r/Leathercraft

My brother-in-law travels a lot for work and loved the idea of having a nice leather duffle to take with him. This was my biggest project by a wide margin and it took me just about a year and two full attempts to finish. The first attempt I guess I used a cheap zipper and it broke while I was staging the bag for pictures. I ended up taking the bag mostly apart and then decided I needed to scrap the whole thing and use a different leather. What I was using was very scratchable and thin. I really didn’t want to deliver a subpar product just to get it done. Got pretty discouraged several times on this project but I’m glad I kept working cuz I learned a lot! Mainly, don’t cheap out on the materials 😂

So I made this wallet from Indian sourced veg tan leather. I thought the pricing of $35 was maybe a bit high. But I was wrong! The customer accepted the price without hesitation and gave the order! 😊 (it is a bit difficult to get the leather's actual green color in the photos)

This is one of my favorite types of pass through closures. It's similar to a square loop but it has a protruding leg at the bottom that keeps it propped up while trying to close it.

I've included multiple examples from various militaries.

Hopefully the drawings make sense, as I don't want to dissect any of my pieces.

Thank you!

Show yours!

Outer leather is an aniline dyed veg tan vachetta, inner lining is pigmented harness veg tan, handle core is 2mm nylon sheet stitched with fil au chinois. I also made the box, 2mm bookboard covered in bookcloth with a leather inlay from an offcut of the portfolio case to match, with hand marbled paper on the inside that I purchased, someday I’ll get into marbling paper but today is not the day.

I think it turned out pretty well. What do you say?

I've made dozens of wallets over the past few years in this hobby and have sold no more than I can count on one hand. I've done a few craft shows and flea markets. Posted on eBay and created an Etsy where I haven't sold a single thing. I feel like I have reasonably good craft and priced what I feel like is fair, $40 - $60 a piece. I don't really want to go into business doing this but would love to get some money back to make it easier to continue enjoying the hobby.

Lately, my wife has been talking about trying to sell things on Whatnot and suggested I might try selling there. I'm not sure if that's the right platform, but willing to give it a shot. Has anyone else had luck there?

I've been "leather curious" for a long time, but I finally actually made something.

I needed a wand holster and couldn't find one I liked, so I did the most expensive thing possible and decided to make my own. $1,000 in leather (it was on sale!) and tools later, I have a wand holder and a new hobby.

This is made out of Tandy's economy blue belly. A love how the color turned out after some carnauba creme and a good buffing. I can tell it's not as durable as I want due it being economy and belly... but all the double shoulders I bought will make for some great follow on projects. I'm signed up to make one for each of my kids now, so I'm getting into doing my own dye jobs.

Custom Dragon Stamp on Ratcheting Leather Gun Belt.

Dragon vector created in Adobe Illustrator, exported as. DXF that I extruded as a 3D CAD model in Onshape. This was then sent to my 3D printer to fabricate the stamp with PLA. This stamp was then pressed into the leather using a 6 ton hydraulic shop press.

Well managed to do a workshop where my partner and I made a pair of these thigh cuffs.

We are very happy with these. Now I need to make more!!

This one has been on my to-do list for quite a while. I made a very similar wallet about six years ago for a friend. It was one of the very first items I ever sold. I think I sold it to him for 30 or 40 bucks and to say there were a few issues with it would be an understatement.
The card pockets were a little too narrow, the stitching was rough, edges were rough, and it was THICK. I used the only leather I had at the time which was 4-5oz Hermann Oak and I don’t think I did any skiving at all.
He’s carried it ever since, and I always joke about it probably outlasting him, but I’ve been meaning on making him a replacement. I’ve learned a lot since then, and was finally able to set aside a bit of time this week to put this together for him.

As usual, stingray leather, coloring, sanding, polishing, stitching — all done by hand.

Inside, goat leather with hand‑dyed coloring and a patina effect.

Finally got around to making the right hand holster.

I’ve been using the thin paper pouches my needles came in for storage. With my spare time recently I made small pouches for the two needle sizes that I use. What small/large projects have you made for your leather crafting or just around your house in general

The pouches are made with scrap Wickett and Craig 4-5oz leather, 3mm French irons, .45mm waxed linen. The numbers are stamped with vintage Sears metal stamps a coworker gave me.