cjmt

I think it's unlikely you'll successfully de wax the bridle. Why not just slit the back off though? It won't be waxy all the way through. Split 4mm bridle to 3mm and you'll have a good glueing surface ready to go

Interesting idea! If the idea is a rigid structure I imagine whatever bonds the layers of carbon fibre will also work on the leather outer Charlie

Dixons generally are nice, well made, functional, not very pretty. Blanchard is generally nice, better made and pretty. Both will last generations. The Barnsleys are more or less a reproduction of the Dixons but poorer quality and less nice to use. Unlikely to last generations but will last decades. All three will do the job. All have a learning curve

Its a new old stock Barnsley. Not amazing quality, certainly not in the league of the Blanchard but will do the job with care and good technique. Bottom tier professional tool but professional tool nonetheless

The stone, it mostly skives goat

I have a Fortuna with no suction. It occasionally picks pieces up on the feed wheel if I'm doing long skives of softer leather. Does the job very well on the whole. I'd likely buy one with vacume next time but not a big problem not having it imo

The one in that photo was made by its owner. I haven't seen any commercially available but a good woodworker should have a problem making one

Some excellent and complex work here

Interesting catalogue, thank you!

Id be interested to know the Italian source of the polishing and sanding wheels if their owner didnt mind sharing?

Meaningless marketing I strongly suspect. The real luxury brands are very unlikely to be sharing factories or using third party factories at all I'd say

Bea is very good indeed and has the kuddos that goes with being ex Hermes, however her courses are very expensive indeed so room for a competitor maybe!

Good chart! Personally I'd get spacers made but stay in metric for ease. I would use a 30.5mm spacer for a 1 1/4" strap for eg which will give a tiny bit of space in the buckle but not too much. If having them made locally is expensive get a few narrow widths like 10.5mm, you can then use 5 and 10mm spacers in combination with the .5 ones to get the size you want, like 30.5

Have some made locally? They aren't complicated. The blades are precisely 1mm though, so to cut a 35mm strap for eg you'd use a 34mm spacer, you'd need to factor that in when you work out what spacers to use.

It absolutely is a forum for all, and should be. We should promote the best standard of work we can though and knowing the best techniques has to be a good thing. Perhaps the detail in this thread is overflow from the guy enquring about making belts earlier in the week, but I do genuinley think the best way of learning is pricking iron + awl, in some sort of clam. Ive seen people starting to run businesses with fundamentally incorrect self limiting techniques fail because they dont have the time or inclination to relearn, and that seems a shame when they could have succeeded given the right start. Anything to get the job done has to be the right answer if you have no tools and are starting off, but if you start of with a chisel, or a drill press or whatever, maybe its like EasyStart, you get addicted and dont learn the right way. Saddlers are never exposed to these methods, they just learn to be tidy as they practice and personally I think thats the right way. Its not rocket since, a few hours will get you to the stage of being moderately tidy. Saddlers certainly dont have a God given right to dictate or ride rough shod over anyone, but it is called saddle stitch and it is fundamental to how we keep a roof over our heads so we are bound to have views, and if they are expressed politely by someone with a lot of experience then really we have earned a right to them. I think best to say we will have to agree to differ in the great iron vs chisel debate, but thats fine and is both our collective rights so to do! Fully agree no-one has the right to rudeness or we ruin a nice forum. That was the point of my original post. We can agree to differ - both sides can make their point without attacking a person or their work