The Basic Tools of Leather Crafting.

Leather crafting could be an expensive hobby due to the extensive amount of tools and machine. The luring attractiveness of leather (and the wide variety of them) might seduce you to spend more than what you expect to spend. 

Hence, we need to have this article as the very first article for you to protect your wallet. 

You might saw a series of videos on Youtube claiming to make leather goods without any tools or homemade tools or claiming to make a 'Hermes Wallet' with cheaper alternative. Please try not to do that, those videos are meant to attract attention and gain likes, they are not educational or tutorial videos. Some of those videos even cut out the frustrating process of using the wrong tools or methods that would tremendously affect your crafting experience. 

So here's the basic tools that you actually need.

Pen knife or Box Cutter

A simple pen knife could get you started on cutting leather. It does have its limitation when comes to skiving or cutting thru thicker leather. Well, as a beginner, you won't really touch on skiving or thick leather. Beware of leather salesperson that try to convince you purchase thick and stiff leather (2mm or more), their usual sales statement would be " the thicker the more durable... ". 

Metal Ruler

Yes, you can also cut freehand but a metal rule could protect your fingers and ensure a nice looking straight cut. A simple rule that we preached and practiced at Crafune: Draw straight, cut straight, punch straight, stitch straight, crease straight, burnish straight. 

Please pardon the grammar, it is just a simple guide to follow. We will touch on it in the future. 

Awl

We use it for tracing our templates on vegetable-tanned leather mainly. We will elaborate on usage of tracing templates in the future as well. It is part of Draw Straight.

Cutting Mat

Save your innocent table from the painful cuts of pen knife. 

Burnishing Rod

A simple and affordable tool that you will fall in love with. Burnishing could be an addictive process where you witnessed a rough edge turning into a smooth and glossy edge. 

Diamond Chisel Punch or French Pricking Iron

This will be the most expensive basic tool or tools to get. You will need a set of 2 teeth and 4 or more teeth at the very least. You need this for stitching and the better the quality, the more time you save. 

Needles and Threads

I don't really think I need to explain these. Stitching. 

That's all you need to kickstart your journey.