Jakob Bradford started working with leather getting things ready for a trip with friends. It turned into a hobby.
Now it is growing into more and the community can benefit from the skill he is developing.
Connecting with JB’s LeatherWorks on Facebook will allow you to order all kinds of custom leather goods from belts, wallets, keychains and more. However, to connect with “JB” himself, most often you would just stop by the main branch of First United Bank in Durant.
Bradford, the JB of the LeatherWork business, is a longtime Durant resident and a senior relationship banker at First United. He not only works with money at the bank, but also with people facilitating relationships within and without the four walls of the bank itself.
He also has taken a liking to working with leather outside of banker’s hours. And he found this passion almost accidentally.
“What got me into this was making leather armor for a renaissance fair that I went to last year,” Bradford said. “I’m going to be going to again in November with my older brother and some of his friends. So I guess it’s kind of a strange thing for me just putting something together to doing something that I very much enjoy. It’s kind of therapeutic”
Bradford said that from a young age he had worked with his hands, working with his grandfather.
“Just kind of doing this, that and the other. A lot of the leatherworking has been self-taught. I watched videos and there has been trial and error. It’s a little bit of both. I don’t have anything that I can say, ‘This person taught me.’ But I definitely have taken a little bit from this person or that person just by watching how other people do things.”
And although his grandfather has already passed, in a sense he is still helping him as Bradford received some of his tools o
f the trade from his grandfather.
“I kind of lucked out on that one, to be honest,” Bradford said. “My grandfather did some leatherworking in his later years, and when he passed, my grandmother gave me access to his shop. I gained access to all the tools he had already built up.
“I got those as a starter kit for me to really dive into it. And then I bought some one-off things here and there as I need different tools for different projects.”
The Durant alum, Class of 2015, works from a shop at his property – and sometimes from his wife’s kitchen table. And as if doing leatherworks isn’t filling enough of his time outside the bank, Bradford is also closing in on earning a degree at Southeastern Oklahoms State University.
“Finally, after many years away, I decided to go back. I had 20 hours left. I’ll graduate here in May and then that will get me with a bachelor of science with a minor in business. And then I’m going to come back next fall and apply for the MBA program at Southeastern.”
In the mean time, Bradford has been honing his skills and making this personal interest into something that can be a blessing to others.
“I’ve gone through and I’ve been pricing things out. I’ve got some little key chains that I’ve been selling for about $20 a pop. A normal belt with maybe some initials on the end, nothing too crazy on it, I’ve been selling for about $60 each. A fully-carved belt from one side to the other is about $150. You add in a stitch line all the way around the edge is about $200. Wallets from about $50-$150, depending on what kind of wallet, size and detail, all those kind of things.
“I can kind of mix and match to fit anyone’s budget.”
You can see his work and contact him at his Facebook page by clicking the link THIS LINK to JB’s LeatherWorks.