billybopp

I have bought from goodsjapan a couple of times and have been pleased. I have not yet bought from leathercrafttools, but many here have and have had good things to say, so won't hesitate to buy from them. Where I would be careful, tho, would be in buying something that has to match, and leathercrafttools doesn't tell you what the brand name is. Stitching chisels would be an example - if you have a four tooth Seiwa 3mm stitching chisel and decide to get the two tooth and six tooth versions - you need to be sure that you are getting Seiwa and not some other brand in order to get a match. Leathercrafttools doesn't always tell you what brand you are getting. The two also have different items in some cases. Goodsjapan sells Tokonole which I have used and is an excellent edge burnishing agent, but not available from leathercrafttools. While many of the Japanese and some Chinese tools are excellent, to some extent, I agree with @WoodysWorkshop and really like the old American and European tools. You do have to be careful when buying these from eBay, tho. There is a LOT of useless rusty old junk out there marked as "Patina", "Primative", "Rustic"(more like rusty), "Antique" and "Vintage". You also can't always easily tell which of these have been modified from their original form from the pictures on eBay - sometimes a problem, sometimes not. Nearly none of these have any "Collector value" if they are not in usable condition. More often than not, you'd do better to buy from BruceJohnsonLeather(member and sponsor here) and know what you are getting. His website can also give you some idea of what prices you should be looking at MAX on eBay. Some of those old tools also do not have any modern equivalent available. So, there's a lot to consider! Bill

Welcome to the obsession. No doubt buying that seat would've been far less expensive, but then again, the pride of making is yourself is priceless as is working with your daughter! Bill

Once again, awesome and very original work! Bill

Looks pretty darn good to me! Worth the blood sacrifice! Bill

Lookin' good so far! Bill

I haven't tried Angelus, but do use Fiebings. Bill

Looks like you've got it essentially correct, Elizabeth. There are indeed some sellers that sell first quality HO and Horween, but there's a bit of research to find out who's who in that respect. I would add that Tandy announced a few days ago via their YouTube channel that they are now carrying in stores Sedgwick in black, brown and chestnut. It has yet to show up on their website, and I have not yet made it to the local shop to confirm that. Being Tandy, however, I suspect that they will be asking top dollar for it and I'd be sure to check the quality - It wouldn't be unusual for them to charge the highest prices for second quality. Bill

eco-flo antique gel is notorious for penetrating through most finishes used as a resist.

Many leather workers, unlike regular folk, do not realize that most Band-Aids paper wrappers eventually begin to brown with age. Check your regular friends medicine cabinet/first aid kits and you'll find this out. You see, leather, wood, and metal workers cut and stab themselves with alarming regularity. Regular folk don't do that! Imagine that!

Love that color!

It aint a REAL project until ya bleed on it a lil.

I don't know about plane blades, but I had an old set of wood chisels that I re-purposed by re-profiling the blade, and they are the best end-skivers I have - I'm able to get the scary sharp and they work great. The only complaint is that the handles are a bit heavy - I may eventually just cut them off and keep just the blade part. I suspect that a plane blade might work just as well - but I would suggest doing some work to change the angle from a plane's standard 25degrees to something considerably shallower - It may take some elbow-grease, but will probably be well worthwhile. Bill

Check out Bob Park's pinned post here on LWN, .Be sure to read (and even download) the PDF in the initial post It's as good a tutorial on edge finishing veg tanned that you'll find. There are a lot of variations, but the principals are there. A lot of it depends on personal preference and the look that you are going for. It doesn't take much water to do the initial burnish, just a lightly damp sponge works nicely. Sometimes, on small pieces, I'll just lick my finger and slick with a little spit (don't tell anybody, but I know there are others that do that too)! Dying edges can be a little tricky, and again depends on what you are looking for. Edges can soak up a lot of dye, get really dark, and even bleed to the front of your leather if you aren't careful! The loose fibers can really soak it up, so a bit of burnish first helps compress the fibers and slows down dye absorption. I use a Q-tip to dye edges, and pinch it between my fingers to wind the cotton tight (helps to prevent fuzzies leaving dye where you don't want it)! I also squeeze out most of the dye on the edge of the container before putting it to the leather. It's best to go sparingly - you can always add more if needed but can't really remove it if you go too heavily. If you do woodwork, it's not too different from staining/finishing end grain. An exact color match is pretty hard to get, but for me that's OK since I like the edges a little darker. Personally, I don't like gum tragacanth, as it will discolor your leather if you get a bit past the edge, but a lot of folks use it and get great results - and it's what Al Stohlman suggests in his writings. As with so many things in leatherwork, there are many ways to get to a good result - sometimes exactly the same, sometimes a bit different - all depending on what YOU like! Beeswax leaves a duller finish, paraffin shinier and other things leave a glass like edge (one such is Tokonole). It all depends on what you want for the final look. Edge finishing chrome tan and edge coat paints(on chrome OR veg tan) are an entirely different subject, and you'll find plenty of info and opinions on that on here as well. Bill

Where you buy, in part, depends on what you are looking for .. If you want vegetable tanned leather, there are two tanneries left in the US and both make great leather - and you can buy from them directly - both offer tooling leather, saddle skirting, bridle leather, etc. Hermann Oak is considered by many to be the best, but there is a minimum order which is a bit much for most hobbyists. Wickett & Craig is the other veg tannery and they also sell to the public with no minimum quantity. Bill

Dyes usually go with no problems. You might want to filter resolene a bit since it can get gloppy in a hurry, and don't let it sit around for long. Bill

That's awesome! Bill

Is that brass just a sort of clip that holds pieces in place? Bill

I realize this bag is for cartridges, where the gun powder is contained in brass cartridges, but some folks out there still mess around with muzzle loading guns (muskets and such) and hence carry gunpowder to load them. Anything that might create a spark could potentially be disastrous - steel/iron can spark, brass won't. Since modern gear evolved out of that older style of shooting accessories, it's probably one of the reasons that brass is still preferred - for practical reasons in the past, and historic reasons now. Bill

It's a great looking bag, and I think the buckles are fine. They aren't overly shiny, which might look a bit out of place. Brass would really look great to give it a little more traditional look, and if it were for anything black powder related would be a must. Bill

It's not uncommon to see these old round knives not-so-round anymore, and it is due to sharpening. That Rose is not at all bad - I've seen some that are practically triangular. This one has plenty of meat and many many years of sharpening and life left in it, particularly if you're a hobbyist - it'll likely outlive your grandkids with a little care. Sharpening a curve like these aint easy to get the hang of, but it certainly can be done.. I have a Gomph that's shaped much like this Rose, and it works great! I'm told that once sharpened, a Rose will hold its edge like no other. Bruce Johnson once posted a quote on here: "A Rose knife is harder than a whore's heart and sharper than a wife's tongue". Enjoy! Bill

If you want to know about using sandpaper to sharpen, google "Scary Sharp Method" and / or check out this video from Paul Sellers. Paul is a woodworker and sharpening chisels, but it's pretty much the same. If you're comfy with freehand sharpening, go for it! If not, you may want to get a swivel knife sharpening jig such as this one from Tandy. There are other jigs out there as well. There are several types of roue / honing compound out there, and they aren't totally consistent between makers, BUT, generally black/brown are coarsest, white/green moderately fine - and either works fine for swivel knives, and red/blue are very fine. White or green are the most common, but you can probably get by with red as well. I mostly use white since it has one advantage: If you accidentally leave a little bit on the blade, it's closest in color to veg tanned leather and blends in a bit! Bill

Completely off topic, but a fun fact: Land Rovers were so prevalent amongst explorers that it's estimated that for over 50% of the worlds population, the first automobile that they saw was a Land Rover. Bill

How well do these pots keep glue over longer periods of time? As a hobbyist, I don't use glue all that quickly - would it evaporate and get thick before I get through it? Or would it be better to just keep in the can for that situation? Bill

How do you secure the 4th side while you sew the top/bottom? A box jig or pony works for the first 3 with a little planning, but that 4th ...

I can't say for certain, but suspect that it is probably for setting eyelets. That was a very common operation in any shoe making or repair. We often see setters something like these on eBay as antiques. People don't have shoes repaired much anymore, so there are few cobblers left and their tools have been junked or float around as antiques for sale. If the die happens to be of a size that's usable to you it'll probably be a great little tool to have, but if not it'll be difficult to find dies for 'em I'd bet. You MIGHT try to see if you can retrofit dies from another press if you have the tools and inclination to try it - and if that proves reasonably easy you're in like Flynn! Bill