Always room for the Basics

Since exiting Corporate America this past January, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of finally learning the “proper” ways to work with Leather. Everything I’ve done until just this past year has been a self-taught experience. Surprisingly, I haven’t been too off the mark with a lot of things.

I’ve had a lot more time to spend at my ‘home away from home’ and have grown quite fond of Tony, the manager at my favorite Leather shop. He’s been amazingly patient and responsive and a great mentor in all things leather. He’s also been teaching classes lately and I’ve finally had the time to attend!

I started with a basics class in which we learned about the core set of leather tools and the basics of leather tooling. It was a free class so I had nothing to lose but a couple hours of my time and everything to gain. Being self-taught I’m humble enough to realize that there must be a vast spread of things that I don’t know. And I was so happy to learn that I was right!

While the tooling itself was pretty easy for me, I picked up all kinds of tips and tricks to make the process easier and more enjoyable. And I’m talking SIMPLE things . . . like sharpening my knife. I had been cutting into leather for almost 3 years now with the same blade and never knew any better. I learned that you should sharpen (or strop) your blade many times during each project. Who knew!? And let me tell you . . . it makes all the difference in the world.

I also picked up on different ways to hold my mallet to gain more control, some concoctions for keeping the leather moist longer and more evenly, and a more sensible approach to viewing the design you’re tooling. At the end of the first couple hours of my first class, I left with a carved piece that I was more proud of than all of my work until that class.

I was hooked. I had to know about the rest of the classes that were scheduled and asked Tony to keep me in the loop about everything he had scheduled. Next up was learning how to cut straight from the hide followed by assembling certain products (dog collars and belts). Stay tuned – I’ll share my experience with all the classes as they happen!