jcuk

Nor would i, never seen them cost much even over here, that's English clams have seen some rather expensive French clams. Pretty sure you could make your own. https://www.abbeyengland.com/saddlers-clams-best-7357.html £64..24 All the best JCUK

Nope most i have paid for an awl is around a tenner.

Fantastic work there thanks for posting. JCUK

Agreed to maybe there are more leatherworkers, so maybe not enough old tools to go around its just why can't we make these things closer to home keep our work force employed and i arm not just talking about leather tools either, we all got caught with our pants downs where PPE was concerned, it has to give everybody a kick up the rear end that we need to start manufacture more things closer to home again and not rely on others doing it for us. Agreed post has been somewhat highjacked, my awl blades and hafts got from Abbey England nothing fancy about blades or haft tend to abuse the haft so would not pay a high price for a exotic wood haft had them 20+ years still going strong maybe a little shorter now. JCUK

Have a look at this site they have a lot more than i have linked. https://www.pittards.com/shop/shop-leather/hides/saddlery Hope this helps JCUK

Have a look here, i know you are the-other side of the pond but its a option https://www.pittards.com/shop/shop-leather/skins/camo https://www.aacrack.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=CAMO Hope this helps JCUK

Exactly that's why Dixons and others went out of business built to last a life time and some. When saddlers retired they sold their tools on to the new apprentice or someone else that may have needed them and so on again after they retired, i have some tools over a hundred years old still work as well as the day they were made me thinks. Many moons ago when i left school my first job was in a traditional iron mongers they sold good quality tools, knives, kitchen knives, scissors even cut that razors. I can remember the makes too if you want. Even to this day day i still like to go into traditional iron mongers and sadly a lot of those tools makers have gone replaced by makers of less quality tools but perfectly functional but not built to last also some of the better makers of days gone by are guilty of this maybe that's why they have survived and others didn't. We live in a throw away world, if there are old tools that can still do the job why not use them instead buying new ones which are manufactured using fossil fuels and sent thousands of miles around the planet. JCUK

Tried a search too could only come with the same pics you have its a lovely piece of kit hope you can source one. JCUK

Sorry can't resist yes one that has been sheared JCUK

Have spoke to Abbey they said they have tried for five years to get tools made in the UK sadly could not find anyone hopefully in future they will think again, its all about cost i think but because they have saved a few firms here such as Equus, with others Sedgewicks to name a couple, a lot of saddlers may have struggled to get supplies they would need from inside the UK might bite the bullet and may have to eat some humble pie still undecided on that one. Wow great knowledge on Blanchard no wonder we wanted out can't even agree on measurements lol ! JCUK P.S. Looks like i jumped the gun sorry Mich that's what a glass wine or three can do to you

No worries we are all here to learn and help JCUK

That the thing you will be better off using left and right handed irons of the same make so they match up the same each side of your work looked into Blanchard hellish expensive for the four irons i would need especially as this might just turn out to be a one off job and i have done without them this long. Think the older style irons on Abbeys site are also made by ex Dixons workers can't be sure. JCUK

Glad to her that but its not just the steel with me, i would like to know how ethical they are in treating their work force and environment in the production of said products and other products in general, how they can under cut companies here by maybe paying there workforce peanuts in doing so putting pressure on good old companies else where in the world, we have seen one good tool maker go out of business trying to compete with cheaper imports towards the end the tools being made were not as good as the older tools that were made, maybe because they were cutting costs trying to compete, sadly think it maybe happening to a good tool companies across the pond hopefully i am wrong about this but it does seem there have been some issues with the quality of their newer tools. I for one have first hand knowledge of this. Just another big issue with me about things coming out of there is the thing that has been unleashed upon the world they are not telling the truth about that in my opinion - more to it than meets the eye on that one. And yes i know this is a leather forum. JCUK

Have thought about asking Barnsley about that, 6 or 7 SPI, yes i know some of the people who were at Dixons are making some tools but not sure how or where to contact them. Thanks again JCUK Stitches Per Inch we still work in old money over here or some of us do, i can use the metric system but was taught to work in the imperial method and prefer it, oddly though we use mm to measure the weight of the leather. By the way nice work. Hope this helps JCUK

Thanks for that https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feed https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Modern-Hide-care sorry had to try again JCUK

Whats wrong with the old standard https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feedhttps://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feed Hope this helps JCUK

Cheers yes have seen them but not in SPI i need JCUK

I had a Osborne round knife which i brought about 25 years ago handle got damaged asked someone if they could fix it for me, they made it worse so i contacted H Webber & Sons where got from to see if they could source another handle for me they told that Osborne tools were guaranteed for life so send it back they will send me another one - fantastic customer service even though the damage was my fault trusting someone else to repair it. Anyway the replacement knife was no where as good as the old one, will not hold a edge very long have to kept sharpening it, I did not have that problem with the old one. Shame really liked the old knife. JCUK

Nice work that. I do the same always on the look out for old tools, but have to admit would not want a awl with a nice expensive haft/handle was taught to use the handle to push the needle through if its not playing ball, but most of my work is with heavier leather 3/4mm plus sometimes two/three layers i mainly only use two awls both handles are pitted with needle holes. On Vegez Blanchard at least they are still making tools along with George Barnsley in the Uk although Barnsley tools are not as pretty to look at sure they will do the job. I need to get some portmanteau pricking irons ask one of my suppliers where there new line of pricking irons are made sadly they told me they had tried for five years to get tools made closer to home to no avail so they are made in the far east, now may have to bite the bullet and get them, but to give the company some credit they have saved many other companies attached to the saddlery/leather working industry in the UK. Again nice work. JCUK

I use curved scissors to cut my thread find it gets you a tiny bit closer to the work, then i use my awl to poke the trimmed thread back into the stitch marks works ok i work with linen thread 99% of the time depends on what i working on for belts and things like that i go back 2 and a half stitches, 3 and a half for my main work which is horse tack making and repairing. Also do not piece the thread either never have in 25 plus years. Hope this helps JCUK

Another very good reason to source leather closer to home may stop this from happening to other tanneries. https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/90986-tasman-tannery-closing/?tab=comments#comment-623818 Hope this helps JCUK

This may help around the 3 minute mark, I don't use this method myself just hand eye co-ordination have to confess i do get it wrong at times if my mind not on it. The other thing is make sure you strike the punch hard and square, that's goes with all punching too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMfsEmcn14w Hope this helps JCUK

I have had the misfortune to do some repairs to horse tack made from Indian leather and leather from countries nearby awful stuff the smell is horrible i will leave it to your imagination as to what the hides may have been tanned in not nice at all, this was when i was working in the Middle East so a lot of my repairs were made from that leather so had no choice, but the work was repaired with good English tanned leather which i had imported kind of a waste i use to think, even if they gave me Indian tanned hides for free i would have refused them and if that's all i had to work with today i would stop tomorrow. So if it was me i would source good leather closer to home. Hope this helps JCUK

Love the banter between the English and the sweaties so miss the home internationals and yes have many Scottish friends its all in good fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yw0bLHTOb0 https://genius.com/Andy-stewart-donald-wheres-your-troosers-lyrics We also have older houses. JCUK

Oh i was lead to believe it was The Sex Pistols or at least Punk Rock how wrong were they or maybe they just lied. JCUK