Leather working is a complex art, and leather itself is a tough material. There are many leather tools designed for both functional and decorative leather alteration. In order to get started with leather crafting, it's important to know the basic purpose and techniques associated with the most common leather tools.

Hole-Making Tools

There are two standard types of tools for making holes in leather: a punch and an awl. A leather punch is similar to a paper punch and makes circular holes by cutting out the material inside the outline of a small circle. Use a leather hole punch primarily for holes intended for the threading of laces, with or without eyelets (grommets). Operate this tool by selecting one of several differently sized cylindrical metal punches on a rotating wheel and squeezing both halves of the handle together. The other major leather hole-making tool is an awl. This is a small metal spike with a sharp tip designed to make small holes without cutting away any fabric. Use this tool to make holes for a needle when sewing leather by poking the tip through the fabric.

Cutting Tools

Generally, you don't need special tools to cut leather. If the leather material you have is thin and supple, cut it with a good pair of sewing scissors designed for cutting cloth. For thicker leather, cut using a self-healing mat and a craft knife with a sharp razor edge. To ensure the straightest cuts, you may wish to cut along a metal straightedge.

Sewing Tools

Sewing leather utilizes the same tools as any other kind of sewing, but versions of these tools are specially made to handle the task of moving through tough leather. Leather sewing needles are equipped with a thickened section near the tip to help poke through leather without bending or breaking. These needles can be used on their own with thin leather, though thicker leathers will require the use of an awl. Leather sewing machine needles are thicker and tougher than regular machine needles and allow you to sew thin leather on a machine.

Decorating Tools

There are a number of craft tools designed for the process of decorating thick tooling leather (they don't work with thin leather material, including suede). Most of these fall into the category of etching tools, burning tools and stamps. The latter are the easiest to use: Simply place the leather inside the stamp and compress it. Use other tools if you want your leather decorations to be more customized. Plug-in electric burning tools are probably your best bet, since using these is much like using a marker on paper. Etching tools are a little more complicated, so if you're looking to do some leather etching, start with the thickest leather you can (this will help prevent accidentally cutting all the way through) and outline your designs with a pencil before you start.

Source:

The Leatherworking Handbook; Cassell Illustrated; 2006