bruce johnson

Ferrule crimper, common as an honest politician. I seriously stopped taking a waiting list for them when the list hit 20. I get one every other year on average. There was at least one somewhat volume maker because I had or have seen several of the same design. There are shop made versions made from machinist vices. The jaws are channeled and drilled and with rounded receivers so when you crank it closed the ends crimp. I have had a few made with a pair of pipe flaring holders that are on guide that slide together. The holes have been machined with a tapering design to crimp the ends as they are slid together. I've seen pliers modified to crimp by hand too. I suspect that the major shops all had one but only needed one, they didn't need one at each work station. There just aren't that many showing up for sale. A few of us have approached different machinists but either they weren't interested or the price quotes were over the top. Greg Gomersall has a good one and I don't think he's had any takers on duplicating his. That's about the best version I've seen. I've attached some pictures of the pipe flaring tool version. Last quote I got to make to make a run of 20 was about $400 each with good pipe flaring clamps or $600 for machinist made clamps and tighter tolerances. There just isn't the market at those prices that I see.

Another factor is your stamp. They should taper up on the ends and not be squared off. That way you can float them in the cutline as Hags described and slide them along without the ends digging in or leaving chatter marks.

I never used anything but isopropyl rubbing alcohol for thinning dyes. It is dirt cheap and available at every corner drug store. When I was doing leather a bunch, I'd buy it by the gallon. I never saw a difference between the rubbing alcohol and higher percentages with my dye formulas.

Thank you Mike. I have tried to explain this to my wife and the handscribbled post-its were a nice thought. I am framing this and posting it over the sewing machines!

The crank splitter $500-750 as is with a decent blade and no breaks. The 3-in-1 trades hands for $250-400 as is with good blades and no breaks. Add a few hundred refurbished to each.

Probably not a fake - the handle and everything looks correct. Yes they made leather knives and I’ve had a few. They are usually nice knives!

You will have trouble pulling wallet parts through a pull splitter without stretching and deforming out of shape. Most people can pull a three inch stirrup leather to level it but that’s about is. The wider blades just get more places to work before stropping or resharpening

I am now restocked with these three piece rivet sets in #9 and #12 sizes for copper rivets. Each size has a burr setter, peener, and crowner for the head. They really finish off copper rivets smoothly and professionally. They are made by Richard Brooks in Canada. Price for each three piece set is $54.00 plus shipping. For more information on the rivet setters please check my website at https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather-tools-sale/rivet-setters/ thank you! - Bruce

Yes sir, that is correct also. The origin of the “belt” punches goes back to flat drive belts on machinery powered by line shafts. They were intended as a price point tool used by mechanics and users to punch holes for splicing belts. Easy to make on a lathe from round stock. The tapered clearance punches are forged and have more involved in production. It kind of gets me when people grind a inside tapered punch to make a half round scalloper. They tend to undercut because of the taper. A cheaper belt punch makes a much better scalloper.

The difference in use is that the #147 punches have a flattened handle and the #245 punches have a round handle. Most people find the flattened handle easier to twist out of a hole than the round handle. The clearance holes seem overall smoother on the 149s as well. It is no doubt easier to manufacture the 245s and that likely accounts for the 3x price difference between the two styles. Also note that the number sizing are not the same between the 147 and 245 punches once you get larger than the #6.

I send out 6 inch rulers with my logo and contact info with my new customer orders and every so often with repeat buyers. I also give them away at shows. There are now over 9000 rulers out there. Several years ago someone asked me why I don’t have stickers. I didn’t know and at that time didn’t realize the extent of “sticker culture”. I ordered them in small for cups and large for toolboxes and shop refrigerators. 5000 of each in circulation now. My suppliers and other leather friends send me stickers with orders and the refrigerator and shop door are pretty well adorned, as are my two Yeti cups.

Nicely done, I had a short visit with Rocky yesterday. I’ll be seeing him more over the next few days. Interesting guy and a world of experience

Here’s a link to a tutorial I did for the forum about 15 years ago. I have done a ton of rope borders. Eventually the Craftool stamps will bend up on the ends. I would go through 5-6 of them a year. Beveling really makes it pop. If you decide you like the rope border, I sell three sizes of rope stamps that have a lot of dimension and a bevel built in.

I would not rule out that these are tinsmithing tools. The one on the right looks like a beader to me.

The big thing to jump from hobby to business is to figure out what is your target market and how will you reach them? Your town or local area will likely not support a business but might support a decent hobby income stream. That just depends on what you make or want to make. The kind of things that sell off a good website or at a boutique or specialty shop wont sell at most craft fairs. Making custom or personalized items, stock items, or both? Pricing? You have to know your costs, and all of your costs. The leather is generally the cheapest thing in a product. Bob Brenner sells a book on pricing leather goods. You mentioned a sewing machine. Yes, yes and yes if you are looking to make money.. I started out handsewing and got pretty proficient and decently productive. Marked with a $5 Tandy overstitcher, two needles, awl, and most days - 6 SPI at an inch a minute. Pretty soon after they came out I bought a Tippmann Boss hand crank machine, later upgraded to an Adler 205 and eventually now we have two Ferdcos and a Singer cylinder arm. If you are competing with most products and looking for income, then you need to either put them out faster or accept you are working for pennies against their dollars, been there. The new guy starting out generally will not have the reputation and be able to command the price that pays for the time of handsewing. The customers that will seek that out and pay for it are not the new guy's customers generally. I just finished writing a series of articles in ShopTalk magazine about upgrading tools from the basics - what type of tools to upgrade and where to get them, my order of importance, and how to get them paid for. It is way too lengthy to write here and I'm not sure I'd even have the rights to do it since they have published it. I've received a LOT of positive feedback on it. Take classes and read. The internet is full of great information now along with a bit of real crap. There are two major magazines for leather crafting - Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal and ShopTalk!. Both I think are a real plus to subscribe to. Both of these magazines also sponsor leather trade shows. There are leather classes at shows and some classes in private shops. I used to take a lot of classes at shows when that was about the only source of information besides print. The hands-on and visual aspects help a lot in person vs on a screen. My wife took men's wallet and women's wallet classes at the Sheridan WY show a few years ago from Jerry Van Amburg. She walked out with two wallets and the skills to make them. She's made a bunch since then with exotic leathers or stamped patterns. If they are not gifts, they are $150-200 word of mouth. Same with a tote bag class last year that Aron Heizer taught. she came home with a workable pattern and skills and a bunch of tote bags have gone out the door too. She's having fun! These classes flatten the learning curve and get you to making things that sell.

For leather edges I like paraffin or a beeswax/paraffin mix For tools my progression is black to green to purple.

Rob, My favorite was a rein trimmer. They look like an overgrown edger. The toes are rounded and don't snag or catch in the wool. Nearly every old saddle harness maker and saddlemaker set had one. I've got several on hand. Towards the bottom of the page - https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather-tools-sale/knives-and-handled-cutting-tools-sale/

I am restocked on rosette or concho punches too, including some that are out of stock at other suppliers. These have had any burs on the edges removed and polished. I have handled punches in 1-1/2, 1-3/4, and 2 inch and press dies in 1-1/2 and 1-3/4 inch. Here is a link to some of the recent additions of leather tools for sale on my website - https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather-tools-sale/recently-added-tools/ Thanks, - Bruce

I am stocked with the larger bag punches that have been hard to find. I have them for sale in 1-3/4 inch and 2 inch sizes. These have been polished and sharpened. You can check them out along with other recent tool additions at https://brucejohnsonleather.com/leather-tools-sale/recently-added-tools/ Thanks! - Bruce

Congratulations, that was good reading! The ShopTalk article was really good also.

There are no standards and tree makers vary. Some of the factory tree makers mark their trees but not all. Often with a large carton marker on the back of the cantle or left rear bar. It is under the rawhide. some glued a business card to the bar and rawhided over that. To get to it, you'd either have to take off the jockey and rear rigging or the cantle back. The downside is unless it was like Sunny Felkins that marked a "Q" or business card usually the marking was seat size and cantle dimensions and not the maker. Gullet width gets thrown around a lot and i would defy 90% of the people selling to measure them correctly. A tape measure across the front of the swells is not very exact in a in finished saddle.

If it is not a 30 the only other Landis splitter I know of is the Model D.

$800 is an OK price. You will always find the guy who found one at a junk auction or flea market for $150 and the next guy paid $1000. Yeah, $800 is fair. If anyone was building the Landis 30 today, it would be a lot more. Here is the only thing I have ever seen online for the Landis 30 - https://www.bootmaker.com/Landis_Model_30_splitter.pdf Parts are not readily available new that I know of other than blades. Harris at Pilgrim Shoe was talking about getting some of the commonly broken parts for the American and Landis splitters cast up. He retired and I don't think it ever took off. That is the problem with parts - the things that are prone to breaking are usually already broken on the parts machines. Eli Schlabach in Illinois probably has the most parts.

If you bought either garment leather or upholstery leather expect a top finish. Get an airplane or go look at couches or new car seats. The leather is uniform in color and texture. Look at unfinished hides - some parts are grainy, some a smooth as a bowling lane. Different parts of a hide take dye differently and some areas on a dyed hide with have different textures . For the factory applications They need to utilize as much as they can and the uniform top finish lets them do that. That is only one factor. The underlying leather may be full grain, top grain, etc. and has the top layer still intact and theoretically stronger. Back leather may have a tight flesh and lower belly and flanks might be taggy so flesh may or may not mean much.. Its been mentioned above but it can also be a split that has been finished, the part planed away from the top grain to make a uniform thickness in that piece. The leftover split is finished and depending on tannage and hide location - might be OK, might be really loose and not very durable. Whether an grain intact leather or split is more appropriate all depends on the intended use of the leather and a cost point. Interestingly I had this conversation with an exotic leather supplier. Elephant hide is a nice leather and I have used quite a bit. There is the first generation leather that is top grain. The splits can have an embossed pattern applied and by most appearances appears to be top grain. It takes some trust in the supplier's experience to tell the difference between the top layer and a finished split. It may be still be sold as genuine elephant because it is, although the wear characteristics are going to be different. Same with any other finished leather.

I have seen these deals go both ways, but yes, there would be some suspicion. He's likely got a minimum of $200 to ship it anywhere, so that is making his skiver about $300. Scenario one - he needs it gone NOW and it is a distressed sale that's legit. I'd find out where it is and if at all possible - go see it, try it, and pick it up, shipping savings vs the fuel to get there. If it is really fair away, you buy it untested and sight unseen, hope it is legit, hope it ships without damage, and chance losing $500. Personally I'd make a short drive or pass. I've seen some shut down shop equipment that is pristine, and others that the pictures they sent were from three years old and when I get there I'm looking at a Petri dish of rust.