Leatherwork ideas?

[Daniel Macina]

I had posted a few days ago asking about my leather order. Long story short they were out of my usual Herman Oak drum dye they offered To send me two bellies After Getting some good advice here I told them not to send the bellies. The normal gentleman was out the person I spoke to said they would put a note in the order not to send the leather. At some point there was a mixup and I have two bellies on the way. I’m sure I could return them when they get here but I would also like to improve my leather work. Are there any projects that bellies are good for that if they turned out nice enough I could Sell for a small profit in good conscience? Post your project ideas here!

 

[Dennis Morland]

Daniel - You can use bellies for any project that you can use sides or shoulders. Just know, bellies tend to stretch differently and much more pronounced than sides or shoulders. My personal belief is you also get uneven leather with bellies. It may be 4-5 oz. in one place and 7-9 oz. in another just a short distance away.

When tooling bellies, if you start with a square edge before tooling, afterwards, it will no longer be a square edge. You will need to make adjustments.
The good thing is bellies are a lot cheaper than sides/shoulders. The last time I bought bellies I think I paid less than $10 each. Those savings were used up in using more of my time to adjust for the stretch. I tend to avoid bellies because of this affect. Others may feel differently.

However, it is a great alternative when you first get started and want to experiment a bit because of the lower cost.