Hardrada

FatCat beat me to it. You need to pull at an angle, yes. Roughly the same angle as your holes' slant, actually. Also, get your pony perpendicular to the floor (a wee bit of a slant is OK, but not more than ~15°). Once you've developed your angled pulling into muscle memory you can change the angle on the pony and your brain will adjust your arms automatically to maintain the pulling angle with respect to the leather; but for now, do yourself a favour and set it perpendicular, mate.

I hear you. I've done commercial photo work too. I always tried to make business owners understand that specially now in the age of the Internet, when customers who buy online cannot physically handle an item it is all the more paramount to convey as many of the item's properties (texture, dimensions, &c., &c.) visually, which requires proper lighting and styling. But no, they always think that all it takes is an elcheapo lightbox off Amazon and an iPhone and can thus 'do it in house', don't they?

Then, there are some resellers of Blanchard with pics like these: https://craftntools.com/vergez-blanchard/pricking-irons/pricking-iron-size-9

Bcraig, the bit about "all STITCHING chisels" being diamond-shaped is wrong. Some chisels are European style and their holes are not diamonds but slits like these: \ \ \ \ \. I just got me a pair of those from KS Blade. They are NOT cheap, though. (https://ksbladepunch.com/product/pricking-irons-black)** Seiwa makes an economical version of the European style chisels, which you can get from Goodsjapan.com; I wasn't impressed with the reviews I watched of them, though. I've no problem swearing by the Seiwa diamond-shaped, but their European style just didn't rock my boat. Part of the confusion with these items comes from diluting the definitions/boundaries of two different items that are used for stitching: i.e. PRICKING IRONS vs. stitching CHISELS. The exhibit Spyros posted above from Blanchard is a European style PRICKING IRON, whereas the one in the picture below is a Seiwa diamond CHISEL. Note that even Goodsjapan.com is labeling the latter as a 'pricking iron' (AND as a chisel ). See? Even suppliers do it, adding to the confusion. So, what's the difference then? A pricking iron is designed to MARK where the stitching holes on the leather will go. The holes are actually made by piercing the leather with a stitching awl, whose blade is usually diamond-shaped. Pricking irons are NOT designed nor meant to pierce (punch) through the leather and make the holes –although I reckon it's possible to use them as punches if you strike them hard enough with a mallet and your leather is not too thick. A stitching punch, on the other hand is designed to not just mark where the stitching holes will go but to make them as well. They are punches—built strong enough to pierce through thick layers of leather without breaking. So, you no longer need an awl to stitch. Chisels are now preferred by many leather workers because it speeds up the process and neats up the stitching. As mentioned above, you can have chisels in both diamond and European style. They even make round ones (https://ksbladepunch.com/product/round-dent-black), and, yes, for lacing too. Lacing punches, however, are not angled, but horizontally oriented, like so: – – – –. In your specific case, I would recommend the Seiwa diamond chisels: https://www.goodsjapan.com/seiwa-diamond-leather-stitching-chisel-leathercraft-pricking-iron-tool-6x4mm/a-19162 I linked you to the 4 mm version, but they have them in other stitching measurements, such as 3 mm. It all depends on what you're making. See here: https://www.ianatkinson.net/leather/leatherguide.htm#stitching _____________________________ **Again, you have a manufacturer adding to the confusion by labeling a punch a 'pricking iron'.

Goodsjapan. Goodsjapan. Goodsjapan. I've got their 4 mm diamond Seiwa chisels. If you can have it cheap and good, these are it.

This reminds me of my days in photography: I would agonise over issues the client didn't notice. I was consistently baffled by hearty "that looks great!" comments because in my mind I was screaming to myself "the background is too in focus! The catchlights are too noticeable! [Endless et ceterae...]". Then again, it's true to a point, so careful. One thing I've seen people DO notice is the stitching. It's kind of a sign of good craftsmanship. When I shewed my goods to one of my university instructors she immediately asked if I had a machine because the stitches were so spot on. She was doubly impressed when I told her it was all done by hand and bought a pouch and ordered a belt for her husband. It's my firm belief that the dividing line between good and amateurish is a clean edge: but now I know there are two dividing lines and one of them is the stitching.

I don't bother sanding: I always found it too messy and then the edges' edges mushroom. I glass my edges instead with my skiving knife, then proceed to applying Edge Kote or edge paint.

LOL. They E-mailed me yesterday before I tried to contact them, asking for my phone number because they will use Fedex as the post is terrible right now.

Yep, this is what I got upon ordering: Hence my asking Spyros, trying to gauge their current manufacturing and shipping times since I don't wanna be breathing down their neck with constant "is it sent, yet??" I ordered a similar set but in #7: one two-prong and one 7-prong. ADDENDUM: Hah! I just noticed, what they state might experience delays is the delivery, not the manufacture. Delivery has been abysmal all across the gamut: a small parcel from Lonsdale in Vancouver took two weeks to get to Sask. And that's just domestic post.

Hmm, I ordered on the 8th and haven't yet received anything: neither confirmation nor product. Maybe I should get in touch with them. Thanks.

When did you place your order? Did you ever get a dispatched confirmation with a way bill?

Precisely why I prefer to pay top buck for my tools even if that means I can only buy few of them at a time. As I always say: "I'm too poor to spend my money on junk".

Yup, that last tool is what I bought for curves! Except that I got mine from WindFire Designs. For perfect circles, though, I still think the hole punches are the way to go. I ordered a couple from Abbey England. Ditto for the billet ends.

Best tool for cutting curves I've used. I tried Exactos, clicking knife, steel curve tools, even bought an Olfa circle cutter (worst tool for circles, actually) and none of those cut smooth curves. Enter the Don Carlos half-moon knife and the curves just practically cut themselves.

Ditto here.

Half-moon (round) knife. They were right: once you use it you won't want to use anything else. My Barry King mallet. My Kyoshin Elle skiving knife. My Kyoshin Elle #1 edger. My ProEdge cocobolo burnisher. Last, but not least, my Schärf-Fix paring machine.

10-4. Got my Don Carlos knife from Abbey England at long last, after much hunting high and low for one from other European sellers and one American on Amazon.com that wouldn't ship to Canada. https://www.abbeyengland.com/solingen-round-knife-329-8376.html

I see. That's good info, as I might eventually buy a straight razor (using Schick twin blades currently). I want my strop mainly for this guy: The strop from Tandy is just too small and I'm afraid I'm gonna slice a wrist artery or something. Interestingly, the Tandy strop has two sides, one with grain side up and one with flesh side up. Being a noob I applied jeweller's rouge to the smooth (flesh up) side and left the other one compoundless for plain stropping.

Thanks, Tom!

Stoopid question before I make the strop: which side on top? Grain side or flesh side?

I got a side of latigo and was wondering about this too. I'm feeling kinda 'ouch' because my strop requires a piece of leather 22" x 3.5" and the side of 7 oz latigo was $310 CAD, but if latigo is the best I can muster I guess I'm gonna go that route. I also have some W&C English bridle—would that work better?

Either a Sam Browne stud with lining over the base as fredk suggested, or set the stud over a patch of leather that then will be stitched in place. I've done both: Magnets are indeed an option. There are stronger ones even without going all the way to rare earth magnets (which I'd advise against using on a phone case). I wouldn't use snaps. I have a fabric phone case that uses a snap to close the belt loop and once I scratched my phone by pressing that snap closed whilst the phone was inside the case. The imprint of the snap went through the fabric: I wasn't happy.

But, isn't that how garment leather is tanned?

The gov't has since 'clarified' on the shotgun issue: https://swf.sk.ca/federal-firearms-ban-faq/ Still, that momentary respite is no reason to rest on one's laurels. The 20mm bore limit is a very shrewd and devious proviso: it definitely smacks of first-degree criminal ambiguity that can be exploited by overzealous peace officers. They're also threatening (in their last paragraphs of their OIC document) to add more guns to the list because 'people will try to replace their now prohibited arms with non-restricted ones'. Canadians should write to their MPs and sign the following petitions: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2576 https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2574

Support these fellows and join the fight: The CBC is a fake news propaganda outlet. After they were amongst the media outlets bailed out by the gov't with $600 million, do we expect them to tell the truth? Not soon after that bailout, the gov't gave them (or tried to give them) another $2 billion or so. Should we expect honest reporting from them? Sure, they might throw in the occasional 'oppositional' piece to give an appearance of neutrality, but they're as neutral and honest as the Devil.