zuludog

I watched an American TV series this morning, ( shown on a British channel ) called 'History in the Making' which features traditional crafts & industries It showed someone repairing & renovating an M1 Garrand rifle, taking it right back to the components and rebuilding it. They stated that when it was first introduced the wooden parts were treated with linseed oil, but it was found that when the rifles were used in hot countries, or when the rifle became heated through firing a large number of rounds, the linseed oil became sticky and attracted dirt & dust. So from 1943 onwards it was treated with Tung Oil

I use Craftool and Craftool Pro chisels, and I'm happy enough with them I've posted this comment before, but here it is again for convenience You can improve the chisels by polishing the prongs with a needle file and wet & dry paper glued to a sliver of wood like a lollipop stick And yes, When removing them I hold down the leather with a small block of wood

I make sheaths from 3 to 3,5 mm veg tan leather; I suppose these are a similar sort of item & leather used to holsters I use the Craftool Pro Line chisel as shown; 2 prong, 4 mm spacing, and I'm happy enough with it. Don't hammer into your cutting mat, it's not intended for that sort of use. I use a plastic kitchen chopping board, about 10 mm thick. You will also need some kind of soft faced hammer - plastic, wood, or hide You can improve the chisel by polishing the prongs. Make a small file or wand by glueing some wet & dry paper, about 400 to 600 grit to a sliver of wood like a lollipop stick, then finish off on a strop. It also helps if you rub the prongs in beeswax as you use the chisel Even with a chisel you might find that you have to do a bit of work with an awl Resist the temptation to waggle the chisel about as you remove it, try to do a straight pull. You can hold down the leather with a small block of wood to do this

I use 18/3 waxed linen thread with either Tandy 'large eye' needles or John James #2 . Started off doing the usual thread piercing/ locking method as shown in tutorials, handbooks, videos and so on Then I thought 'Why?' So now I just use a generous amount of thread, say 6X the length of the stitching line, and just fold it over, as in any other hand stitching; then pull it tight as usual. I've been doing that for 2 or 3 years now, and have no problems sewing, nor any complaints about the finished work

You can see that one of my hobbies is knife making; in fact I learned leatherwork in order to make the sheaths I used to treat the handles with linseed oil, and though I never had problems with it being sticky, I thought it left them dull & matt Now I use Danish Oil. That's lighter and leaves a finer finish. Just clean off the linseed oil and follow the directions on the can

This video is good & straightforward Essential tools to make leather goods by Harry Rogers

Welcome to the fun! You can be sure in the knowledge that whatever you get you'll wish you'd bought something else It would help if you let us know what sort of things you want to make; if you have any idea of a wants list yet; and what sort of a budget you have Your basic decision is whether to get something fairly good, and hence a bit expensive, straight away, or to get a few cheap tools to get you started. The problem with the first choice is that if you're going to be buying here & there you need a bit of knowledge & experience in the first place. My choice would be to see what you have already, or in discount & craft shops, and get the minimum of specialist tools I don't think Tandy are as bad as people make out; you can try the stuff, and it's a convenient one stop shop.Then you can make a better decision for the future. Somewhere on one of his videos Nigel Armitage suggests starting that way Don't forget that as well as tools you'll need gum trag, stains, and various other bits & pieces, so get a wants list together and do your sums, and it will almost certainly be worth joining their discount scheme

Welcome! Here are some assorted comments Search YT, and this forum for past threads, espec Getting started & tools; as many as you have the stamina for Ask your library for books on leathercraft, they usually have something, even if you have to order it cutting mat - the usual green thing, at craft shops and The Works discount book shop. Get the biggest you can manage Knife - lots to choose from, basically sharpen yourself or disposable blade. Start with a Stanley knife, you probably have one already. then as you gain experience you can think more carefully if you want something else Awl - aka diamond; harness; or saddlers awl. You will need one of these even if you get a stitching chisel. Traditionally you bought separate blade & haft then fitted & sharpened it yourself. This is a right pain and takes ages. Shop around for one that's ready to go. I think Bowstock & Tandy sell them for about a tenner. don't get the 4-in-1 awl sold by Tandy and others. It's expensive and not very good round awl, aka scratch awl - used for general poking & prodding with holes & stitching, and marking patterns, though I usually use a pencil. Cheap enough You will need to mark the position of stitches. Try a 2-prong 4mm chisel and take it from there. You can start off hitting chisels & tools with a steel hammer but this will eventually damage them, so get a soft hammer asap - hide, plastic, or wood. Don't get a rubber mallet, they will bounce too much Needles - Tandy are OK but many prefer John James #2. They're cheap enough to buy both Thread - Synthetic or natural, ie linen? Ritza is popular, but expensive as you must buy a large roll. Some people, myself included, prefer linen. Get a small roll of natural 18/3 linen, and Tandy's nylon 1227-01, and see how you go Tandy - this is a chain of hobby leather craft shops. As with any hobby enthusiasts will prefer specialist (& usually more expensive) brands, but this is a convenient place to start. If you're buying quite a few things in the near future it would probably be worth joining their discount scheme. They have shop in Manchester; I have always found the staff to be pleasant & helpful, so you could give them a ring. They often have offers that are not on their regular website. Search t'Net for 'tandy leather manchester' and you will get the prices in £. Get on their email newsletter to hear of offers Here are some other suppliers - artisan leather; bowstock; h webber; leprevo; abbey england; these are good on YT - Leodis Leather; Nigel Armitage; Leathertoolz Leather - start with 3mm veg tanned. At the moment Tandy Manchester have veg tan single shoulder #99606 - 03 on offer Make your own strop from oddments of wood & leather, but get some proper stropping compound. This will be just about the easiest piece of leatherwork you will do

Sewing Velcro is straightforward enough Does it have to be leather? I've sewn Velcro to nylon fabric & webbing by machine, no problems, and nylon webbing would be easier to keep clean. Just seal the cut ends with a candle or lighter flame If you use belt leather that could be too thick to sew by machine, and hand sewing would take longer. I think in this case nylon webbing would be a better choice than leather

Confusion reigns - they look like stitching chisels to me

I don't do any tooling or carving, so I don't need a thick, heavy slab. But for skiving I use the glass oven door off an old cooker. I got it originally for painting model planes on; it's very easy to clean

As Bodean mentioned, it looks like some kind of safety knife used to cut string in a mill or packing hall As there is no point there would be less chance of damage or injury to the product or the worker, and the hooked end meant that the cord would not slip off the end as it was being cut

It's a set of borers for cork or rubber bottle stoppers, as used in laboratory glassware. I used this sort of tool years ago when I studied chemistry at school, college, and then worked as a lab. technician. The sizing was so arranged that the unwanted plug could be pushed out of a cutter by inserting the next smaller size or two. The final tool was a solid rod to remove the plug from the smallest borer/cutter. The ends should be sharp, and there was a special angled knife for doing this. It was hard work using them, and rubber & cork bungs were being rapidly superceded by 'Quickfit' and similar makes of standard glassware with ground glass joints It would have helped if you'd shown the complete set, as you have, and an individual cutter I suppose they could have been used on leather, sheet cork & rubber or any similar materials where you need to make round holes, discs, washers, and so on The numbers are the diameter in millimetres Search Google for 'cork borer' and 'cork borer sharpener'; also 'quickfit jointed glassware' to see what replaced cork bungs

Ah, now I see; thankyou Why not ask around to find a woodturner or a woodturning club to make a wooden handle? That sort of thing is meat & drink for them

All good advice. When you have taken it apart give the threads a very light smear of oil or Vaseline to prevent it sticking in future

I don't see how this is a burnisher. Are you sure you don't mean a leather fitter's hammer or smasher? Whatever it is, you've done a good job; it would be nice to see it when it's finished

I make sheaths from 3 to 3,5mm veg tan and 3 or 4mm stitch spacing, which is about 6 to 8 spi; and linen thread. So that's about the same as your use I use - Tandy Craftool, the ones with the round handles & black finish, about $18; and Tandy Craftool Pro, the ones with a flat handle & steel finish, about $ 30. Mainly because they're easily available. I haven't tried any other makes, but I'm happy enough with these But I've polished the prongs with small files or wands I made by glueing 400 grit wet & dry paper to flat lollipop sticks

I was born in 1950, one of the Baby Boomers That means I'm 67 now, and will be 68 in a couple of months time Who'd have thought when I had shoulder length hair and wore red velvet flares that I would make it to my bus pass & pension?

The traditional method of sewing leather is to mark the stitching holes with a pricking iron (which has short teeth) or a stitching wheel then transfer the work to a saddler's clamp and make the holes with an awl Then the stitching chisel was developed to combine the two jobs; it both marks and makes the holes. It is, in effect, several awl blades mounted on a handle, but because it would be difficult to push through several blades by hand, it is made into a chisel so you can hit it with a hammer. Some people find this method faster and easier A chisel can be used just to mark the hole positions if you only tap it in slightly So those are the two usual methods - an awl & a clamp, or a chisel on a flat surface. Using an awl on a flat surface is a bit unusual, but if it suits you, fair enough. Presumably you mark the hole positions first with another tool? I make mostly knife sheaths from 3 to 3,5mm veg tan, so the combined thickness is around 10mm. It can be difficult to pull out a stitching chisel when it has been knocked right into that thickness so I have developed my own technique. I only knock in the chisel about half way then transfer to a pony and finish it with an awl. That means the chisel is easier to pull out, and it is easier to push the awl through a thinner layer of leather. As the saying goes 'it works for me' I use Tandy chisels and I've polished the prongs with a small file or wand I made by glueing wet & dry paper to a lollipop stick I used to hammer the chisel onto an old plastic kitchen chopping board, but recently I use cork. I bought a set of cork table mats, about 10" x 12" and use 4 thicknesses of them. Don't glue them as the glue will blunt the prongs; also you will not be able to swap them round when the top layer becomes worn. Just tape them together along the edges

I've also found this video - Making a carving knife from a jigsaw blade by Meighan Workshop

Various comments - I have made skiving knives and kiridashi type knives from old hacksaw blades & plane blades, and it's not easy Firstly, just about all modern hacksaw blades are bi-metal which means the body of the blade is made from soft-ish flexible steel, and only the teeth are hardened. This means you can't snap them, you must cut them with some sort of grinder, and also that the steel cannot be made very sharp - though I'm willing to be corrected on this Another issue is that these old hacksaw blades are much sought after by all sorts of hobbyists, knife makes, engineers & mechanics, so you really have to search & ask around for them But I did manage to find some High Speed Steel or all- hardened steel hacksaw blades by searching around in secondhand dealers and my father-in-law's shed. Here's what I managed to do - On a 12" x 1/2" blade I snapped it roughly to size & shape with pliers and a vice, then finished with a file & oilstone and also to smooth off the teeth. This was hard work, and took ages. On a 1" wide blade, which was also thicker I tried shaping & sharpening by hand, but it was impossible so I found someone with a bench grinder On a 1 1/2" wide blade I didn't even try anything by hand, I went straight to the bench grinder. Then finished with a stone & strop. These were all sharpened on one side, I haven't measured the angle but went for something shallow, say 15 degrees. Be careful or you could burn the steel. The exact angle for a leather cutting knife is not so critical, just shallow. Search YouTube for; kiridashi; leather skiving knife; and Japanese leather knife to see the sort of thing The 1/2" & 1" were made into a craft knife or kiridashi style, and wrapped with leather handles; the 1 1/2" into a chisel type skiving knife and fitted with a wooden handle If you want to do this by hand you'd need to buy steel stock, shape & sharpen it, then harden it. Unless you're already set up for knife & blade making, I wouldn't bother You could look round secondhand stores, flea markets and so on to see if you can find useful bits of old tools & blades, but that could take a while I have often thought that a wood carving knife with a suitable blade could make a small leather knife, and it's more or less ready to use. Search Google & YouTube for; 'chip carving knife', and YT for 'The Best Leather Cutting Knife' by Leathertoolz I have found the brass handled Tina knife, but also look at their model 211 - 15

The illustration isn't very clear, but it shows a knife with an angled cutting edge, rather like a kiridashi The same company has a 'French skiving knife' and a cheaper 'French style skiving knife' which is the sort of thing Dun should be aiming for with his plane blade Have a look at this video. She shows a few variations 'Skiving Knives and Skiving' by Lisa Sorrel

I've just realised something. Why are you skiving from the grain side? Yes, you can do this when there is a particular need, but most skiving is done on the flesh side It helps if you dampen the leather slightly, though this might not have much effect on the grain side of chrome tanned leather There's no need to go to the very high P numbers. Up to P 2,000 should be good enough. For Micromesh have a look at this video. Although it's about edge bevellers it shows the sharpness that can be achieved 'How to Sharpen a Bevel Edger' by LB Custom knives I don't understand; if you've tried lots of stones & methods, why can't you get a sharp edge? I wonder if you realise how fine you have to go? As Bikermutt07 mentioned, you should go up to P1500 or P2000 in several increments for normal use. Then after that you can, if you wish, go up to P 15000 with micromesh

By the looks of those edges your blade is not sharp enough My comments fall into two categories - THE BLADE I have also made a skiving knife from an old plane blade, and old industrial hacksaw blades It would help if you had given us the dimensions; or included something for scale; or shown the whole blade. the best width for a chisel type skiving knife is around 35mm; any wider than 40mm and it will be a bit too big & clumsy. It helps if you can fit some kind of handle Search Google for 'skiving knife', like Vergez Blanchard or Chartermade; these are expensive but they will show you the sort of thing to make ; also search for 'Japanese leather knife' , but you don't have to have the asymmetric blade. The bevel on your blade is too short & steep. It needs to be longer and shallower or more acute. Have a look at the above examples You mention 15 degrees on each side - NO! You must have the bevel on one side only You would need a coarse stone (and lots of patience!)to get the cutting edge right as I've described, followed by a fine stone & strop to maintain it. Ask around if there's someone with a bench grinder to do this, but be careful or you could burn the steel SHARPENING This follows on from the above. Those draw through sharpeners aren't very good (and that's the polite comment!). You will never get a decent long bevel with them The key to good leatherwork is to have razor sharp tools, and I'm afraid there is no choice but to learn how to sharpen properly. There are loads of videos on YouTube, but I think this is one of the best. Although it is about chisels the same techniques can be used for skiving knives 'Preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel' by Paul Sellers There are three types of sharpening stones - Diamond - Probably the easiest to use, but as with anything, they get better as the price goes up Ceramic/water - So many to choose from, and a wide range of prices; can be a bit messy Oil - Probably the cheapest to buy new, but because they've been around a long time you can find them cheaply second hand Cheapest of all is wet & dry paper on a sheet of glass or ceramic tile All followed by a strop OTHER COMMENTS Search YT for skiving; sharpening knives; sharpening chisels; and watch as many as you have the stamina for My guess is you cut out your leather with a Craft knife of some kind, so why not do away with sharpening altogether, and go for all disposable blades? Consider Tandy Industrial Knife #3595-00; Tandy Safety Beveler #3001 - 00; Tandy Super Skiver #3025 - 00; there are other suppliers. Search Google for Rotary Cutter. I have used a cheap snap-blade knife to cut leather and skive straps - extend the blade and lay it on its side You could also search Google & YT for a kiridashi Japanese style craft knife, but that would also need to be kept sharp Finally, I know there are several members on here who do knife making, and have made their own leatherworking tools. Perhaps someone with the skills & facilities could modify and improve Dun's bade for him?. I'd do it myself, but it's a long way across The Pond!

Learn how to make sheaths or covers for axes, saws, and fixed blade knives. There are videos on YouTube Make some key fobs as samples Get a load of business cards & flyers printed