This discussion about not using belly scraps has confused me. After Dan’s class monday night, I ordered some personal leather working tools as well as a order of belly scraps for practice and learning with.
I received it yesterday, and while it has an narrow, long and irregular shape that would make it difficult to use for most projects, I (in my inexperienced eye) do not see anything much different from the material we used in the kits or from the scrap bin for stamping practice in monday’s class.
Belly scrap is real stretchy so it doesn’t hold it’s shape or impressions well over time. It’s what I use for practicing swivel knife cuts mainly because it all goes in the trash in the end.
Ah, that explains why I wasn’t seeing much of a cosmetic difference. I haven’t played with it enough to discover the working difference.
I want to make tool rolls, and tool protects (kind of like knife sheaths). I don’t really care about cosmetic issues. Do you have any suggestions on the most cost effective leather I could use for those kind of things?
I use belly scrap to stamp impressions just to see what the tool looks like and to practice swivel knife cuts. As Bitta said it is pretty much destined for the trash anyway. You just have to realize that the final results might vary from using a quality shoulder leather piece. In general Walter to build a sheath you will want to select a weight of leather that is sturdy enough for your project and select a shoulder or other hide to tool. For tool wraps/rolls you would select a lighter weight of leather and stitch it to hold the tools.
There are also different grades of leather. The higher quality grades have much less imperfections in them and are a much nicer leather to stamp. Tandy has a leather buying guide which may help.
You can make tool rolls out of just about anything that’s a decent weight. I have an OLD one made out of a heavy veg split and a nice one I won in a raffle with a fancy lizard inlay - way cool. I’d look for something in the 4 oz neighborhood, lean toward the lighter end if you want to sew it on the machines at DMS. They are wicked simple to make especially if you use chap leather, finished or upholstery hides and there’s no dying or sealing to mess with. You can still burnish the edges off nice and use contrast colored stitching to dress it up if you want or make a contrasting overlay for the foldover top. All you really gotta do if sew straight lines!
I know you do a lot of wood working… I saw a cool way to do protective covers for edged tools on YouTube with plasti-dip and masking tape you might find interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSk6XViPQ3E