I started Corter Leather in 2007 in my college bedroom. These days Corter Leather is just me, Eric, hand sewing and making my little movies in my workshop on Cape Cod.
Thank you! I have a horrible tendency of “jumping into” a new hobby then getting discouraged b/c it turns out bad, b/c I didn’t take the time to learn the basics of the craft! So thank you again for this video!
"Now that shell has been, y'know, unlocked from one tannery making it..." WOW! What a *massive* slam against Horweeen, man. I've seen a few comparison videos between Rocado, Shinki, and Horween. There's a reason why one of those brands is "the brand" and has been for over a hundred years. Still, though, great effort in what you produced... very impressive and a cool backstory!
I have thoroughly enjoyed your strap making videos, sir. I've tried making some with an old belt. I also bought a piece of leather that is about 2.5 mm thick, and when I tried to put spring bars in and install into a watch, it seems the leather is way too thick. Am I missing something, or should I be getting thinner leather? When you use a liner, how thick is it? Thanks for any insight here. Keep up the great content!
It's probably just the way I'm looking at it, but does this method allow each stitch to individually lock in place like a traditional saddle stitch where you wrap the thread around the needle as you go? I'm not seeing that part and it's looking to me more like a running stitch with two needles.🤷
Eric: I was also led to believe that making any kind of sheath that will touch metal is not to be chrome tanned. Even though chrome tanned leather is rinse thouroughly, there is still a chance that the left over salts can discolor your metal inside the sheath. Veg tanned only. I do think that Chrome Excel does not behave this way since it is both tanned methods. Horween apparently has perfected the half and half technique. Thanks again.
Hi Eric, I just wanted to leave a thank you note. I have been watching your videoes for some time and really appreciate the way you demonstrate and comment on each step and leatherworking in general. I have learned many tricks from you. It was nice seeing you as well. Great work on that wheightloss. Congratulations. I hope you have come even further down in the months since this video was released. Warm regards Tore, Norway
you alluded to but didn't say check your ego and pride at the door. Don't lower standards but if it all goes belly up tomorrow don't be so prideful you won't flip burgers at night to make ends meet. Inventory can kill a business if it isn't turned over. Another thing is do NOT let people or businesses float on payments. Ive known business people who have lost thousands because they let people or businesses float paying them. The check is always on the way or in the mail.
😮😮😮 I haven't been leatherworking very long, so I'm slowly adding tools and supplies to my leatherworking station in my studio. I've been working on my first wallet for my son and decided to add tokonole and ritza tigre thread to my supplies 😍😍😍while they aren't 100% necessary they are so much nicer to work with than the lower cost stuff I was trying to get by with and the wallet looks like I bought it already made. 😊
There actually is a reason to strop one direction instead of back and forth. Stroping is just like using a stone, except it's much more precise. Stroping back and forth the way you do is creating scratch marks horizontally, which makes it easier for the blade to break. Think about it like the grain of wood. It's much easier to break wood if you break it along the grain instead of going against it. You won't notice a difference on leather since it's a relatively easy thing to cut, but if you sharpened a knife with horisontal scratches and used it for whittling dry wood, you'll probably get some chipping at least on the microscopic level.
Many thanks for an excellent explanation of the tanning process. On a different note, I am hoping for some advice. I have your _"Blade Holder"_ and I love the balance and feel. It has transformed "my cuts" but, the blade keeps coming loose. This can happen even after two or three cuts with it. I've tried gently tightening it with pliers (grips) but to no avail. Please, what am I doing wrong?
1. "Not an expert on tannage." Proceeds to deliver a master's intro on the topic. Excellent! 2. Love working with bison. The blade and straight edge are the way to go. The hides tend be a little... gummier? and I find that it wants to run away from scissors. 3. I may be wrong, but I had thought that most (US at least) leathers started as "wet blue", basically a first pass chrome tan, then into any of the tannages you mentioned.
For just practicing, I've got decent results with cheap bison/buffalo on amazon. Generally my practice stuff Is the cheapest "economy grade" veg tan I can find online.
😂😂😂 whenever i watch a video that has the word Patina in it. My cat always comes up to me thinking someone is calling her. I'm an Sumi-e artist by trade so when i got her I named her Patina because she is a brindle colored cat and the mix of black orange gray and brown looks like she has a patina.
The Tanner Leatherstein channel, actually teaches about the tannery side of leatherwork and what the different qualities are and how to determine them. He also recommends and suggests people watch your channel to learn how to make things with leather and he tries to promote artisan leatherworkers over the luxury name brands by ripping products apart and estimating if your really getting quality or just paying for the brands status.😊
I made a backpack out of chrome tanned leather a year ago and use it everyday and it hasn't changed any color and has no patina yet. Wished I had used veg can. also, you can't really burnish the edges on chrome tan :( Thanks for the video!
I have an old saddleback leather wallet. They use chrome tanned and it's gotten so dark now that it looks like a very dark brown when it used to be a tobacco color. So I'm a bit confused when you say chrome gets lighter because it hasn't for my case.
If there are any other inputs - staining, indigo, exposure to moisture, etc, those can darken the leather. Without those you'd see the leather get lighter over time. Basically it's not the leather itself getting darker, it's things making the leather darker. Veg tan tans like skin in the sun, the material itself phsically gets darker even when died many colors - that's the difference.
I love your attitude of working on your skills before jumping right in is going to provide a better experience However my ADHD decided that I had an idea for a project so I had to buy the equipment and full send the project
