bruce johnson

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

The other two things to consider are punching surface and how sharp your punch is. You need a firm backing to punch against.I use a piece of LDPE cutting board on top of either an anvil or a stamping rock. You don't want any bounce or give in the surface. No punches come sharp enough out of the box. They need to be taken out to a fine edge, then stropped and polished. My personal drive punches are sharp enough to rock through the leather by hand. I have some of the wood handled end punches I use for fun too, and once I put that same edge on my drive punches they came to the party. Some people don't want that fine an edge for various reasons, but I think you should be able to slice leather with the edge on any of them.

Acids can etch them if the chrome is gone. Many thanks to Ray who referred me to EvapoRust/Metal Rescue. These are rust chelators (not converters like Naval Jelly) and remove the rust without harming the base metal. Almost safe enough to drink and minimnal warning labels. Most of the big name D-I-Y stores have one or the other, Harbor Freight, hardware stores, etc. I have used both brands and think they are probably very similar. You soak the stamps or whatever in the solution from a couple hours up to a day or so. It is room temperature sensitive, so the warmer the room the faster it works. (more on that later) The solution gets dark, but lasts a long time. Basically you use it until it doesn't work anymore. I strain it through a coffee filter back into the jug to keep the particles out. If you Google the brands you can see that two TV personalities endorse each brand. I called one and under condition of anonymity he shared a tip. He heats small parts in an aluminum pot and what takes 18 hours normally takes about 15 minutes. I tried it and same experience. You just have to get the solution warm. I go warm enough to stick a finger in for a second, but too hot to leave it there. Swirl the pan every couple minutes, fish the parts or stamps out with tongs and check them. If they need more time, drop them back in to stew. I have now done a bunch of stamps and parts, and don't think twice about dropping Jueschke stamp or a propriety threaded fastener in anymore. This stuff works and is safe.

We almost need to start a list of edge dressings for slicking and burnishing. Intended and labeled leather stuff off the top of my head are Gum Trag, Ron's edge dressing, QuikSlik, I believe Bee Natural has one, and diluted LCI Neutral Case..... Not leather labeled off the top of my head - dilute Elmers glue, Corn Huskers Lotion, KY, Corona (the veterinary salve, not the beer),Future floor wax... keep adding to it folks!

I found either that stamp or its brother. It is a Jeremiah Watt stamp, but like all the borders, not showing up on his website. I don't know if he has discontinued borders or I am jut not seeing them. It is listed in my 2 year old Weaver catalog as a "running border".

This came up not too long ago in another place, maybe one of the Facebook groups if it wasn't here.. Pretty sure it was found to be a stamp. My peabrain is leaning toward Hackbarth, but I am not home to check that. omebody may have made a roll too, but not finding it in a quick check of my McMillen catalog.

It is always a pleasure to see what you can do with the tools, Walter. They all look wonderful! I have made the decision that I am no longer taking orders for leather work, and now concentrating only on the tools. I have spent the last two days rearranging and organizing the tool shop. I have a few more shelves to move and I will be ready for work again.

Osborne calls it a push beveler. I have been chasing one around for a couple years and haven't really found it to have much use.

Shoe maker lip knife

Mike is correct, it is a channeler. They also make or made a variation with a loop type blade.

Sheridan Leather Outfitters

The oil tanned is 5 oz I like. Hairon gussets. Don't like them for one reason. The lay of the hair will be down on one side and up on the other. I have done them, but don't particularly like to. Piceing them looks off to me. Also, hair on is really soft so needs to be backed for some firmness, especially ate the bottom.