bruce johnson

Very nice find! I don't know who made it, but the matching numbers on the parts indicates it is pretty old. They may have been building several at one time and individually fitting the parts for each particular one, then the parts were pooled for finishing before assembly. The matching numbers were stamped on the individual parts so they would mate up when assembled. This was common in many tools and bench machines I have from the mid to late 1800s. Most used numbers but have seen letters and punched "dots" in different patterns as well. It looks like a pretty simple design and taking it down and cleaning/lubricating are probably about all you will need to do besides the blade. The milled feed roller looks great! Not much wear or damage to the grooves.

I've used harness, latigo, and vegtan. Some want them thinner like 7/8 and others want them heavy for more feel/signal. Some like them longer for that same reason others like them shorter for "faster" action. Patterns can range from straight to scalloped.

Use something the same profile as the hole so you don't widen it out. I have got a ton of #1s that have been converted to #4s by sharpening with something too big. I wrap wet dry over a small dowel, nail, etc. I strop on the edge of some firm leather with compound. I strop the top with some package twine that has been rubbed with compound. The biggest thing is to make sure you are not bumping into the opposite edge throughout the process.

Travis, Some leathers do better with the wooden strap cutters, and some wooden strap cutters are duds. Soft leathers strip out better for me with a single edge razor blade in a wooden strap cutter. Firmer leather like vegtan and latigo can go either way. With bias because I sell refurbished old tools, I'd not seriously consider a new Osborne or Craftool if I was buying a draw gauge tomorrow. I haven't had a recent Tandy one in th elast few years, but the newer CS Osborne draw gauges have a hollow back aluminum bar. The old ones have a solid steel full thickness bar. It is the difference between formerly selling to a quality standard and now meeting a price point.

Pilgrim Shoe would be my only guess. Progressive used a different skiving blade and whole different mechanism than the Landis, American, and Champion 3-on-1. Hopefully they stayed in line on the cutter blade.

#30 for tighter patterns and #35 on larger ones for me. I could do it all with the #30s though. I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night but I did get some #45s I had been wanting to play with.

All good advice, plus one more tip. When you are punching try to get a little "twist" as you squeeze and it normally will take less effort with the slicing action. It took a guy watching me work at it to show me the easier way.

who made the punch? It may be that the replacement tubes from Osborne will fit it. The guys there will tell you that they have not changed the threading on the replacments since the originals. That is what they say and I'll leave it at that. For the cost of a tube though, I would sure try a new replacement first. The problem with sharpening much of a chip out of the existing tube is you are shortening it. That changes the angle it meets the anvil and brings on another set of problems.

Every letter on every thing I have done was dyed with a Sharpie marker and black dyed edges are done with a jumbo Sharpie marker or refillable marker with black dye.

My top 10 Things that work for me to keep my tools sharp A good cutting surface Good solid stamping bench with the rock inlaid Comfortable stool to work from with good back support. Good Lighting Comfortable mauls in weights that allow everything from a light touch to a smasheroo Good ventilation Good tool organization system Tools adequate for the job , they don't all have to be topshelf Someone to keep my shop clean

Great Job Mike! The feedback has been great and I am looking forward to jumping in once this merry go round slows.

Evaporust won't hurt anything. To answer the last first. I sure would not remove the handle. That pin is through the tang. Easy to mess up the wood trying to get it out. You will say bad words when the wood splits. You aren't going to hurt it by cleaning it up with fine grit sand paper and work up to superfine, then buff for a good finish. The big thing is getting the rust neutralized in the pits if you don't work them out.

I wish I could help you out, but don't have any of that kind of scrap. The used Blanchard and older Dixon pricking irons rarely come available. Most are spoken for ahead of time with a shop retirement or closing. When they do come up, prices almost new cost. There have been some pretty good reviews on the Japanese made pricking irons here lately, and hopefully somebody has a link to them.

Not sure where you live, but consider adding on insulation, heat and AC, more windows for ventilation, and electricity. Consider the floor in the kit sheds too. Most are weak, not designed for pounding and working in. I built a 12x12 shop a couple years ago for working on tools. It is inside what most people would know as a machinery shed. I have some framing and construction experience so I built it myself. The floor is 1" plywood on pressure treated 2x6 floor joists, walls are all insulated and covered with paneling, ceiling joist are open inside and sheathed on top, just no felt or shingles needed. Four windows and locking exterior house type door, switched power outlets for ceiling shoplights, and 3 outlets on each wall. Stall mats for the entire floor for comfort, and a small window AC for creature comfort. The exterior walls are exterior siding panels and trimmed out. At the time a similar TuffShed was quoted at $3200 with 2 windows, slightly smaller kit shed from the DIYs was +/- $2400. Neither had insulation or covered interior walls. My deal came to $1300 total in materials and took me about 3 days by myself. Electrician was around $250 and put in a new sub for that part of the shop plus wired a 220 for the air compressor in the main part of the shop. You might price out a handyman sort of guy and see if you could do better for the same or not much more money.

My wife asked a few years ago what I was going to do with all these tools. She didn't see the same humor I did when I simply said "estate sale". and that's how it started....

Tom, I can't claim this as an original thought. I had an old guy who showed me this about 15 years ago. He was in the leather business for almost 70 years or so and I learned a lot sitting in his garage. He traded in tools and machines later on in life. I was heading home one day to reline skirts, saw his door was up, and stopped in to BS. He was good about "Did I ever show you how to....." and then he'd show me. Right after that, he'd sell me the tool to do it with. I called him after I did the first one, and asked him why he didn't show me that about 5 relinings ago. He said it sort of came up that day, and he figured a guy always appreciated things more once he'd done them the hard way a few times anyway.

Not a clue

Looks great Bob! There's a lot I like about it.

Looking great again, Bret!

The only thing I can add is that Terry Nawrot ("tnawrot2") used to rep for saddle companies and I believe TexTan was one of his lines. Unfortunately Terry passed away a few months ago. This is a cut and paste of Terry's reply from another thread asking about a TexTan Hereford saddle - "The numbers you posted are of great help, they tell the whole story. The first set of numbers is the model number, the second set is the month and year it was made, and the last set is the serial number."

I'd like to see a picture, - bruce@brucejohnsonleather.com Thanks!

There are two Stohlman books that are pretty comprehensive and relevant. The leather tools and care book is really good. There is another on stamping tools that is a good one also.

It sounds like it might be an Akins (Atkins, Adkins, something like that anyway) splitter. Very old , Got a picture?

Not to hijack or redirect the thread, but I have used several gallons of Renia's All Purpose Cement. Just because it doesn't have toluene or MEK, don't put safety protocol too far out of mind. It has xylene and other juju to mess you up if you don't respect it. It has way more smell than the old Barge or any other cement I have used. It also works better than any of them ever did for me. I mostly use it under a covered roof outside, masked up if no breeze. Inside- everything is open and I am always masked up. I was not this strict with the other cements, but sure am with this now. It dries a little faster, so the continuing off-gassing doesn't seem to be as long as some of the others though.

Shoe burnisher, shoe burnisher, skiving knife, circular welt cutter/knife used for shoe work