canonitr

thanks Matt... i do not have a hot air gun .. an alcohol lamp, perhaps, though i am running out of wick and cant seem to find it locally (bought it from a rod building supply site online)

any body tried heating tandy's stamps to make a mark on chromed leather ? heat source would probably be a dremel versatip ( i am not intending to attach the stamp to the versatip, which i believe is too hot for leather use, but rather to heat it like you would a creaser..). i am reluctant to try it out as it ain't easy or cheap for me to get tandy stamping stuff, and I am unsure if the heat will affect the stamp material (zinc or some alloy?).. if someone has tried it out, please let me know..

i emailed Tandy on 2/Sep as well, regarding the price.. as I am from Singapore, i am rerouted to the AU website if i want to order items from Tandy .. there is an immediate 20% increase in price from USD to AUD, excluding the postage, which was AUD60 (variable, according to the weight of parcel). Luckily, I held off on ordering from AU, as i found out there was a local shop which took a number of items from Tandy, and could order in the items if they didnt have it in stock.. what would have cost me AUD67.50 + shipping , I paid SGD48.00 thru the shop, and it arrived in 3-5 days as they had an order on the way in..

Completed .. something to protect my investment...

4mm out of stock.. so got the 3.25mm 9 tooth, as well as the single iron to complete the set.. Work in progress.. making a tool holder for the irons .. will need to add a strap to hold the irons down, as well as a strap to hold the top flap down..

The side with the pencil holder

but seriously, @MattyIce you might get by on some of the cheaper tools for some part of the job.. but for some other portions, it's probably better to spend a bit more on good tools.. i'm only willing to spend more on the stitching irons, because after a month of so of playing with leather, i found that i liked the craft, but hated punching the irons.. don't quote me on this.. but for my current use, i find it's pointless to get those expensive mauls/mallets. i don't do a lot of tooling, so i mainly use it as a tool for the snaps or chisel/irons.. i see from some posts, people are using home made ones from pvc pipes or melted milk carton jugs.. a sturdy divider, regardless of brand, is used to assist in marking out stitch lines. a scratch awl to mark out the template .. if you have the cash, go for top of the line products for every single tool... if not, at least ensure that your knife is sharp, and your chisels are polished.. i will be spending the weekend trying to sand and polish the cheap chisels I bought ..

nicely done .. would probably want to try making one for my dad, if he does use them.. do you have a picture of the left side?

it was your statement of wanting to get crimsons , NA's video review, as well that they are a local company to me, that i plonked down the $$ for the crimsons, and i must say, its one of the best purchases i made!

oh one more thing.. the irons i bought from banggood had no name, and were priced at less than SGD19 for 2 + 5 + 10 teeth set ( regardless of pitch) .. have used them for 2 weeks without issue.. tho the main worry would be that they are listed as white steel, and seems susceptible to rust, since over at my side, humidity is around 80% all year round. they all probably come out from the same factory for 'different' companies... tho companies like Wuta might be getting it done some other place..

my SGD0.02 after doing this for about 2 months.. i got a number of stuff from banggood... they operate from China/HK, and for some items, they have a USA warehouse as well .. one of the shops i got my stuff from seems to also get their stuff from banggood or similar.. The finish of the items might be a bit rough, though, base on what i read so far, might no be different from most other suppliers.. while i think a number of items can be gotten 'cheap', i do believe some items that you need to have need to be of good quality or finished/polished 1. knife 2. diamond stitching Chisel/Awl ( if hand stitching) Your knife needs to cut cleanly.. else you need to spend more time cleaning up the edges for stitching chisels which punch thru the leather, i find the unfinished metal teeth tend to create drag when trying to pull it out of the leather, making marking the holes a chore.. i did not indicate pricking irons which marks the leather, as you will use the awl to make the hole all the way through.. of course if you were to use it like a chisel, then yes, the pricking irons need to be polished. In my limited experience (namely , minimal exposure to the huge array of brands out there), i like the Crimson hide irons as it is a hybrid between a chisel and pricking iron. it makes holes that are neither too big nor too small that needs to be followed up with an awl ( for up to 4mm thick leathers at least) . The crimsons come polished, so the marking of the holes is a breeze. it however, comes with a price.. for a set of 4 (1+2+5+9 for 3/3.25/3.85/4mm or 1+2+6+10 for 2.7mm), the price is SGD290. They have various sets if needed. I got the 2+5 for SGD130 and will be following up with the 1 & 9 teeth in 2 days time) if getting from Asia is something you might consider, then you could try leathercrafttools.com or goodsjapan.com. based on comparison of same items from both sites, I find leathercrafttools.com to be cheaper (for the items i bought at least).

question: how do you insert the magnet into the top flap ? seems like a single piece of leather with no incisions?

i can't even get to watch 10 mins without one of my 3 kids coming to commandeer the telly..

i dont get that cartoon here.. i've seen Wuta at europelle.. but never come across any amy rokes locally ... i got a number of nameless ones from a chinese wholesale site.. they work ok (both the diamond and euro style), just that they are not polished, so they tend to stick a bit more.. been trying to strop them.. the chinese euro style chisels come in 2 + 5 + 10 was thinking of the 9 prong for 3.25mm .. but decided against it as my use for this size will be on small items mainly .. instead of knocking 3 times, just knock 6 times.. smooth in, smooth out .. so not so headache..bigger items, i think i will definitely want a 9 ( prong) but the main thing i like about crimson is that it is like multiple awls..the holes made , are like what some of the reviewers call, rice shape.. its not as big as a diamond.. and its not a slit like the euro style i have..

personally, while the diamonds are good, i find the holes made tend to be a bit big on the top side, if using the wrong thread.. and using european style chisels or pricking irons, necessitated the use of the awl to open up the hole a bit more.. i find the crimsons to make the hole just nice.. wide enough, but not too wide.. while i wouldn't say that the crimsons made me better at hand sewing, i know that i like them.. it went in easy, it came out easy .. the holes made were nice and tight, and i didn't need to tap them as many times as i would with the other chisels i have unlike the other tools I had (which were China made, finishing was a bit rough, and I've been trying to polish them up a bit), this one was a breeze to use just a card holder i put together after getting the crimsons.. i'm intending to get the 4mm next month .. cant decide between a 2+5 or 2+9 set tho.. the current one is a 3.25mm which i am using for small items (card cases, key tags)... the 4mm will be for larger items..

yippe! i'll be collect my irons tomorrow morning!

good thing for me, is that they are not too far off, and i can collect it from them .. probably a 15 mile bicycle ride to and fro..

decided to get the Crimson irons in a 3.25mm (2+5 prong) set! A bit pricey, but it seems the holes the iron produces is exactly what i want... I watched the review by Nigel, and I like the way he said that if you used these irons, and still can't get good stitching, then it's you and not the iron...

i think the Tandy stuff are made in TW.. so i guess Ivan is the OEM for Tandy, as i've seen some items on a JP site listed as Ivan, but in a Tandy box...

been hearing about Crimson Hides.. didnt realise that they are a local (to me) company!...

ooooooo nice!

i've thought about the same thing too .. though i think that elmers, on the edge of the leather, tend to darken it a lot, and a number of comments i've read, is that it doesnt look burnish nicely with the other parts of the edge.... but of course, those are just the bit that squeezed out... if the whole edge was evenly coated with a light application of elmers, it might possibly look ok? doesn't shine enough, sadly.. but, overall, i am quite happy with how it turned out as it kept down the edge fibers..

@battlemunky that is the look I am going for, tho I am not decided on whether it should be glossier .. thought I see general consensus is that people like shiny things. It was my wife’s idea to try the 2 colors @VabaX I tend to be heavy handed when burnishing .. squashing the edge.. been trying a lighter touch , but tend to have some furry bits left.. like what you and bolt mentioned, I probably have to do a tad bit more sanding between the burnishing..

@Bolt Vanderhuge , you mean the overall edge or the hairy bits that is visible ⅓ the way up from the left side? Not sure if it’s the pine resin picking up fibers in my pocket .. but then again, I didn’t quite burnish the edges for fear of loosing the distinct line between the leather .. like you mentioned, i will probably try to sand it to a higher grit after this .. hopefully this removes the fibers thanks @bikermutt07!

does it need to be shinier? i used 3/3/1 of coconut oil, beeswax and pine resin, as i was wondering if : the oil to absorb into the edge, the beeswax, when rubbed, gets liquefied and seeps into the fibre and pine resin to "glue" down the edge fibres without too much burnishing involved.. the concoction was a failed attempt for thread wax... decided to re-purpose it instead