Hey everyone,
Since the baby arrived back in May, and the wife shifted over to a funky split 2nd/3rd shift, I haven't had a lot of shop time outside of about one day a weekend. In the meantime I'd been looking for a hobby (cause I just NEED another hobby:D ) that I could work on in the comfort of my living room and/or garage. I'd picked up some leather straps and buckles a while back to make a replacement set for some old climbing spikes we have and thought to myself "Hey, this is kinda fun". Forward a couple months to Christmas time and Tandy leather is having a pretty decent after Christmas sale. Needless to say, I found my new hobby:)

While the sale prices were reasonable at Tandy, their everyday price is, in my opinion, a little bit high. I was wondering if anyone here had any input on other sources/suppliers of leather goods (quality, price, customer service, etc.) It seems like at one time there were some guys here on IForgeIron that were the buckskinner/rendezvous types. If you're out there your input would be very much appreciated. I figured I'd look here for advice first, instead of just trusting the user reviews on some random website.

Thanks everyone,
-Aaron @ the SCF (who today learned this lesson: NEVER tell your 5 year old daughter that the furry thing right next to her is a reindeer skin.... especially 2 days after Christmas..... )

-Aaron @ the SCF (who today learned this lesson: NEVER tell your 5 year old daughter that the furry thing right next to her is a reindeer skin.... especially 2 days after Christmas..... )

Oh. . . you THINK?!?

Next time, if there is one, tell her it's caribou. Same critter just not domesticated.

It's a good thing kids are so resilient isn't it? No parent fails to make those kinds of gaffs and the kids usually turn out okay anyhow.

Please feel free to tell her Frosty went out and counted Santa's reindeer and they're all just fine, dandy and taking it easy after Christmas.

Frosty

There is a lot of sources for leather and tools, what type of projects do you have planned? Are you doing simple stamping, tooling, carving (the most fun in my opinion)? or are you using textured leather and such? I'll try and find some of my web links for you and post again.

James

leatherunltd
montanaleather
crazycrow
brettunsvillage

These are a couple other places other than Tandy that I have purchased from over the internet. Check prices carefully and read the descriptions well... If you are not sure at what you are looking at call, I've had good luck with all four of these companies over the years in service and getting what I ordered but sometimes it is worth the call to verify...

James

Thanks Ironrose, I'll look into those.
Right now I'm starting simple, couple of gun pouches, some axe/hatchet/'hawk pouches, kinda of basic cut it, stitch it, rivet it, and maybe stamp some initials on it type of stuff.
Thanks again all,
-Aaron @ the SCF