5 BAD Techniques and the solutions to replace them | Leather crafting tutorial

I've noticed for some time that some bad techniques are used repeatedly, self-taught, many learn leatherwork online, and there's not only good advice...
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🛠️ Some useful tools

[DowningGoliath]

Nice video. I like the way you trim your threads and "bury" them in the last stitch with a little leather glue. However, the best technique you showed (but didn't highlight) was how you trimmed a rounded corner by "nibbling" little pieces around the curved pattern with your knife. Much better than trying to cut a curve by "pulling" or "pushing" the knife through the curve in one motion. Thanks...

[theConcernedWyvern]

I come from a digital art background. While it may take some time to learn and get used to, making your patterns digitally, printing them, and then glueing or taping them to a piece of carboard, will save you so much time and effort in the future.
I love the idea of doing patterns on cardboard, but it can be very time consuming to get a good pattern on paper or cardboard by hand. When you do it digitally, its easier to adjust on the fly and make sure all your sizes like up exactly the way they need to. Its great for even curves and strange shapes as well. Its a great skill to have! Also allows you to adjust existing patterns for specific sizes in the future. I use Affinity Designer, but Krita and Inkscape are both free programs that will do something very similar.
Good luck!

[wedgetailleather]

Oh a few good ones here, thanks for sharing. I’ll add a couple to say thanks 🙏 :

1/ skiving on a cutting mat. It’s a great way to ruin your mat, and catch the edge of the blade to ruin your skive. Use a marble slab if you have money, or a smooth glass cutting board from a cheap shop if you’re on a budget.

2/ leaving bits of edge painted leather drying on random objects stacked around your work bench. It makes it hard to keep doing things, and they easily fall and you have to reapply edge paint. Make a drying rack instead, I use scrap styrofoam and toothpicks to make my own for (practically) free.

3/ not cleaning your work bench of debris properly. Can cause various problems from causing you to cut incorrectly; damaging the face of the leather product with impressions, or scuffs or scratches; and small prices have a habit of getting stuck to glued surfaces which cause your linings to bulge. When switching tasks, keep it clean in-between.

4/ craning your neck to sew. It hurts, and can give you a real headache. If you have a common stitching pony then clamp it to your bench so you can work at a comfortable height, I use mine standing up to relieve lower back pain.

5/ not sharpening tools. It makes it harder to cut neatly and can result in injury. Keep those blades sharp and strop those edge bevellers between each use.

6/ using stitching chisels straight into a cutting board. It dulls the teeth faster. Use a scrap of leather in-between.

7/ putting new acrylic templates straight onto the leather. They are smooth and slide around. A thin layer of spray adhesive dried on the surface will make them slightly tacky and they hold the leather better (Particularly thin leather) for neater cutting… too much will leave residue on the leather.

8/ not building jigs. If you do something more than a few times, like setting a stamp on the same product, or lining up pockets on a wallet, it’s worth making a jig to get repeatable results with greater speed and accuracy.

9/ not making mock-ups. People try to wing it, and end up making things too large or small and waste a lot of leather. Finding a cheap material the same thickness and feel as your leather will save time (in figuring out how to fix it) and $$$ in wasted leather.

10/ not using something heavy under your product when using a mallet or hammer. The average wooden table or bench has a lot of bounce and flex in it, and you have to strike harder or multiple times to punch holes or set rivets (especially saddlers rivets). An anvil, or something like a marble slab, takes out the bounce and makes whacking stuff more enjoyable. If you can’t afford a marble slab, I used a large concrete paver covered with a piece of scrap leather for years and it worked just fine.

[notsofresh]

Couple of comments:
1: There are different types of adhesives, contact and curing. A contact adhesive has an instant bond, no clamps. Curing adhesives take time but allow repositioning. These need clamps.
2: I disagree and most shoemakers will as well that you shouldn't trace patterns. Cutting beside the pattern wears it out quickly making the pattern inaccurate. I trace the curves and put an awl divot at the corners. I then use a straightedge when cutting the straights, put knife in divot and slide ruler up to it. Freehand the curves. With a proper knife and technique, it is more accurate and faster I find. If you trace it with a bit of force, the groove created will help guide the knife.
3: Use a proper knife, proper sharp. When I used those clicky knives I found the blades were too flexible, too brittle and not sharp enough, Due to the increased cutting pressure they were more likely to flex, catch a groove in the cutting surface and follow it, or break the tip off. Scratched a couple pieces on broken off knife tips I didnt see embedded in the cutting board best thing I did for speed and quality was switch to a proper knife. Used l'indispensable knife for years, now I use one I made myself for my big hands.
4: Just ditch the stitch. After backstitching, Whenever possible only go through 1 layer of leather and run the needle into the inside of the seam and pill the thread in. Tie and or cut off inside item.

[DowningGoliath]

One more comment on the paper clip technique. I like the idea of contact cement (or rubber cement, or double stick tape) for bonding two pieces together and then use a roller to ensure the two surfaces make full contact. Most of my projects use the glue only to hold the pieces together whilst I stitch them together. Paper or binder clips often leave indentations. There a screw clamp used in woodworking that has flat faces so also a good clamping tool over paper clips (for boding smaller pieces) which I use also as a makeshift stitching pony.

[denisguzzo]

absolutely a great move to make this Thanks!

[lingyunyuandao]

Great ! Thanks for your sharing ! I’m very happy to buy the patterns !

[teeeff]

excellent info, especially for novice leathercrafters like myself. thank you for this. 👍✌🖖

[BavarianBlackBear]

Ive timed myself 1 vs 2 needles took same time, but the two at once always has a nicer finish.

[sleavesleather]

I’ve always wondered what kind of glue some workers were using where they had to use binder clips?! Greta video!

[gediba]

Great video. If you don't mind I'd like to add my experience too.

TIP#2. Some glues lets you move leather for a minute or two after contact. And that's when binder clips comes in handy, especially if the form of your product is more intricate than a simple bifold card pocket. But apart from that yeah - it's more or less a waste of time.
TIP#4. I'd say - don't make final versions of your patterns by hand. It's 2023. Prototyping by hand is fine, bet if you want accuracy - computer is the way to go.
TIP#5. YES. I'm surprised more people don't do that. I cut my patterns with a laser cutter using 3mm plywood and it's so easy to cut along the edge of plywood. But what I found is that you have to be cautious - if the leather is stretchy it might be better to mark around and cut "the old way".

[JustineWiniker]

Rarely doung leather work! I take too much time off between projects and have forgotten all the things I learned grom my mistakes. 🙄

[jfclayleather]

Just realized I have a question, if I buy your leather pattern bundle, can I sell the leather products I make, commercially?

[racheldengate]

Great tips and i agree with them ALL. Thing bugs me the most is burning thread with a lighter, i use the glue method to. Can i ask do you sew back 3 times when finishing yr stitches?

[rickyruffle]

Agreed for the most part but I prefer to use a ruler to get perfectly straight cuts, especially for much larger and intricate pieces. I also don't want to make a whole nother pattern if I get too close to it. I use a thread zap to prevent the thread from coming out. Started with rubber cement but came to hate the stuff. It doesn't really ever dry and just remains sticky and soft. Much prefer water based glue. Just let it sit for a minute before joining the pieces. I used to use clips but found they they leave marks and also create a gap in the edge. Instead just use a roller, clamping pliers or even your fingers.

[catekatz]

Nice video, thank you for sharing your tips! I’ve only been doing leather work for about a year, and I am completely self taught (via YouTube videos such as yours.)
I was following everything up until “bad technique number 4” . I am not familiar with an ABNY axis. Can you explain what that is, and what purpose it serves in leatherwork? Thank you very much!

[WeeGeordie]

Great tips Alex. Is that you in the thumbnail?

[pepleatherlab]

Disagree on use of clips. Some of us hate synthetic glue because it produces an edge which is cosmetically unappealing. Largely because it blocks dye creating shiny light spots. Granted if you're using chrome tanned leather you're likely employing acrylic paint for the edges and it won't matter anyway. But if your crafting a product with veg tanned leather, you want water based adhesive because it allows dye through and burnishes much better. Sadly, it also takes longer to dry, hence the use of clips. Personally I have all my clips backed with leather strips so they don't leave indentations. I only use Barge cement on chrome tanned projects and when I'm attaching non leather items like zippers or plastic ID windows. Good luck!

[KristianSelberg]

Im a tattoo artist that just started to dabble in leatherwork. When pulling long Lines on a tattoo I was told to ”lock” my wrist and use my hole arm to get a straight even line. I found that the same applies when cutting longer pieces of leather. Thx for the video 😊

[Anthony_sm]

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