fredk

I use mine your way. I have two hollow-tube handle ones and a smaller coned solid handled one - would be kinda difficult filling that handle with edge paint

Cautious is good, but at £6.50 for 20, thats 33p [about 55c ] each! they are worth a punt as we say here

Its life; a lot of people like and want the looks. Some people will pay that extra to have a fancier looking whatever, just to be different, to have different. Take two of the same item; sell one with no packaging, sell the other in fancy packaging at 10 times the price; there are people who believe the higher priced item will be better. Thus there are people who tap into this vanity and mis-belief and sell at the highest price they can get Last year when I bought my new car the dealer tried to sell me an add on of fancy alloy wheels at £1000 more. I didn't buy. A month later I met a chap who had bought his car the same day, he bought the fancy wheels

I really believe they come from the same factory. The packaging for them was almost identical, they had the same bar code and a very similar card insert, only the Chinese ones were written in Chinese. The Tandy card insert says their tool is made in China. I've not had a bar bend yet and I whack with a brass headed mallet

or glue a donut of leather over it; thicker than the screw head. Then the slot would still be available

I do very, very little decorative stamping. For me the Tandy tools are fine BUT shop around for them. I bought a 20 set off ebay for less than the price of 1 from Tandy - they have the same Tandy numbers and I reckon they came from the same factory. [these were bought for grinding to other shapes] Also Le Prevo sells the Tandy stamps for 2/3 the Tandy price I'd say, buy the cheap ones first, do some decorative work and see which ones you use most, then invest in better quality ones of those one first example of a starter set https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20Pcs-Leather-Working-Saddle-Making-Tools-Carving-Leather-Craft-Stamps-Set-/282660163755?hash=item41cfdbd0ab

Recent research has turned up several photos from the 1880s/90s of Arizonian Rangers wearing a Buscadero type belt and holster, plus several photos from Arizona/New Mexico from as early as the 1860s of men wearing their holsters low slung; one I can mind has his holsters as low as his knees! I refer you to the latest editions of 'True West' magazine PS. Bonanza is entertainment not a history lecture

Thats a good small minimum order. I usually buy in 500 to 1000 at a time anyways

1. I've no Idea what those spur grommets are. I only use 'sail eyelets' http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/sail-eyelets.html They have a ring washer which helps take the strain. Simple eyelets just flare out on the back side. If they are not set 100% and often if they are they can just pull out. With the sail eyelet the tube-ey bit that goes thru the material curves over the ring washer, its much harder to get one of these out. stem length; 1/16 x 3 = 3/16 inch = 4.75mm plus 2mm for crimping over = about 6.75mm or 1/4 inch may just do the job, the leather will squash down a bit. or 6.5 or 7mm stem lengths 2. I would put a strip of of leather on each side of the main piece. 3. I'd use pure brass eyelets. Steel ones rust too fast

2. Unless we are calling different rivets by the same name; the tube is hollow and spreads out inside the head. The setter for the top end is just a mild steel bar with a shallow dome in the end. When you whack it the head drives down and the tube spreads out inside it. If your stem tube is too long there isn't room inside the head so the stem bends to one side - job messed up, pull rivet out and try again. If the stem is too short it just doesn't spread and is no good 1. yes, I'm using brass - I usually only ever use brass, very rarely use any iron/steel hardware. The good sellers will say what their base metal is. I usually buy plated brass, eg 'bronzed', 'gun metal'

Usual story; I get mine from China via ebay. The largest I've needed to buy was 12mm head and 15mm shank, 4mm diameter shank, double headed. I regularly use double head 8, 9 and 10mm head, 8mm long shank, 3 or 3.2 mm diameter shank For setting; I got a multi-plate with several sizes of shallow domes for the bottom side. Again from china area, setter bars with an appropriate shallow dome to match the rivet head

Most sail grommets will bash down nice and snug, if you hit the setter with enough force. I would re-enforce the area where the grommets are to be placed by trebling its thickness at least. I think 1.2 mm is far too thin to take the strain

When the ancients did a full cover sheath for this sort of knife it resembles in some ways a flattened funnel, not Y shaped but H shaped. The part for the blade like a regular sheath, the part for the grip could be wet moulded over a block of wood, not the grip itself

I once got [and still have most of it] a great load of upholstery leather. If yours is anything like mine, it has a lacquer finish over the colour. I use lacquer thinners to cut thru this. With mine the only options then are to dye it black or a shade of brown

On those in the link the soles were sewn to the vamp [the bit that goes over the front of the foot] using a whip stitch Many moons ago when my dottir was small I made her a pair of turn-shoes using upholstery weight leather. I did the quarters and vamp in one piece and sewed them to the sole with a simple running stitch

yes, it can be sharpened, and should be kept sharp, just as your knives are. A rat tail file will get the inside edge. Wet & dry sanding paper wrapped around a wood dowel will do the finer sharpening. A fine file around the outside edge, then W&D on a lollystick will do that edge. Alternatives are to use fine - very fine - grinding tools in a dremel type mini-drill How long should it last? I have hole punches that my great-grandfather used in the 1930s. The top ends have been periodically ground straight and they are sharpened as and when necessary. Good quality steel will last a long time but its hard to find that quality now Even 'top quality' is not that great these days. I bought a rotary punch from a 'top' maker for very top $$. The tubes all bent or broke on their first use! I was punching thru 4mm leather

1. visit this thread; 2. straightness, or lack of, can be caused by the rhythm of the stitching. ie, left needle thru first, then the right, left needle, then right, If you occasionally do left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right the lay of the threads will not be constant and will look raggedly

1. I got the stitching-hole pliers from a Chinese seller on ebay. They cost under £9.50 a tool. (about $12?)I bought a 4 tooth and a 2 tooth but the 2 tooth one wasn't hardened and the teeth bent so I bought two more 4 tooth ones and ground off two teeth on one. I live in a ground floor flat (apartment) so I need to keep noise to a minimum. Its ok to hammer a bit during the day when neighbours are out at work, but after 7pm its not good - with these I can work anytime example; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-4mm-Leather-Craft-Spacing-Stitching-Chisel-Hole-Punch-Piercing-Nippers-/301787381110?var=&hash=item0 Check out different sellers. I got mine for under £10 and I've seen these for as much as £80 - they all come from the same factory Also; be aware Tandy does or did something similar, but those are for lacing, they make 3mm (1/8 inch) holes 3mm apart. These stitching pliers gives about 6.25 stitches per inch 2. Try backing up the leather with a block of cork in your hand. You can get a good sized block of cork in a hardware store, for wrapping sand paper around. It can be cut down to a neater size

May I add my bit? I got these stitching-holes pliers not to long ago and I find them dandy for pre-punching holes. Sometimes in very thick leather they don't cut all the way thru so an awl is handy to open up the hole, or use of a Glovers sewing needle. I have them with 4 teeth and 2 teeth; for the curves an corners. One is stuck on the spi with these but they generally work out fine

1. yes 2. Chicago screws; just one example, from Tandy - https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/chicago-screws I get them a lot cheaper direct from china

You're on a roll there man!

A ferrule is the metal band which goes around a wooden handle just where an awl or chisel blade fits into the wood. Its to prevent the wood splitting

If you polish it up well enough the wax wont come off. I always do belts this way and I've never had a problem with wax coming off. I wear one of my own belts, no wax has ever come off on my clothes. The wax mix has to be well worked in, buffed with a cloth then with brushes, then with a cloth again. Its not something which can be done in 10 minutes. It might take me 30 minutes or more to do one gent's size belt, an hour or more to do the inside parts of a small bag.

With the backs of items which need the backs looking good; fuzzy or not, after I dye it I melt and rub in a bee'swax / neetsfoot oil mix which is mostly bee'swax with some carnauba wax, the nfo is just to soften it a wee bit. It takes plenty of rubbing in and buffing but I can get the fuzzy back almost as good as the grain side

Contrary to everyone else - I like a stitch grove, not always, but often I have a standard adjustable one which I got a long time ago. I never really liked that one, never got on with it. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/adjust_groover.html A few years ago I bought this set from China. I now prefer it https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5in1-Leather-Craft-Edge-Stitching-Groover-Creaser-Beveller-Pro-Punch-Sewing-Tool-/263452199132?hash=item3d56f988dc Its easier to adjust. Note that in the first one the cutter is on the arm, but on the second the arm is the edge alignment guide. Means the second one can be used free-hand easier btw; two methods of sharpening the groove cutter. 1. use teeth-flossing cord. 2. rub some toothpaste into thin strong thread and use that. Run either back-and-forth through the hole. The tooth-flossing cord will cut faster. (afir a prisoner escaped a prison by cutting thru the iron bars with flossing cord)