Dannyman

Wow, good tips. Thanks guys. Sharpening..., why didn't I think of that?! They must be quite blunt. Much like factory knifes usually are.. I would never have thought of applying wax to the work piece or punch tool. Wonderful I was actually wondering if those remover plates were advisable, but I'm going to try now. Will make a wooden one. Especially after investing the time to sharpen my chisels

Even two more questions if that's all right :) My current chisel, that I showed in the picture, is diamond shaped and toothed. Is this common? It's near impossible to get it out of the leather, after punching. I am thinking of buying a set of three chisels of this kind, on your recommendations, is this any good? Can this be considered a decent one?

Thanks for your explanation SUP. It's very clear . @jcuk: Thanks for the trick. That's a simple but smart one... I'll remember that... @toxo:

Why would I buy a single hole punch with changeable heads and use that in conjunction with a diamond shaped awl? Is it hard to aim the awl exactly in the same direction, each time you follow up a hole with it? Or is there a technique to make sure of that? I had a look at buying a single hole punch. The seller only offers two kinds of changeable heads.; hollow and regular. Does hollow just means a bigger hole? What exactly is so advantageous about a single hole punch or round hole punch? I was looking at this set of punches very curious :). I just bought the The Art of Hand Sewing Leather btw. Thanks for the tip TomE

So using pliers isn't uncommon? Thanks for mentioning. That manages my expectations a bit. In video tutorials stitching usually goes real smooth and easy. Thanks SUP, I'm going to watch that video. Just bookmarked it...

I probably wasn't very clear, sorry for that. I only have one needle in the leather, at all times. And even that was hard :).

Thanks DieselTech, I ordered them. The saddle stitch shouldn't be the hardest part in leatherworking, I reckon. It will probably go smooth now

Quoting DieselTech: "You dont have to have both needles in the hole at the same time. But yes smaller needles will help. I use a john james 002 & 1/0 harness needles. " Just to be sure, do you mean John James harness needles: size 0 (1/0) and size 2 (002) It's a bit confusing to say the least, how they express the sizes Thanks!

EDIT: now I see the link. Thanks! Hi there, thanks for replying. I see no link when hovering with my mouse over it. Could you edit it in for me? Or maybe it's me? BTW, I don't even try to push two needles at the same time. I pull the first needle trough with the hand holding the second needle - holding them as a "cross". But it's so tight, even that doesn't work. Probably with pliers, I could. But that, of course, isn't sustainable.

Hi everyone, My first post on this forum! I am hoping to get some help. I took a piece of old leather belt to practise stitching and I'am running into trouble right away. I bought a leather crafting set from Amazon + some hole punches/chisels but my stitching holes seem too small or my needles too big. I searched the web to see if I could source hole punches that leave bigger stitching holes., but found that the distance between the tooth changes, often not the diameter of the tooth themselves. So what should I do? Buy smaller needles? Get a bigger punch set? I'am a bit confused. I want to do the saddle stitch but it's way too hard to get the needles through... Some advice would be wonderful! :) I'am very curious..., Thanks!