboo server and a white poly cutting board. The bamboo server is 15 x 13 cm - with a bit of a grab handle on one end. I will place the bamboo server under the leather when I hammer the stitching chisel. I also visited the local saddle maker after I learnt a lesson about buying stuff as a novice online. Osborne awl blades only fit Osborne awls. The awl blade I bought online was an Osborne. However, the awl I bought online is not an Osborne. So off to the saddler I went. Gee not much change from $25 for one blade! I was told it was made in Sheffield, England and it is a good quality item.
I bought the awl for times when I do not want to use the stitching chisel.
I have also been spending a bit of time on YouTube learning about wet forming leather and how to do saddle stitching. Do you have a favourite leather worker on YouTube? If so who is it?
I will be making my own stitching pony out of pine boards after a visit to the shed to check supplies. I saw some different designs on YouTube too!
What other items would you recommend would make up a good 'starter" kit? I have seen some online and in catalogues. However being a novice, I do not know whether all the stuff will actually be useful? Some starter kits are valued at $100 and some other companies go up to close to $1000.
At this stage I am not looking at stamping or carving. Doing something with braiding to form straps is part of future plans. These tasks might make it easier for a leather work veteran to form a list of tools to make up a starter kit.
Kind regards
Lionel