ContactCement

What about 1 lb or 2 lb brass hammers. Are they softer than the cheap overpriced import metal stamps ?

My 50 lb anvil works great. Ankle weights might work and they are cheap and heavy

50 lb cast iron anvil no longer sold at H F Tools seems to do fine when placed at the right height. Nice and quiet thump thump. Will probably duct tape white some cutting board to its surface for punching holes. I'm saving and using my sale priced $25 w00d r!ver black granite surface plate for its intended use sharpening items such as wood working chisels and leather tools. Just use black wet dry carborundum sandpaper for an instant whenstone.

$89 for a round maul is a bit much right now. The 1/4" small diameter stamps will destroy my home made hard maple woodworking maul turned on my wood lathe. No way. Will a brass hammer damage or mushroom the tops of the overpriced name brand imported 1/4" tooling stamps ? I also own a 2lb garland split head mallet that needs inserts which inserts would be best ?

Has anyone used this tapered hole punch with good results and is it for thread or for lace or both ? http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/3229-00.aspx

Are the leather stamps cheap soft non tempered metal ? I'm unsure of the base metal or metal hardness used under the plating on decorative stamps. I guess I'll use a 16 oz plastic faced mallet until I invest in the maul. The 1/4" small diameter will really tear up my homemade hard maple round mallet made for wood chisels with a larger striking area.

I'm getting started. For the price of more fragile granite slab (larger floral & religious stamps need a heavy hit) and a maul or mallet HF tools sells a 1 ton arbor press for $49.00 it seems to have enough ram travel for most 1/4" dia tools. Thick scrap 1" x 6" x 12" white plastic worked just ok however was very noisy on a bench or table. Thunder through the house walls lol. My 50 lb anvil works best with a brass hammer and is not portable. I may try to use a smooth weight plate when going to a park and picnic table in the summer.

I will be making a 2 wooden horse jaws for pressing larger flower stamps ect. One smooth & another with a hole for the stamp. As for stitching horse 4" x 16" 3/4" plywood a 2x4 spacer with two 1/8" strips of plywood glued to the 2x4 left a gap perfect for 1/8" thick leather jaw covers with enough room for 2 thickness of leather to be sewn. Ignore the author who said to use a large wing nut on a 1/2" bolt. It will cause extreme finger strain and pain. Just use 1/2" nuts and a 3/4" boxed end wrench. The jaws will close with 1/2 turn of the wrench approx. There is no need to buy a special press costing $599.00

Seated in a padded height adjustable standard computer chair the jaw horse height is perfect as is out of the box. I was able to roll right up close to the work area. Very impressive indeed. Jaw Horse. Great product. I tested on medium thickness cardboard really quick and applied very soft foot / jaw clamping pressure to secure. Then applied just enough to release the mechanism. No was no obvious damage to the cardboard tested. I will make a flat smooth wooden jaw with a beveled top edge and contact cement very thick leather pads to the jaws for extra protection. A knob for fine tuning softer clamping pressure might be added into the jaws if needed later. So far so good. A simple tutorial. 1. Unlocked padlock symbol. Slide the jaw until it contacts the item being clamped. 2. Next slide switch to the locked padlock symbol and apply enough foot pressure to secure the work safely. The jaw horse foot pedal requires a little more force than the origional foot pressure applied to release and unlock the jaws. ATTENTION....Applying total body weight and force on the foot pedal may result in being unable to unlock the jaws. For fun I tested a local store display with my total body weight and had to nearly jump on the foot pedal for it to finally unlock and release the jaws.