Welcome to our group Leathercraft Masterclass Group! A space for us to connect and share with each other. Start by posting your thoughts, sharing media, or creating a poll.

Hey Guys, how do you keep your workshops clean from all the leather chips? I currently use a standard house vacuum cleaner but its cumbersome to move around the shop. I'm thinking about maybe a handheld battery operated vacuum cleaner. Do you guys use anything in particular? A small random tip from the bench: to make your leather stick to the surface during skiving or cutting use 0.5mm silicone VMQ sheets inbetween the leather and the surface. The grip is not as tacky as Phil's method with PVA glue, but it is a reasonable option.

Took a while, but I finally finished the zip wallet from the Intermediate course... picked up some ostrich remnants from buyleatheronline (wish I would have picked up a few more bundles at the price...) and thought it would be good to practice with... It was my first time doing a zip, but it went pretty well... Can't imagine attempting a project like this without the videos to fall back on... 🙂

JH

In planning for some storage solutions, I'm interested in utilizing wall mounted magnetic strips in the typical wood veneered style. In consideration (read over-thinking) I've become curious if this storage method will introduce any negative challenges when it comes to the magnetization of the tool, specifically blades, as it relates to sharpening. I typically dress with a strop during regular use, and will hone on water stones as needed. Conventional logic would suggest that the slurry produced including fine metal particles would have a natural tendency to remain magnetically attracted to the tool being sharpened. I would expect that this may introduce some challenges or undesirable outcomes as it relates to the sharpening process. Has anybody had any any experience with this either in leather tools or storing kitchen knives in a similar fashion and care to share their thoughts?

Hello all,

I was just wondering, what colors of thread was mostly used traditionally?

I and a lot of other leathermakers use a big variaty of color in our threads, but was was used traditionally for brown, tan and black leather?

What say you, Phil, you have read a lot of litterature and old book about leathercraft. What does the books say about thread and leather colors?

I've been trying to make some more generic but customizable projects that aren't egregiously time consuming to make, so I took the bottom half of the solid leather box project and decided on its own when made rather shallow it would be a desk tray. After taking a ride on the struggle bus when attempting to cut the 45 degree angles via Phil's method, I decided to use some math, the edge of my granite slab as an index, and a skiving style approach to cut those 45's and was met with a significantly higher success rate.

Also I ordered a die cutter in the shape of the Helldivers 2 skull, a video game I have played absolutely too much of, and used an arbor press to punch the skull out of yellow to give it some nice design elements. Challenge 2: A 1 ton arbor press does not d…

Just finished my first run through of the bifold wallet build. Really loved this one given how surprisingly challenging it was. First a question (so you don't have to read through my "post build" notes).

Given buttero's stiffness, I'm wondering if I could do away with some of the reinforcement particularly the canvas on the exterior lining and the thinner reinforcement used on the folded double partition? Not sure it matters since it's not adding much thickness but curious anyway.

Here's a few notes from this build The center partition was supposed to be the same color but I sliced it while attempting to thin it down a bit. I didn't have enough Burgundy colored leather left so my only option was a piece of 1.2mm chestnut.

Getting this piece thin enough was tricky until I realized I could use my woodworking block plane to do most of the heavy…

Hello leather masters, I have two questions about better edge finishing. The first issue is making an edge on soft leather where two layers that are not perfectly aligned come together. As an example, you can see in the picture below that a piece of soft leather was cut using a cardboard template.

The leather is supposed to be folded and sewn along the edges, with a zipper in the middle. Since the rounded edges were made with a round knife, they are not completely straight (picture below).

How do you best approach such details? Since the leather is too thin, sandpaper cannot be used. Is it best to cut the edge after the layers are sewn, or is there a better trick?

For example, how do you suggest finishing an edge like this where the leather is very thin, is it best to leave it raw, paint it, or is it…

Hi all,

I have been looking on the web but are not able to find what im looking for.

I bought at bag of different hardware some years ago and have 2 og these metal frames, but i cont find out how to use them. I guess im going to wrap them in leather and then make some kind of bag and sew them on, but i need some inspiration to get started and some inspiration for how to close the bag.

Is there anyone here that used a set like these, who can help me get started

?