bruce johnson

The concept is not exactly new but this tooling is. It looks like it is a handy size. Several years ago there was an oscillating handpiece sold with a rotary shaft tool. I can't remember the name but had one. Later JJ Maxwell sold one similar. They worked off the oscillating action and at least the one I had came with a chuck big enough most regular stamps could fit with no modification. Some people use the GraverMax for silver engraving and modified tools to fit that handpiece. Barry King offered to turn down the shanks of his stamps to fit in that handpiece and may still do that on request. I am not going to throw out the baby with bathwater on any of these. Several years ago I had dislocated my thumb (done it a few times) and was facing a bunch of orders with hard deadlines. Swivel knives and a lot of stamping hits were a problem. I borrowed a swivel tip cutter and gripped it with a fist to cut lines. I had the oscillating handpiece on the rotary shaft tool and that ran the walking stamps like bevelers and shaders. It saved a lot of hits. There is a definite place for these type tools, I passed mine on to someone with some physical issues to use when I healed. If this had been 19 years ago, Id have ordered this last Thursday.

Nate, It took me a while to figure out what this was all about too. I had a few people ask me if had stitching pins at the Prescott show. After I showed the second person the awl blades they explained to me what they were looking for. They are for prepunched or lasered holes on pattern cut pieces. You and I are likely old school - wheel the marks and diamond awl holes or a machine. Glue, bulldogs, and get to stitching - drop the bulldogs in the bucket as you come to them. General question for the people using these. Are you gluing your pieces too? Clamping them in some version of a stitching horse or stitching pony to hold them for sewing?

King's party is outside their store/shop and the Don King Museum downtown. Realistically no visit to Sheridan is complete without visiting the Don King Museum. Saddles, leatherwork, tools, and a lot more that Don King collected or are donated. One highlight for a lot of people is the Stohlman display. Al and Ann Stohlman's original workbench is there along with many of their tools and the original pages, sketches, and leatherwork from the books. Peter Main put it all together and did a wonderful job. You can walk through the museum during the party but for me, I'd allow a couple hours. If you can get there a day or two before the show it's is pretty easy to spend 3-4 hours in there. I spend a few hours at least now and I've been there a bunch. I still see things I hadn't noticed before. I have had two people call me and one email based on this thread. They wanted to know what would be the ideal first time visit to this show. First off, Sheridan is the biggest leather show of them all. it takes time to get the full experience. Getting there - There is a puddle jumper flight into Sheridan but Billings is a couple hours probably and closest major airport. One year Rundi and I flew into Rapid City (three hours or a bit more) and those flights were cheaper at the time. The difference for both tickets paid for the week's rental car vs just the flight into Billings. Not much taxi service in Sheridan but about every hotel is full of leather workers and can give you a ride if needed. Talk to everyone you meet and you'll find that out. King's Party/Don King Museum - see above Classes - start on Tuesday usually and that schedule is out now. There are bunches of classes taught by good instructors. All the classes are at the college now. Used to be some were at the host hotel, some at the college. Most every class you will do a complete project and the instructors provide the patterns to take home to make more. Materials are provided and Leather Machine Company provides sewing machines in each classroom for projects that need to be sewn. My wife does a one or two classes at every show and she's signed up for a Tuesday class with Ryan King on money clip wallets. Last year at Sheridan she did an alligator wallet class with Broderick Vaughn. They were supposed to make a men's or women's wallet from scratch in the two day class. They all got their first wallets done the first day and he provided materials to make another wallet the next day. She made a men's and women's both there and quite few since. Trade Show - tools, leather, machines, pattern packs, hardware. Most all of the major and minor players in the leather industry are there. It is busy and especially opening morning on Friday is crazy busy. This is a new location starting last year for the trade show. They had a couple months notice that the host hotel was no longer available and pulled it together at the new location. It is spread out through the hallways and atrium of the main campus building and takes a little more walking. The layout may be changing up some this year. World Leather Debut is at the campus too - literally the world. There are entries in this judged contest of leather work from around the world in several categories. Mind blowing to see what people can do with leather. Hour or two at least. Other stuff in the area - Little Big Horn is a close enough drive, and if you fly into Billings you drive right by there. Black Hills and Mt Rushmore are a few hours away. One of our early trips we flew into Billings the weekend before and went west. We dropped down into Yellowstone and Teton NP for a few days, then drove over to Sheridan for the show. It was a nice trip. Other trips we have flown into Billings and gone to the Black Hills for a couple days. Now we have to drive with the trailer and tools for the show and take a scenic route. Any other questions - please ask!

There are a few commercial edge treatments that do OK on chrome tan - Martin's Mix and the one Sara Hagel sells. My wife uses Sara's version. I used this procedure. I applied a thin coat of acrylic finish (LeatherSheen, SuperSheen, or Mop-N-Glo). Let it dry and apply another light coat and dry. Then run some fine sandpaper over the edge until smooth. If I edge painted, then this made a nice base. If I wanted a more natural edge then I used wax (you pick - beeswax, paraffin, or Yankee wax). You can rub-rag the wax or heat it with an edge iron.

The Kings party is for everyone. Starts about 5:00 on Thursday. Food, soft drinks, and hosted bar. It’s a really good time to meet and mingle. Cavalry band and lots of fun. One year we decided not to go. Sitting here at home on Thursday afternoon my wife said “if we were in Sheridan we’d be getting ready to go to Kings right now”. Yep, we have gone every year since. Those classes are all good. One of our friends just took the portrait class at Prescott and everyone likes the swivel knife class. Lea is a great artist and that should be a good one too. Trade show is Friday from 9-6, Saturday 9-5, and Sunday until about 1:00. It’ll be a tight schedule for you but it should light a fire to come back again!

I’ve gone several times as an attendee, bunch of classes, and now a vendor. . Quick notes - it’s at the college and all in one location. No close by motels so have a way to travel. That town fills up so make room reservations now if you don’t have them. Kings Saddlery welcome party Thursday night is a must attend event. They are great hosts! The trade show is in a new location starting last year and still a learning curve to lay it out to accommodate vendors AND make it more convenient for attendees. Sounds like you are already signed up for classes- great (which ones?). Make sure you bring what the instructor has on the list at a minimum. Might bring others that are similar also. Trade show - prepare to be blown away. New tools, vintage tools, leather of all kinds, machines, pattern packs…..it’s busy. Don’t sweat the first day morning crowds. If you see a one-of and want it then buy it now. May not be there when you come back. Want to compare different things like mauls or swivel knives? Those sellers usually are well stocked and you can come back. Check out the World Leather Debut. Awesome contest and some truly world class pieces. Mind blowing. Stop by my booth! Stickers, free rulers, and candy available besides tools! Any questions? - fire away

I wrote a series of articles for ShopTalk magazine about upgrading from basic tools - which tools and what order to do it in, and some recommendations without many if any specific maker recommendations. If you subscribe they may be able to hook you up with back issues or the on-line subscription might link to them. I can't copy it here because of copyright issues. I've had wonderful feedback from experienced makers and several "thank you's" from newer people on that series. Sticker shock is kind of relative and I get that. People who know my background understand where I've been at times. It is all a progression and nobody has the same finances, expectation, or needs as any other leather maker. I'm at a trade show right now. Barry King is here, Robert Beard is here, Clay Miller is here, Horse Shoe Brand Tools, David Mabe is here, Leather Wrangler is here, we are here...all selling new stamps, mauls, and swivel knives at different price points. Some are more expensive than others. I am set up and selling general tools plus new stamps from Wayne Jueschke, new stamps from Richard Brooks, older McMillen, Gore and CLT stamps, Don King stamps, and slew of Craftools. I've got stamps in a big price range. We sold over 200 Craftool stamps today at $5 each. I sold a few $185 flower centers, and a lot in between. I had a few people just want to hold a Don King stamp and look at it. They are all important to me and Rundi and I are just as happy for the customers who got their Craftools as we are the ones who got their Jueschkes and the ones who may buy a Don King before the show ends. Ive said it before but these are our people and this is our tribe.

I am at the Prescott leather show and both of them are teaching here. If you want to knock two bucket list things at once, they will both probably be teaching at the Sheridan WY show in May. The class schedule should be out in the next couple weeks. Both of these shows are really fun and good classes, comraderie, world class leatherwork contest, lots to see and a big trade show.

I may be wrong about this one but most of these outside instructor classes at Tandy stores are during times the store is normally closed to avoid interruptions. The ones I've attended may have a store manager or employee present to "host" the event but may not be able to access the system to make sales. These are not necessarily "Tandy sanctioned classes" to specifically sell current Tandy tools. I have sold Jim discontinued Craftool stamps he has used for some of his classes. He has made some of these available for students to use or buy. I don't know what this class is or the specific tools recommended. As far as bringing your own tools, yes that is pretty standard for most classes. Bringing your stamping surface? yeah, pretty much a requirement at most leather classes. I'm at the Prescott leather show right now, and everybody taking a class is packing their stamping surface. Usually a square foot piece of marble or granite with a black rubber punching surface glued on the backside. My wife took a class here Wednesday and has one like most people - marble stamping surface and a black sole material back with a leather wrapped edge and handle. Let's face it - stamping on an 1-1/2 marble on folding banquet table is not optimum, but the first project is not the end goal - learning the techniques to go home and apply them is.

LCI closed a while back about the same time this thread came up. MSDS sheets might be available from an old reseller.

Here is a "be careful" word of warning. Those Palosanto French edgers are very sharp (good thing), they can also very be very brittle (not always a good thing). I have had several through here, some bought sets and after the second or third broken one they decided to bail on the rest. Some sent me the broken ones to try to fix. I don't generally do that for most stuff I haven't sold. A couple broken ones were dropped. Most tools survive a fall, but granted not all do no matter who made them. The most common way these broke was in use. They don't seem to readjust angles in mid stream all that well. The edges are thin enough they want to follow the plane they are in. A little mild prying action from trying to do a "scoop skive" or changing the angle because "Oh crap, I'm getting a little deep" and they can snap a chunk out of the blade. I have done that personally testing some as well. t I haven't tried the drop test because I believe they folks who sent the rest to me. Make friends with these tools.

Here's my experience. I don't seek out craft tool stamps to resell, but still over the course of the year in buying sets and estates we end up with about 800-1000 of them. I used to list some on my website but it was not worth the time and effort to break them out even in the small sets for what they returned. Even in a small set someone would just want some one would just want one stamp and ask that we break the sets. It wasn't worth it for a five dollar tool, and then kick about the shipping costs. There are a few rare and collectible craft tool stamps, but not many. Jim Linnell usually buys those that we have. Otherwise it can be a tedious experience to catalog, take pictures, deal with buyers and shipping. We take them to the shows and sell them on the bargain table for five dollars each/your choice no matter how they are marked. I used to charge seven dollars for the prefix stamps and five dollars for the rest. Literally my wife or I spent half the time explaining to people the difference and very few cared. The people that do know and care are happy to sort through the cans and find them. We give a lot of stamps to kids. Makers Leather Supply gives out kids leather project kits for free, and those kids come over and pick out four or five stamps from us for free, and maybe a mallet if we have them. Between the Prescott and Sheridan shows we usually move about half the stamps we get. Usually at one or the other of the shows there is someone looking for tools for kids groups, rehab, or veterans groups and we donate whatever is left over.

Personally I would run from the knife. If I got it in a set of tools, I would drop it in the garbage again without a second thought. The deep pitting in that knife is at least halfway through and the rugged edge tells me everything I need to know that it will never restore to be usable and a wasted effort. Sorry to bust your bubble but that's how I see it. There are too many knives in way better condition that would be more worthwhile than this one.

Will, Here is my take. The Tippmann Boss is made in Fort Wayne Indiana. I am sure not all the parts on any of these are all totally made United States, but all three are ordered in the United States and should have access to parts if needed. I had one of the old original cast iron Bosses, and it paid me back many times over. They were always there with parts and service for anything I needed. When I sold it I had it shipped to them for refurbishing and they shipped it on to the new buyer with a full as new warranty. I'm not sure if they still do that. I have helped a few people set up the aluminum body ones. One just would not sew consistently, the others were okay. Tippmann at that time was good about replacing them but that has been a few years ago. Word-of-mouth has been okay on the Weaver Cub. The Cowboy Outlaw looks to be a good machine and one guy I've talked with likes his a lot. Toledo has a good reputation for service and advice for years, and if I was looking I wouldn't hesitate to call them first.

You are sure welcome, anytime. The podcast with Steve Van Plew was a blast to do, thanks!

You are not that far away but I'm picking one up at the Prescott show for my wife in a few weeks. I'll keep you mind because I get people asking me for machines or advice but I don't deal in them.

The ruby blades are sharp and the advantage was they never needed sharpening, only stropping. True enough but they were very brittle and prone to chipping very easily which then made them fairly useless when that happened. Doesn't take much to do that - just tapping against the stamp rock or hitting another tool can do it. Tandy had a program to return the blade for $1 or something and they would repair or replace. There have been some really carvers who swear by them and probably more that swore at them. The people that like them take care of them - capped blades and a cradle or woolskin patch to lay them when not using. Once the edge is the least bit dinged - then they drag and chatter like any other crappy blade. Same goes for ceramic blades - good ones are good, bad ones are not. Both require special sharpening equipment and skills to clean up an edge. I've had some good ones through here and they are good, the rest unpack right into the trash. They never show up on my website because there are standing orders for rubies with perfect edges. Whether you choose to call them a gimmick or not? Your call. Tandy realized 50-60 years ago there were people who didn't know how or care to sharpen and maintain tools. The company was looking for something that came with a sharp edge that needed less maintenance at a price point. Ruby blades didn't work out for everyone as expected is my take on it.

Tim Purdy took over Harper and moved it from Las Vegas to Boise several years ago. Harper became Steel Stamps Inc.

Steel Stamps Inc - Tim Purdy is a great guy to do business with and extreme quality - https://www.steelstampsinc.com/

Insurance is a necessary part of business. There is just too much to lose no matter what your level of income or business size is as the original poster pointed out. For my example - I started with a new carrier and program two years ago when we found out that our then homeowner's policy was only going to continue replacement coverage on our 1200 square foot shop for $20K. That was their new limit on structures not attached to the house. Prior to that I only had a business liability policy (pretty cheap). Realistically I average 1-2 visitors a month to the shop, that is a minimal risk but still present. The new business insurance package has $200K replacement on the building. The inventory and equipment value coverage has a cap but fairly good and good liability coverage too. I opted for cyber-insurance that covers cyber-terrorism, website failure, business interruption, etc. In return I have to do secure computer backups at least weekly, have licensed fire extinguisher annual service, and a few other hoops that are mostly just common sense. Exclusions are no welding (don't anyway), no equipment loaning, and no employees. I had a guy helping me a few days a week as needed and had to let him go. Otherwise - good piece of mind for the cost. We also just switched to a LLC designation which was fairly pain free.

Sorry to hear about Walter. We had some good email conversations. Funny Walter story - one of the first packages I sent went Express MaiL instead of Priority Mail. Not much more money, better tracking, and insurance. It arrived on Saturday. The postal service saw Express and figured Walter would want it right away. He woke Walter up about 6:00 am with vigorous knocking on the door. Walter had been out until about 2:00 am. Walter told me next time Priority Mail would be just fine.

Here’s the quick tutorials I did several ago for angled basket stamping. Still pinned at the top of that forum section but the pictures seem out of order. May have been because of the meltdown the forum had sometime back then.

It all looks great. The only critique I’d have is the orientation of the basket stamping. Running slightly downhill to the left. Early on one of the best stampers I know gave me advice to make my basket stamping rows come out parallel with the edge top and bottom. There is a tutorial somewhere on the forum here I did several years ago how to set and maintain that angle.

Here’s my experience with it. I had one sent to try. I’d let my wife use it on daily use knives but I wouldn’t use it personally on my good ones. It’s pretty simple to use and fairly fast. My biggest complaint is the single grit and the side to get the burr corrected straightens the bur like butchers steel, doesn’t really remove the bur. Ok for kitchen use, not for finer durable edges. Worth the cost? Not for me and my needs. If I didnt have machines to do it and I sucked at any sharpening on stones then yes it works better than most “one size fits all” sharpeners.

These splitters were designed for dense stiff shoe sole leather. They will do vegtan and stiffer latigo well. Much softer and the leather can wad up against the blade and not split evenly