Recommended tools for beginners:
- Cut the self-healing board (leather cutting on the mat)
- Handmade knives (buy a box of blades, you won’t need a leather trimmer)
- 4mm rhombus chopper with 2 teeth and 5 teeth (be careful to buy one with no drawing on the upper side of the chopper teeth, otherwise it will be difficult for you to pull out the chop, so buy finely polished ones)
- Oxford board (for cutting, half the size of A4 paper is fine)
- Nylon hammer (buy a cheap one, use it for cutting)
- Steel ruler (used with a utility knife for cutting leather, suitable for straight lines, practice rounding corners on your own)
- Sanding rod (buy a cheap one, used for edge sealing and shaping)
- Scissors (not for biting, but for cutting threads)
- Edge trimmer (you don’t need one with a rough style. If you want to make the object a little more delicate, buy it. Don’t buy a particularly cheap one because it will be thrown into the trash later)
- Awl (buy a cheap one and use it to position the pattern and mark the cutting holes and draw pattern cutting lines on the leather)
- Needle (buy a cheap one, for sewing)
- Wax thread (for sutures)
- Hand-sewn wooden clamps (buy cheap ones, but be sure to buy sutures, otherwise you will suffer)
- Sanding strip (sanding leather fibers on the edge of leather)
- Sandpaper (if you want to buy a slightly finer one, fine edge sealing, 800 is commonly used)
- Edge sealing liquid (for edge sealing)
- Cotton swabs (you have them at home, use sealing fluid to seal the edges, and buy sponge swabs if possible)
- Go directly to buy the simple pattern you like. When buying the pattern, ask the boss about the thickness of the leather, and then buy the corresponding leather. It is best to practice with a few objects. You can get all the above tools, except for the version without hardware.
Recommended: vegetable tanned leather
- Don’t buy a beginner’s kit. Don’t buy a starter set. Don’t buy a starter set.
If you really love handmade leather goods, then go shopping for other stationery!
Tips:
*What size of wax thread should I use?
The thickness of the thread and needle are different for small objects and large objects. You can consider buying 0.4mm round wax thread and 0.8 or 1mm flat wax thread.
*What glue to use?
Usually water-based white glue is used.
*Can I not buy the cutting board/Oxford version? Can I put a stack of paper underneath?
If you are not afraid of scratching the table and blunting the cutting teeth, it is absolutely fine.
*Do you have any recommendations for vegetable tanned leather?
Novices use Argentinian SDS, and once they become skilled, they use leather from the Italian Vegetable Tanning Alliance.