TinkerTailor

All those tools are dirty and thus are garbage. Do yourself a huge favor and just sweep em into a box and send them my way.

Assuming you are in the USA, there are several suppliers in the banners at the top of the screen that list leather on their websites up to 16oz. 20 is a rare beast, if it is available still. I would give springfield or weaver a call as they may have a few hides in the 16oz pile that measure out thicker. You may also find hides where only a portion is that thick. I have some herman oak that measures out a range 12-14 but i got a single 18-20 belt out of the side. The possibly cheaper and arguably nicer way is to use 2 layers of leather back to back stitched together grain side out.

Alot of old sports equipment has felt backs and leather fronts with stuffing in the middle. While i have never used that machine, or fixed sports equipment, I can think of 4 issues which may be solved by the foot/roller combo. If I didn't leave my camera at work, I have a leather football helmet and shoulder pads from the 30's I could take pictures of the seams. 1: The backing compresses alot so the stitch tension could cause the outside edge to "fan out" as you stitch causing the edge of the material to be thicker, possible steering the material or lifting it off the dogs.The roller could be used to hold this down and get a flatter seam. 2: The rotatable roller would allow you to do seams down both sides of something without flipping it around. 3: Perhaps the roller also allows stitching items where the top surface is slanted in relation to the bottom, driving a regular set of feet to one side due to the slope. 4: Also helps hold down and feed the item if its upside down. You could keep the smooth leather foot for front side stitching, and use the roller for when you need the bite to feed it felt side up.

I've seen more than one wallet on this site that was obviously made exactly from a pattern, and the pieces don't fit. Its not the fault of the pattern, or the worker in alot of cases. It is due to the leather changing shape, either through shrinking from casing, stretching from handling or just being from different parts of the hide. Learning how to adjust as you go is part of the secret to well constructed items. Making your own patterns, or scaling them yourself helps build this skill. One time years ago I was doing a project out of some thinner 1-2 oz, probably belly scraps cause i was cheap. I punched out the stitch holes at night from the pattern. By the morning one of the pieces had shrunk lengthwise enough that 6 stitches an inch turned into almost 8. I had stretched it through handling and punched it while stretched. Bellys can move alot...... No prob on the tips, If none share what they know, we will eventually all know nothing.

I don't see it in here, and this catalog is era and location correct: (and really cool) https://archive.org/details/machineryforsadd00brit

If you like tools check out this leather machines catalog: https://archive.org/details/machineryforsadd00brit

Sharpening stones have been around for as long as metal tools. I bet someone has tried every type of stone in europe by now. Traditionally, sources of stone which produce keen edges would be treasured, and passed down. From the wiki on sharpening stones: "One of the most well-regarded natural whetstones is the yellow-gray "Belgian Coticule", which has been legendary for the edge it can give to blades since Roman times, and has been quarried for centuries from the Ardennes. The slightly coarser and more plentiful "Belgian Blue" whetstone is found naturally with the yellow coticule in adjacent strata; hence two-sided whetstones are available, with a naturally occurring seam between the yellow and blue layers. These are highly prized for their natural elegance and beauty, and for providing both a fast-cutting surface for establishing a bevel and a finer surface for refining it. This stone is considered one of the finest for sharpening straight razors."

Them too. Round stuff i will do myself. Hearts, moustaches and unicorn cutouts, im gonna get somebody like them to make me a clicker. Its all relative to tool availability and skill of the operator. I have some tools, i like to think i know how to use them, and i am for sure gonna......I'm not everyone however..:-) I've also effed up alot of projects over the years with excess tinkering.....

I gave you the above info, specifically on tips to find the scale in a foreign language pattern or book to aid you in your further adventures into foreign language craft books. There are lots....Goods japan is the tip of the iceburg....I have pdf's with patterns from 100 year old french and spanish craft books. Here are a couple links to free english ones: https://archive.org/details/leathercraftfora006855mbp https://archive.org/details/leatherwork00wils I personally don't use patterns from books, so i don't have alot of experience with which books have scale patterns. I make my own full sized patterns from existing items, or out of thin air from and my own ideas and some research. I do have a large library of craft encyclopedias, covering alot more than just leather for reference. I have found that the beginner books tend to have full sized patterns, whereas encyclopedias have measurements beside a scaled drawing. I guess the assumption is that as you get better, you don't need as many steps in the directions, you would rather them cram more info into the book. Old school guys can look at something once and then copy it. I was looking around at the books on both goods japan and leathercrafttools.com and they appear to have slightly different offerings, goods japan sometimes having a higher price on something they both offer, However goods japan does have an ebay store with free shipping and cheaper prices than their site.

I can do then that fast too, the hours estimate was for a first timer. I can't however do it while eating a cinnamon bun, cinnamon makes me sneeze and then i get a variegated cutting edge. Apple fritters make the best punches....... Btw, it sometimes helps with wider slot punches to put a piece of steel or wood inside the pipe and hammer the sides back into parallel after you cut it but before you sharpen.

Goods Japan has an ebay store on ebay.ca which has free shipping. There are also a few additional options on the ebay store that leathercrafttools don't have. http://stores.ebay.ca/goodsjapancom/

The reason i ask is, A pattern for a wallet in a book is likely to be actual size where as a pattern for a briefcase likely is scaled down, unless the book has pull out folded full sized patterns. There are quite a few books on Goods Japan, and they appear to range from scale pattern collections to encyclopedias of techniques. Just like english books, they may, in the text specify an enlargement ratio to set a photocopier to when making a pattern copy. In the japanese text around or on the pattern, look for a percentage or 2 measurements separated by either an equals sign or a colon. This could be the scale.

Perhaps you should post the actual title of the book you are refering to. I'm pretty sure there isn't just one japanese leatherworking book, and I bet some are to scale and some not. Most patterns will say right on it the scale factor. Its not that no-one knows, You just need a little more detail for us to go on.

The picture is charles darwin.....

While i have never seen this hammer, it may be crooked because it is a right or left handed hammer for hammering the tops of welts on shoes. If it is offset and canted, it makes room for the knuckles and prevents the hammer from marking the vertical surfaces of the shoe/boot. Some axes are made this way for the same reason. I think they also make metal finishing hammers this way as well

Sometimes we humans just get a design right. No need to change. Adjustable wrenches. The number of ways we have tried to make an adjustable wrench is astounding. The 'crescent' wrench was the one that worked. Now, any wrench of that style is called a crescent wrench. The thing is, they all work pretty much the same, cheap or good. Some are shinyer. Anytime someone tries to improve on it, it usually detracts from the design and simplicity. The adler/singer patcher and the 441 are other designs which have lasted because we got them right.

I hear ya there. While i have the skills, i don't have the tools available, and HATE paying someone to do something i can do myself. I can't cut hair, I pay someone for that...... we all have our strengths.

On most of the treadle machines ive come accross, the presser foot pressure is controlled by an adjuster directly above it on top of the machine. It is usually a cap or bolt that pushes down on the presser foot spring. Btw, I have, on junky machines, experimented with adding washers, stretching the spring to add pressure, and other mods however this can and will wear stuff out faster and break things. Proceed at your own peril here. Here are some pics of a underseat bicycle toolroll i a currently working on. All the stitching is done on a white rotary FR machine on treadle (with liberal handwheeling). It is 1 layer 3-4 oz of Hot stuffed bridle and 1-2 layers of 4-6oz hot wax stuffed boot leather. Both chrome tan, the bridle is veg re-tan and is very stiff. The boot leather is pretty supple. Total thickness stitched is 7mm, looks like 6 here due to angle: My starrett micrometer says 0.237" which works out to about 15 oz total thickness. Backside of stitching: Frontside: Frontside 2: (there is an extra stitch hole at the corner....my machine runs so smooth, it sometimes drops the needle slowly into the work if i am not looking. Sometimes i wish it was still a little gummed up)

What about using barbed brass hose couplings as base stock? There are a million ways you can cut these up and solder back together . These ones: http://bit.ly/1EAQi8l Click on images tab....

I had an 81 dodge pickup with a slant six that was stitched together with baling wire. Still not a chev or ford.

They have a weird website where the catalog pdf links to the website store. Open the PDF catalog, it only has 6 items ir so in it. The calf skin is in there. Click on more info and it will link to the item in the store. It's the weirdest most cumbrrsome site ever. A menu would be great.....I was referring to the calfskin on page sevenish.

1979 Volvo 242, carlsbad yellow. One of the rare early volvo 240 2 doors, carburetted. With fog lights and original volvo r-sport rally package suspension. Fun car. Had an f250 rear-end me on the freeway. The car in front of me had stopped, so i stopped safely behind a good 25 yards. Look in my mirror and the guy in the truck is locked up sliding into me. Hit me hard and pushed me all the way into the car in front. It was a early 2000's chevy sedan, Written off. Truck behind, 12000 damage, fixed. My little volvo in the middle, broken grill. Estimated at 600 bux. When the bumper pushed back on the built in shocks, the fog lights hit the grill and cracked it. I took the money, pulled a junkyard grill for 20 bux and still drive that old car. My little volvo killed a ford and a chevy at the same time and barely got a scratch.

For the price of those tools, they should NOT have anything loose or out of sorts when they are new or 20 years down the road. That is why you pay the money, for quality. Talk to the supplier about it. The wood of the handle likely shrunk since the ferrule was initially installed. You do live in a very dry climate, however I would think the handle would be made out of seasoned and sealed wood, which should be dimensionally stable. Perhaps since you fixed the problem you could work out a discount on your next purchase with the supplier.

In the real world, I'm kinda known for my unorthodox solutions to problems, alot of which involve creative re-purposing and repairing old stuff. Hence the tinker part of my name. Instead of watching Tv, i think of things like using toaster waffles instead of bread for grilled cheese sandys, The little squares hold ALOT of cheese...... and squishing down chromoly bicycle frame tubing from scrap bikes to make bag and slot punches.......stuff like that.