Found source for small leather pieces
When my wife dragged me to Hobby Lobby so she could look for who knows what, I wandered off and found a five pound bag of leather scraps for 5 or 6 bucks. Some are real small, but some are upwards of 8″ x 8″ These are great for sharpening/stropping (Lee Valley sells a pack of six tiny pieces for $11.50). They are also great as liners, bumpers and pads for boxes and things of all sorts. And, if you have a hollow punch kit, you can make an infinite number of leather washers and disks, which, if you buy them, they cost a fortune. I now find myself using them as clamp pads and all kinds of things. Anyway, I thought it was a good find. My wife couldn’t figure out what I was all worked up about when we were checking out. Maybe I am even a bigger dork than I thought.
Replies
Nah, the dork is whoever paid $11.50 for the samll package;) I understand waht you mean though, my daughter noticed I had a floppy disk in my shirt pocket and advised me, "Dad you are such a nerd";)
Gee, thanks for noticing:)
Out here we have Michaels and A.C. Moore and a few remaining Franklin stores for general Arts & Farts work... lots of needle-craft, candle-making etc stuff but I've never heard of 'Hobby Lobby' stores. (There are LOTS of things I've never heard of!) Are they a single store or a local chain in the Chicago area? They sound interesting and I'd like to browse through their stock on my next trip through the area. Besides, SWMBO loves that kind of stuff. By the way, most of these stores have a great divided plastic box, sold for storing embroidery thread that is great for storing those extra, small brass screws, hinges and other small parts that tend to get lost in the 'small stuff' drawer in my shop.
SawdustSteve Long Island, NY (E of NYC)
hobby lobbys are a dime a dozen in missouri and surrounding states. they are almost exactly like a michael's, so you are not missing much, except maybe five pound bags of leather scraps. take care,dave
There are quite a few of them, but like Dave said...they are pretty much the same as Michaels. It's just nice when my wife drags me through there and I actually make a find to go in the cart along with all of her fabric, flowers and other sh...stuff. Now, the Bass Pro Shops store in Gurnee, that is worth the trip. Although, Dave gets bragging rights for the original store in MO.
Most shoe repair stores will give you a small piece of unsplit belly leather for free.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
<<< "Most shoe repair stores will give you a small piece of unsplit belly leather for free.">>>
Do they still do that? I haven't seen a shoe repair store in years-
Hmmm, lots around here.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
3putt, Aren't there any Tandy Leather stores around your area?
In addition to their selling of all kinds of leather by the square foot, they have bunches of 'cut offs'for very little cash.
I make leather cases for some of my planes, cameras and tools.
pouches and hand or machine sew them.
Most of the leather working tools are easy to fabricate yourself
Tandy sells grommets buckles,needles and snap fasteners as well as the punches needed to attach them. Google up Tandy to find their nearest outlet. Steinmetz.
Another source of leather pieces are surplus stores. I picked up a 3 lb bag for about $5 with some nice sized pieces and a bunch of straps/laces. I picked them up in Ft Collins, CO at a place called Jaxx. I've you're ever in Ft Collins, check 'em out, it's an awesome store.Scott
Slacker Extraordinaire
Specializing in nothing but knowledge in everything.
I haven't heard of Tandy, but will look them up. I had looked at fabric stores trying to find leather, and came up empty. I just found the bag of scraps real useful for all kinds of things. But bigger pieces, like you are talking about would be great.
Three, attachment (Below) shows two Tandys in your area.
Toll free phone nos
and e mail addresses
Ask for a catalog. they periodically send sales fliers too.
Steinmetz.
Edited 9/28/2005 10:03 pm ET by Steinmetz
Thanks. You beat me to it.
If anyone is interested, I have about 20+ leather hides, all 20 sq ft or more. They are garment weight and have been treated for water proofing. I am using one right now for a leather insert on a table top. The hides are all black. Price is $2.50 sq/ft. Quantity discounts. you can e-mail be @ [email protected]
Old leather belts work great for strops, etc. Most garage sales have a few - lol.
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