zuludog

I, too, started with the Tandy 4-in-1 awl. Even after I sharpened it, it still wasn't very good, so I went the traditional way, and bought a John James blade which I mounted in a haft and sharpened myself That turned out quite good, but what a performance! It took hours & hours of tedious work with oilstones and a strop to get anything like a reasonable standard. Surely with modern high tech and computer aided manufacturing techniques it should be possible to make a decent awl for a reasonable price that can be used straight away? Then subsequently just a bit of stropping as with any knife For example Mora of Sweden make excellent sharp & strong knives in their 'Clipper' range, to retail for about £12. I'm not bothered about turned hardwood handles; I'd be quite happy with plastic as long as it did the job Search Google for 'mora clipper' to see what I mean

Finding a good edge beveller seems to be a frequent request on this forum! I have seen other threads, and I, too, am thinking of changing up from my basic Tandy model. I would want a #2 I don't want to import from USA, or pay for the very best & most expensive, so I've been considering these, and have converted all the prices to euros for comparison, which is as near as dammit to USA$ Leatherhouse.eu sell the Pro Edge beveller, which looks very much like it is the Craft Sha edge beveller & sharpening kit, for 20-90E, Tandy Craftool Pro Edger 83001-04 is 36-80E with Gold Club discount Vergez Blanchard is 29-84E Abbey have the Osborne 125 at 37-76E I wouldn't mind the Vergez Blanchard, but they have a minimum order of 100E. No doubt the Osborne has better steel, but it still looks like the basic Tandy model, and I would like an edger that gives a slightly rounded effect, as opposed to a straight bevel or chamfer So I'm thinking of getting the Tandy Craftool one. I can visit their new Manchester shop on one of their open afternoons and try it before I buy; also I'm now old enough to have a free bus pass, so there will be no transport or shipping costs. Any other comments or suggestions?

Bash the stitching down with a hammer or burnish it with something like the back of a spoon or a rounded plastic screwdriver handle, but clean any dirt or grease off it first I made a flat burnisher/slicker from a broken axe haft easily enough. Copied the style from illustrations on The Net, including Goods Japan

JENGRANGER - I've just been on Tandy USA website. They currently have the Craftool Pro Stitching Awl # 83020 - 00 for sale at $ 19-99

Besides the suppliers listed in the link there is http://jwoodleathers.co.uk but I haven't had chance to visit them yet Don't forget Tandy, they have recently opened a shop in Manchester; Google for 'Tandy Leather Manchester'. Get on Tandy's e - newsletter, they sometimes have reasonable offers Sorry, can't get the link to work. Google for 'leather supplier keighly' and that should find them

Probably, but it would be a tedious process IMO this is one of the times you are better off scraping some money together and buying the proper tool in the first place

I'd say about 2 mm, but a bit thinner is OK Get on to Tandy Leather's homepage, and scroll down to the bottom; there are several lists of information & advice. These two both have descriptions of the types of leather and suggested uses; also conversion tables between measures - oz, mm, and others Leather buying guide Leather craft ABC

The Range Rover was, and still is, a top class vehicle, with trim & fittings accordingly - not to mention the price! Alright, perhaps I'm a bit biased, but when restored those seats would show classic British understated quality. So you can probably guess my opinion, which is to restore them to their original standard . This would obviously require some careful, patient work, but probably not as much as re - covering them completely. I think it would be extremely difficult to recolour black leather How old are the seats? If before 2002 they would have been covered with Connolly Leather; search for it on Google Over time the foam interior of car seats deteriorates, so check that as well There is an apocryphal tale of a millionaire Texan ranch owner who bought a Rolls Royce, but took it back after a couple if days as he was very annoyed to find that he'd spent a lot of money on a car, only to find that it was trimmed in PVC. The dealer had to explain that it was, in fact, leather; very good leather. It seems the ranch owner had never seen such perfectly smooth, blemish free leather before.

The Range Rover seats don't look too bad. I've searched YouTube for 'repairing leather car seats';' how to restore leather car seats'; how to repair a leather tear in a car seat'; and there are lots of references Besides the actual repairs there would also be general leather clean & restoration, there are lots of kits available. Watch a few videos and see what you think IMO the oak/pecan is too garish

However there are a couple of places where I think you should be prepared to pay full price A cutting mat, the usual green thing; get the biggest you can manage; they're not too expensive An awl. For sewing leather the blade has slightly flattened section, and is often called a saddler's awl or a harness awl. Traditionally you buy the blade and the handle separately then fit them together and do the final sharpening yourself; which is a right pain, so it's easier to buy an awl ready for use Do not be tempted by the 4-in-1 awl you often see, especially at Tandy; it is expensive and not very sharp or good. On the other hand I have tried this from Tandy - Craftool Pro Stitching Awl #83020 - 00 and I think it's pretty good. Shop around for the best price you can find; at the moment it's on offer in Britain for £20, about $26 There are loads of videos on sharpening on YouTube, and a complete section on this forum; however I think this is one of the best. Although it is about chisels the techniques can be quite easily used on leather tools 'Preparing and Sharpening Woodworking Chisels' by Paul Sellers Come to think of it, a 1'' or 1 1/2'' wood chisel would make a decent skiving knife; see if there is a secondhand tool stall near you

I got an old decorator's filling knife at a car boot sale for 50p, about 65 US cents? and about 1 1/2'' wide at the end; but basically a good one with a proper forged spring steel blade, not cheap stamped metal. Scruffy & rusty I cleaned it up and sharpened & shaped the end with a file & stones. Now it's a skiving knife A colleague at work made himself a knife blade from an old industrial hacksaw blade, about 40mm wide, and I added a handle & made a sheath. There was a smallish piece left over, about 110mm long and 38mm wide when the teeth had been ground off. I made this into another skiving knife. He ground the cutting edge and I finished it myself with stones & strop I had a cheap & nasty block plane that was fiddly to use & adjust so I never used it. But the blade was quite good so I turned it into a Japanese style leather knife. again, he did the shaping on a bench grinder I have a carbon steel vegetable knife that I no longer use in the kitchen, blade about 4''. I fitted a fatter handle, shaped & sharpened it, and that is a clicker knife For cutting I mainly use a craft knife - 'Stanley' in Britain, 'box cutter' in USA I think. This was also cheap at a secondhand tool stall; cleaned it up, and also the rusty old blades it contained. Although they're meant to be disposable they actually seem to get better if you resharpen them, probably because you reduce the shoulder of the bevel, and polish them For a scratch awl I use an old dart head mounted in an old wooden file handle I use the glass oven door from an old cooker to skive on Yes, get some beeswax. Besides waxing thread it is used for all sorts of odds & ends in leatherwork The key to good leatherwork is very sharp tools, whether they're old, new, or home made. Diamond and ceramic stones are currently popular, but the cheapest are probably oilstones, especially as you are most likely to find them secondhand Then work through wet & dry paper on glass, or pin some on a flat piece of wood Make your own strop from scrap leather & wood. You already have your old 6oz leather, try softening it with some kind of leather oil or grease Ask around friends, neighbours, colleagues at work and so on, you never know what might turn up

Go to Tandy Leather's website; at the bottom of the home page there are lists of various bits of advice & information. It includes 'Leathercraft ABCs' and 'Leather Buying Guide' If there's anything you would like to make, search YouTube; it will usually be on there, or something very similar Search YouTube and there are about 10 pages for leatherwork, each with about 20 videos. That would give you plenty of advice and background; those by Ian Atkinson/Leodis Leather & Nigel Armitage/Armitage Leather are considered pretty good Armitage does a video called How to make a simple Handmade Wallet, or some similar title; yes, it's for a wallet, but it is actually a good introduction to leatherwork as well

Hmmm..... the expression 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' comes to mind I think I'll go back to my original general oil, and if that cures the seepage I'll try my new honing oil again after a while

A couple of months ago, in a fit of enthusiasm, I cleaned up my oilstones by soaking them in paraffin/kerosene overnight and then giving them a scrub And I purchased some proper honing oil - Liberon Honing Oil - which is much thinner than the general lubricating oil I had been using Now I've noticed that when I use the medium oilstone the honing oil soaks through it and oozes out of the bottom and the sides, so that I have to keep adding oil to maintain a pool of oil on the surface when I use it Is there any way I can block up the pores of the stone without affecting its performance - perhaps using some thicker oil or something?

Sorry, slip of the keyboard. I meant ' Ho Chi Minh Sandals'.

I can't help you with your specific questions, but it would be useful for you to do some homework or background reading, if you haven't already done so Get a book on general leatherwork. The best known is 'The Leatherwork Handbook' by Valerie Michael Surf the Net for ho 'Chi Minh Sandals'

By chance, soon after I became interested in leatherwork I met a retired traditional cobbler in a pub. Among other things I asked him if there was anything better than linen thread for sewing leather. His reply, in a nothern English accent, was 'Eee, thee cahn't get better n' linen' He went on to explain that as leather, beeswax, and linen, were all natural materials, with time they intermingled or melded or fused into one material; whereas synthetic thread was too slippery, and would always be separate, and so slide out. That advice cost me several pints, which I don't regret

Towards the end of the line of sewing rub some more beeswax onto the thread so it's well coated Then backstitch 3 or 4 or 5 holes, depending on how keen you are If you're really keen you could backstitch your backstitch for 1 or 2 holes, but you might find it's difficult to get the needles through by then Settle the stitching by bashing it with a hide hammer or similar when it's finished

Well, I've never heard of a 'rope can' before; I had to Google it. You learn something every day We don't have rodeos in Britain!

That happened to me. I serrated or roughened the base of the awl blade with a triangular needle file, then glued it back in with 2 - part epoxy glue I had a similar problem with a very small model carving knife. I plugged the hole with a sliver of wood, then drilled a smaller hole to refit the blade So yes, pretty much the same advice as TinkerTailor. When you've done that if you have some troublesome leather again you could also try rubbing or lubricating the awl blade with some beeswax

Sabatier are best known for kitchen knives, but I've just found out that there is a marking knife called a 'Sabatier Ebony Knife', looking very much like a Japanese kiridashi knife. I reckon it could make a decent leather knife I have no doubt that the quality will be up to the usual standards, so the price is reasonable for what you get I have several leather knives, but I might just treat myself to an early Christmas present Sorry, but I can't get a link to work so you'll have to Search yourself

I've just opened my emails and have one from Tandy. They are offering Gold Club prices to all customers on 4th & 5th November, that's up to 20% off; it applies to personal callers and Internet purchases Not much notice I know, but I've only just found out Tandy have (fairly) recently opened one of their few branches in Britain, in Openshaw, East Manchester, so I might just have a day out in Manchester.

I think that Liberia and Myanmar (Burma) have now officially adopted the metric system

Yes, I hadn't thought of that. You could keep one half with a straight or chisel end, like a skiving knife, and the other half angled like a craft knife or kiridashi Cut it asymmetric, so the skiving knife is about 70 to 75% of the width, and the kiridashi is the remaining 30% or so. Looks like if you make the cut in line with one edge of the slot that should do it

I recently made a skiving knife from an old plane blade, here is my suggestion. You will need to use a bench grinder, or find someone who can do the work for you Narrow the blade to 36mm and either keep it symmetrical, or offset after the style of a Japanese leather knife Gradually curve or taper the upper part of the blade to form a tang for the handle. Make a template or pattern from stiff card and play around with the shape till you get the best fit; that's a lot easier than cutting metal! Fit & glue handle scales either side, and pin or screw them through the slot You'll probably find you have to get the cutting edge & bevel very sharp & polished; have a look at those in the videos You can use it as a skiving knife or a Japanese style leather knife. Search YouTube, there are several videos, especially 'How to Use Japanese Leather Knife' by leathertoolz Make a simple slip on sheath or blade cover, to protect the cutting edge and protect other things from the cutting edge