Beehive

Using the French style irons. You can adjust the size of the hole. Depending on leather thickness. Hammering it through 5-6mm thickness. Leather weight that requires a bigger diameter thread. It'll do it. Thinner weight like 4-5oz. The wedge shape does the same. It'll make the correct sized hole. As for needle size. The maker can recommend anything they want. Their job is to sell you needles. Giving a general guild line. But since this is all custom. If I use a 004 needle with any thread that fit through the eye. Even though it'll make the stitch line look like a one hour craft class. I promise, nobody is going to show up at your door to slap your hand. Consider the John James range. Both a 002 needle and a 1/0 needle can be used with 1mm thread. By their own words. I take that as a guild line. Whatever works for You. Whatever will get the job done. Whatever will lay the best looking stitch.

I've been thinking that's what Fiebing uses in their oil dye. Mineral oil. When you rinse out a dobber in the sink. You can see drops of thin clear oil. If it's not mineral, I'd be extra curious to know what they use. Interested in your results too.

Not too many people can say they're wearing their accomplishment. There's no better feeling after you're done. Belts and bags are on top of the pyramid. Saddle on the tippy top. But once you're done with the marathon stuff. Stitching holsters, wallets, and book covers seem a breeze. Never give up. Work through it. Move forward. Even if takes you months doing a few inches of stitching a day. You're in a club where nobody is wearing Chinese leather off of Amazon. None of that $65 for a mass produced belt nonsense. Your days are now going to be full of quality. Real deal, handmade quality.

I wonder if the OP has discovered what it takes to saddle stitch? Forget the tools, needles and thread. It's the labor involved. When I stitched the main strap on my belt. 90" total stitch length. Broken up into two sessions of 45" each. When I started, I sat on the couch. Stitching pony in my lap and found a decent movie for background noise. Left to right, right to left, loop. 45" took three movies worth of time. I estimate I have ~12 hours labor in the main strap alone. And that's just the stitching. It doesn't include cutting, trimming, gluing, or poking the holes. In total, I bet I'll have ~20 hours total labor in my Ranger belt. Something they don't show in YouTube videos. As for good news. My order of thread shows up today. I'm gonna venture out in wild colored threads. Blue, green, and yellow. Of course, Ritza brand in .08mm. I used white 1mm on the belt. The colored thread is going on a wallet made from plum colored Horween cavalier. So if you can come to terms with how much labor a hand made leather item takes. You can build anything. Think of stitching as meditation. I do.

Practice tying the needles on. It may not seem that big of deal but it is. You want the places where the thread Inter cross to lay as flat as possible. Nice and smooth. You can smooth them down using a piece of denim. (That's another thing in this hobby. Don't throw away those old blue jeans. Or any fabric that's 100% cotton. Cut the denim up for burnishing rags. The cotton as general purpose.)

Yes Sir, John James needles. I can remember back when I started leather craft. Pre internet days and getting leather and supplies. Was a two hour round trip to Tandy in Austin. Boy O' Boy, their large eye needles are junk. You had to buy in bulk because they'd snap at the eye. Clean break off. Making you wonder if it's you doing something wrong. When it's the junk needles being junky.

+1. Same here. What is it? I've never heard of an, "Edge Glider". Looking it up and all I get is lazy boy chairs and those exercise machine you always see people throwing away.

Blunt tipped* They do two things. Helps prevent the needle from stabbing the cross thread, helps it glide through the hole and the biggy. Saves you from stabbing your fingers. For which will happen from time to time.

With the French style pricking irons. By nature, one side will be a bigger hole because they're wedged shaped. But after you've stitched. Pounding or rolling the stitch line will compress the entry holes tight. It's also why you don't roll the holes until after you've stitched. Rolling the holes before you stitch makes for a difficult time passing the needle through. With you ending up having to use the pliers you super glued leather on the jaws.

Rub the points with wax. Either white wax or a beeswax and white wax mix. They sell little pieces of flat metal with a slot in it. The trick, don't pull the iron out the leather. Instead, push the leather off the tines. Once you're through. Scoot it over on the pad. Push the leather down. Also, make sure you're not going too deep. All you need is about a half of mm of the teeth poking through.

The buckleguy ones are solid. Among my projects is a ranger belt. 8-10oz Wicket and Craig veg tanned. Lined with 4-5oz Horween cavalier in red. ~6mm thick. I use a 32oz maul to drive the 9 tine. 16oz maul to drive the 2 tine. So far, I'm happy with them. They've stayed sharp. I looked up the metal they're using. High impact resistant tool steel. Made to be pounded on.

I use a 1/0 needle with .08mm thread. I also use 002. The bigger needle makes a path for the thread, 'knots'. I've also used 004 needles with .08mm thread. But the smaller needle stabs the thread much more easy. As for the Buckle guy pricking irons. I have two sets. 3.85 and 3.38. 9 tine, 4, 2, and a single tine. The most used is the two tine and nine tine. I rarely use the four tine. Here's a tip. Lets say you're using the 3.85 and you get to an end or corner. The 3.38 will be needed to space the holes. In other words, I use both SPI on the same project. Same with using the 3.38. Sometimes the 3.85 will be needed to reach a corner. You'll need the single tine. Think of it as the correct sized Awl.

The alternative is wrapping duct tape around the shank. I've done it to two small shank basket weave stamps. It works but it's not pretty. Not using the ugly silver grey looking stuff. The tape does slide against itself. It doesn't move on the shank but slides like electric tape left out in the sun. Other ideas to consider. Drilling a screwdriver handle all the way through. Gorilla glue it to the shank. Any of the cheapo' screwdrivers from harbor freight will work. Only issues is storing the stamp. A big handle glued on and it's not going to fit in a wood block. So expect to lose some drawer space.

It'd end up being a set of shank sizes. A nice copper rivet setter isn't cheap. I wouldn't think those would be either. I made a small chisel holder and used it with stamps. I never could get use to holding a stamp that way. Here of late I've been looking at pencil grips. Particularly the old-school triangle looking ones.

I don't know of anywhere you could buy it but it's easy to do. I've Alum tanned a few whitetail deer hides. It's quite stiff and needs to be worked for any kind of softness. Makes excellent deer skin rugs. I used a recipe from the book, "Back To Basics by Editors of Reader's Digest". Purchased the Alum from a local pharmacy. Tanned using a plastic trash can. The tanned flesh almost looks like rawhide except it's a brighter white. Almost as stiff rawhide when it's dried. I hope this helps.

Now my curiosity is running wild. I'll dig out my PH test drops. The only PH of concern is the Vinegaroon solution. Measured after the solution is saturated with iron. Where the chemical conversion has stopped. Where no more iron can be dissolved in solution. Think of it like this. Vinegar is no longer an acid after contact with baking soda. Vinegar is no longer an acid when treated with iron. Water around here is quite alkaline. 7.4-.7.6. The city doesn't want pipe corrosion. And a neutral and stable 7.0 is a rare bird. My deal is there is a lot of monkey see, monkey do dealing with leather. And whoever came up with thinking a baking soda dunk is required. Never followed it up with an actual PH test of the solution before applied to leather.

I like it! The three page keepers are a nice touch. The pull up on the brilliant red gives it motion. Makes you look. The crosses are uniform, well spaced. Fit looks good. I don't get the impression the cover is fighting the book. Nice work.

I'd back track operation instructions on replacing the grinding wheel. There has to be some kind of mechanical attachment to keep the wheel on the shaft. Shaft nut of some kind. Otherwise, you'd be reading about, "grinding wheel glue". Maybe the top of the Arbor shown in the picture expands out. Gripping the wheel by the arbor hole. I can't see if the middle of the arbor is threaded or if it's just a hole.

In the knife community. Test after test shows that poly cutting boards have the least effect on edge retention. The problem with wood is you have to cut with the grain. Any cuts across the grain and it'll dull the edge faster then cutting with the grain. When you have nothing but expensive kitchen knives. You get the poly board.

Maybe I can help. My first post on here. Tip #1, dye the leather a dark color before Vinegaroon. You can use oil dye or the alcohol based. Go through the steps as you would. Let it dry. Once that happens. Follow it up with Vinegaroon. That's how you get the dark blacks. Brownish black, blueish black, red, yellow, green. And until someone takes a PH reading. Forgo the baking soda. Because the Vinegaroon solution has converted the acid into another solution. And I've never seen ill effects from Vinegaroon. And as for the metallic smell. It goes away with a slight age. Laying the item in sunlight makes the process faster.