Leather Tools
Leather tools have specialized uses. Learn about available tools, how to care for them, sharpening, and safety.
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Our friend Barry King generously allowed us to share his explanation of factory vs. handmade tools. Brian asked me to talk a little about "Custom/Handmade" tools vs "Factory" tools. I can go on and on with comments and reasons, so I may add a lot after initially typing this. Here goes: 1. The biggest difference is the impression you will end up with. Most handmade tools are finished by hand. Meaning: contoured, polished and filed, by hand. The key being the filing by hand. This leaves the tool with sharp lines and ridges as opposed to a Factory tool. Factory tool: Usually stamped out from a master die. This can be done cold or under heat. The disadvantage is the lin…
Last reply by Beehive, -
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Greetings, I'm pretty good with my hands and I hate having to pay full retail on a head knife when I can maybe find the metal blank and then make the handle and such out of wood for myself. Just looking to safe a bit of money and to contour a handle that fits my hand nicely. I'm a woodworking trying to learn and teach his kids leather work....so I'm just trying to gather up tools to get started. Anybody have a head knife blank that I can buy or know where I can order one from?
Last reply by MarshalWill, -
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I have started making my own Stamps and would like to share and have others that make their own Stamps share "How and What" they have made and are making. I started out altering my Craftools after taking some leather carving seminars and getting to see and use quality stamps and experience the difference they made in my tooling. Not all of the hand tools I use are necessary to make stamps and none of the power tools are needed to make most of the stamps. So even on a limited budget you can make or alter stamps for better tooling results. I make my stamps 4¼" long because I have large hands and I find them more comfortable to hold for long periods of time. At fi…
Last reply by Frodo, -
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To all: I have had several requests to explain how I sharpen my head knives. I am by far not an expert, but here is how I do it, and it works for me. There was a thread where I addressed this before the crash of 07. Below is a link to the tutorial that most gracious Johanna has created. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions. I hope this is something useful. Tool on! Marlon How to sharpen a head knife https://leatherworker.net/sharpenheadknife.htm
Last reply by Art, -
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I suspect what I'm about to suggest might seem like heresy to some, but I hope you'll take it in the spirit in which its intended...to help improve the edges on your steel cutting tools. Somewhere along the line, the term "jeweler's rouge" came to be an almost generic term for all buffing compounds. But, in this case, the term can be taken literally. Jeweler's rouge is a compound intended to polish jewelry (gold and silver). It also does a good job of polishing brass, nickel silver and copper. What all these metals have in common is they are relatively soft. Jeweler's rouge (rouge is the French word for red...) is ideal for soft metals because when you polish someon…
Last reply by ChasCS, -
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Last reply by TonyRV2, -
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Ok, a relativity raw novice here, and I'm looking for some good advice. I'm looking at what I want to do, and have determined that one of the things I will need is a round knife/head knife. And which is which, or are the two terms more or less interchangeable? There are several options in my price range, but it seems to be neck and neck with the Osborn and the Stolhman knives I've listed in the poll above as far as basic reviews and price. So I've come to ask those who are most familiar with these things to help me decide what I should get, or, tell me why I should get neither and get something else!
Last reply by Jimmy McLaughlin, -
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Sharpening 101 part 2 The last article we talked about the type of edges and their intended uses, in this one I hope to explore a few ways to sharpen a blade. There is many ways to skin a cat and same applies here. There is no one way to get a sharp blade so Ill explain some of the ways I do it and have done it in the past and why I don’t anymore. Remember just because you might not do it this way doesn’t mean I think it’s wrong. Firsts let’s look at what is sharp and when is it sharp enough. As a custom knifemaker I try to fill the needs of the customer and the intended purpose of the knife was made for. A chopping style knife like a cam…
Last reply by prc77ro, -
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Here is part one of the tutorial. My first post didn't take,Maybe can get a moderator to delete the first one. Anyway if anyone has comments or questions, fire away. Updated: Go to post 16 for local links
Last reply by Alexblow, -
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Wanted to do some petal lifting, making the leather look more 3d by stretching up certain sections. Mine are in NC, didn't want to buy an expensive set. For under 20 dollars and an hours work here we are. Pretty happy. The items, Stainless rods, handles, super glue, I found a set of stainless rods 1.5mm to 8mm x 60mm long these were 8.99, the handles are file handles got 12, 6 large not used and 6 small, 6.99. Put the rods in the handles, for the small ones wrapped painters tape around the top for a snug fit then used some super glue down the hole to fix them. The grinding to shape can be done many ways b…
Last reply by chuck123wapati,
