SeaCitadel

Ah I forgot about Osborne. I have a couple of their snap setting tools. I see that they make a pricking iron, but there's not much choice in the way of size/style/spacing. Same for Ranch to Arena. Not that I know of. There's a Canadian store called Hand & Sew that has a section for Canadian-made items but it's mostly patterns, some small sanding tools. Crimson Hides finally got back to me. I admit I was surprised to find that they do not manufacture their own tools. Made in China. I was hoping to update the information in my original post but find that I cannot. Is there a deadline on post editing?

Sorry for the long-windedness, so TLDR: does anyone know of American-made stitching chisels, or at least a company that manufactures their tools in-house? Full version: when I can, I prefer to buy things made in North America (being from NA myself). I'm not saying locally made tools are better, but I prefer to support a local market. I'm very likely going to upgrade my stitching chisels soon so I've been shopping around. Does anyone know if American made stitching chisels exist? I don't think they do, so I would settle for a company that actually makes their own tools, and doesn't outsource to a common manufacturer. I've sent a couple emails out to places that interest me to find out this information, but have yet to hear back from all of them. I'd also be interested in keeping this list and updating it as time goes on so others may refer to it. I haven't gotten incredibly far in my research yet, but just thought to pass on the info. Kevin Lee : Chinese company, manufactured in-house Buckle Guy / Corter : American company, manufactured "overseas" Crimson Hides : Singaporean company, no reply yet I'm also thinking about buying thread from the Maine Thread Company. Has anyone used their stuff before (twisted, braided), what did you think?

I'll remember that next time I have a molded piece to tool. I asked about the stamp because I also have a Sergey dragonscale, but a different model. Thought it looked similar!

That's really nice stamp tooling for a molded object. At what stage did you do the tooling? If you did it before molding I'm very impressed because I don't see any distortion or stretching. And if you did it after molding I'm equally impressed because it looks nicely aligned going over the corners. Good job. And out of curiosity, what brand and type of stamp did you use?

The entire belt and holster setup looks really amazing. On the sandals, how did you attach the leather to the base? I see stitches, but can't imagine you stitched into the cork...

Can you elaborate? I'm not familiar with white collar, but I'd love to know how they copied me I think I should have used only studs, no keepers. I wouldn't trust the keepers alone to keep the lid shut. I added them to keep the studs closed, but this is my first use of Sam Browne studs and it turns out they can withstand a good pull before opening. I don't have much of the bridle left after this project, but those are great tips if I ever pick up more. Thanks all for the comments and tips.

Very nice. Now the handles will outlast the bag in stead of the other way around.

Thanks for all the opinions! I guess this is just another bit of experience to remember for next time! It absolutely was a face-palm, or at least forehead-palm.

I while back I asked in another thread about stiffening leather while keeping it thin as possible. I finally got around to finishing the project. The main body is I think bridle leather of some kind, wet molded. Straps are veg, and accordion is the thinnest cow I could find sandwiched around stiff card stock (thanks to user fredk for that suggestion). I'm a fairly inexperienced leatherworker, and looking back there are several things I would try to improve on or do differently altogether, especially with the accordion. Placement of the backstitches on the straps were fiddly because of the overall stitch pattern and the fact that stitches needed to go from one thickness of leather to two. Sam Browne studs are placed poorly as they are in the way when sliding the straps through the keepers. The lack of foresight on that one really bothered me. Main body edges are a bit fuzzy because I only water slicked them, and this before wet molding. Not sure if I'll bother correcting this.

Nice! You got an audible 'wow' out of me when I saw the scene with the elk. Very detailed.

What are your opinions on barge cement consistency? Do you have a ratio of cement to thinner? When mine begins to get too thick to brush on comfortably (like thick honey), I add barge thinner by eye and mix, but sometimes it gets goopy. What would you compare your preferred consistency to? Honey, syrup, motor oil?

After a visit to my leather supplier, I ended up choosing some 0.5 mm chrome tanned cow. They had pigskin, but the surface was a bit too rough. I might update when the project is complete, but I'm a slow worker and this project is being somewhat made up as I go along. Thanks for all the input.

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to investigate pigskin as I've never worked with it before.

Someone has requested from me a leather accordion-style file folder. The part I'm pondering most over is material for the internal dividers. I don't want to use leather just from a practical standpoint. The request is for 12 folder slots, and all that leather I feel will weigh too much and/or be too cumbersome. Ideally I'd like a natural material, i.e. not plastic. I'm thinking canvas, but wondering if it will end up being too floppy. Cardboard is also off the table because it will just end up tearing at the seams. Any ideas for a natural material that is relatively thin but has a degree of stiffness?

One opinion is that quality of an item and the cost to produce it are not incredibly important, and that the "quality" (if that's the right word) will be dictated by the price you set. Now obviously there are limits to that idea. You can't charge a thousand dollars for a piece of garbage and expect it to sell. Likewise, charging $15 for something that costs you $100 to produce will put you out of business. But from my observations, people will decide what an item is worth after seeing the price. How else can one plain T-shirt cost $5, but the same T-shirt branded with a popular logo cost $80? Is that shirt going to last 16x as long? I think not. Granted, a lot of time and money has been spent building up the clout of certain brands, but I think the principle remains sound because I have seen it on smaller scales. No-name furniture selling at department store prices, and furniture of equal (shoddy) quality selling for quadruple the amount in a "designer" showroom. The point is that setting the price also sets your clientele. Someone who wants a unique, high quality, handmade leather wallet, and is willing to pay for it has different shopping habits too. That's why the first page of leather wallets on Etsy is all under $100, and most under $50. Don't base your business practice on this opinion though! It's just food for thought. I saw an interesting video a while back that touched on these types of pricing dilemmas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xyCr70aw2U