Delcher Carter was 16, maybe 17.
A buddy was making decent running-around money handcrafting and peddling sandals, belts and purses from cowhide.
Popular items, especially for the hippie crowd.
So, Carter gave it a try.
A belt. That’s simple.
It wasn’t.
“I screwed it up,” Carter said. “So I had to cut it again.”
Thirty-three years later, he’s still at it.
It’s all self-taught. And sometimes, it’s still trial-and-error.
Carter recently had to redo a pair of custom sandals.
But by the time he finished, he’d put a smile on the buyer’s feet.
“Another happy customer. I love my job,” he said.
Loving your work
“I love my job” is a Carter mantra.
The phrase — and evidence that it’s true — is prevalent on the Delcher’s Leather website and Facebook page.
He’s also makes holsters, tote bags, briefcases and luggage tags. And he’s made chaps, luggage and quilts. The list goes on and on.
He also provides repair services, much of which involves hand stitching.
Carter says for better or worse, he’s just not willing to cut corners.
He buys his most of his leather, some of it imported, from a tannery that only carries premium materials.
The basic hides Carter uses are from cows. Pigs and goats also are go-to skin choices of his customers.
He makes exotic, often multi-colored, items from the skin of animals such as alligator, crocodiles, shark, lizards and stingray.
Carter jokes that much of his work is the byproduct of beef sold in fast-food restaurants.
“Hell, if it wasn’t for McDonald’s, I wouldn’t be in business,” he said.
And, unlike some others in the trade, the most sophisticated tools he uses are his hands.
He could work faster — or smarter, you might say — by using templates.
But that would take the artistry out of it.
Carter is his customers’ personal craftsman.
If he can’t do the job, he turns it down.
“I like the challenges of this work, but I know my limits,” he said.
Carter posts photos of his latest custom projects. Sandals, knife cases, a watchband and an artistic heart-shaped commemorative wedding wall hanger for a friend are the most recent entries.
A hippie at heart with long hair and limited attention to facial grooming, Carter embraces new media to promote his artistry in an old-fashioned trade.
“A picture can speak a thousand words,” he said.
Excluding a couple of brief stints away from the business, Carter has had a leatherworks storefront somewhere in his native Duval County — from Avondale to Atlantic Beach and points in between — since 1983.
He’s had 10 locations, in all.
Sometimes, he’s moved to get away from high-priced rent. Other times, life events — including a divorce and foreclosure — prompted relocations.
Delcher’s Leather has been at 2225 Florida Blvd. in Neptune Beach for four years. Carter says this time, he intends to stay put for the long haul.
He concedes moving around town isn’t wise for business.
“You gotta do what you gotta do to get by,” Carter said. “But I’ve built my business on my reputation and people always seem to manage to find me.”
Repeat business is Carter’s bread and butter.
Mike Wilson recently tracked Carter down 15 years after purchasing a leather wallet from Delcher’s.
Wilson designed the original piece with his high school drafting skills and the desire for it to hold only his business cards and credit cards.
“I keep my money separate — in my pocket,” Wilson said after arriving at Delcher’s to pick up his order.
Now, Wilson has a new wallet — but he’s not going to put it to use, yet.
“I’m going to wait for this old one to wear out,” Wilson said.
A love affair
More often than not, Carter has made at least a modest living.
“I’ve never made a big chunk of change,” he said.
Then, in Carter style, he took it a step further.
“Leather crafters are poor people. They buy one hide at a time and one tool at a time,” he kidded.
Often, immediately after saying “I love my job,” Carter will add: “With Rambo.”
That’s his trusty sidekick.
A 28-year-old yellow-naped Amazon parrot that Carter bought in 1993 for $400.
Rambo is a colorful, crackly-voiced fixture at Delcher’s Leather and, often perched on his owner’s shoulder, a celebrity at local craft shows and community events.
The bird has a lot to say, but Carter hasn’t been able to teach him any new words.
Rambo’s vocabulary is limited to hello, bye-bye, whatcha doin’, perty bird and Rambo.
“The thing is, I’ve been trying to teach him to say 'I love you’ for 23 years — and he won’t lie,” Carter quipped.
That’s quintessential Carter.
Opinionated. Witty. Sarcastic. Optimistic. Slight on political correctness.
He chides just about everyone, including Rambo.
“When the phone rings, I always answer, ‘Delcher’s' or 'Delcher’s Leather,’” Carter said. “It seems like Rambo would say Delcher’s after 23 years, but he won’t do nothing.”
But it is a love affair.
Carter has made provisions in his will for Rambo, who could easily be chatting it up for another 75 years, to finish out his life in a bird sanctuary.
“The only thing I haven’t figured out what to do with is the leather shop,” he said.