Mudruck

Picked up a head knife on the net that was marked as an unmarked blade. Came in looking like this. Some slight pitting on the blade, nothing really bad. Did a little polishing and cleaning up and it now looks like. Although the marking stamp is hardly there at all, I'm fairly sure that it is a Newark marked CS. You can make out Co. on the right and just barely make out Newark NJ along the bottom of the round stamp.

Thank you!

Was shopping with the wife at the local thrift store and I see this laying out of the way on the floor. The tools appear to all be there. Total of 11 Craftool USA marked stamps, an older swivel knife with the protective coating still on the blade. Lacking punch, old style edger and a modeling tool/stylus. Older style rawhide mallet. A metal can that once held Neatlac, but now holds a solid mass of stuff. The manual that came with the kit. There is also a little strop and piece of rouge in a bag and the parts of the leather projects that came with the kit. All in all, not a bad find for $5.

Thanks for the template! That is going to make making those dang little holes line up when I do work like that.

Thanks a lot! That is exactly what I needed. Actually I didn't spend anything on them at all. Someone gave them to me as a gift and I figure if I can't use them for what I need, I can hopefully sell them off maybe... somewhere... hopefully. lol

Looking for some information on these machines. I have no clue about use, value or if they could even be used for leatherwork at all. The first is a Singer marked 52-60. This thing has 10 needles! They look to be pretty fine and must be used with a fairly light thread. Close up of the model label. The next is a machine that is much heavier in weight than the SInger. It is marked Metropolitan. This machine only has 6 needles. Markings of the end plate for the one marked Metropolitan. Any information on these machines would be greatly appreciated. -Mudruck

Yup, then we would be looking at $20/sqft

Yikes! At that price, that better be some REALLY nice leather. For some reason, I have my doubts that it would be HO A grade. Lately it seems that it would more than likely be a B grade or less that they are selling and hoping the HO name on it will get them that price.

You can get them from Tandy. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/site-search-results.aspx?sectionpath=3&processor=content&p_keyword=rapid+rivet

Doing an axe sheath for a firemans belt and looking to make the sheath swivel. Anyone have any ideas on a good, sturdy way to allow the sheath to swivel on the belt. The axe is a 6lb firemans axe so the swivel needs to be able to support that weight.

This is what I have moved to when I sharpen. With 2000 and 3000 grit wet dry on my slab, I can get a nice sharp edge and do touch ups if I need to on a blade.

Awesome looking stitching. I have tried using a backer when stitching and it just doesnt work for me either. You only jab yourself once or twice before you learn to be very, very careful about pushing the awl through with your finger behind it.

Thanks Claire! I will have to check it out! I know what you mean ramrod, I have purchased tools from all over the US and you get the ones that were part of an old saddle shop or something like that and you pretty much know that tool had been in the same place for a long, long time and now it is on your bench still working, but somewhere completely different.

More of how our society has moved into the throwaway society. Tools like these were meant to last a long time and the owners knew that even after they broke or wore out, there could still possibly be a use for them in some other way. My Grandfather was great at this, you would go through his tools and there would be a screwdriver that the tip was worn out and had been converted into and awl or something else useful. A broken file was just the right size for touching up sparkplug tips. a broken sledgehammer head becamce a mini anvil. One thing that always amazed me is that he had this large wooden box with a mix of all of the nails and bottles of nuts and bolts he had pulled from things that had worn out and would just reuse them in something else down the road. I once asked him why he would go through the trouble of carefully pulling the nails out of an old bookcase when he could just go down and buy new nails for a couple bucks. His answer was 'Why would I go waste money buying new nails when I have perfectly good nails right here?' I think it is pretty cool to look at how the antique tools have held, or even increased, in value. Looking at the old catalogs, you see tools that originally sold for what we consider very little money and are worth a lot more now. I wonder if the makers even would have had any idea that over 100 years later that the tool that they made that day would be one that was still in use and still held value and that people wanted a lot of times over the modern made version.

Thanks for the info Bruce. Even though I may not be able to narrow it down all that much, it is still pretty cool working with leather tools that are 100+ years old and still doing what they were made to do way back when. Kind of makes ya wonder what projects the things were being used on around the turn of the century and today they are working on a belt for a firefighter.

Now that I have the vintage tools bug, I'm wondering if there is a way to find out a rough date the tools were made. I have an HF Osborne round knife that would be 1905 or earlier and a Rose knife that would be WWI or before. I would like to narrow down the dates, if that is possible. Anyone know how to narrow it down even more?

Ahhh yea! Now Im going to have to try that just to see how it looks!

Thank you very much! That will work great. Going to be a heck of a wide rope stamp pattern with the size of the stamp hehe.

In a batch of stamps I purchased a while back, I received a large (about 1") 'S' rope stamp. Does anyone have some examples of how to stamp out the rope pattern with this type of stamp? I have looked around and really haven't found much in how the stamping should line up to make the thing look correct. Thanks

Yup, after doing something similar once, I now get made fun of for checking and rechecking and rechecking and rechecking the placement of the lettering on a belt before tracing it out when I do a belt with a design or lettering.

Ive never had much luck with the Tandy knives. They seem to dull quickly and needed a good sharpening right off the bat. I would recommend getting rid of the tandy knife on eBay and investing in a better quality knife. I know Bruce Johnson sells some really nice ones that would go through leather like butter and for what they are, the price is very decent.

Wow, that is for sure some soft metal if the shaft bent like that. Good to know to steer far away from these 'stainless steel' junk tools. Thanks for the update Slick.

For an overstitch wheel, that one sure is purdy Bruce.

Gorgeous tools! I imagine with a little work, you can get the edgers cutting just fine.

Looks great!