zuludog

Probably like a lot of people I began leatherworking with a Tandy Starter Set, which included the 4-in-1 awl. I quickly realised that this wasn't very satisfactory as the blade kept slipping in the haft, no matter how I tried to tighten the locking collar; and I couldn't seem to get the blade very sharp, which I put down to my inexperience. I mounted the round blade in a fixed haft and that works well enough; after all there's not much you can do wrong with a round/scratch awl So I got a fixed blade saddler's awl from Bowstock. I believe the blade is actually by Tandy, the same as their fixed blade awl. I also bought, mounted, and sharpened a John James saddler's awl blade. Which leaves me with the two leaf blades left over from the 4-in-1 awl, and what to do with them. The two fixed blade awls do everything I need, so the easiest would be to just forget the Tandy blades, but I wondered - can they be turned into anything decent? I have some spare hafts, and if I worked on the Tandy blades with an oilstone and a strop for say half an hour a night over a couple of weeks would it be worth persevering? Or are they of such poor quality that nothing useful can be made from them?

By chance, soon after I became interested in leatherwork I met a retired traditional cobbler - in a pub, where else? among the various bits of advice he gave me, he said that 'them green mats' were about the best cutting surface he'd ever used this is what I use For general cutting - the typical green craft cutting mat; for a knife I use either a sharpened Stanley knife or a Japanese style leather knife For skiving - the glass oven door off an old cooker For using beneath stitching chisels - an old polypropylene kitchen chopping board, about 15 mm thick I don't do tooling or pounding

Just say 'Thank you' and leave it at that. Making any more fuss will only embarrass one or both of you Learn from this, and maybe charge a bit more in future

We all know what a round knife looks like For a head knife Search for 'Barnsley Single Head Knife' from Abbey England.com

fredk is correct. The semi circular leatherworking knife is known as a round knife, and is symmetrical. A head knife is asymmetrical, having a rounded, slightly bulbous profile on one side, and the other side elongated and tapering to a point, thus having a resemblance to a dead, especially a bird's head Confusion arises because the phrase 'head knife' became so common & synonymous with a leatherworking knife that it is also used erroneously for a round knife The origins of the word 'cobbler' for someone who makes or repairs shoes doesn't seem to be very well known or established, but it gives us the phrase for describing something that has been hastily prepared or assembled from whatever materials & components are readily available - 'to be cobbled together' It also gives us the British rhyming slang 'Cobblers!' meaning to speak rubbish or nonsense. In rhyming slang you use a familiar phrase or word pairing, but only say the first word. thus - Cobblers = cobbler's awls = balls Bread = bread & honey = money Raspberry = raspberry tart = fart Apples = apples & pears = stairs and so on

LUMPENDOODLE2 & MY63. Thanks for your replies I have bought brass sheet, rod, & tube from MaccModels for my knife making, and have called at their shop, but had completely forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder I hadn't heard of EKP Supplies but they could be useful You can see that I also make model planes, the plastic kits, but the days when every town had a model shop are long gone. There are still a few around, but mostly everything's on The Net now

That's excellent work! Please can you provide the name and/or website of the model engineering firm? Thanks

Search YouTube for 'Making a Leather Knife Sheath' by Ian Atkinson - it's an absolute masterclass! There are several other videos on sheaths, by Ian, and others

Nigel Armitage has a review of that very tool on YouTube, it's well worth watching - 'Pricking Iron Review 10 Tandy 3.5 mm'

I've been watching Nigel Armitage's review of Craftool Pro stitching chisels. He makes the comment that we shouldn't make stitching grooves so much as - They weaken the leather; and as the stitching is set in a channel that restricts the sideways expansion of the stitching so that it is less able to develop the typical zigzag pattern He just uses a line made with dividers, and then goes on to say that when the stitching is flattened and has time to settle as the item is used, there is not much of the stitching protruding above the surface of the leather anyway Interesting; any comments? I make mostly knife sheaths and I have always used a stitching groove, but I think that for the next couple I might just make a line with an edge creaser

I think there has been a misunderstanding. I wasn't referring to a stitching chisel but to the 4-in-1 AWL, Tandy # 3209-00. Not many of the members on this forum think much of it either It's also quite expensive. For less money you can get the better quality Craftool Pro Stitching awl # 83020-00 plus the scratch awl #3217-00

I've just had a thought about your problem with an awl. Are you using the 4-in-1 awl sold by Tandy and others? It's not very good (that's the polite version!) Get a simple fixed blade awl like Tandy Stitching awl with 1 1/4" blade, #31218-01, or, if you can afford it, Craftool Pro Stitching awl #83020-00. And remember to polish them on a strop

I have a Craftool 2 - prong, 4mm stitching chisel, #88046 - 02, and I'm happy enough with it; but now I would like a 4 - prong to match, and also some chisels with narrower gaps, say 3mm This is where the fun starts as I'm getting confused. There are so many to choose from. I've just spoken to my local Tandy store, and they say they have three types of chisels, but the full range of sizes & prongs is not shown on their website Then there are the variety of Chinese & Japanese chisels on the Net, Amazon, and so on. Some of them are better known (Craft Sha, Seiwa) than others; presumably the quality will vary as well. Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice Searching YouTube for 'leather stitching chisels' will produce lots of videos; watch as many as you have the stamina for. In particular Nigel Armitage has done several reviews of different brands. In fact anything by Armitage Leather, Leodis Leather, and Leathertoolz is worth watching Be careful with the measurements and specifications as some refer to the gaps between the prongs, and some to the distance between the points. Also, the Chinese & Japanese chisels are probably made from the ground up in metric measurements, but I suspect that some of the Tandy chisels will be fractions of an inch that have simply been rounded to the nearest millimetre equivalent. I have decided to stay with Craftool chisels as I know they are OK for me, but I'll be visiting my local Tandy store soon and may just change my mind if I see anything better. Perhaps I'm a bit old fashioned but I'd rather pay a bit more to actually see & handle the goods before I buy them. On the other hand, some of the imports are so cheap it might be worth trying them, and no great loss if they're not very good. Decisions, decisions..... Whatever you get it's well worth fettling or polishing the prongs with a needle file and a home made 'wand' made by glueing some wet & dry paper to a sliver of wood like a lollipop stick; use 500 or 600 grit, then finer if you wish. There are a couple of videos about this Similarly with an awl. If you have difficulty using it, work on getting it as sharp and as smooth & polished as possible. If you haven't done it already, make your own strop from oddments of wood & leather, and use a proper stropping compound. This will be just about the easiest piece of leatherwork you'll ever do It helps with both awls & chisels if you rub/lubricate them with beeswax before you use them If you still have problems using an awl you could try adapting a drill press. In fact I think there have been a couple of threads about that on here; search away! As for thread, try starting with unwaxed, natural, 18/3 linen, and take it from there. Ask your supplier for needles to match

Once you start looking and Surfing the Net you will see that new sharpening stones are expensive. There are a couple of markets near me with second hand tool stalls; see if there is one near you. Take your tools along and show the stallholder what you want to do; I have found that they are reasonable and helpful enough You probably won't find a ceramic or diamond stone as they are relatively recent developments, but you should be able to get an oilstone for £3 or £4. Then you just need some general purpose oil have a browse round the rest of the stall while you're at it, you never know your luck. One of my local stalls has a box for cobbler's & upholstery tools, I've had a couple of things from him

Search YouTube for 'sharpening' and watch as many as you have the stamina for, you will start to see how things are done and get an idea of what you think will work for you Perhaps I'm old fashioned but I just can't get me 'ead round the idea of a sharpening stone that uses water! so I use a fine oilstone followed by a strop nevertheless I think this is one of the best videos on YouTube about sharpening. Although it's for chisels the same technique can be used for knives preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel by Paul Sellers You can improve the stitching chisels by polishing the prongs. Use a needle file followed by a home made polishing wand; glue some wet & dry paper onto a sliver of wood or a lollipop stick If you don't have a needle file use 2 or 2 grades of wet & dry paper. work your way through grades 500 to 1,000 Lubricate the prongs with beeswax to make them easier to insert & remove

The tool kit you've shown looks reasonable enough for the money, but you still need to add a few items, such as - A cutting mat; the usual green thing; get the biggest one you can manage, they're cheap enough Don't be tempted by the 4-in-1 awl sold by Tandy, and others. It's expensive and not very good. You will need a saddler's awl and a round awl. Looks like you already have a round awl in the kit. Tandy's tools do receive their share of criticism, but their Craftool range is reasonable enough. Traditionally an awl was sold as a separate blade and haft which you mounted and sharpened yourself, and this is a right pain. The Craftool awl 83020-00 is ready for use and not too expensive, especially if you can find it on offer or with their discount scheme You will need two knives - get a Stanley type knife for cutting leather. That will be good enough to start with. The blades are disposable, but they seem to work better if you resharpen them. The second knife can be anything you like; use it for cutting string, sharpening pencils, opening parcels, and so on. It's purpose is to make sure you use the first knife exclusively for cutting leather The key to good leatherwork is to have razor sharp tools. Get a fine oil-, ceramic-, or diamond- stone, whatever takes your fancy, and a strop. Search YouTube for sharpening techniques. Make your own strop from oddments of wood & leather; this will be just about the easiest piece of leatherwork you will do. Go to a good tool store or Online for some stropping compound. Same shop might also have a soft hammer and beeswax You will need to buy consumables like stains, dyes, edge coats, leather treatments like oils & greases, as well as a few odd tools now & again. So consider if it's worth joining one of Tandy's discount schemes. Get on their email list and you will hear of offers I see there is a Japanese style knife in your kit. It can be used for cutting and skiving. Search YouTube for 'Japanese leather knife' for how to use it

See my reply to the previous thread - Hello from Warrington, England, by Scorched As for your Saxon dagger, search YouTube for 'making a leather knife sheath'. There are several videos

Welcome to leatherwork! Have a browse through YouTube, and Search for 'leatherwork'. There are about 10 pages of leatherwork, each with about 15 to 20 videos, covering everything from beginners & how to start to particular projects. Watch as many as you have the stamina for! Similarly, read through sections in this forum like Getting Started & Leather Tools Ian Atkinson and Nigel Armitage have good, clear videos; Search YouTube for 'Leodis Leather' and 'Armitage Leather' Nigel Armitage has a video called How to make a simple handmade wallet, which is also a good general introduction to leatherwork

Alright, that's enough for fun, if you like that sort of thing More seriously, search YouTube for 'log end table' ; 'tree stump table'; and any similar variations you can think of. As is usual with YouTube there are lots of videos, some probably more relevant & useful than others I have only watched 2 or 3 as I didn't need to watch any more, but I think you would find it useful to do so, as many as you have the stamina for One of them recommends painting the cut ends with 40% sucrose solution to prevent cracking. I don't know anything about this, perhaps others can comment? Sucrose is just the chemical name for ordinary table sugar Have you ever used percentages? They can be confusing if you're not familiar with them, but I have used them all my working life. Beware, 40% is not 40 + 100 it is 40 sucrose + 60 water; my apologies if I'm talking down to you.

'fraid I haven't used anything like that, so I'm stumped for an answer.

Don't be so impatient! It's only about 6 hours from your initial post to that one. People have jobs, family life, and other things as well as leatherwork. Plus, this is an international forum, allow for the time differences I've noticed that it can take about 48 hours to get a good selection of replies on here

Some things to consider Normally for leather you would use a saddler's awl or a stitching chisel, followed by sewing with a round - tipped harness needle. That would be OK on the leather, but as a saddler's awl is in effect a very small chisel it would cut through the fibres of the canvas which would lead to its fraying I assume the canvas is fairly thick & heavy - 6 to 8 oz? You would normally use a heavy duty pointed needle for that, but then that type of needle would be hard work in leather Glovers needles are designed to sew very thin leather, typically used to make gloves, hence the name. They are pointed and have a triangular cross section, so combine the function of an awl & needle together. But they are quite thin and I doubt if they would sew a double thickness of leather & canvas So it looks as though you need to pierce the leather, and penetrate the canvas by parting the fibres without cutting them I suggest doing a saddle stitch but with a round/scratch awl, followed by sewing with a harness needle. But just make a few holes at a time then follow quite quickly with sewing, before the holes in the canvas have had time to close up I've used this technique when sewing heavy canvas & webbing together in various combinations; it's a bit slow, but it works

I have been hiking & backpacking for >40 years (not continuously!) and have experienced dealing with slightly different shaped feet, for myself and friends. You have done all the things I can think of, so if you still don't have a satisfactory result, why not look at the problem from a different angle? There are companies and organisations that will supply and match up different sized boots & shoes, or individual shoes & boots. You could see if they would exchange your right boot for a smaller one, though you probably wouldn't get the same model; see if they will trade in both boots and supply an odd sized but matching pair. Or contact them for advice anyway; they might have other ideas to make your existing right boot fit properly I've searched Google for 'buying individual shoes' and found odd shoe finder.com; disabled-world.com; national odd shoe exchange; amputee coalition Some of these organisations have further listings of other suppliers In Britain there is a company that will make and/or pair up odd sized boots from new - Altberg; there may be someone similar in USA Just one more thing, obvious once it's mentioned - check that your boots are actually pair, and that you haven't been supplied with a mis - matched pair in the first place! Look at the labels, and also compare them against each other, and do some measurements. I worked in an outdoor equipment shop for 5 years, and it has been known. You can have individual insoles/footbeds moulded, but that's usually expensive

Well, not about dyeing or painting, but still about focussing or concentrating I once made a sheath for a knife, and followed all the stages right through to the finished artice Then I realised it was left handed, or a mirror image, or however you want to describe it; I'm sure you'll know what I mean Sort of mistake you only do once, and learn from it.

That's very good and clear! I've been looking for something like that for ages