WyomingSlick

Very impressive. A cowboy boot version of these would probably fetch up to a $1000 from some people.

Cliff Ketchum who made leather items for stuntmen in Hollywood would use fiberglass strapping tape between 2 stitched layers of leather to significantly strengthen them. You could perhaps just use that method to strengthen long scarf joinings. The resulting spliced section should be stronger than the rest of the strap. See, no hard feelings !

Great video showing what goes into making a $700 pair of shoes. Thanks for posting it Did you check with their customer service department. A simple email request for information on their products should yield an answer.

Pretty snazzy. The main alteration I would make is to beef up the tabletop supports. Perhaps by making them a mirror image of the fold out leg supports.

Applause for your can-do attitude. Your oupa would be proud of you.

I, too. was wondering about the feasibility of the spring. And, I was thinking that using shorter springs, and having a wingnut adjustment for spring tension would be a good modification that would allow one to adjust the holding pressure at the jaws. Overall, I think your design is a good one. A very good feature is that it could be built with only hand tools and a fair amount of woodworking skills, using readily available materials from any decent lumber yard, or Home Depot type store. Your plans would be worth the money just in the amount of time they would save in compiling a bill of materials. Speaking of money, the price you are thinking may be too low. I am assuming that you will be marketing this as a e-book ( PDF file ? ) since it would certainly not be a feasible to print and mail hard copy at such a low price. If you would like to send me a copy, I would be glad to look it over and make suggestions from a "fresh eye" regarding any improvements, or need for clarity.

I see that the internet page describes them as "steep-angle" bevelers, so I was just wondering how steep they were. A bit of trivia for you. Craftool made steep angle bevelers in the later 1950's which were like the regular bevelers except they had steeper angles. They were available only to members of the "Doodlers Club" ? and were identified by a "s" after the number. See comparison photos below. Ray Hackbarth may have also made steep angle bevelers since I do have one Hackbarth like that. I am not sure he made it that way........ because it is also possible that a previous owner modified it much like you are doing with the Pro stamps.

I did check out the tool project on your blog...and some of the others. Perhaps you could clear up a few points for me, and others. What is the differance between the angle of the tool faces between the Craftool Pro stamps and Barry King bevelers? What size of checkering file did you use? Was the checkering the same size as the original Craftool, or did you change that also?

When stitching you should have a groove, or at least a line on the backside for a guide. As you push your awl through, you watch for the emergance of the awl on the backside, and adjust accordingly to keep the backside on track by moving your stabbing hand up or down as needed. If you are having trouble making the back side even in stitch length, carefully stab the first three holes, and the using the same stitch marker, mark the back side the same as the front, and as before guide your awl by looking for the emergance of the point on the backside.

On second thought it might be much preferable to have a clear plastic template so that you could see the hole placement better.

LOL I don't think Leatherworker realized that there were TWO springs !

I would think you could locate some perforated sheet metal to use as a template and then it would not take too long to do a 10 X 10 inch area with a single punch

Is the product commonly referred to as "Saddle Soap" actually bad for leather? I came across a few web articles on saddle soap while researching a related topic which were news to me. "No Saddle Soap Please!" http://www.autogeek.net/nosasopl.html "Saddle Soap Truths - A Century of Deception?" http://voices.yahoo.com/saddle-soap-truths-97557.html Thoughts and comments ?

ummmmm...LOL !

Yup.......thats the very type that I was talking about. I have seen a bunch of those over the years that twisted/warped so that they wouldn't punch a decent hole anymore

Back when I first tried fine stitching, I couldn't find any fine needles to use since I live in the boondocks of Wyoming and this was long before the internet came along, at least the internet as we enjoy it nowadays. Being as my mom was an expert seamstress, I was able to get some needles from her which had suitable eyes.....so all I had to do was break off the sharp points, grind them a little, and smooth them with x-fine emery cloth to obtain some good hand stitching needles for fine work. I know I still have some of them because I have since only bought one packet of fine needles one time in Salt Lake City. I made a pair of ladies gloves out of white doeskin ONE TIME !...... and I will never willingly do that again. The store-bought ones are worth every penny as far as I am concerned ! LOL

Are you interested in a critique and helpful tips?

Are you hanging them with the grain side down, that is on the inside of the curve. That is an important thing to remember with leather, particularly when storing it. Keep the grain side on the inside ad the flesh side out.

What in tarnation are you using that much electical power for? Just a quick check on the net puts the average Canadian residential bill at between 100-200 per month. So, are you talking about electricity for a business then? If you are talking about a residential bill, then I have to wonder if you heat your home with electricity, have an electically heated swimming pool, a hundred 300 watt yard lights, or what? From what I read, it sounds like Canadian power costs are going to keep rising in the near future as the power producing infrastructure is expanded to meet rising demand. Faced with a large bill like you enjoy, YES, it is time.....er.....past time to find some alternatives and ways to reduce your consumption and/or produce your own power. Sounds to me like 5 grand for a wind turbine system isn't much compared to your monthly bill.

It depends on what kind of detail work you are talking about. Craftool has made many very small tools in the past and many can still be found from time to time on eBay. They have made cams that are not much larger than a pinhead, shaders that are only about a 1/4" long, and similairly sized bevelers, backgrounders, seeders, veiners, mulefoots, crowners, etc. Check out my Vintage Craftool Index on my blog page......http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=31&showentry=68 I do have many of the older discontinued itty bitty stamps for sale if you see what you are looking for there. Drop me a PM if you interested in them.

It is done the same way as the larger stitches....just finer tools. Even though you might think it would be more time consuming, it usually is not because you are dealing with thinner leathers and smaller articles such as a watchband. Less time to poke the holes. less time to put the needle through, and less thread to have to pull your shorter thread through. In fact, on some thin projects, the pricking iron will make the holes sufficiently so that you don't even need to use a stabbing awl for much of the run.

Get a copy of Al Stohlman's book on Tools from TLF or eBay if you can find one. You will learn at least 90% of all you ever need to know about knives in it's pages.

This is the way I was taught to do it almost fifty years ago by one of the most accomplished leather carvers I ever knew. 1. First of all, we were taught to bevel the background area down just like all the other lines. By having that beveled edge to place the side of your backgrounder against, you are way less likely to "accidently" stamp onto some place you don't want to. 2. Each area was begun by stamping all the way around the inside perimeter of the area, being extra careful to stay in the background area and to use the pointed end ( You do have a 104 backgrounder also, dont you ? ) to get into the sharp vee areas. Try to make this as even as possible so that you find it hard to tell one tool impression from the next. As Bob stated above, it is preferable to walk the backgrounder along,, both for speed and uniformity of impression. 3. Stamp in the remaining area, again by walking the stamp along, and striving for even, indistinguishable, impressions. You may need to turn the tool slightly so as to fill in a tapered area evenly. You may also need to go over the perimeter backgrounding previously done to match the texture more evenly. Note - If you don't have a copy of Al Stohlman's "Craftool Tech Tips"...... by all means ....get one. It is only a 20 page book, but that 20 pages may be the the best value for your money, you will ever spend ! ! ! ! !

Try to get a solid frame model with replacable tubes. I've lost count of how many of the lightweight press formed ones I have seen that are warped and twisted out of alignment. The replaceable tubes are not only best because it is easier to change a damaged, or split one.....but it is also a damn sight easier to properly sharpen one that you can remove from the tool. Speaking of sharpening the tubes, it is not a good idea to over sharpen the tubes, nor to make the cutting edge too much like a knife edge. You want something more like the edge on an axe...that is a thicker sturdy edge. If the edge is too weak, then over time as you use it....it will be more likely to curl over from repeated contact with the anvil and will cut poorly if at all. Also, the tube, being weaker, is more likely to split. Also, a very good practice to get into ........is to press the tube into some beeswax before use, and to clear the tubes of cuttings when you are done. Prices seem to vary a lot on this type of hole punch from well over $100 for the Osbourne TL1 model......... to $60 for the Tandy model and ..........down even lower to ...............$41.21 at theoriginalhorsetackcompany.com and................. way down to $24.99 at SSTACK.com. As always - You should check out their shipping charges before ordering. There doesn't seem to be a lot of differance between them, that is, judging from the pictures. I do note that the Osbourne model does have a copper anvil while the others seem to have a brass one. A copper anvil, being softer, would be easier on the tubes, but may need to be replaced more often.. Of course, one could always change out the brass anvil on the other for a copper one if he really felt sorry for the tubes ! LOL

LOL Still tuned - so whats happening with your job? No, I am one of those who do think that almost anything is possible, given the finances and time to do a task. But, the solid fact is that there are usually constraints to contend with. When I am approached with a project, I never blindly assert that I can do it......I will say that I will look into it; which I do. LOL That is why I have several differant things in development right now in my shop from a monster aluminum can shredder to leathercraft stamping tools There is nothing wrong with asking for input from others.......in fact, it is a good idea. BUT, you need to be a lot more explanatory when doing so. You say a space of 1 1/2", but you don't say whether that means that tall or that long. You don't say what kind of leather you are wanting to put it on. And so on. When you put that little effort into describing what you need to do, how do you expect anyone to have an answer for you? I actually have several ideas how to make custom name imprints (plastics, ostalloy, printing letters.....) but why should I spend more time and effort than you have?