Macca

its not the cost, its the effort ! more than 3 or 4 pieces on a wallet & I go crazy had a look at your bags, very impressive ! hand stitched ?

"only twenty pieces of leather"

Both books recommended above are excellent the Stohlman book looks a bit "cowboy" for us Euros at first glance, but don't let that put you off, its a must have

No.10 with 632 might be ok, its almost 20% thicker than 832, might still be a bit thin, 532 is probably better I hate these sizes ! so in mm 832=0.43mm 632=0.51mm 532=0.57mm 432=0.63mm 332=0.77mm for a No.9 I'd probably go with 332, although its a big jump from 432, so not sure (yeah, 0.14mm is a big jump apparently ) could be worth ordering a sample card, will let you try, bit cheaper than spending 35 Euro a time to try a new size http://www.sajou.fr/en/colour-charts-all-ranges-fil-au-chinois/4776-fil-au-chinois-waxed-cable-linen-thread-thickness-sample-card.html a nice smooth faced cobblers hammer will sort out flattening the stitching without doing any damage

thats a very good tip Ive stopped doing grooves for stitching and now finish with a hammer or bone to flatten out the stitching heres one thats 8SPI

I think your thread it too thin for the holes, it wont fill them if thats what you are after I dont have a 9 pricking iron, but heres a pic I just did with a 10 (10SPI, 11 teeth, Dixons iron) black thread is 0.6mm tiger thread white thread is lin cable 832 (probably the thinnest hand stitching thread there is) everything else is the same, marked with the iron, holes opened with an awl, same needles, angles etc white thread does not fill the holes, a bit like your pic thread is too thin for the iron (assuming you want it to look full, your stitching looks fine in the second pics you posted in all honesty)

thats a blanchard punch, smaller teeth than the dixons Notice also he is pulling the threads at a significant angle, skip to 2:57 onwards, look at the angle of the piece relative to how he pulls to tighten the stitching, that will put the stitching in the corners I reckon Give that a go ? Definitely nothing wrong with the tools, Nigel manages the stitching you are looking for with dixons, could be thread thickness or something in your technique

are you punching all the way through ? The dixons irons are best used to mark the stitching then use an awl to cut through the leather, although for a wallet its probably thin enough not to matter. On a No.9 the teeth are quite wide so it looks about right The holes will close up a bit over time Its hard to say on your technique without seeing it Have a look at Nige's videos on youtube, he uses dixons as well Some great vids there https://www.youtube.com/user/Nordicbadger/videos

ok tried it, perfect fit in the Blanchard & the Mayer Flamery Blanchard Mayer Flamery Knife is just below the foot surface, so perfect I already have a number of spare Blanchard knifes so am happy for you to have this German one for postage cost

haven't tried it, will give it a go & let you know.

Hi Trox the Blanchard knife fits with a little tweak so I didnt bother ordering one, but you can have this blade if you would like it 10 Euro to cover P&P ok ? building up a little collection of them now

Yes, you can create an account at Abbey I've used 0.8 & 0.6 tiger thread for wallets in the past, I do like smaller looking stitching though, it depends how many stitches per inch you are planning to use, the higher the SPI the thiner the thread I can chuck some over for you to have a look at if you want, PM me your details & I'll post some out so you can see/compare the sizes

Hi Walter Don't worry, no thoughts of vanity at all ! That's not what I meant I'm a tool junkie and seeing these wonderfully engineered, rare tools makes me want them ! :-) So please don't think anything bad, we are lucky that you take the time to share these amazing tools and history with us it is a real treat Thank you !

This thread gives me a severe case of the WANTIES

Saddlesoap to clean/condition followed by neatsfoots oil if its still stiff would be my suggestion

wow, that a fine collection !

now you've lost me only joking, my German isn't THAT bad

Brilliant, thanks for the info folks Will get the correct knife ordered (one supplied does not fit properly)

Hi all Ive been busy on ebay lately, one of the items I picked up is a post war, German plough gauge The supplied knife is not the correct one, as the rest of the tool is very nicely put together I'm attempting to track down the correct one. only makers mark on the brass are the letters S & L stamped over each other. Any idea who the maker is ? Pictures below, any help very much appreciated

sehr schön !

last picture says it all, wonderful workmanship

This one ?

Very, very nice

Agreed, seems they are trying to charge premium pricing for stuff that is on a par with Ivan tools (Taiwan) Us Euros are used to getting screwed over on price when buying US stuff, but I think Tandy take it a little too far. Even the goodsjapan pricing is hugely marked up from what the retail prices are in Japan, but I can forgive them that as its so much easier to buy through them. If you can find another retailer the jap stuff is even cheaper than Tandy etc. I'm a convert to the Japanese style knives. Next time you are in SLC tell them us Euros want them over here Sorry to the op for going so off topic. For a UK buyer I would recommend the following stores. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/ http://www.abbeyengland.com/ http://www.josephdixon.co.uk/products.asp http://www.goodsjapan.jp/

US pricing is perhaps a bit more favourable than Euro/UK pricing take the Stolhman knife you mention, its 65 dollars normally in the US, but over 100 in Europe, the punch you mention, same again, almost 100 bucks in Europe. pretty much everything is 50% more expensive over here compared to the US pricing, changing the ship to country bumps up the pricing massively. I guess that pricing sets an expected quality level in my mind that they do not match I bought edge bevelers, a V groover and some other stuff from there when I first started and was pretty shocked at the poor quality of the tools, I expected new tools to be sharp & well assembled, they weren't. So definately for the Euros, I would always recommend Goods Japan, far higher quality for equivalent prices.