Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I noticed in another thread everyone was discussing how they put their holes in their leather projects. I'm looking at a workbench from Harbor Freight, it's a nice heavy wooden bench with drawers on the front, a shelf underneath and a vise on one end. I wonder if that might not be sufficiently stable for all the beating it's going to take to not make loads of noise. it certainly looks to be well built and heavy enough.

The ones I saw on Harbor Freight look fine for that. I'd lay a piece of 1/2" plywood or similar over it to not damage the top of the bench though.

Yep, I agree. And you can always ask around at places that sell countertops to see if they have any broken chunks of granite for cheap. Those work great for tooling, and as a heavy, steady base for hole-punching, as long as you put something over them so you don't destroy your tools. I believe Tandy sells self-healing mats, for example. But I generally just use a piece of 2X4, heh.

I actually have a proper work bench that is solid and works well, still a lot of noise due to being upstairs on floor boards, although it's usually covered with stuff so I use the floor anyway to avoid tidying up

Iodo wrote:...although it's usually covered with stuff so I use the floor anyway to avoid tidying up

This thread contains TOO MUCH TRUTH, man.

...Which is my way of saying, again, "I relate."

I have two of exactly that bench in my craft room.

Being Harbor Freight, they of course aren't as good as what they look like in the pictures: it's not REALLY a 4" thick cabinetmaker's workbench top - it's about 3/4" or so with edging strips around it. That said, they're entirely strong enough to do leatherwork on.

Not particularly quiet though. I don't know if you CAN get quiet using a table honestly - even hammering on my husband's thick homemade woodworker's table it still makes a racket. Rerhaps putting a ginourmous heavy block of stone or hardwood on top would help. Also, I've glued a 1/4" thick or so rubber mat to the bottom of my stamping surface which helps a bit.

I've just received the purchase I made from Tandy the other day. I spent a little over 200 and got a nice half hid of their brown kodiak leather and a slew of tools for making those pouches. slowly but surely I'm getting around to things. now to get around to buying the fabric I want. *laughs* by the way, if you aren't familiar with that particular leather, it is GORGEOUS. it's sturdy but flexible, it'll work perfectly for the pouches I'm doing.

Cool! I *adore* oiltan!

If I recall correctly it's a surprisingly modern process, using modern chrome tanned leather as a base. BUT I've been really surprised by how modern-finish a look one can get with traditional materials and techniques, so I'm not about to say that gorgeous Kodiak stuff would look out of place to a medieval forester.

I'm curious now how to mimic that color fading/healing thing oiltan does. A thicker vegtan will get that pebbly surface texture just from being physically worked, so I'm betting it's not a far jump.

I'm not sure, tanning is one of those things that I don't have much knowledge/skill in yet...it's something I've been interested in learning, but haven't gotten to. one of those moments of having more time on your hands than money kind of things *laughs* that's why I wait for all the sales that I can find on everything.

Beleive it or not I came back to this post well after it was written and realized I purchased the very same one from harbor freight that you were looking at. Did you ever purchase it? I got it on sale and My wife and I are part of the Inside track club so our total cost for it out the door was under 150 dollars! I could not have made a better investment, in my opinion, it is sturdy and relatively well made. Now if I can just keep mountains of crap from piling up on top of it I will be in good stead!
I did the same thing Peter suggested with the plywood the top of the workbench is too pretty to mess up and by the other posts on this thread I guess I am not the only craftsman who has problems with "Piles"!

no, I haven't purchased it yet. I've been buying other things and paying bills, so I have to budget what I can buy with my leftover pocket money quite carefully. however, I did finally buy the last few bits of stitching tools I needed with the exception of the stitching horse, I'll get around to that sooner or later. I plan on getting the bench soon however as I need to finish buying all the pc parts for the build I'm doing so I can have something that's a little more reliable than this sad almost eight year old laptop which is starting to show it's age.

The workbench from Harbor Freight is likely fine. Even the ones that Home Depot sells for $75 are fine for leather working IMHO. The most important thing when banging on Leather (or softer metal like copper) is to put something underneath it. I use a granite block with a piece of scrap leather, canvas, or even closed cell foam between the piece and the granite block. You want a little bit of give, but a good deal of weight. Using something like a granite block, jewelers anvil, or hunk of steel in this manner will also deaden the sound.

Speaking of leather working though, I have seen much lower prices for hides on [url]www.theleatherguy.org[/url ]than on Tandy. Less expensive, better quality tools as well. Just FYI.

I only buy from tandy when things are on sale or if they have something I can't get any where else, like some of their stamping dies. I've found a company called springfield leather springfieldleather.com where I can get most things leather wise that tandy has and for better prices, cut to the sizes I need for the most part. anything I want whole hides I just indicate that and it's still less expensive for similar leathers from tandy. I'm a fan of paying less and getting more, which is what I'd get from these guys. haven't been able to make an order from them yet though. next month possibly...