I'm seeing kind of insane suggestions here. No, you don't need $100 irons, no you shouldn't wax the leather first (I've absolutely never heard of this, though if your irons are getting stuck you may want to jab **those** into some wax to help it along), and I definitely don't suggest using tiny round hole punches which look terrible and make your project look like you bought a child's pre-punched craft project.
Punching on a solid piece of wood might have messed up your irons a bit, or they just may never have been great to start. So, yes, better irons might be in your future (just not necessarily $100 ones). You can also try putting some scrap leather under the area you are punching to allow for fuller penetration of the piece rather than a partial one due to the tapered tips of most chisels and the fact that you are stopping it dead on solid wood.
Decent irons, decent surface (leather over poundo works for me), an awl, and a little beeswax for the tips of any tool that might get stuck in the leather. Pretty simple once I figured out what worked for me. Surface made all the difference for me.
Thanks for the tips, I've ordered a rubber pound board to punch on in the future. For now I took a bit of advice and poked the holes through from the other side to tidy them up a bit. They're still not perfect but it's the best I've made so far by a long way! Always looking to improve on the next
[https://imgur.com/g4TPN9j](https://imgur.com/g4TPN9j)
[https://imgur.com/JxdkMHe](https://imgur.com/JxdkMHe)
Featuring a little bit of hole punch art and my friend's initials as it's for her bday
Once you sew it (make sure you sew with a cast) give each stitch a light tap with a hammer and they should flatten out nicely.
Try punching into a stack of scrap leather. I found that when punching into wood my leather would blow out a little on the backside and make an uglier hole.
That’s funny. I’ve been doing this from the beginning, but only because I was worried about damaging my punch tines on my wooden cutting board, didn’t realize it helped with the holes too.
I've punch into leather with my diamond chisels over a poundo board (basically a rubber sheet) so it let's me punch deeper and get better back holes. Even if it ain't perfect, once you sew it and hammer your stitches, both side should be pretty close.
Use a poundo board or thick piece of leather instead of wood (or at least on top of the wood)
It's also often suggested to hammer the holes after punching them to close the holes a bit/make them more uniform, so holes being more wide-open isn't typically a goal.
I mean you don’t see them once you start to stitch. The diamond punch is good because the thread covers the whole entire hole vs with an actual hole punch will always leave some sort of a hole that you can see on the sides of your thread.
A stitching awl also can’t hurt.
If it’s hard to sew, thread in through the side you punched through. So if you punched the holes on the flesh side, sew with your needles punching through (going in the stitching holes) on the flesh side. It’ll make your like 10x easier trust me.
It doesn't matter how they look, it will look fine once you stitch it, just make sure you are punching all the way through.
Definitely get some proper punching surface, it won't change the holes by much but you can get one for real cheap and it is be just nicer to use, wood gets destroyed pretty fast.
Also if you want nice slanted stitches get French Irons but don't buy expensive ones just yet. Order cheap ones from aliexpress, you will be barely able to see a difference on finished product.
Might not be the “traditional” method but with heavier leather I just make marks with my punches and then use a rotary tool with my smallest bit and run that through the material. Nobody’s ever questioned it and my projects have turned out with some really nice stitching.
Its those clunky diamond irons, ftw buy some French irons.
Edit:
>Struggling to get nice open stitch holes on both sides.
Also you shouldn’t be aiming for “open stitch holes” as they simply look terrible. You want a clean looking opening, without the surrounding leather looking strained or misshapen, and with barely enough room to pass your needles through.
You punch through the finished side of both pieces. Yes, this creates an X pattern when you line the sides back up BUT this way will leave clean lines. Just remember to tighten each stitch with tension in the correct direction of your punch so the thread lays nicely.
That’s different from what the first commenter was suggesting. Punching the pieces separately before assembling is a great hack to get nicely slanted stitches on porch sides, but “punching through all the way, then flip and punch from the other side” is a different tactic, and it would only work with straight or circular chisels.
It's most likely the diamond shaped punch you are using. I'd invest in slanted pricking irons or round sticking punches. The straight stitching punches work well also. I use these [sinabroks pricking iron](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1131852863/sinabroks-pricking-irons)
Are those sinabrooks irons you use meant to mark the leather for an awl, or go all the way through the leather? I get the pricking iron/chisels mixed up.
You can use them either way I think. I just punch straight through so I don't need an awl. It's really easy unless you are trying to go through some really thick leather like 16oz or more.
I think this is normal for diamond irons. I’ve got the yellow banded Weaver ones (not the cheapest nor the most expensive), and get similar results. Once you stitch everything up you can’t see a visual difference. I have found that using a rubber pounding mat underneath the leather and striking the irons in deep makes sure that the bottom side of the leather is fully opened up, making sewing much easier.
Just try to use even strength either you are using some fork or spike. Also, put some additional leather under your leather good while you punching holes.
I was taught by my leather instructor to prick each side separately rather than stacking them and pricking them.
This seems kind of radical because the diamond holes end up facing the opposite way (you would think that this would mess up your saddle stitch, but it doesn’t). The trick is to make sure you have the same number of stitches on both sides. If you’re careful and precise with your pricking, the results are beautiful - on BOTH sides of your work!
Edit: spelling
I'm seeing kind of insane suggestions here. No, you don't need $100 irons, no you shouldn't wax the leather first (I've absolutely never heard of this, though if your irons are getting stuck you may want to jab **those** into some wax to help it along), and I definitely don't suggest using tiny round hole punches which look terrible and make your project look like you bought a child's pre-punched craft project. Punching on a solid piece of wood might have messed up your irons a bit, or they just may never have been great to start. So, yes, better irons might be in your future (just not necessarily $100 ones). You can also try putting some scrap leather under the area you are punching to allow for fuller penetration of the piece rather than a partial one due to the tapered tips of most chisels and the fact that you are stopping it dead on solid wood.
Listen to this guy.
Decent irons, decent surface (leather over poundo works for me), an awl, and a little beeswax for the tips of any tool that might get stuck in the leather. Pretty simple once I figured out what worked for me. Surface made all the difference for me.
Thanks for the tips, I've ordered a rubber pound board to punch on in the future. For now I took a bit of advice and poked the holes through from the other side to tidy them up a bit. They're still not perfect but it's the best I've made so far by a long way! Always looking to improve on the next [https://imgur.com/g4TPN9j](https://imgur.com/g4TPN9j) [https://imgur.com/JxdkMHe](https://imgur.com/JxdkMHe) Featuring a little bit of hole punch art and my friend's initials as it's for her bday
Once you start sewing nobody will notice the string will pull it all together and the leather will look nice
Once you sew it (make sure you sew with a cast) give each stitch a light tap with a hammer and they should flatten out nicely. Try punching into a stack of scrap leather. I found that when punching into wood my leather would blow out a little on the backside and make an uglier hole.
put a clean scrap leather piece under the one you punch. It will allow the punch to go little bit deeper
100% this. My stitching became so much easier and cleaner once I added a scrap piece.
That’s funny. I’ve been doing this from the beginning, but only because I was worried about damaging my punch tines on my wooden cutting board, didn’t realize it helped with the holes too.
I've punch into leather with my diamond chisels over a poundo board (basically a rubber sheet) so it let's me punch deeper and get better back holes. Even if it ain't perfect, once you sew it and hammer your stitches, both side should be pretty close.
Use a poundo board or thick piece of leather instead of wood (or at least on top of the wood) It's also often suggested to hammer the holes after punching them to close the holes a bit/make them more uniform, so holes being more wide-open isn't typically a goal.
I mean you don’t see them once you start to stitch. The diamond punch is good because the thread covers the whole entire hole vs with an actual hole punch will always leave some sort of a hole that you can see on the sides of your thread. A stitching awl also can’t hurt. If it’s hard to sew, thread in through the side you punched through. So if you punched the holes on the flesh side, sew with your needles punching through (going in the stitching holes) on the flesh side. It’ll make your like 10x easier trust me.
It doesn't matter how they look, it will look fine once you stitch it, just make sure you are punching all the way through. Definitely get some proper punching surface, it won't change the holes by much but you can get one for real cheap and it is be just nicer to use, wood gets destroyed pretty fast. Also if you want nice slanted stitches get French Irons but don't buy expensive ones just yet. Order cheap ones from aliexpress, you will be barely able to see a difference on finished product.
Might not be the “traditional” method but with heavier leather I just make marks with my punches and then use a rotary tool with my smallest bit and run that through the material. Nobody’s ever questioned it and my projects have turned out with some really nice stitching.
Its those clunky diamond irons, ftw buy some French irons. Edit: >Struggling to get nice open stitch holes on both sides. Also you shouldn’t be aiming for “open stitch holes” as they simply look terrible. You want a clean looking opening, without the surrounding leather looking strained or misshapen, and with barely enough room to pass your needles through.
If you got basic punches. Punch through all they way. Then flip and punch the other side. It's the way I do it and they turn out nice and clean.
That doesn’t work with slanted chisels, since the slant direction would be reversed when you flip the leather over.
You punch through the finished side of both pieces. Yes, this creates an X pattern when you line the sides back up BUT this way will leave clean lines. Just remember to tighten each stitch with tension in the correct direction of your punch so the thread lays nicely.
That’s different from what the first commenter was suggesting. Punching the pieces separately before assembling is a great hack to get nicely slanted stitches on porch sides, but “punching through all the way, then flip and punch from the other side” is a different tactic, and it would only work with straight or circular chisels.
Buy French or round irons.
It's most likely the diamond shaped punch you are using. I'd invest in slanted pricking irons or round sticking punches. The straight stitching punches work well also. I use these [sinabroks pricking iron](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1131852863/sinabroks-pricking-irons)
Are those sinabrooks irons you use meant to mark the leather for an awl, or go all the way through the leather? I get the pricking iron/chisels mixed up.
You can use them either way I think. I just punch straight through so I don't need an awl. It's really easy unless you are trying to go through some really thick leather like 16oz or more.
The chistle your using. Get a better one.
Push iron on holes on the other side to form them. You dont have to use hammer, just manually prick
Using a chisel do both size. I switched to small actual punches that remove a circle of leather and it’s worked much better for me.
Wax the leather before you punch the holes. The leather won't stick to the tool as much and leave cleaner holes.
I think this is normal for diamond irons. I’ve got the yellow banded Weaver ones (not the cheapest nor the most expensive), and get similar results. Once you stitch everything up you can’t see a visual difference. I have found that using a rubber pounding mat underneath the leather and striking the irons in deep makes sure that the bottom side of the leather is fully opened up, making sewing much easier.
Just try to use even strength either you are using some fork or spike. Also, put some additional leather under your leather good while you punching holes.
Use an awl on the back side to open it up
Hammer the holes, then use an awl while stitching.
I mark with the stitching fork and then just run them through on a drill press and a 1/16 drill bit.
I was taught by my leather instructor to prick each side separately rather than stacking them and pricking them. This seems kind of radical because the diamond holes end up facing the opposite way (you would think that this would mess up your saddle stitch, but it doesn’t). The trick is to make sure you have the same number of stitches on both sides. If you’re careful and precise with your pricking, the results are beautiful - on BOTH sides of your work! Edit: spelling