lwm803

I did these today as a test of my newly modified arbor press. I used Tandy 3D stamps directly under the ram of the press (no handle on the stamp). The press has a 1/4" thick aluminum plate but I had a 1" thick aluminum bar on top of that under the leather. I reckon these came out pretty sharp, though I could have used a little less pressure on the smaller pterodactyl (my favorite stamp)..

Yes, I know. Sorry for the sarcasm guys. This morning while reading the forums I ran across elitists type statements on a welding forum, a bicycle forum and then one of the discussions here. I just kind of let it get to me a bit, I'm well over it now. I feel like I have done fine over the years with "less" than what is considered by many to be the best. I have no doubt that the quality of my old Tandy tools exceeds my present skill level to use them. Besides, at this stage of my life I would not even be setting up to do leather work if I did not already own them. People were doing leather work before there were specialized tools, Even I made my first holster from an old boot top using little more than a pocket knife, a claw hammer and copper rivets. Wasn't all that pretty but kept that old H&R break top revolver out of my waistband.....LOL

Well, never mind. After reading this form for a few days I finally realize that my little collection of Tandy leather working tools are nothing more than junk and I stand no chance of doing satisfactory work with them. I reckon if internet forums had been around back when I was buying this box of junk I could have spent my time on a computer instead of seeking out a portable hobby. Seems the same everywhere you go, even though I have earned my living using tools of one kind or another for the last 63 years I now know that since my wrenches were never Snap On, my power tools were never Festool, my truck was never a 4 wheel drive diesel, my overalls were never Carhart, none of my guns are tactical, my pocket knife a lowly Case Trapper, and I never even owned a bicycle worth the price of a tire patch, that I never really stood a chance of accomplishing anything worth while.

Hello, I’m Larry from the Texas Hill Country. I retired 5 years ago and just about everything I do is for my own amusement these days. I do a bit of metal fabrication work in a sparsely equipped metal shop in my garage, as well as some woodworking in my woodshop which is better equipped than the garage. So, what does that have to do with leatherworking? A few weeks ago I was out in the woodshop doing a major clean-up and ran across an old toolbox that I used to carry on the road with me back when I was working out of town more than not. This box contained an odd collection of leather working tools, all from the Tandy store that used to be in Denton Texas back when I spent a lot of time working in that town. Every trip I would buy a few tools, maybe a kit or two, and occasionally a bit of leather or some hardware for projects not related to Tandy’s kits. I was getting fairly comfortable with leather working, even doing a bit of tooling, but in the end making chainmail armor proved to be a more easily portable hobby to occupy my motel time and help keep me out of trouble, so the leather tools have been all but neglected for several years now. I would occasionally dig them out to repair something or to take care of a small leather detail in an otherwise metal/wood project. I decided that I could likely get some use out of these tools if they were not always tucked away in that old toolbox on the top shelf so cleaned out an old office supply storage cabinet to keep them in and built myself a new stitching pony to replace the one that I “donated” to the motel staff one day when I was in too much of a hurry to remember that It was in the room at check out. That stitching pony turned out to be the subject of my first post on this forum so I figured it was time I wrote an introduction. I also built a tool rack for most of the wood handled tools and most of the rest are currently standing in an old chili can, kind of resembles a pencil cup. There have been occasions in the past couple of years when I thought about making something with leather but never got around to it because all the tools were packed away. It just seemed like too much trouble to dig out the tools. I do not even have a project in mind right now but I still wanted to get everything more accessible for the next time the notion strikes. Time will tell.

This discussion finally got me in gear to go ahead and modify the stitching pony that I built. I realized early on that I needed to widen the spacer block at the bottom of the clamp arms to make room for padded jaws. Based on suggestions in this thread I not only made the new block wider but also angled the sides to give the arms some negative camber, I also resurfaced the clamp jaws for even more camber. Of course these mods called for a longer clamp bolt and a wider spreader block, but I got'er done. I still need to pad the jaws when I run across some thin veg tan scraps.

That's a good point. I put mine together with screws only (no glue) in anticipation of future modifications. I had already decided that I need to make a thicker spacer block to compensate for the thickness of the leather padding that I will be adding for the jaws but had yet to consider the thickness of the project itself. Now I think I will make that block, not only thicker, but tapered a bit as well to add a bit of negative camber to the jaws. I still might add a hinge to one side if the "self holding" feature of this design proves to be more trouble than it is worth (requires the spreader block to open the jaws). The one Ryan built is very likely the better design.

I am new to the group and have been in the lurking/learning mode so this is my first post here. I have recently developed a renewed interest in leather working and being unable to locate my old Tandy lacing pony I decided to build my own based on Tandy's latest version. Never having actually seen one, I loosely copied the online pics and specs. I have yet to actually use it for anything and still need to cover the jaws with leather but it was the mention of a cam action clamping nut that inspired me to post what I used. It is a cam clamp from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. I was tempted to hinge one side of my clamp but decided to give this design a try, as it will be easy enough to add a hinge later if I do not like it as it is.