Vegetable-tanned · saddle-stitched · finished by hand
Kit profiles
Reference profiles for irons, thread, hides, blades, adhesives and care. Each profile carries the pitch, thread and thickness table used to choose stock at the bench.
2026-10-18 · Adhesives
Adhesives: Contact Cement, Open Time and the Ventilation Rule
Contact cement is the strongest and the most misused adhesive on this bench. It bonds on contact with itself, which means you get one chance to position a panel and no chance to slide it. Everything about working with it — open time, the roller, the test — follows from that single property.
- Rows filed
- 5
- Category
- Adhesives
- Published
- 2026-10-18
2026-10-12 · Blades
Cutting Tools: What Each Blade Is Actually For
Most bench injuries come from using the wrong blade on the wrong cut. A utility knife that will not go through 3 mm hide gets pushed harder, and the moment it slips it goes into a hand. Matching the blade to the job is a safety practice before it is a quality practice.
- Rows filed
- 5
- Category
- Blades
- Published
- 2026-10-12
2026-10-05 · Hand Tools
Awls and Needles: Opening a Hole Without Cutting One
An awl is not a punch. A punch removes leather; an awl pushes fibres aside and, when the leather is dry, lets them close back around the thread. That difference is the whole reason a hand-sewn seam holds better than a machine-sewn one, and it is why the awl has to be polished rather than sharp.
- Rows filed
- 4
- Category
- Hand Tools
- Published
- 2026-10-05
2026-09-30 · Hardware
Hardware Finishes and What They Do After Two Years
Hardware is the part of a leather good that fails first and looks worst when it does. A belt buckle that has lost its plating looks like a mistake on an otherwise perfect strap, and there is no repair short of replacing the buckle. The choice is therefore about what the finish does over two years of use, not what it looks like in the shop.
- Rows filed
- 6
- Category
- Hardware
- Published
- 2026-09-30
2026-09-21 · Edge Finishing
The Edge Finish Stack: Bevel, Sand, Seal, Wax
An edge is four operations, in order, and skipping any one of them shows. Cut leather has a square corner with a raw, fibrous face; the beveler removes the corner, the sandpaper flattens the fibres, the sealer binds them, and the wax or paint protects the result. Do them out of order and the edge will be fuzzy in a month.
- Rows filed
- 5
- Category
- Edge Finishing
- Published
- 2026-09-21
2026-09-15 · Hides
Hide Weight: What Ounces Mean and When They Stop Working
Leather is sold by weight per square foot in the United States and by thickness in millimetres almost everywhere else, and the conversion is not exact — a 4/5 oz hide is not a fixed 1.8 mm, it is a range the tannery sorts into. Sorting matters more than the number: a hide can be 1.8 mm and firm, or 1.8 mm and floppy, and only one of those makes a good notebook cover.
- Rows filed
- 6
- Category
- Hides
- Published
- 2026-09-15
2026-09-09 · Thread
Thread Size, Needle Size and How Much to Cut
Cutting thread is where beginners waste the most material. The working rule is that a length of thread sews about 45 percent of its own length in saddle stitch, because every stitch passes through the hole twice and each pass is longer than the pitch by the thickness of the leather. The table gives the measured figure for each diameter on two thicknesses of hide.
- Rows filed
- 4
- Category
- Thread
- Published
- 2026-09-09
2026-09-03 · Pricking Irons
Pricking Iron Pitch: Choosing by Hide Weight, Not by Fashion
Pitch is the distance between two tine tips, and it is the first decision on every order because it fixes thread size, needle size and how much leather is left between holes. The rule that keeps a seam strong is simple: the gap of uncut leather between two holes should never be less than the thread diameter times two. Everything in the table above follows from that one number.
- Rows filed
- 6
- Category
- Pricking Irons
- Published
- 2026-09-03