Beginner Tool List
I can’t help but form thoughts and opinions on tools, materials, learning resources, and advice. I have an uncontrollable urge to ramble. I’m going to start organizing and writing my thoughts, and I hope it can be helpful or interesting to somebody.
I should clarify what the following list is; this is the kind of discussion I was looking for when I made the first leap buying leather and tools. None of my opinions are meant to be taken as authoritative- leathercraft is diverse and creative and everyone should find their own guiding principles, preferences, methods, and styles. I do have very strong opinions at times but just as I came to some of these in conflict with those I had learned from, I encourage others to take every piece of advice on the internet with a grain of salt. I will try to offer multiple options where I can, and explain options that I did not personally explore in case you, the reader, may want to. There are more specific subjects like dyeing leather, burnishing, and pattern making that I may get into in future rambles, but will not be discussed extensively here.
The List:
Cutting mat
Square
Ruler
Glue Spreader/Brush
Pattern Material
Sandpaper
Burnisher/Burnishing Cloth
Scratch Awl
Sharp Knife
Wing Dividers
Wax
Maul/Mallet
Edge Beveler
Granite/Marble Slab
Punch Board
Stitching Chisels
Needles
Thread
Glue
Tokonole
Oil/Conditioner
Leather
Cutting Mat: I really recommend a self-healing mat. Leather is very difficult to cut through, and a self-healing mat will absorb that and prevent slips while cutting. They are not as cheap as using your dining table, but pretty affordable and generally available at any craft store. There is no way to use your dining table without severely damaging it, for the record; I thought I could just “be careful” and it would be damaged minimally and that was proven unrealistic. The slicker and cheaper cutting mats used for quilting are ideal for flimsy fabrics but very quickly become frustrating with leather. Here are some examples/options:
Square: A ruler is important, but if you have nothing to ensure right angles you will go insane. You can get by with just a square, but I recommend a square in your preferred measurement system (metric/imperial) and a double-sided ruler with both. On the insanity point, buy a nice square if you can. Beyond a certain point I doubt a higher price point can really promise much, but this is a really important tool so take your time on this one. Anything wrong with your square, ruler, and stitching chisels will be reflected in anything you do. You deserve better than a wonky square. Here are some options:
*I recommend the Weaver square to start because it comes with non-slip tape on the back, which makes a world of difference. There a lot of cork backed rulers and squares and personally I feel like cork doesn’t work as a grippy material as well as non-slip tape. The tape Weaver uses is the same you’ll see on steps in public spaces and therefore can easily be bought and applied to any ruler or square. The Weaver square is not anything special beyond the tape but works perfectly fine, so if it’s worth it to you to get something a little nicer (like from Rocky Mountain) and apply non-slip tape or cork yourself, have at it. I should add, cork will wear relatively quickly and not necessarily evenly, so eventually the square won’t lay flat unless you replace the cork.
Ruler: I covered a lot of my Ruler Thoughts above, but I use both metric and imperial in my patterns and I really recommend having both even if you prefer one or the other, especially because stitching chisels are typically in Metric and US credit cards and cash are in Imperial. There are so many good rulers there’s no need really for a suggestion, but I would avoid plastic and wood as they will not hold up to your knife very long. Treat your ruler well, because any imperfection in your straight edge will be reflected in your leather work.
Glue Spreader/Brush: You can get plastic glue spreaders like this:
Or, just use dollar store brushes, popsicle sticks, anything. Not a critical tool, but good to think about before you go to open the glue. This is a great place to save money. Toothpicks don’t work well, they’re a bit too small and it just becomes tedious. Brush bristles splay out and become unruly and frustrating and it’s really not a pleasant experience to get glue on the visible surfaces of a project, so if you can invest in something tidier I do recommend. All these little things can certainly add up though.
Pattern Material: This is another place where there are plenty of options to save money. Pattern material is very important so you can document, reproduce, and learn from your designs over time. Part of this is taking thorough notes, but I recommend creating patterns as well. I would recommend against buying patterns for a long time, because patternmaking is a skill within leathercraft that will give you really valuable freedom in your work and the earlier you can start developing those skills, the better. Here are some options:
Cardstock
Thin poster board (not the foam kind)
Cardboard (I recommend cut up cereal boxes)
Thick leather scraps (Less precise but can be great for some things like hole spacing on a belt)
Plastic sheeting (my favorite but not a household object); Weaver Plastic Sheeting
Sandpaper: Obviously, you can find this at any hardware store. I’ve seen a wide variety of grits suggested to beginners all over the internet and everyone is very firm in their opinions on this, and most often don’t agree. Different leathers are going to behave very differently, and may need a different approach. I think a lot of people misunderstand what they are actually doing when they sand and burnish leather. If they say they start at whatever grit, move to a finer grit, and then at some point return back to the coarsest- that does not make sense. There’s no reason to do that other than that you didn’t do a good enough job the first time around. I say all this to say there are a lot of people that are very confidently wrong. A lot of people get good results but are incorrect about why they are getting it, and their process is needlessly complicated or time consuming.
So what’s my advice? Buy ALL of the following grits and just experiment:
320 grit
400 grit
600 grit
800 grit
1000 grit
1200 grit
2000 grit
I will be writing a more complete ramble about burnishing in the future because it is just too complicated thing to get into here. I generally use 600 grit and 1200 grit for a simple burnish, and 400, 600, 1200 for a nicer edge. You can choose to use less grits, but that means its that much more important you sand well and thoroughly in each grit before moving to the next. I would recommend against a gap larger than double (ex. 400 straight to 1200), but also very small gaps can be redundant. A clean cut in your leather is also going to have a lower limit of the variation in its surface imperfections. This means there absolutely is a lower limit with sanding- you can use a grit coarse enough to mess up what you started with rather than start to diminish the imperfections. This is why the condition of your knife and how you cut the leather is so important. I generally don’t go below 400 grit unless there’s a problem in the edge I want to remove a lot of material quickly to fix.
Sanding and burnishing are pretty much always a large source of frustration when you are learning. Getting “glassy” edges isn’t as simple as using the right materials, it’s also skill with those materials. Do not be discouraged when it’s not automatically perfect, because it is very complicated and difficult. My edges certainly aren’t perfect and I regularly experiment on how to improve them or get the same result a simpler, faster way, and it is a relatively recent development that I can stand to look at my own edges.
Canvas Burnishing Cloth: I’ve seen a lot of people suggest cutting up different common materials for this purpose (jeans/canvas totes) or to cut up canvas drop cloth. All of these options have disappointed me. I’m still looking for the magic perfect cloth. This looks decent but I have not tried it (I will soon):
Also, you can buy a wood burnisher, of which there are plenty of affordable (and extremely fancy and expensive) options. I’ve never really cared much for these. For the first three years, I used the handle of a cheap Craftool edge beveler. You can also use antler, porcelain, or any piece of polished hardwood. I just use cloth.
Scratch Awl: This is a very important tool. You use it constantly in leatherwork. I’ve seen a lot of strange advice around this, such as “use any pokey thing.” First of all, this is a $4 tool. Please, just buy an awl. I am begging you. Leather work will not look right at all without precision and having the right tools is part of that, and many tools (like an awl) don’t need to be fancy. It’s okay if fancy isn’t in the budget right now, but this is an important $4 to spend.
There are several kinds of awls; round, flat, french, and more. When I say this is an essential tool, I’m talking specifically about a round awl because that is what you mark leather with. If you are having trouble getting a needle through a stitching hole, you can open the hole up a bit with the awl (a lot like brooches in watchmaking). It is a simple and endlessly useful tool, and it will last you forever. I started with a craftool scratch awl from Tandy, and although I have purchased fancy round awls since, the Craftool awl performs the same.
I will talk more about other awl types when I discuss stitching chisels.
Sharp Knife: Some people will say you need to “invest” in your knife. They are just knife dorks. You do, however, need a sharp knife that is easy to maintain. If you are good at sharpening knives or are a knife dork yourself, I commend you. I have always used an X-acto knife and replace the blade every project to ensure it is always sharp. “A dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp knife” is the saying, and I have an X-acto scar on my leg that proves it to be true. I tried to cut cost by neglecting my X-acto blade inventory and by using gunky sandpaper. These are cheap materials that will ultimately save you money in other areas. Less cutting mistakes means less wasted leather. A rotary blade can be good for floppy, fabric-like chrome tan leathers but I really don’t recommend using them outside of that. Additionally, cutting curves in leather takes practice so the more you can commit to one knife, the faster you can develop these skills.
Wing Dividers: I have three wing dividers. Two are always set at specific distances: one for my trim allowance (I cut pattern pieces slightly larger so after the piece is assembled, I can trim it to ensure a nice, perfect edge for burnishing), and stitch allowance + trim allowance (this is how far I want the stitch line to be from the edge of the piece added to the trim allowance so I can stitch before trimming to ensure nothing starts to come apart after trimming the nice perfect edge). The third is so I can move one around to any distance I need as the need for a wing divider arises. This system is all for convenience and you could do it all with one divider- this is how important a tool this is. Two of my three are cheap, run-of-the-mill wing dividers and one is a little nicer. My third one is nice because the rounded shape allows me to use it to mark the leather or as a groover depending on what angle I hold it at. You can also mark stitch lines with a tool called a groover but they are not versatile beyond that use so I recommend starting with a wing divider first.
Simple option:
Simple option RM (This is cheaper but pretty much the same quality of what you’ll find on Weaver Leather Supply.)
Fancy-but-not-necessary option:
Wax: This is to seal and protect your burnished edges after burnishing. To be honest, it’s not necessary, but I feel like this is a “right way to do it” thing, which admittedly might be snobby but this is another $4 thing that is not as essential as a scratch awl, but is a smart investment so your work holds up better. I used natural beeswax for many years because I loved the simplicity of it and as much as I don’t want to be perceived as a Granola type, I liked that it was natural and more importantly, old-school. It’s a little sticky though, and fuzz and lint sticks to it a little too much. Paraffin is a little annoying to work with, so I use a 50/50 blend of the two that Rocky Mountain sells. I suppose I am mentioning it here to save anyone from the fuzzy, linty sadness that plagued my first projects as I started using them. Also, it’s good to have wax to give a light coating to chisels if they’re struggling to go through the leather or to coat unwaxed polyester/nylon thread. The Rocky Mountain wax blocks seem to be cheapest of the leather supply companies I looked at, as well.
Maul/Mallet: DO NOT USE A METAL HAMMER. Do not use a metal hammer. Please. You will needlessly ruin all of your tools, potentially hurt yourself, and make terrible noises. Don’t do it as a temporary method. Don’t do it. I understand mauls are expensive. Everyone always talks about their Barry King mauls and very rarely offer a specific entry-level alternative. But they’ll say “get a good one.” Well I’m here to share my time-tested affordable option. I love it, I use it every day, I’m shocked by the price for how good it has proven to be. And it looks cool!
For most simple things, you are perfectly set with a 12oz maul. It is however, very useful to also have a mallet for hammering down stitchlines, smacking down something you’re gluing (contact cement in particular creates a stronger bond when force is applied like this). If you already have a maul, which is more useful for chiseling and punching, then there’s no reason to get fancy about the mallet. I should say here that when I started I only had a mallet thinking it would be no problem to use it for chiseling as well and I regret that choice because it was so difficult and tiring to chisel this way. I honestly recommend for a mallet serving in addition to a maul, going the Tandy Craftool route. Many other brands seem overpriced or overly fancy. Specifically, I recommend getting the 9oz or 14oz Poly mallet:
Edge Beveler: Technically you can get by without an edge beveler, but just don’t. To get an edge to look nice without a beveler is very difficult. This is a tricky one though, because I really do feel like investing in nice bevelers makes a huge difference in the end results you are able to achieve in finishing your edges. However, there isn’t really an approachable middle ground between cheap/bad and really nice/expensive. The options are kind of slim. I also feel that the less curved bevelers are better for learning on because it is a tricky thing to get a feel for. I currently use JunLin or Palosanto bevelers, which run about $75-$85 and started with a $15 Craftool beveler that left much to be desired. I have not tested this beveler ($25) but have used other tools of this brand that were very good:
But other than that, I recommend starting with Craftool and over time investing in better bevelers. #0 or #1 is typically best, but not available from Craftool. A light hand with the smallest (#2) served me decently for multiple years, and this particular style has the perfect shape for learning to bevel:
Perhaps there are better options out there and I encourage you to try to find it, because the available beveler options are disappointing.
Granite/Marble Slab: I would argue, though I know many would disagree, that this is necessary. It depends on the circumstances in which you find this list, but if you want to go the whole nine yards investing with the goal of making good leather goods, get a stone slab sooner rather than later. You want something hard to absorb the shock of chiseling or punching so you don’t have to fight the leather so much. Going off of the Mohs scale, granite is better but I’ve found my small marble slab from Weaver to be just fine. Granite does look cooler, not gonna lie.
Punch Board: Please don’t scratch this off the list. When I decided to give leather work a try, I bought terrible, ugly stitching chisels and I hated them. I saved up for a while to buy two sets of Weaver diamond shaped chisels and was so happy for the change. I always thought I didn’t need a punch board, and that I’d just 1-2 layers of thick (9-10oz) leather. And then one slip with the maul bent a tine of the chisel, and broke the sharpened edge on my favorite round hole punch. It is worth the money, and will save you money in the end. Pro-tip: in a pinch, a plastic cutting board can work well for this with strap-end punches and holes punches- but NOT chisels. They are denser than the punch boards leather supply companies sell. I like this one:
Stitching Chisels: Alright, if I lost you with the marble slab, the punch board, and the maul, then here’s where I can offer a little hope. If these are beyond your budget right now or you’re not sure if you want to get that deep into it yet, you can always try stitching without pre-chiseling the holes. This is a common practice in traditional French/Swiss leathercraft and perfectly fine, though typically this is done with a different style of awl than a round awl. I would recommend getting a flat awl or a diamond awl, figuring out how to mark the distance between stitching holes consistently, and studying photos/videos of chiseled holes as you go to mimic the look. This is a great way to save money without doing something snobby craftsmen might judge you for. I saw a TikTok of a woman using a drill and joking that she doesn’t care about the right way- if that’s your vibe, I don’t like you and this list isn’t for you. But, if you’re looking for a sensible, low-barrier of entry, maybe try this out.
As for stitching chisels, you first have to determine what style you like between French, Diamond, Round, and Flat. Flat is disgusting, and round is almost as bad (in my opinion). Then you have to determine what spacing you want between stitches and what size thread looks best with that spacing. Obviously, this can be hard to do without being able to test and play around but ask around and learn what other people are doing, especially if you like how this looks in their work. Stitching is an incredibly important part of the overall look in any leather item, so taking your time and investing in good chisels is definitely worth it. You can cut cost by starting with individual chisels; a 2 prong and a 5 prong. I prefer diamond and french styles, and I have not tried every chisel so I’m going to stick to what I know in my recommendations/review.
Weaver- This is a good option if you want to play around and see what you think, with the knowledge you will have to upgrade at some point to get better results. That was my mindset when I purchased these and over time I forgot that that was the initial intention for this set. So when I started to get disappointed by my results and wanted to achieve better, I blamed myself for it and put off investing in my work. When a partner finally gifted me an upgrade I was blown away by how much it improved my work and how much I had allowed the quality of the tool to bring me down. Moral: don’t tell yourself you haven’t earned better yet, but if you don’t want to spend a certain amount that’s fine. Try to stay realistic about your tools.
Avoid interchangeable tips! AT ALL COSTS!
Buckleguy- Both their C.S. Osbourne and Corter sets seem a little overpriced for my tastes, though C.S. Osbourne tools are generally pretty nice. I am hesitant to trust Corter Leather for complicated reasons I won’t get into now, but they seem to be alright chisels, just overpriced. Other than that, please avoid flat and please avoid interchangeable tips. Not much of promise at BG.
Rocky Mountain- The Amy Roke chisels are probably phenomenal but not exactly a “beginner” pricepoint. My ultimate recommendation is this, and I have a set that I use quite often:
If these are not in your budget or you prefer a diamond shape, these appear to be a really great option and based on other tools of mine by Oka Factory, I would guess they are better quality than the similar option at Weaver or the “economy” option on RM:
(P.S. The URL on the Economy set is informative lol)
Needles: John James brand. That’s the OG. Your chisel and thread sizes will determine what size you need, with some amount of personal preference as well. Regular sewing kit needles are much too small, the tips are the wrong shape, and not strong enough so you do need to buy needles designed for leather.
Thread: I am personally considering getting a tattoo of the Ritza Tiger Thread logo like Coach McGirk in Home Movies. I am a fanatic (and they have a dope logo). I have tried Vinymo and felt that it broke while stitching pretty often, I tried Rocky Mountain’s brand of thread to try to save money, and I guess I’m committed to Ritza. I like chisel spacing and thread size on the small side, but here are my preferences for some frame of reference:
3.38mm chisels: 0.6mm, 0.8mm thread- I use this on bags and most wallets
2.7mm chisels: 0.45mm, 0.6mm thread- I use this on very small items like earrings, bracelets, and watch straps
4mm chisels: 1.0mm, 1.2mm thread- I barely ever use chisels this large, though I did for a long time on everything.
Glue: Please don’t kill your brain cells with Barge contact cement. Get the Toulene-Free Barge cement (slightly better for you but still horrible) and only use it when you really need something to stay put and with as much ventilation as possible. I try to use it outside, and have made my small apartment uninhabitable multiple times. For most cases, I’ve grown to really like Aquilim 315, but it comes in the dumbest bottle so I had to buy the little squeezy bottles (which clog a lot) so I’m still refining my process of efficiently using this glue. The Seiwa glue was previously my favorite but the company changed ownership and has stopped producing everything but Tokonole. I haven’t heard great things about other glues, and haven’t tested many myself.
Tokonole: This will change your life. I learned to burnish with JUST water and while I think that was a useful exercise, there really is a limit to the quality you can get with water alone. Then I moved onto Saddle Soap and water and that helped a lot. Then I tried Tokonole, and my life changed. I used to apply a little bit of water to the edge and then apply tokonole, but I recommend finding an airtight container and making a mix of the two. I’m not sure what ratio is ideal because I just kinda eyeballed it, but you definitely don’t want too much water in it because overwetting your edges does terrible things. I apply this mixture between each grit while sanding my edges to essentially “wet sand” and that also has made a world of difference, but requires a very light hand so as not to smush the wet fibers too much.
Oil/Conditioner: I would say this is essentially just because affordable “beginner” leathers are usually going to need a little love when they make it to your hands. Not always, so be careful not to over oil, but dry leather is much more difficult to work with and you deserve the best while you’re learning.
Leather: Please don’t buy leather from Tandy. It’s dry and it’s low quality. If your leather is bad, you might get the wrong idea of what you can achieve or what it’s like to make something out of leather. You want to start with something that’s affordable but will give you a realistic idea. Panels from Rocky Mountain, Buckle Guy, or Weaver of leather you might not be able to afford a whole single shoulder from are a great introduction, or even Weaver Select natural veg-tan.
What’s not on the list: There are a lot of things I chose not to include on this list because you don’t need them. Other people may try to tell you that you do or kits or websites may try to market them to beginners, but it’s not necessary and some I don’t even have.
Bone folder- I use one every day and I love them, but you can use plenty of household objects in place of a bone folder
Stitching pony- I do not have one and never have. I do a style of saddle stitching that does not require a pony, that I learned from Corter Leather on Youtube (be careful with Corter- I learned a lot of terrible habits from him and have come to realize he’s often dishonest)
Sewing machine- I don’t have one because I am far richer in spare time than anything else. I hand-stitch everything
Dyes/stamps/carving tools- This are creative directions you can choose to go in but you don’t need to if it doesn't appeal to you
Any kind of machine or press- These can be nice, but I don’t own any and it’s not impossible to do good leatherwork with them. For example, die cut leather isn’t the only way to get a good, beautiful edge. Improving your knife skills will get you there, so don’t worry if these things are not in your budget
I may elaborate on my experience with common hardware, leather dyes, burnishing tips, general advice for beginners, and miscellaneous shop tricks in future blog posts. Stick around or sign up for our newsletter (I will try not to use it to bombard you with nonsense) to be notified of new posts. I hope this was helpful to somebody and if there’s any way I can help, feel free to reach out and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.
Good luck!
-Sierra Mooney
Mooney Leather Goods
