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scottk1967

Tandy Sheridan Tools

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Tomorow I'm heading to town and want to stop at my local Tandy store. I'm dead set on getting reasonably good at sheridan style and don't have the proper tools. I've looked at the pro sheridan tools there and agree with the other posts, there expensive for tandy and made on an island. I wish they where on sale but don't want to wait because I have time to use them during the winter. I have a Gold card that's $24 a tool, seems like a lot for tandy. Sometimes there in a good mood and let you have the lowest price $16. I'm going to order a Berry King swivel knife in the real near future. I have the Chan Geer and that other real nice sheridan book[can't remeber the auther] and have gone through my tool and looked at the Tandy catalog to see what sheridan tools I have to have now and using what I have in mule foots, vieners, regular bevelers,flower center and seaders figuring those tool can be replaced when I get good or have the money. Would only an idiot pay $24 for Tandy and is $16 fair or is there no if ands or buts Berrys the man? I you think Berry is the man what tools of his would I need to do Chan Geer patterns?

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I have no experience in Sheridan, but I do know that I would NEVER pay $24 for a Tandy tool, when I can get one of Barry's for $25 - $35 depending on the tool. I just wish Barry would put comparative sizes up (or numbers) so you can see what closely resembles the tools you're looking for. Now, i did go looking for some stops at BK last night and noticed he didn't have any that were quite the shape I was looking for, but anything he has I would buy before i went to a mass produced product.

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I believe Electrathon said he was getting a couple.

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I have a few and have used most of them. They are basicly copies of Barry King tools. They are stainless, they are not chromed. They look pretty rough compared to Barrys tools. They look amazing compared to craft tool. The impressions are good, the lines are crisp and not muted compared to craft tools. When teaching tooling at Tandy it has been very dificult to do when I had to tell the studenty that the store did not sell tools that were usable, now there si an option.

The bottom line I see it is that I am estatic the Tandy finally after 30 years took a step to quality. I am perplexed that they would be selling Chinese mass produced for more money than Barry sells USA make quality. If you get best price they are a savings, If you pay full price they are more than Barry.

Aaron

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I have started buying Clay Miller hanedmade tools exclusively. He custom makes these tools, he is easy to talk to and will make them the way you want them made. He is an excellent carver and understands tools and carving leather. Reasonably priced. I appreciate tools make for me, not off of the rack. A lot of bang for the buck. my 2 cents worth. Ken

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I agree with Ken.......

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OK it's been a month since I first posted. Here is what I know now from real life personal experience. I did go to Tandy and did get seven sheridan tools at $18 each, Tandys lowest price. Two lifters, one flower center, one sheridan beveler, one leaf liner, one center shader and one thumb print. There all nice stainless tools not US made but nice. Very good tools to start the sheridan experience. And this is the bazar part I stumbled into some other sheridan tools at a great price. I now own a Barry King flower center(the smooth one) and two Barry King swivel knifes and one blade. This morning I ordered a beader blade for the Barry King knife and one edging blade for a Tandy, I don't want to buy another knife so I'll use one that I already have. I also have two Hackbarth bevelers I havent used yet but look a H E Double Tooth Pick better then your standard Tandy non US made tool. I also now have US made Hackbarth viener, two seeders and a backgrounder. All made of steel and very nice. I also picked up a Hide Crafter sheridan beveler and leaf liner that are stainless and US made. Very nice!! It's my understanding that Double K leathers has the Hide Crafter tools now that there is no Hide Crafters anymore. I believe they sell them for $16.50 stainless and made in the US. The Tandy leaf liner and Hidecrafter are perty much equal but the sheridan Hide Crafter beveler is steeper and is my favorite.

I ordered some stuff from Springfield leather and decided to be brave and order one of there brade stamps for $13.99 foreign made not stainless not shure what kind of finish the tool has but looks nice. It stamps sharp and smooth and is superior to your standard Tandy. I like the tool but wish it was US made.

To be truthfull I took a piece of leather that I had stamped with vieners, camoflauge, mule foot Tandy stamps and took them with me to the store I bought the Hackbarth and Hidecrafter stamps and decided in some cases with some old and some new Tandy stamps I could not justify in anyway to spend the money to repace them. Some Tandys are very nice and cheaper. To me it would be like spending an extra $30 for a Tshirt with a fancy brand name to look like the cool kids. My advice is if you can test drive the tool before you buy it. I realise for most people this is hard to do. I did go through my rack of stamps and seperate the good from the bad. Now I have a rack of favorites and a rack of look before you leap stamps.

I hope this helps somebody. I wish somebody made sharp looking basketweaves for around $25 because that's seems like a fair price to me.

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I have had an oppurtunity to use several of the pro stamps and I think they make very good impressions.

they are made from stainless and not chrome plated so they will basically last forever pending a nuclear blast

they are however a bit pricey so the level of use would dictate whether or notsomeone would need to buy the stamps.

I also used the small pro swivel knife with the angled blade and I really love the feel and its precision.If I did leatherwork for a living I would love to have these tools however I do pretty well with the regular craft tools.

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The Tandy Craftool Pro stamps are coming on sale in April for $16.99 each at elite pricing. They have some new floral craftaids too that look pretty good.

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The Tandy Craftool Pro stamps are coming on sale in April for $16.99 each at elite pricing. They have some new floral craftaids too that look pretty good.

Thanks for the heads up. Ill have to look at the craftaids

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Does anyone know if there are any restrictions on are using the images in the craftaids or pattern books?

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Cyberthrasher, Barry King tools do have detailed sizing and photographic comparisons. Just click on the pictures below the "Add to Cart" button to reveal them as I did for their Thumbprints: http://www.barrykingtools.com/images/thumbprint_horizontal_lg.jpg

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check out the sheridan stamps from SLC!

if you have a tandy gold club membership you can get wholesale pricing for the tools and they are very nice stamps the wholesale price range for the sheridan tools are $15.00 to $19.00 they are stainless with a gun metal finish and have a life time guarantee.

their standard crafttool stamps are $5.49 with wholesale pricing and SLC offers many that are no longer available through TLC

SLC is just far better all around to purchase tools and supplies from.

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