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

I cant live with the horrible sewing machines - my company doesnt own one! Every sinle piece we produce is totally hand sewn. If Im being accused of rudeness I don't think I am being. Im expressing an opinion I have earned a right to have by thousands of hours of handstitching with no ad hominem or ad fabrico attacks. I dont mind at all what tools you use - use a butter knife for me if you find it works, but I do agree with Birdman that this is an arena where people come to learn and its right that the correct way of doing it is given visibility or people will go away with the idea the wrong way of doing it is the right way, and thats bad for the trade. If all you have is a stitching chisel of course use it, but if you/one/the person reading this in the future has no tools at all and wants to know what to buy or wants to improve their work pricking irons and an awl are the correct and best way of doing it and produce the best work, not just for saddlery but also leather goods (which is actually what I do for a living nowadays). My experience is no established companies making top end work use them, or some of the other techniques you mention, (though Im sure somone somewhere does just to disprove me). By that I dont mean people learning their skills or one man bands, regardless wether they sell their products etc etc, I mean high end established professional firms or craftspeople who have devoted their lives to this. My area is leathergoods now not saddlery so Im not just talking about saddlery co's. A drill press with an awl blade mounted correctly, some guides to keep everything perfectly set up, an infinitely sharp awl, some means of the awl not getting blunt and some means of supporting the back of the work so it isnt distorted as the awl passes through would be an interesting device and better than a chisel because the blade would do less damage to the leather. It would also need to space the stitch marks evenly. More or less thats a sewing machine with an awl not needle in a sewing machine, which I know some people do use. You'd still need to use an awl to open the hole and guide the left needle, so really might as well just use a pricking iron. Anyway - those are my views, A chisel, any means you have of making a hole in a bit of leather will allow you to saddle stitch and if thats what you have go for it, but on the whole those who do it for a living use a pricking iron and awl because the results are the best. Enough on the subject from me.. Charlie

Hello all, Please can I suggest, in the spirit of keeping the thread useful to all that a) Birdman is somewhat less brutal in your choice of language! Im sure the intent is to educate not offend, but somewhat more gentleness may help! 2) Martyn, peraps you could accept the point about chisels - if you disagree you clearly arent going to persuade him so quit whilst your ahead! I was also trained by an ex Gideons Master Saddler and I would agree with Birdman that a chisel isnt the right tool and isnt used by the top end of the trade. Its an intriguing idea, but all of the blades are so much heavier than an awl you, by definition, are making holes that are too big. The answer from the saddlery trade to work that doesnt have a back or front, ie untidy stitching is unacceptable on either side of the work, is portmanteau irons. They are used more for leathergoods than saddlery in my experience, in saddlery the emphasis is skill and there being a defined back side of work piece, leathergoods often doesnt have that luxury. It should be pointed out Hermes for eg use bog standard boring Blanchard irons like the rest of us, they would certainly adopt chisels if it improved the work. Its a fair point to say a chisel might give you better looking work now, but its cosmetic - better to learn right and either buy a set of regular and portmanteau irons or accept the back of your work wont be perfect, IMO anyway Let peace, harmony and agreeing to differ reign! Charlie

Have to say they look exactly like Dixons to me. The modern crew punches they made had a simplified version of this design, but the old ones look precisely like this.

Indeed! I have spent quite a lot of practice time in vain if so :-)

I think its fair to say stitching a full belt well in a couple of hours needs years of practice - just so no-one has false expectations. Either that or Im an unusually slow learner anyway!

I think your missing the point. Its not machine v hand, its saddle stitch v lock stitch. Saddle stitch is a better, stronger stitch, thats why we do it. Fundamentally, this is equivalent to trying to spot weld somthing to make it look it was done in a factory by a robot, rather than seam weld it, but take the time to learn to do it properly so its not only stronger but prettier.

I think it's fair to say that saddle stitch predates Nigel Armatage, Hermes or in fact America! It's centuries old, and there are 19th century slanted prick irons in daily use to prove the point. Saddlers came long before fashion houses! If the American style is for long flat stitches it comes from Tandy kits with pre punched holes. Look at photos of old gun leather, it'll have slanted stitches Trying to make a hand stitch look like a machine stitch that's itself poorly imitating hand stitching strikes me as slightly farcical..

Sounds like pigskin! Thats the traditional English seat material

I've been thinking about the various anti technology and respect for craft comments in this thread. I think we can be too puritanical. I'm sure the craft has always been like this, some for and some against technology. Ultimately it will be used though. What's a plough gauge or a round knife or a pricking iron if not a device to make a hard job easy? Should we only use a straight knife, a scratch awl and some sinew to make things? Cutting a shape is something a human should be able to do, but a machine can do better, if well directed by a human. Once the basic test of proving they can do it by hand has been passed I'm not sure I can see the harm in concentrating on the areas a human does best, like stitching, edge finishing etc. Re tooling, not my thing. Miss description should always get you hung by your toes over some crocodiles but ignoring that is laser engraving not just a step beyond craft tools? Given the grain is charred and horrible it's a totally different thing than tooling surely? We as hand makers should concentrate on making sure our hand work is so good we don't need to worry that amatures with lasers steal our sales. If we can't do better work by hand, why are we doing it by hand? I don't think respect for tradition is a god enough reason, personally. I say this as someone who doesn't even own a sewing machine so I am firmly on the side of hand work, but it will only survive if we keep it relevant, just being a Luddite just means the machines will win by default All IMO.. Charlie

It looks like a better engineered Dxons splitter. I too am in the market for oval punches. I have a batch on order from Blanchard, I havent bought oval punches from them before, I will be interested to see what they are like! Charlie