Danne

Yes, it was easy to sharpen. But a tool for a beginner shouldn't require to be reshaped and sharpened. Kevinlee have nice hole punches, also Ksblade have or had a version with interchangeable punches. Also I think this is a good set (I'm not certain, because I can't find the seller I got recommended way back) But it looks like it's the same. https://www.etsy.com/se-en/listing/679842132/individual-sizes-05-20mm-steel-round?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=leather+hole+punches&ref=sr_gallery-1-23&organic_search_click=1&pro=1 Personally, i'm looking at Kevinlee's hole punches, and I will buy those sizes I need. I found the Ksblade set, they have a couple sets and they cost a lot but good quality tools. https://ksbladepunch.com/product/multi-hole-punch-14-pcs This set would be nice, but it also cost like a Chinese bell knife skiving machine lol. https://ksbladepunch.com/product/multi-hole-punch-large-28-pcs-set

It was this set. https://tandyleather.com/collections/tools/products/mini-leather-punch-set if you look in some of my earlier posts you will find where I show a photo of the cutting edge and how much I had to sharpen them to cut. A tool for beginners shouldn't need to be completely reshaped and sharpened to work.

But they still sell a lot of more or less useless tools. I understand that those tools I talk about is for beginners, but I did the mistake as a lot of other people to buy some beginner tools from Tandy. One of them (The diamond hole chisel set) is possible to use but there are way better choices, even a cheap set for a couple of usd from Aliexpress is a better choice. Why? because they are so far from sharp you can get, you have to hammer them down with A LOT of force, and they leave HUGE holes. Buying Seiwa or LC-diamond (Goodsjapan or Leathercrafttools) is a better choice for a beginner. The Mini leather punch set isn't just bad tools, I would go so far to say it's fraud, I have mentioned this before on this forum and showed photos. Can you make a hole with them? yes, but you can with a steel pipe too if you punch hard enough. I can understand that a company can make mistakes and sell a tool that is not good, but not learning and keep selling useless things will just end one way. You loose customers and finally enough customers so you have to close down.

Never had any problems. A primary shallow cut, and one or two secondary cuts and perfect result.

A good solution is to make templates and print them (I use photo laser paper because it's a little stiffer), and if used often glue them to thicker card paper. Cut it out and punch out the holes, lay it on top of your strap and push with your hole punch to make an impression, remove template and punch your holes. If you give me the dimensions (A photo of a paper drawing or paint or anything will work fine) and I guess you want letter size? And I make the templates for you. .

So after 2.5 year it was time to restore a wallet I made for my friend. This wallet doesn't live a calm life in a suit pocket (he work as an electrician) It was stitched with linen thread, but I decided to restitch it with a synthetic thread (Xiange Twist) The interior leather was very dirty and my usual method for cleaning is to brush with a horse hair brush, slightly damp cloth, (If needed: Saphir Renovateur) and finish with Saphir Universelle. But in this case I had to use Saphir Renomat, which i've used before on finished leather without any problems. But this was the first time on Chevre sully, and 10 hours after cleaned and polished the surface is slightly sticky. No color rub off and it doesn't feel sticky when I feel with my fingers, just a little bit more friction than usual. But when I close the wallet and open it again it sticks very slightly. And a lot of friction when I rub the two pocket sides against each other. Now I wonder if there are any solutions to get rid of this? because my feeling is that it will get dirty very quick as it is now. Should I just wait a couple of days and it will dry or are there other solutions? Some photos, I also include photos from when it was new if someone is interested to see how it have aged. Before restored (cleaned/polished and restitched): Cleaned and restitched: When it was new:

Dyes: If you talk about leather dye then Fiebings is popular, and in combination with some burnishing compound like Tokonole is a good start. if you talk about edge paint then you have Fenice, Vernis 600 (Vernis600 have a limited expire date, go bad after 1-2 years), Giardini, Uniters, Stahl, Beraud CT. From what I've seen Uniters and Fenice seems to be most popular. Avoid Fiebings edge kote (My opinion) Meisi have both linen and synthetic threads suitable for both hand stitching and machine stitching. Personally I really like Xiange twist (Poly thread with a linen look) Cuirtextilecrea have splitting service. https://www.cuirtextilecrea.com/leather-splitting-c2x21848419

I've heard good things about Hydroma from Roechling. I plan to use a smaller one for round hole punches (Not pricking/stitching irons) https://www.roechling-industrial.com/products/thermoplastics-machined-components/soft-material-cutting-boards# They have resellers worldwide. https://www.roechling.com/roechling-group/about-the-group/locations-worldwide

Thank you Mason

thank you.

I'm very happy with my water based contact cement. I use Renia Aquilim 315. The only situation where I use solvent based is when I use nylon to reinforce watch straps. I would also probably use it for a non-stitch watch strap, at least if the leather was oily/waxy. Ecostik 1816B seems very popular so I would also consider testing that one.

Thank you

Edges look good, they look very similar to my edges before my last sanding (light sanding with 400 grit and 800 grit) and finish with melting paraffin wax and polish with a cloth. Regarding the adhesion you seemed to be worried about when it comes to waxed/oily leathers. I have no experience with this, but I have seen two things. Some people use isopropanol/alcohol on the edge before painting to remove some of the oils/waxes. I have also seen people using both primers from Fenice and Giardini (before using Fenice edge paint) Maybe you can do some test on scrap pieces and after really cured try to bend it back and forth to see how it holds up? If you do, please update us with the results.

Thank you

Thank you, The spacing was made with marked with an awl from my template, and a ruler aligned to the marks. But it was hard to keep a consistant pressure with my creaser to make all lines look similar, so I practiced a bit before on a scrap piece. At first I used a higher temperature, but it was harder to make it consistent, and also I found out it looks better with lower temperature.

Feel free to send me a dm and I try to explain how I did it.

That reminded me of how I actually did feel like "maybe this is nothing for me" I mean we have different goals with our craft, but no matter what the goal is, of course one important part is that you enjoy crafting. And I do, it's like "meditation" I just focus on what i'm doing. But I also tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to improve, maybe a little to much, I wish I also could appreciate more how much I have improved since I started. But stitching almost made me stop, because I felt like I will never be able to stitch thinner leather with good results. But I didn't give up. And I slowly get better at stitching (Thinking especially on thin watch straps and thin edges on wallets) it's a little bit of a lottery for me when it comes to contrasting colors. I know it was a joke from your side, but if you where serious when said you suck. Don't say that about yourself, it will become an obstacle for improvement. (Sorry if this was a little confusing, and I hope you don't misinterpret me, English is not my native language so I might express myself bad sometimes) Where do I find your Oselvar wallet? I tried to Google for photos. Thank you, yes brown and pink is a good match isn't it. Thank you

Thank you, it wasn't easy, and I actually ruined some parts in the beginning. Thank you Thank you Woodshed

Thank you. Yes it was a real challenge to make it line up good.

Thank you, I used a creaser. S05H iron with Regad fileteuse.

Brown vegetable tanned leather exterior, and Chèvre interior. Stitched with Xiange twist poly thread, and edges painted with Fenice. And two progress photos:

Thank you

I haven't used any of those brands. But I saw a documentary from a Porsche factory and they used Serafil. So my guess is one more good option.

What type of goods would you sell? Small leather goods, mainly custom wallets, card holders and watch straps with focus on exotic leathers. I would also focus a lot of watch straps with special attachments to the watch lugs. Of course I would not only focus on exotics, I would give the customer a wide range of leathers to choose from. How much are they priced? One part I like about this craft is to spend time on details, like I have no problem spending 8-10 hours on a wallet. So I would like to be able to reach a level of details and a reputation that allows me to sell my products for a a higher price, which of course is hard because the group of people who are willing to pay for those extra hours spent on the smallest details like making the edges close 100% perfect instead of 80% isn't that large, but they are out there. When I feel it's time to start selling I will of course also sell cheaper products, but I never want to be forced to produce leather goods eight hours a day, but to take custom orders and also have time for learning new techniques and working on new product designs and such. How many people would work for you? No employees. Where would your goods be made? Hopefully in a nice apartment in Spain with my craft atelier with ocean view. Would you own a store? where? all over the world? I would probably have an online store with a couple of products, but I would mainly focus on custom orders. No physical store.

I was looking for the like button It can sometimes be easy to misinterpret each other in text, especially for me when English is not my native language. But I have always liked this forum, because most people here are actually nice to each other. People having different opinions about things isn't bad. And regarding drawing on paper, I think I will get some more rulers, like curved rulers and such, because even though I don't use paper drawings for my final drawings, when I think about it, it can be a very good way to come up with new designs