Dany

Do not worry - brass is O.K. I make most of my tools myself - it is a big fun - and brass is my favorite for stamps. Never had any problem with staining, not even with my brass creaser (yes, it stains, but only my stamping stone when working with thin leather). Daniel

pricking iron: Sorry, again nothing.

To make a pricking iron is quite simple - you need only a piece of sheet iron (ca 1 mm thick), hacksaw and triangular needle file. And some measuring instrument, of course. I like to make my tools myself, moreover it was relatively difficult to buy any leather working tools here in the Czech Republic several years ago so that I was really forced to DIY. An idea: Sorry, I'm not able to insert image, I'll try again.

What the Prague is, Marlon, it is for me as a resident quite difficult to say. The historic center - Old Town of Prague and Lesser Town of Prague together with the Prague Castle is nice (some even say beautiful), situated in valley of the Vltava river, you can find there really old buildings dated up to 14-15 century, churches, ... Unfortunately, it is full of tourists and because of them also full of souvenir shops with unbelievable trash ... And the rest - town as other towns, but with the exception of the new parts it still have soul of its own. For your convenience I added basic info for Prague, more (incl. photos) via Google. But if you like good beer, think about a visit - our beers are at least in my opinion even better than german. And I wish you to get a possibility to compare especially Budweiser from Budweis (it is a town at Southern Bohemia) with Budweiser by Anheuser-Bush (not sure about spelling) - I did and it's a shame, not a beer. Or to taste true Pilsen beer from Pilsen. Or to try some beers from small local brewerys - some of them are A1. This post is purely OT, but I hope it do not mind

Gents, thanks a lot for your replies. Rawhide - polishing and stropping of the blade is self-evident, at least for me, in any case thanks for detailed description, it may be of some use for others. I buy blades from local sources, not from Tandy, and sometimes I even make or modify them by myself. For stropping, I use not a cardboard but a leather to my total satisfaction. Excuse, please, my English as it is not my mother tongue

I have one - probably quite stupid - question. Edges of a stitching awl shoud be sharp to cut fibres of the leather through, or blunt to only spread the fibres ? This may be quite a difference considering possible tearing of the leather in the stitching line. Thanks for reply.