Matt S

Thanks, useful to know. The product I'm interested in is SKU 3231-00 https://tandyleather.com/products/universal-punch-tubes

Anybody know what thread is used on the Tandy universal punch tubes? I need to make a multi-hole jig. I know that they are not exactly top quality but I need it quickly and would like the appropriate tap on hand when they arrive. I'm making a SWAG that they use a 1/4" UNC thread but if anybody knows better, I would be glad to know!

I've got a toolbox full of various grit stones, mostly cheap oilstones, for establishing an edge on a new tool or reestablishing an edge on a damaged tool. However for daily use I just strop. A tool starts to snag in the leather, strop it. Tool starts to make noise going through the leather, strop it. Pick up a tool, strop it. Look at a tool, strop it. Think about a tool, strop it. You get the idea. I was lucky enough to get a basic Tormek machine and it's bloody brilliant. The wet wheel is big enough to only slightly hollow the edge, which is no problem for practical purposes and produces a good edge a whole lot faster than bench stones. Obviously there is no heat buildup like you get with a grinder. As for the stropping wheel I think it'd be worth the cost of the machine on its own. I've barely touched my (perfectly functional) manual strop since I got this thing. In fact I spent an eye watering amount of beer tokens on the extension kit. Those special profile wheels are great at getting into the awkward little bits that are common on leather tools.

@RasputinKarkadof That garment hide will be really quite thin, floppy and stretchy. You might have some success moulding it with the application of heat but it won't be stiff enough to hold its shape without some sort of support. For practical purposes you'd have to wrap it around something else that provides the ridigity or strength -- a wooden box, a plastic form, or some webbing for instance. In terms of fetish gear your best uses would be lighter or layered garments (obviously). Maybe some light floggers. You could maybe make some restraints, harnesses etc. by wrapping and sewing around webbing, or lining a stiffer, heavier leather. We have a hidden subforum for discussions of the sort of stuff that those of a nervous disposition take offence to being displayed openly. Post in this linked thread and an admin will grant you access.

Yeah they're finnicky things to get running right and it's easy to lose your place. 90%+ of what makes for an effective skive is having the right adjustments, and sadly there are basically no numbers to read or measure -- it's all don't qualitatively. Have you seen Checaflo's video series on setting up and using skiving machines? He has a pretty good system at finding a "machine zero" and adjusting from there. Get lost in the weeds and just set everything back to your zero and start again. From what you say I think it's a setup/adjustment problem rather than having to take anything apart (well, at least if the knife is turning true, which if it worked recently... it probably is). I'll also throw my +1 on Sony's comments behind getting your knife as close to the foot as possible. Again taking my leaf from Checaflo's book I measure the gap with a slip of printer paper. And further to Son'y comment on grinding the knife, the old boy I bought my skiver from taught me to only grind once everything is set up (same reason -- grinding angles). Then deburr the knife and sharpen and deburr again.

Dixons used to be pretty good at that -- good quality tools (though a little rough around the edges) made in the UK with decent steel for a reasonable price that would last for several generations. From memory, about 10 years ago (a couple years before they closed) a round knife was about £75, a pricking iron £40 and an edge shave £25. Well regarded "working" tools, whereas Blanchard was considered "good quality, pretty, and pretty expensive". George Barnsley tools have been revived and are filling the gap left by Dixons. Same old patterns that they used to in the heyday of leather hand tools (and some newer designs), made in the same city, by a firm owned by George Barnsley's grandson IIRC. CS Osborne also fits in this niche, though obvious US based rather than Europe. Not quite sure where $5K comes from, unless you're having Blanchard decorate your tools with gem stones

@TwoCelts That's a nice looking early Fortuna. I have one a little newer, with the more rounded arm that comes from the middle back of the main casting, but many parts look identical to their counterparts on mine! What fault(s) are you experiencing? Most issues can be sorted without having to strip the machine.

FWIW Seikos are very well built machines. It takes a lot of use to wear one of them out. One of mine had 20 years of factory use and 10 years of disuse before it came to me, and I don't think it's missed a beat ever since. My preference, all other things being equal, would be for an older machine from a premium manufacturer over a newer Chinese-built machine. I'm sure that there are many well made Chinese machines, especially those that have been set up and warranted by respectable dealers, but I've got my fingers burned a few times and I have a taste for quality tools -- I have been spoiled by using Singer, Adler and Seiko! Consider also that that Seiko has probably depreciated in value as far as it's going to any time soon, whereas if you sell it the day after you buy it that Cowboy may have dropped 20%. Are you likely to want much in the way of accessories for your machine? Flat bed tables, specialist feet, edge guides etc. I ask as there is far fewer aftermarket stuff available for the CH8 than the 441 type.

Press mounted hole punches are pretty common. They're like £5-10 a piece here in the UK for smallish round ones on their own, £15 including the brass anvil, or maybe £20-30 for slot punches. There's a few different standards for threads and fitting so you have to shop carefully. Burr/saddlers rivets are usually set by hand in leatherwork but similar rivets are set mechanically in other fields all the time, often in building aircraft, restoring classic cars, and various forms of engineering/blacksmithing/fabrication. Usually there's an riveting gun involved (electric or pneumatic) or there's a special sort of squeeze press, either manual or hydraulic. I looked at this sort a while back, when I was looking at setting a quantity of copper saddlers rivets deep inside pouches. In the end single cap tubular rivets turned out the be plenty strong enough but I was going to buy something similar to this: You can get basic ones for under £100, with different shaped "head" dies. You'd probably have to seat the burr manually, or maybe with an adapted top tool in a normal bench press. However the skilled/difficult/noisy/time consuming part of setting a copper rivet is mushrooming the head, and these take care of that quickly, silently, and very repeatably.

Very nice work! I just got the HoG pattern pack, trying to decide between that and one of Will's 1911 centenary designs for my first holster.

I'm with Tor -- your shuttle looks quite serviceable (certainly better nick than either of the ones I have). What issues are you having with it? Not sure what thread form the tension spring screws are but even if you have to send the remaining one to a machinist to be duplicated it'll cost you less than a new shuttle. How's your tension spring? There was a chap on here a few years ago who was gearing up reproduce them but he's dropped off the radar. Also, if CAN$560 doubles the price of your machine you should see the price of a new machine that can do similar work. Juki 441s are about £/€/$7K new. Chinese 441 clones are about 2-3K. Incidentally, it looks like your No6 was fitted with a wax heating apparatus, though bits appear missing. There's not many complete setups left. Any chance of some closeups?

Well you can't get much more official than that! How specific was it? Plenty of guidance on bladed articles, often from major police forces/services available over here but not a bean have I found regarding coshes/saps/blackjacks. I wonder if anyone from a reenactment group from GB has a similar list, or some other specific guidance regarding blunt weapons?

"cosh" doesn't appear in the relevant Act, nor the Schedules to the Act (we looked at that, as well as "blackjack"). It's pretty short list of what's outright banned TBH. About the only blunt instruments on the list are fixed and friction-locked batons (truncheons). If you can find such a list of "allowed weapons" I would be interested to read it, but honestly I doubt that such a thing exists from any reputable source.

Yeah but now I've got to go out and buy a 335!

Just spoken with a friend who is a currently serving policeman. Neither of us can find saps or similar implement on the "naughty list" so they would appear quite legal to own, make, sell etc. (this side of the Bristol Channel @fredk!) but they clearly count as "made or adapted to cause injury" and therefore not legal for general carry without "good reason or lawful authority". It goes without saying that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. The above is simply two chaps' personal opinions. @Raindog951 going back to your original post, I like hardboard for making larger templates. It's easily cut, drilled and shaped even using basic hand tools; you can layout directly on it with pen or pencil, or glue a paper pattern to it; it's nice and grippy on the back (doesn't slide around like acrylic); it's dimensionally stable so long as you keep it dry; and it's dead cheap -- an 8x4 is usually under a tenner, and if you ask at your local timber yard you can usually get big offcuts for pennies.

Brian your posts are a constant inspiration. I've been having good results with my resin printer but the main limiting factor is the small print size. More jigs and guides than shells if you see what I mean. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a filament printer after all!

I may be wrong, but isn't Renia SG their water-based rubber cement substitute? I used to used Renia 315, which is their water-based neoprene. One of the reasons I stopped using was the gumminess and it took a long time to dry enough that I could sew it. I would imagine that the SG is even gummier.

Welcome, @Raindog951! Whereabouts in the UK are you? A fair few of us on here these days. I've sent you a PM.

@luxuryluke Thanks for sharing what you found. 99% of us will never encounter such beasts, but it's interesting seeing what's on the cutting edge of the industry. There's often some useful nugget that we can use -- I'm starting to use simple placement jigs a little like the large one in the last video in producing some of my standard products, though they go through standard sewing machines rather than modern pattern stitchers. I think I'm going to have to study that video a few more times and steal borrow some ideas.

Don't forget "is that large pattern stitcher available in treadle or line shaft format?"

It can be done on some chrome tanned leathers. I've played around a little but never put enough time into it to make anything useful, other than blocking some keeper loops or ironing creases into folds or out of stuff that's supposed to be flat. The key tends to be heat (150+ degrees C), though that heat can be enough to ruin any finish on the leather, depending on the leather. Most chrome tans are largely unaffected by water, though I've found that very hot water does improve the mouldability of ones, and then you often run the dye. I don't think that any chrome tanned leather can be moulded to the extremes that veg tans can, but heat embossing (with a maker's mark, a monogram etc.) is basically the same thing, just on a far smaller scale so in theory deep mouldings can be done. Perhaps it's heresy on this forum, but a lining or backing of a stiffer thermoplastic sheet like HDPE or kydex glued to the leather before moulding might help. Thinking outside the box a little, I wonder if a vacuum forming machine could be used with chrome tanned leather? It's essentially doing the same job (evenly heating a thermoplastic to within its plastic range, then quickly forming it over a mould before it cools). Check out Checaflo doing some raised work in upholstery leather:

I'm with @$$hobby -- sketch one out and message people who offer fabrication services. It's not a complex part. Consider anyone in your local area who does welding, forging, vehicle repairs or machining in your area, especially as a hobby or side gig. What sort of quantity are you after? A dozen wouldn't be difficult or take long to fab up yourself, even with basic tools. Get a strip of the right size and type of steel. Cut billets to length with a saw or shear. Use a template or jig to mark holes with a centre punch then drill through. Remove any burrs with a file or a kiss of the belt sander. The trickiest bit would be the cranked bends, as they're pretty close to each other. You can get bending tools that fit in a bench vice, though they might need a little modification due to the closeness of the bends. For more than a dozen clips I would make a simple bending die for one of my presses. Lots of ways to do that, especially if you can do simple welds (or know someone who can). Is there an off-the-shelf part you could use instead for the same job? What about a footman loop, or maybe you could modify a strip-formed belt loop?

I wonder if intimidation and perceived uncontrolability is a factor. I know two people who have been scared off sewing machines by uncontrollable ones at school. I put my hand-crank Singer 99 in front of them and challenged them to make it run away with them. After that the conversion to either a modern domestic or an industrial with a digital servo was a breeze. Also, manual sewing machines are a significant step up from hand sewing, especially if the person is not exactly the best/fastest hand sewer in the world. If they can sew a half an inch per minute by hand a belt is going to take 2-3 hours. Even a one armed bandit is going to half that or better. For a lot of hobbyists and even some small businesses that's plenty fast enough -- the fact a properly motorised industrial could do it in a minute isn't here nor there. A manual machine is also easier on the hands for those with mobility and grip issues. There's also the size/space/square footage issue. Here in the UK 99% of motorised industrial machines come on full size industrial tables 18x36". That's a significant chunk of real estate for most of us, who are often operating from living rooms, spare (small) bedrooms, pokey garden sheds, undersized garages etc. A manual machine is smaller and can be put away when not in use.

Ah but It's French. All that fois grois and vintage claret at the works canteen has to be paid for somehow... Remember this is the country that brought you such efficient and elegant tools as the SCART connector, the MAT49 SMG and the Citreon DS!

Beautiful work! Nothing wrong with using a sewing machine where appropriate. What is the lining, if I may ask?