Good Morning all y'all.. Welcome to KosKraft, Issue 10.
This Group is for all those creative kossack artisans, plying away at their benches. If you make things, please join, and maybe give us a look at your work.
I'm back from my grandkid visit. Some 1500 miles between NC, NY, MA, in 6 days. I guess we can still "keep on truckin" after all these years, but, if the mrs and I had to be in the car one more day, one of us wasn't coming out alive.
Got back in the shop Tuesday, whatta mess I left. I finished up one last late project and got it posted, whew. Started in on the minimalist wallet line. This is the first run, and as usual, I have ideas to improve the design.
I thought I might add a new feature to these diaries. Tools! Leatherwork involves a great deal of special tools, many of which have been around since Medieval times. I use a lot of old fashioned hand tools.
Cutting: Nowadays people use all sorts of things to cut their patterns from stock leather; Exacto knives, Utility blades, Scalpels, etc. But the tried and true way is the head knife, or round knife. The blade form has been around since ancient times. The Inuit have a blade similar for cutting whale blubber. It has to be maintained @"scary sharp". If it doesn't cut through 8oz leather like butter, you risk the chance of pushing too hard, skipping off track, and losing a finger. I have one thumb that can attest to "whew, that's gonna hurt". Luckily, I can still count to ten.
From left to right, my "newest" knife. It's a Gomph, over a hundred years old. I bought it cause, they don't make them like that anymore. $150 well spent. Takes a sharpening, holds the edge, and is comfortable. The middle knife is a C.S. Osborne. This one is only about 10 years old. Cheap standard tool, about $60. Takes a little longer to sharpen, doesn't stay sharp all that long. The one on the right is my first knife, bought around 1972. Can't remember how much but probably around $20 back then. It's been sharpened down to nothing over the years, but still cuts, and can take a little abuse.
The edges of handmade leather goods is another skill that uses old tools. Modern work involves bound or french edges and others. We'll get into them some other time, but the standard is a burnished slick edge. Check the edge of your belts, or straps, and see if they are shiny, or frayed. Slicked up makes for an attractive piece, and there is only one way to get that by hand, sandpaper, elbow grease, bones, antlers, and beeswax.
Well, that's all for now..
All Kossack Artisans are welcome to join the group, just send me a PM.
In the meantime, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the
KosKatalog. They do yeoman's work in there, and it's about at businesss close to supporting "local" as you can get on the inter tubes.
Another crafty place to hang around...
WAYWO
my links:
Rocky River Leather Co.
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