mikeyes

I'm just starting out leather carving after a long hiatus and out of pure nostalgia I bought stamping tools made by Tandy before 1963 - I was an avid leather worker from 1958-1961 when all my tools were stolen - just to combat my sense of loss from that incident.There seems to be a distinct difference between those tools and today's Tandy tools. Is the difference between the vintage tools and handmade tools enough to switch (once I can find the money, of course) if I can restore my old skills with lots of practice? I'd like to hear a few opinions on the differences as my understanding is that many of the older tools were also partially hand made. Thanks Mike Keyes

The nice thing about your design is that you really don't have to measure anything to build it. Instead you can take one board and some leather and put it together using small cutoffs for the spacer at the bottom (along with your leather in the middle) and at the top for the jaws and the same length jaw arms. It automatically goes together, all you have to do is get the overall length where you want it. Most of the cost is in time and finish. I built one just like it with added small magnets and a beeswax hole (for the needles), features stolen from other designs. You did a very nice job on yours! I had all the components in my shop. It is amazing how cheaply you can build things if you have $5000 worth of woodworking tools in your shop! <G> (It can be done with hand tools too, just not as fast.) Mike Keyes