celticleather

What an excellent tutorial . . . superb illustrations and understandable text!

Oh dear . . . I've trodden this road before in another thread (http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...mp;#entry116136), where I learned that some folk are happy to pay top dollar (relatively speaking) for awls that are already sharpened and polished. I won't add much more to that topic, except to say (in a whisper) that we don't seem to have that availability in the UK, so most of us are used to sharpening and polishing our awls. It would seem to me like buying a ready-meal, which takes away the satisfaction of preparing the ingredients and adding individual flavours and preferences. Perhaps if pre-polished awls were available over here, some people would pay the extra money, rather than spend the extra time, and I have no problem with that. It's reassuring to hear that Ray is a fellow-member of the 'old school' . . . quite prepared to sharpen an awl to his own specification. 'Nuff said.

Hmm . . . I think I'll come back when you do it the other way round . . . least done in most time!

I think Ray's word-picture may have been better focused than my photos! Here's another pic that demonstrates the various cross-sections that are available in curved awls. The ones we are referring to are the 'sewing' and 'closing' types. All this talk of awls takes me back to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 1 'Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with the awl; I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl.' That's awl for now, folks!

After my disastrous day with dye spillages, I found that denatured alcohol (methylated spirit), followed by white spirit, followed by a week's holiday - snorkelling in the sea - worked quite well. I now have pristine pinkies . . . until the next time!

Ed After my disastrous day with dye spillages, I found that denatured alcohol (methylated spirit), followed by white spirit, followed by a week's holiday - snorkelling in the sea - worked quite well. I now have pristine pinkies . . . until the next time! Terry

An escutcheon is the small plate, usually brass, that surrounds and protects a keyhole in a door, cabinet or drawer. Escutcheon pins are small brass nails with domed heads, with which escutcheons are attached. They are often used to created decorative patterns. I sometimes use them to decorate fire bellows.

Hi, and welcome! You've found the right place to start! In addition to this excellent forum, I know of a couple of websites that have loads of information and tutorials - but you'll need a couple of week to read it all! They're not specifically aimed at holster-making, but the techniques and tools are basically the same for most types of leatherwork. http://www.btinternet.com/~kingsmerecrafts/index.html has a vast amount of leather-related information (scroll down to the bottom of the page). http://www.bowstock.co.uk/index.html has a useful list of essential tools and a good number of tutorials. Have a look through, and select the stuff that interests you!

Doug I think my picture may have given a false impression! The awl blade is definitely not round . . . if anything, I'd call it elliptical, but with very sharp edges - almost diamond-shaped. Hopefully these pics (slightly out of focus!) will give a better idea of the shape. Taken from the side, from above, and obliquely. Terry

There's clearly a place for using tunnel stitching on the grain side of the leather, particularly in Ray's application, where it would be impossible to work from both sides of the piece. I've attached a picture of one of my curved awls, and a curved needle. Whenever I accidentally bend a needle (I hate bent needles!), I put it aside to make it into a curved needle. I make the curve of the needle to match the curve of the awl, so that it more easily follows the hole punched by the awl.

Nice job, Ray! I think the only difference in our technique is that I prefer to punch the holes as I go along . . . no particular reason, I've just always done it that way! I use curved needles, since I find that they more easily follow the path of the awl through the leather. To each his own! Terry

The guy in the video is sewing a sole to the welt of a shoe. This is just a conventional saddle-stitch, with a closed channel on the bottom of the shoe to hide and protect the stitches. The true tunnel-stitch is usually employed where two pieces of leather are to be joined edge-to-edge. It is virtually impossible to achieve without the use of a curved awl and curved needles. I've used this method a few times in the course of repair-work, where stitches need to be concealed, but it does need a good deal of practise! The lightest leather I've ever used with this style of stitching is 3mm . . . it's pretty difficult to hit the centre of the leather thickness on anything lighter. The picture below shows the method, with all stitching carried out on the flesh side of the leather.

Could be a dangerous thing to wear in a lightning storm!

I would think that a steel is pretty much like a round file, which will put minute serrations in the edge of the knife. This would be fine for a knife that uses a sawing action, but a head knife relies more on pressure to achieve a clean cut. To get a good edge, the serrations would have to be honed out, which could be a long job. Probably better to use a fine stone, to get an edge that will still need a final honing, but with much less time and effort.

Excellent work! Your raised browband and noseband look superb. I always get a lot of satisfaction from making an English bridle, and I guess you do too!

To my eternal regret, I don't think I have an artistic bone in my body! When I was at secondary school - nearly 50 years ago - we had to make a choice of courses that we would follow. The choice was between art and artificer. At that time, Britain still had manufacturing industries, and it seemed sensible to opt for an education that might eventually provide a living wage; for that reason I chose to learn engineering and woodwork. My engineering and woodworking knowledge has always been very useful, and today I can make a tool or gadget to suit most needs, but they are strictly utilitarian - any trace of artistry that may occur is more luck than judgement! I eventually ended up spending 40-odd years working in the printing trade, but I had joined at a time when printing was still a craft. I was glad to leave that environment when computer technology caused the trade to become almost entirely de-skilled. I can still produce a piece of functional leatherwork (or an engineering drawing) which some people may call artistic, but any 'arty' element is more likely to have been borrowed or adapted from something that I have seen and remembered . . . it hardly ever results from my own creativity. Today, I have an intense envy of people who can produce artistic work, and I often wonder whether a few hours of 'art' in my school curriculum would have made any difference to my creative talents. Could I still 'learn' art? I think it's probably too late now, and I'm increasingly convinced that art is a thing of nature, not nurture.

Ray I bet these people would know where to get the pellets locally: http://www.clearviewstoves.com/wheretobuy.htm. They must be practically on your doorstep! Terry

This would probably mean a trip to the US, which would make it a pretty expensive fix! Maybe I'll just wait for the dye to wear off . . .

This seems to echo my experience with Dixons tools in the UK, which I mentioned in the 'Stitching awl' thread. Knives and awls are no longer supplied in what I would call a 'finished' condition. Knives have to be honed and stropped, and awls have to be sharpened and polished. I wonder if this is in deference to craftsmen who prefer to put their own finish on tools, or is it a way of cutting out the final stage of production to save on costs and avoid price increases (or increase profits!)? Any further thoughts . . ?

I just wish I could get it out from under my fingernails - denatured alcohol usually works, but not today!

I guess many leatherworkers will agree that occasionally upsetting a bottle of dye is one of the occupational hazards that go with the territory. Today I can't believe that I've managed to hurl TWO bottles of dye across the workshop, with about an hour between them! Perhaps I'm getting clumsier as I get older, or maybe the 13th is just a bad day (although I'm not usually superstitious). Either way, I now have a chocolate brown left hand and a black right hand, and multicoloured carpet and trousers . . . and there's still four hours of workshop time left! Anyone else having a bad day?

Ray Obviously insulation - walls, roof and floor (if possible!) - is important to preserve whatever heating you do utilise. I use a portable Super-Ser Calor gas heater. The heat is instant, controllable, and I particularly like the fact that it is pay-as-you-go . . . no shocks when the gas bill arrives! I bought it from http://www.tgsindustrial.co.uk/, and incidentally, they also sell cast iron gas rings (see Heating Creasers thread). Terry

When I re-leather desktops I use Thixofix. It's important to ensure that the wood is roughened (with coarse sandpaper) to provide a key for the adhesive. I 'butter' the wood only with a generous coat of adhesive, and then lay the leather in place. Thixofix has a 'slidability' that will allow for a certain amount of movement of the leather to ensure that it is in the correct position. When I'm quite sure that the leather is correctly positioned, I roll it over gently (to avoid stretching) with a rubber roller. It is recommended that Thixofix should be used in a well-ventilated area or out of doors, and away from sources of ignition . . . it is a bit 'fumy'. I have also used builders' PVA adhesive, which does not have the fume hazard. It works fairly well for this purpose, and is applied in the same way. It does take longer to dry.

As far as I am aware, the crease line serves no purpose other than decoration. It is traditionally used on bridle- and harness-work in the UK. Saddlers would often make other products such as belts etc, and use of the crease line was thus extended. Loops on harness-work would sometimes be skilfully creased with ornate patterns, and were small masterpieces (pics below). A crease line is unlikely to help in the folding of a wallet. In this case, it is probably better to gouge a V-shaped channel on the flesh side of the leather, to perhaps half the thickness, which will weaken it at this point and encourage the fold to follow the line with less resistance.

I think the 100% best-ever way of heating creasing irons is with an electric 'finishing stove'. They're mostly used by bookbinders to heat their gold-foiling tools, and the big advantage is that they are thermostatically controlled, with no naked flame, and have handle-rests that prevent the handles from becoming hot. On the downside, they're not particularly cheap, and can be a bit space-hungry. They come up for sale on eBay from time to time, so it may be possible to pick one up for a reasonable price. Some pictures below of examples I found on the web. Edit: I just realised that a search for 'hotplate' on eBay brings up many results that look like the second picture, at very reasonable prices. The surrounding woodwork would be very easy to make.