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@Tastech you describe very eloquently how I feel about old tools, and not just old tools, old furniture, old well-used recipe books, and so many other things, lovingly made or used. I will do as you suggest with these tools. I will clean them, wax them (I make a blade wax which keeps my blades free of rust in the high humidity that I live in, so evidently effective) and admire them (which I do anyway). I got these for a song. I do not pay eBay prices, they are ridiculous except for rare instances. My tools will stay with me my entire life. After that, yes, to someone who will love and care for them. It must have been wonderful talking to the Hungarian gentleman. All that knowledge! I hope you picked up a lot of information from him.

@Tastech I do not have any of those tools or space to work with acids and other chemicals. I need to do everything by hand, at home. Leatherwork is a new hobby for me. So it will have to be things like spirit and steel wool to get them clean. I should be able to separate the handles - f not I can request my friendly neighborhood cutler. I will probably have to go the primer, paint path since I do not plan to make shoes but I will get inventive. Old tools, especially leather ones, are unfortunately difficult to resist. Then caring for them is another issue altogether. But I think you understand where I'm coming from, since you apparently also have a collection that you rarely use, in spite of being a shoe maker. Your tools look lovely, by the way.

Thank you @bruce johnson. These are cobbler's tools, so I will be able to use them only when using thick leather or I will need to get inventive. But i do plan to use them. @DieselTech Here is a pic of some of the tools. I just cleaned and dried them, then applied blade wax. The paint, as you can see, is patchy on all except one of them. I will probably be able to get some of it off. I do everything by hand, of course, so it will take a bit more time. I doubt I will be able to get it all off though. I might need to do as @fredk suggested and use Hammerlite directly. Or maybe a spray like @bruce johnson says - Ace or Rustoleum. Does humidity affect any of this? The ambient humidity is really high here, right now at 65%.

They forecast rain this week but dry as ever although the air is very humid. I have the leather ready. I live in hope!

The brand on one appears to be Mahlen, on another it seems to be Koritsor or Koritson. The names are not very clear so just guessing a bit. The others are not clear at all. Cannot find much on them. Do any of you have an idea about these brands? The paint will preserve better but until I get some, I will probably just use a blade wax and add them to the list of items to check twice a month. It is so humid here, sometimes the bare floor feels damp inside. I have dehumidifiers and monitors galore with the leathers and tools.

I found some old tools recently. Nice ones. They all have what appears to be black paint on the metal, except for the actual working area. I was thinking of replacing that paint, since it has become a little patchy. I will need to strip off all the old paint first, isn't it? What do I use to do that? And after that, what paint do I use? Is it a good idea to replace the paint or is it better to strip off all the old paint and use a good metal wax? I would love some advice.

On veg tan leather, Fiebings Oxblood becomes a bilious pink. I tried a very diluted form - still a bilious pink. No idea why it's called Oxblood. I gave up trying to get a pink. Will watch here, I hope someone knows how to get a good pink on veg tan. @Littlef I did not get a red, I got a pink - a deep pink or a light pink. Maybe it was the leather. Beg tanned leather has various shades.

I have discovered that, as @zuludog says, more than how expensive a beveler is, it is the sharpness that matters. Even more important is getting the angle correctly. Most videos use firm, thick leather which even a newbie can bevel but when we get down to projects which might use leather of different thicknesses and tempers, it is a a different matter. I keep scraps of everything that I make and try to bevel those well. If I cannot, I don't bother to bevel. Rather an unbeveled edge than a badly beveled one.

You could try dampening the leather with a spray bottle. That gives a more consistent casing. Also you could check to see how deep the water has penetrated. Look at the edge of the leather; you should get an idea. It should penetrate to about half the depth of the leather. More and it might become soggy, less and it will not take a good stamp.

Applying a thin layer of Neatsfoot oil onto leather before dyeing helps the dye spread better, in my opinion. We were just talking about block dyeing in another thread. Have you seen the Tandy video?

@Chipster99 it is exactly the same thing. I would look at the Springfield video but I found all the Springfield videos rather too long - this one in an hour and a half!. Like a movie! I never watch movies as I tend to fall asleep when watching them and the same happens here. Instructional videos longer than 30 minutes tend to do that. You are evidently fine with it, so if you could let me know the relevant time on the video where they actually show something of substance, I would love to look at those sections. However, Tandy has an excellent video which teaches block dyeing in detail, AND it takes less than 15 minutes! The main difference is that I use a big piece of crumpled cloth or large sponge, Tandy wraps a sponge in an old T-shirt. I am trying that the next time. It might make the process easier and give me more control., especially when dyeing sections like in the Tandy video. For the whole thing, like I did, it does not matter as much. @DieselTech you might want to check the Tandy video..

@NatesLeatherGds thank you.

Yep. That is how we humans control the weather. Another way is to get the car cleaned and waxed - it is sure to rain that day - did so even in bone dry Nevada!

That is what happened here too.

@fredk That's a good report for a single location. For you too, mineral oil (baby oil) has stiffened quite bit. I have used Vaseline on several items that I made for home use - they get wet off and on but do not seem to absorb any. So for leather that will get wet for short periods, Vaseline is evidently a good water repellent. It has not rained here recently, unfortunately. so cannot do the next test just yet. Keeping watch on the weather. As soon as rain I predicted I will start the Vaseline test. I plan to check after 1 hour in the rain, 2 hours and so on for a few hours, to see what happens. I will be very specific about the thickness of leather used, maybe use different thicknesses. Shopping trip tomorrow for that, methinks.

LOL. Same here.

@DieselTech Thank you. I believe it is. I discovered this by accident one day when learning dyeing and then learnt that it is actually a thing. By accident it was easy; to do it deliberately, not so at all. You need such a light hand to dye the surface and leave out the stamped depressions. I tried painting a resist carefully into the stamped depressions but that requires a careful hand for the outlines. Else it looks odd. Now, I just stamp deep, mop the dye sponge until it is nearly dry and then dye very lightly, in layers.

Been practicing for a while now. This was first dyed but then I decided I did not like the color and antiqued it, brown I think. (Label is hidden under stains). The stick with it is plain undyed bamboo.

I make leather cozies for my fruit fly traps - just plastic containers with diluted vinegar, which frequently get wet. To keep waterproof, I apply several layers of diluted resolene, then wax and then petroleum jelly, buffing each thoroughly. It works well and no excessive shine either.

@fredk I'll try both techniques. Up to now, I have been making a light line and then a firmer one. Maybe go a little slow as well so that I stop in time when I come across a hard section of leather. @TomE, I have bought a spirit lamp although not had the courage to use it for anything - scared I might scorch the leather. But I can try now, since it is only practice pieces. My fixed size creasers and beaders are fine, all old ones. The adjustable one is new and makes a thick line. Maybe I will thin it a bit. Currently, it is only of use to make a stitching crease. I want to add creases to everything too - it looks polished.

Exactly. Working from kits and ready made patterns is fine but when one wants to really work with leather from start to finish, there is always more and more to learn. Reading leather I have no idea how to do. I have a relative idea - weight, temper, type of tanning.. the usual broad definitions. But how to actually identify a good piece, I still know very little. People here together have thousands of years of experience. and very luckily for noobs like me, most all of you are ready to share.

I use both types of edge creasers although I prefer the fixed size ones. The adjustable one makes rather thick lines. I have several sizes of creasers and a couple of double creasers as well. I do have a #1 which makes a line close to the edge but that works fine. I agree that a light line first followed by a firmer one gives the best results. Trial and error taught me that. I only lightly case the leather. If the leather gets too wet, it smushes on the edges and the lines go wonky. I do not heat the creaser. The leather edge is not beveled. Without beveling, I get a firmer edge along which to move the creaser. I am still practicing at this point and do use leather that appears as level in temper as possible - medium firm. My first practice piece, the lines went wonky because I was still learning but that leather was fine. The 2nd piece had the lump. I could not draw a straight line in that section even with a tickler and steel ruler. I also use beaders - as long as the leather is good, these work very well. I really like that look. I make fruit fly trap coozies from these pieces. So the pieces are cut into neat rectangles which are perfect to practice on. I will look for good harness leather to work on and do as @chuck123wapati says about smoothening the leather as well.

Yes, I gathered it is a feature of leather - after all, it comes from animals which had active lives and I bet humans have such lumps and bumps a well. I can buy the leather in person and do so when I can. But I find that I can't feel such lumps. They only get in the way when tooling. When it's patterns, you can usually accommodate them. With straight lines, that is not possible. Maybe the next time I come across such a bump, I will stop tooling and see how it feels to the touch so i get some idea. Anyway, for all my questions, I usually look elsewhere before I ask questions here. I have that book - good one - but still, some questions happen, when one is an absolute noob. There are so many informational threads here, most of the time, even questions are not needed. This issue though is rarely mentioned. When @Dwight did, I was delighted to know that I was not the only one facing it because somehow I was doing something wrong. Thank you for your guidance.

You mean case it, use a slicker to smooth out all the leather so any lumps get smoothened out first and then tool? Good idea! I will try that. Thank you.

I recently started using edge creasers and beaders and love the results. However, I face a problem with sections in leather that seem bumpy (or lumpy) and cause the tools to swerve no matter how hard I try not to. Sometimes they get squishier than other sections of the leather as well. SInce beaders and creases make lines, the swerving is particularly noticeable. I am using economy grade leathers right now, for practice and to learn. Do such lumps occur in the higher grades of leather as well? Is there a way to get rid of them before I start tooling? How do serious artists manage with such sections of leather if it occurs everywhere? I know @Dwight I think, has spoken about this problem in another thread. How does everyone manage this? Especially people who do book binding, where such tools seem to be routinely used?