Thread: Playing with leather

I'm not much of a computer wizz myself.Would prefer to walk into the shop and see what I'm buying, unfortunately I can't find a local supplier.My grandfather was a fantastic leatherworker,unfortunately he passed before I learnt much from him.I inherited his tools and any leather he had in his workshop but am getting low on supplies now.
I prefer the 4mm for knife sheaths but find the 3mm easier to wet mold.I have some really thick stuff but man it's hard work!
These guys might be worth looking at.

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I had thought about using the heavier leather but for the style of sheath I wanted to make I thought it would end up too bulky... By the time you add the sleeve etc to the main sheath it would start getting very thick and bulky and like you said I figured it would be that much harder to work with. It would be nice to have a few more tools to work with but unless I tried selling some of my work it is difficult to justify the expense ... that said I would really like to do some decorative tooling on the sheaths and butt covers as I do have a bit of an artistic side . And by that I mean actual hand crafted one of a kind artwork rather than just a stamped border. The local gun shop has some handgun holsters on display decorated in the cowboy style made by a gentleman who has passed away and they're gorgeous . love to do something like that one day , but again the expense of getting set up without making some back from selling is prohibitive . I have actually spoken to several shops locally and shown them some of my stuff any they were very impressed , to the point I was asked to leave them there on display , but unfortunately there is no market for that kind of thing locally when you can buy the cheap bulk made stuff from the same shop... $50 for off the shelf or$150 for my one of a kind handmade , which also requires me to have their knife to make the sheath around , and 99.9 percent just want the cheapest option even if the quality of finish is far superior on mine and I would expect them to outlive the owner. But I can certainly understand... I would probably be the same....
But I digress...the beauty of making them yourself is the freedom of making whatever design you want , or anyone else wants with no constraints and that is something I enjoy . And like you said you learn something new every time....