longlivealfred

hey ferg, that defiantly looks like a prickling iron, rather nice one too. thanks for clarifying with the picture, i had been thinking about it a bit during the day second guessing myself. as for the mm thing, i'm sadly of the metic generation, thank god for the conversion tables on the back of rulers. anyway, happy stitching , hope your able to acquire a number 10 without too much hassle. bye

hi ferg, i have a little bit of knowledge and experience with prickling irons, but i am slightly confused. thread length between stitch marks of 5/16 would be a number 3 maybe 4 iron if we're talking about dixon prickling iron's a number 9 iron would mean 9 stitch's to the inch; 10, 10 stitches to the inch and so on. with regards to width of the mark, i only have a number 10 blanchard prickling iron and the teeth on that are 1.2mm (conversion chart on my ruler states that's less than a 1/16) wide. it sounds like ( taking a stab in the dark) that you have more of a marking chisel/thonging iron than a prickling iron. hope it helps a little bit have a nice day, bye

i haven't been stitching too long but i have to agree with hilly about getting what you pay for. i started off with a Osborne awl which wasn't upto much. i then bought some jo dixon awl blades (being British and wanting to buy local-ish) which needed a fair bit of work to get the profile into a decent shape. I then bought a vergez blanchard awl, a 38mm and its easily light-years better than the two other awls ive used. Whilst i think you should try support the decent tool makers close to home, if you're ever buying from the blanchard factory i think its worth a punt. good luck with the stitching, bye

kevin, pete, ive had a go today trimming the lengths of the posts by a 1/32 to close 3/32 and its helped alot! the problem still persists (i hope when i get the die replaced it might help a bit) but its a lot less noticeable. I think im going to do a bit more experimenting to get the spot-on length as its for a item i hope to make a few of. thanks alot for your help, i really appreciated it, bye

hi pete, kevin thanks alot for your replies, i really appreciate it. i had a go a few days back trimming the post, though only by 1/64 to 3/64ish with little success. I'll do a few experiments with shortening the post further though this evening or tomorrow and see what happens. maybe the metal is thinner, i dunno. i have been looking through the different snaps i have a massed and some of the smaller ones are manufactured differently so i might try get some 12mm of that design to see if it helps. ive come to the conclusion that the die posted above is not manufactured correctly as it makes no sense for it to be off-centre. i also think that the die being off centre is pushing down on the lip of the post rather down the throat of the post helping to cause my problem a little bit. anyways thanks again you two for your advice, ill post the results of my experiments. bye

i've had a go manually setting the snap and i still get the little marks, so maybe its just something i will have to live with. Has anyone found whether steel based caps react differently? i'm perplexed by it all since when you see snaps on high end luxury items, well they dont have the same problem. hermes etc. anyways, i appreciate your time, i feel kind of conscious that im all take take take in this relationship at the moment but i hope when i gain a bit more experience ill have something constructive to add. have fun, bye

Hi, I recently bought myself a snap press, some s-spring snaps and suitable dies but I'm having a few problems I'm hoping you guys are able to give me advice on. When ever I attach a snap I get a flatspot/mark on the cap (I've attached an image that shows it, though I think it's more obvious in real life). I've tried using less pressure but its not really helped, ive tried pre punching holes in the leather but to no joy. Are you guys generally left with a similar mark, is it to be expected? Im using Italian make fimma snaps, brass based with a nickel-plated finish. Also I've attached a picture of the socket die that's clearly not symmetrical, it's not meant to be like that right? Ive fired off a few emails to the company I bought it from but im just waiting for a reply. Thanks for your time and help, I appreciate it. bye

Well it certainly looks like it was worth the effort! I know what you mean about doing alot in 1 sitting and making mistakes, i know when my concentration wains ever so slightly im liable to go a bit too sloppy, isnt worth the risk in the longrun. Anyways, hope it works a treat on your trips. bye

hi rusty, really nice work! i too agree with you and your customer about the importance of the details. i figure its those details that show the intent of its maker, If its primarily meant to be a high quality item, the times going to be spent on those nice details. do you mind me asking how long the stitching took you? i fear with my stamina i could only manage 8 odd inch's at a time and then require a semi substantial break to recover Obviously though as it looks so good it was naturally time well spent! bye

thanks for the tip pete, ill keep me an eye out for it and give it a bash sometime soon. thanks again, bye

i havnt tried any of the lexol stuff yet, i'll get some and have a bash. thanks for the tip madmax22

hi, thanks for the kind words. I've found that ive become quite addicted to the stitching, though i think i need to build up a level of stamina with it. I'm going to start trying to stitch with the 25 size thread in thinner leather soon to see how that goes. One thing i am finding really hard is trying to keep the leather as light and creamy as possible. Everything i stick on darkens it or goes on a bit blotchy. I'll keep experimenting though with what i have at hand. with regard to the edge, on my next item i think i'm going to colour it creamy brown and see how that comes out. anyways, thanks again, hope your days go well!

hi, ive been lurking around these webpage’s for a fair while now, admiring the work and trying to amass some knowledge. Anywhos after simply only practising stitching these past few weeks i decided to make a simple round knife sheath. You've got to start somewhere right? Ive attached one image of the whole thing, one image of the front of the stitching and one from the rear. its made from 2mm water buffalo hide, hand sewn with 3 strand size 18 thread and edged with gum and acrylic die. Whilst im happy and proud of it, im not too fond of the blue. Im going to try and make something a little bit more complex next, maybe a wallet or cardholder with a flap. anyways, thanks for looking, hope you all have a nice day!