Adhesives: Contact Cement, Open Time and the Ventilation Rule
Contact cement is the strongest and the most misused adhesive on this bench.
Vegetable-tanned · saddle-stitched · finished by hand
The bench — Bagpipes Hidecraft
Every ticket that leaves this workshop is cut from vegetable-tanned hide, marked with pricking irons, and closed with two needles and waxed thread. Nothing here is glued-and-hoped: if it cannot be repaired, it does not ship.
10work orders live on the bench
8kit profiles filed
6Category
Tool wall The eight tools that do ninety percent of the work on this bench.
Difficulty ladder Work orders in the order an apprentice should take them.
- Starter bench
A 38 mm Single-Prong Belt That Starts as a Straight Blank
The plain belt is the cheapest way to learn the three skills every later order depends on: cutting a strap dead straight, holding a constant distan…
- Starter bench
Two-Pocket Card Wallet: 105 × 75 mm and Three Millimetres of Slip
A card wallet fails in one of two ways.
- Starter bench
A Snap Key Fob in Three Hours From One Offcut
This is the order I hand out when someone has three hours and wants to finish something.
- Working bench
Vertical Bifold: Eight Folds and Why Each One Gets Skived
This is the first order on the ladder where the arithmetic gets serious.
- Working bench
A Hand-Stitched Watch Strap at 3.0 mm Pitch
A watch strap is the smallest object on this bench and the least forgiving.
- Working bench
A Chisel Roll: Fifteen Pockets, 420 mm Wide
Pricking irons are the most expensive tools most people own and the ones most often stored loose in a drawer.
- Working bench
Passport Cover With Two Card Wings and a Ticket Flap
A passport is 125 × 88 mm when closed and 125 × 176 mm when open, which is exactly why most covers are made too tight.
- Working bench
A Padded Dog Collar Built From Two Layers
A collar takes more load than any belt on this bench.
- Bench lead
Wet-Moulded Axe Sheath With a Stitched Welt
The one rule of an axe sheath is that the blade must never touch the stitch line.
- Bench lead
A Boxed Dopp Kit: Five Panels, Four Corners, Two Hands
A dopp kit is the first order where you build a three-dimensional object rather than a folded one.
Kit profiles Reference profiles for irons, thread, hides, blades, adhesives and care. Each profile carries the pitch, thread and thickness table used to choose stock at the bench.
Cutting Tools: What Each Blade Is Actually For
Most bench injuries come from using the wrong blade on the wrong cut.
Awls and Needles: Opening a Hole Without Cutting One
An awl is not a punch.
Hardware Finishes and What They Do After Two Years
Hardware is the part of a leather good that fails first and looks worst when it does.
The Edge Finish Stack: Bevel, Sand, Seal, Wax
An edge is four operations, in order, and skipping any one of them shows.
Hide Weight: What Ounces Mean and When They Stop Working
Leather is sold by weight per square foot in the United States and by thickness in millimetres almost everywhere else, and the conversion is not exact — a 4/5 oz hide is not a fixed 1.8 mm, it is a range the tannery sorts into.
Published 2026-10-18 · 18 records on the sheet