KcKenny

Wow, would love to have that BD setup. But being an ameteur, my wife would shoot me. All of the work I do is just for myself as a hobbyist. While I LOVE quality tools, leather, etc, it's hard to justify the price on some of it. Maybe as birthdays and Xmas' go by I'll be able to pick up some top notch stuff, but for now my skills need more polishing than my tools. I may give that epoxy a try and order the Osborne from Springfield if it's a bust. Hilly - the manager of our local Tandy is great, has replaced dried out lace for me, and even said she'd replace any tool I had issues with. I just hate to put them out on a $10 awl I bought over a year ago that will probably have the same problems if I exchange. Thanks everyone, Kenny

Found the Osborne haft and 1-1/2 inch blade on Springfield Leather's site. Luckily, I'm down that way quite a bit. Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't know how to add quotes to reply to each, but thank you all for your help. Jeep - With the reviews a lot of Tandy tools have recieved, I assumed the 4 in 1 was not a great option. Thanks for affirming my thought there. Dan - I am new enough to stitching that I don't know the appropriate size awl for my needs. I know I want a diamond shank for the stitching, but maybe someone could chime in on sizing. I see anything from 1-1/2 1.2mm up to 3-1/4 2mm on Weaver's site. The thickest thing I'll do would be a lined holster, but mostly I'll be working with 2 layers like a lined belt. Would you recommend the 1-1/2 1.2mm for this type of work? It seems as if you have to be a professional to order from Weaver, but I assume I'll be able to do a web search and find the same haft available retail. Celt - That tutorial was nice. Should I sharpen a brand new awl, or just strop it to clean it up a bit? Thanks!

I bought Al Stohlman's book on stitching and an Osbourne awl from Tandy to get me started. While putting a simple holster and belt together, my blade pulled from the handle. I tried putting it back together with gorilla glue, thinking the expansion would be great to fill in any nooks and really grip to the scored metal on the shank. After completely setting (overnight) and a little cleanup, I went back to stitching. The blade came loose within minutes. I guess I have 2 questions. I probably can't return it as it has some glue drips on it and I've had it sitting for about a year while i was away from my leather. One, can you recommend a reasonably priced awl <$30, and two, is there anything you'd recommend doing to the leather or awl to make it move through the leather better so I don't have the same problem. I see Tandy has a 4 in 1 awl with blades that chuck in, and that is what I would consider next if someone doesn't have a better solution. Thanks again, Kenny

I just ordered a burnisher from Scott chucked to fit my hand drill. I have an old bench grinder that I was thinking I might be able to mount in my workspace, then run a pulley off it to a shaft that would act to decrease the RPM as well as chuck the burnisher. Anyone have suggestions on suppliers who might make a setup like this. I'm thining I'd need a v-belt with 2 varying size radius wheels, a shaft to mount one of the weels on, and some sort of chuck on the end of the shaft to hold the burnisher. I can see the entire design in my head it it seems simple enough, I just have no idea if someone makes such supplies. Thanks, Kenny

I just ordered a burnisher from Scott chucked to fit my hand drill. I have an old bench grinder that I was thinking I might be able to mount in my workspace, then run a pulley off it to a shaft that would act to decrease the RPM as well as chuck the burnisher. Anyone have suggestions on suppliers who might make a setup like this. I'm thining I'd need a v-belt with 2 varying size radius wheels, a shaft to mount one of the weels on, and some sort of chuck on the end of the shaft to hold the burnisher. I can see the entire design in my head it it seems simple enough, I just have no idea if someone makes such supplies. Thanks, Kenny

Hey Kate, Do you have pattern making software? I was just going to start searching for something that I could draw out patterns on with grids and print in actual size. I was thinking somebody might make something for sewing, but you guitar strap looks like it's very well done. Maybe you have a suggestion...?