Should you have perhaps read some of my other pages you've probably got an inkling already of what is involved. On the other hand if you've never seen a piece of hand-tooled, hand-crafted leatherwork, you could be in for a surprise. Tooling leather is not like garment leather. This is because it is split from the whole hide so that it can be cut into, and shaped, by the appropriate hand-tools. Its extra thickness ensures it is longer lasting and durable than the thin, machine-sewn leathers used to make modern, chain-store or holiday-abroad-souvenir bought wallets and purses etc. Most of these purchases are articles made from what is in many respects "man-made leather".  Manufacturers use leather fibres compacted under high pressure with adhesives to make sheets of "leather", rather in the manner of the timber industry making particle boards.

Having an article made for you by a leather craftsman is an entirely different experience. Tooling leather, of some thickness, say ¹/8", would be used as the outer part of an article like a purse or a wallet, and would have a thinner leather for the inside parts. Though even these thinner leathers are more substantial and durable than the average shop-bought items in their entirety.

Any article, like a wallet, that has multiple parts, needs to be stitched together, and it's done using one or more of three methods. The thinner inner pieces are sewn either by hand, which is my preference, or with a household sewing machine, though a different type of needle is required, and is only possible with the thinnest of leathers. Next would be the saddle stitch. For this a waxed thread is used, with two needles and an awl, alternating through the seam to be stitched. This ensures a strong, tight stitch, between two or more pieces of leather, irrespective of the thickness of the leather.

Sewing, in general, can be accomplished with either one needle, and is known as single hand sewing, or two needles, which not unsurprisingly, is called double hand sewing, and I've endeavoured with the diagrams above to illustrate the difference.

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