St8LineGunsmith

I totally agree there are several methods to making stitching holes in leather my most used stitching tools are wing dividers an overstitch wheel a groover( when I use a groove) small harness needles and thread and sinews. I also use a drill press with a round awl blade for punching holsters and scabbards with with thick welts but I will also use a dimond awl blade to make the 45 degree diamond hole for uniformity of the stitching more than anything. It really depends on the thickness of leather you are stitching together whether you should choose to or not to make a stitching groove. you certainly would not want to make a groove in a billfold because the groove would likely nearly cut all the way through the leather making stitch grooves is more appropriate for thick leathers like 8 oz and on up for items like holsters knife sheathes and saddlery and tack, ect.

looks like you have a couple of small pieces of veg tann and the largest piece looks like it might be Latigo veg tan but it is kind of hard to tell for sure due to the fuzzy picture

LOL Ya that is the same swivel knife I use I actually got mine for 20 dollars delivered to the door from Amazon,com acyually another good place to find a good buy on leathercraft tools... at least that is for here here in the USA. The new pro swivel knifes are actually very nice knifes IMO and the pro sheridan stamps are very good but way overpriced in comparison to the pro sheridan tools SLC has for sale Just sayin I am saving my money for a tangleboss swivel knife from tanglefoot traders. I think that swivel knife is the most innovated leather carving tools to evolve in the last many years it is a bit on the pricey side however I can see how it would improve my carving and cuts at least by two fold

wow that is quite a jump in cost I do agree that the Japanese tools are higher quality tools for just a little more than the tandy tools the pro sheridan stamps from SLC are stainless from japan with a gunmetal finish and are really nice which I can get from 15.00 to 19.00 a piece which I try to buy at least one stamp per month and any time I need awls, edge bevelers gouges and tools of that sort I always try to purchase CS osborne tool I completely agree that there is far higher quality leathercraft tools than the Tandy crafttool brand. I think that tandy is shooting themselves in the foot by offering cut rate tools at a premium price I think the corporate greed will eventually catch up to them

Very cool links there Jamesd! makss me want to build a suit of leather armour...Something like this I probably have enough scrap to make nearly a whole suit. and absolutley www.youtube.com is a fantastic resource just type in beuce cheaney and Nigel Armitage in the youtube search and you can learn a lot about leatherwork :Lighten:any idea how much you could sell a suit of armour like this for?

I do not agree the Crafttools from TLF are garbage, overpriced? absolutely but the tools are still very usable tools I simply do not buy tools from tandy at the regular price I wait for the tools I am looking to buy to go on sale for example they currently have the small Al Stohlman round knife on sale for $14.99 which regularly sells for 60 bucks.however I usually buy from springfield with my gold club membership I can get my tools at SLC regular wholesale price for half of TLC regular gold club price which is a big savings as another example the crafttool pro rotary punch from tandy cost 48.00 for gold club members the same punch is $36.00 from SLC which is resonable and is a good punch. you just have to shop around for the best pricing

the two most common types of leather used for projects is vegtable tanned leather and chrome tanned leather there is also harness leather which is veg tan with tallows saturated into the leather to make it weather resistant and latigo is also a dyed veg tan leather most ghrome tanned leather will have a greybluish tint at the inner core and will have a supple testure for making cases, belts, saddle's and holsters you will want to use Veg tan leather which can be tooled the soft leather is for making chaps, upholstery and hand bags. if you could upload a pic of the leather you have we might be able to help you determine what kind of leather you have.

website that might intrest you http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/katchu.html

it is veg tan without a doubt I can tell just by looking.

I see that you are in the UK so I am not sure if it would save you any money buying from the USA so I cannot make any suggestions as to where to buy however the basics to start with would include a utility knife with replacable blades, a straight edge a cheap set of wing dividers, a empty ball point pin for tracing patterns to leather, A strap cutter is not absolutley necessiary but it sure makes for a lot faster and neater strap making. a swivel knife a few stamps like a basket stamp and border stamps. you will also need some rivets and rivet setters for fastening buckles to your belts you will also need a rotary punch or a set of hole punches. you will also need to pick up a kit like this for sewing http://springfieldleather.com/29838/Kit%2CHandsewing/ these are the bare essentials to get you started

ya I have developed a friendship with the guys who work at my local TLF also for I an there just about every saturday and I will buy sale items andmiscelaneous items but my major purchases come from Springfield.

here you go this is all you need for stitching pretty muchany thickness of leather http://springfieldle...Kit,Handsewing/ when talking about the long haul you will want to add to your stitching tool collection with a couple of pricking irons and you might find a few tools you like that may make your work go easier if you follow Nigel Armitages video tutorials on stitching you cannot go wrong however the art of hand stitching leather by AS will work just as well Everyones method of stitching will vary.

just to throw my .02 in here about a few things First of all when casing leather, unless you are wet forming something there is no need to saturate the leather to the point it is soggy a spray bottle of water is substantial for casing the leather for stamping/carving, edging, slicking/burnishing. to case for toolingDampen both sides of the leather and wait a few minutes for the water to soak in the leather and for the surface to start to appear to dry then you can begin to start tooling. As the leather begins to completely dry you might need to spray the top and let the water soak in a few minutes then you can resume tooling after the surface begins to appear to start drying. Note it is important to use masking tape or a packing tape on the back of the leather when toling (Some people glue card stock to the back) especially with thinner leathers because every time you strike the leather with a stamp the leather will stretch and loose form which will cause mirrored parts to become mismatched when assembling them together. taping the back side of the work piece will prevent the leather from stretching and deforming. as far as casing for wet forming put your piece in the sink and run water over the piece until saturated begin wet forming right after casing as the leather ( there is no need for waiting overnight) starts drying you will want to periodically check the molding as the leather has a tenancy to shrink and slightly loose the form as it dries drying time may take a couple of days depending on the humidity/ climate of your area. when beveling the edges or skiving you will get the best results when the cased leather is completely dry. when slicking and burnishing the spray bottle is plenty enough just spray the edge to dampen then you can begin slicking/ burnishing those are a few tips that I hope will help.

springfield is where I get my leather and they have the best selection IMO 3 to 4 oz is pretty much the norm for chaps and chinks.

I am pretty sure I gave you pretty solid information without being condescending.thin skinned winers really iritate me so ya maybe you should find another site Buh Bye

you will need sewing tools for sure you will need thread a stitching pony is most essential IMO you will need a overstitch wheel, groover a stitching awl with a small blade you will need needles and you will most definately need a knife to cut the leather the art of stitching leather by Al Stholman would be a good book to start with.

crafttool is no longer in business tandy has rights to the brand that they still use for the china made tools that they over price.

my method for stitching is to first lay out the stitch line then groove the line then use an overstitch wheel to mark the stitching holes then I use a small to medium stitching awl blade to make the holes if I am lacing I use chisels. see nigel armitage videos on stitching

check out the sheridan stamps from SLC! if you have a tandy gold club membership you can get wholesale pricing for the tools and they are very nice stamps the wholesale price range for the sheridan tools are $15.00 to $19.00 they are stainless with a gun metal finish and have a life time guarantee. their standard crafttool stamps are $5.49 with wholesale pricing and SLC offers many that are no longer available through TLC SLC is just far better all around to purchase tools and supplies from.

I would imagine horse would make good strop material I usually just grab up a thick stiff piece of veg tan leather out of the scrap box at my local tandy store then rub jewlers rouge all over it , serves its purpose well. I find that making a nice strop usually gets worn and cut so I dont put too much energy in making a strop strap.

Yep that is exactly what I use for burnishing and wax finishing. I never tried hardening it up with paraffin tho but it sounds like a good idea because it can be a bit of a mess when using it for slicking the edges however it penetrates good too I have also in the past used s block of paraffin for burnishing the edges too and works well

NICE!

the angle of the edge on mine is approximately 12 degrees. you can see the the difference between the two knives here. https://www.osborneleathertools.com/category.php?cid=5

sounds like you need to do some more honing on that round knife mine cuts through 12 oz leather like it was warm butter and requires very little pressure tocut through the leather. it cuts clean through in one pass. you will want to get the steepest angle on the blade as you can which means completely removing the factory beveled edge. trust me if you work it long enough at the proper angle you will soon have it as sharp as any razor blade. and holds its edge very well just make sure not to cut with it on hard surfaces and strop it before and after each use to keep it that way. as far as other head/ round knifes like the Al Stholman "Damascus blades" and the CS Osborne knifes they are no sharper out of the box than the abetta. in fact I have never bought any knife that was sharp to my liking I can even get utility knife blades to cut better by spending a few minutes honing and stropping them before trying to cut anything with them. I wouldnt mind getting a piece of 16 gauge 440 stainless and cutting out my own blade kind of like the configuration as the LW round knife. those are some very nice looking blades and look like they are very efficient at cutting leather and I imagine they are very sharp right out of the box.

this set from SC would be good to start with if you need a swivel knife. http://springfieldleather.com/29331/Stamping-Tool-Set%2CSLC-Basic-10/