Tools of the Trade - Tools for Leather Working

There are a lot of really niche trades that people can engage in, and of course the majority of them require special tools. Leather working is one of those trades and if you’re doing leather working you want tools that will help you make the best belt, handbags, backpack, work gloves and more. There are a lot of specialized tools that go into doing leather work, and some regular tools that can be used for the same job. Since leather is a very durable material to work with, it pays to get high quality tools made of strong materials so that you can do your creating without constantly breaking and replacing something. So what tools do you need to do leather work?

You’ll have to do a lot of cutting. Lots and lots of cutting. Whether it’s cutting the shape out from a large piece of leather or doing some lite trimming, the best tools for this are going to be shears and diagonal cutters. With shears it’s best to choose some that are made from a good, solid type of steel and with a smooth opening/closing action. You want the smoothest cutting experience you can get. Diagonal cutters should be purchased with the same mindset, and while there are a number of brands known to be good for leather working, there are more than a few Knipex cutters that would make fine leather working tools. In addition to some high quality cutters, it’s a good idea to have some pliers and needle nosed pliers and parallel pliers also come in handy specifically for leather working. Moving back to cutting, Slice is a brand that makes a few different kinds of craft knives, ceramic utility knives and box cutters, all of which can be used for leather. While we don’t carry Slice yet, the design of their tools and the use of ceramic was notable. All of these tools will help you cut your leather to the right size and shape and will also be helpful in adding details and etchings into your leather work.

One of the other key elements of leather working is that you need to be able to poke holes in the leather. This is of course for straps so you can securely close your leather bag or buckle your belt. You also need to be able to puncture leather so you can sew it. There are many variations of hole punches that can be used to this end. These can work in conjunction with a mallet or hammer (rubber mallet or cobbler’s hammer), and with a good variety of punches you can create a lot of different types of holes. Awls, on the other hand, are used mostly for sewing but you sometimes also want to use an awl to pre-poke holes for sewing. There are various size awls for different styles of stitching. This is a very important tool, it needs to be sharp and pointy, but because of its fine tip it can be easily damaged if not cared for properly. When selecting your hole punching tools, it’s important to get something that will be high quality so that it doesn’t break when you’re pushing it through the leather.

Leather working is a great hobby and source of supplemental income and if you become good enough at it and have high quality tools, it’s something that you can keep at for many years. With the right high quality tools the things you make will turn out better looking and have a longer lifetime, which will ensure that you repay the investment into good tools and if you have good tools that you take care of, they’ll last a long time.