Search the Community

As is. I don't know if this runs or not. I was told it came from the shop of Art Vancore, a well known saddlemaker in California. we really need the shop space so this project needs a new home. Asking $550.00 and will crate it for that price. You arrange shipping or pickup between Hollister and Gilroy, CA. It is very heavy! Please email me to request photos, they exceed the attachment limit here.

Does anyone have step-by-step pictures of how you knot your thread when threading a needle for hand stitching? I am having trouble with my knots slipping undone as I stitch and would love to not have to re-tie several times. Thanks!

Here is a few of my tips for getting your sewing to look like it was machine stitched. I took a few photos and a video, to hopefully show and explain it a bit better.... As you all know a saddle stitch is very nice looking and is accomplished by threading a needle on each end of the thread. The rule of thumb I use for measuring my piece of thread is slightly more than 3 times the length of your stitching. 3 times the length is how much thread you will use and the little more gives you enough thread to pass the needle into the thread to lock it as you work, and when you get to the end of your piece you have enough thread to backstitch to lock your sewing in place with no nasty looking knots. EG... if your piece to be stitched is 4" long, then you would cut a piece of thread that is 14" long (3 times 4" is 12" with 2" left over to lock the needle and backstitch). You start with your first hole by pushing one needle into the first hole, and pull the thread through until you have EQUAL amounts of thread on either side of your work. Now your ready to start stitching. It is always best to work from right to left, or left to right, but ALWAYS maintain that direction. Imagine your piece of work on a stitching pony in front of you... you have one needle in your right hand, and one in your left to help explain it. In this case I am working from right to left, meaning I push the right needle in first, then push the left needle through. Once you snug up the thread, you start into the next hole with the needle that is now on the right. When doing this, you should notice your right thread is always BEHIND your left thread. This is the key to making it look like it was machine sewn, and getting an even sturdy stitch. Push the right needle through and pull the thread a bit. Then push the LEFT needle through in FRONT of the thread you just pushed through. When pulling the thread tight, always pull the needles from ABOVE the threads in the holes, and when pulling the left needle, make sure it is between and above the threads in the work. The video and pictures below should help to explain this a bit better if I have confused you with my instructions.

On a Facebook group, somebody posted this video of a person making his own stitching pony out of wood. The maker creates an ingenious cam mechanism using a wooden cylinder.

I finally tried my hand at something other than straight-line stitching. Had to make a template, adjusted for size, and practiced on a scrap piece first. The dog won't know the difference. Lucky dog! Jeff

Hey guys, I did a video review of a new titanium (not the blade though!) saddlers awl from France. So I thought I would share with the community here. What do you think? Revolutionary or a waste of money? Click the image below to watch.

Below is an assortment of leather-working tools for sale. This is a lot sale. Everything below is included The entire lot is $75 including shipping. 38 piece hole punch set. (only two punches in the set where used with regularity) Two sets of stitching irons, 3mm and 4mm 4 Xacto knives with blades One Belt end punch, Stitching etcher with 3 wheels, Skiving blade with blades, thin splitting blade with blades, C.S. Osborne Edge Divider #106-12 C.S. Osborne 5 hole punch like new, used once. Leather hole punches included are as follows: 9.5mmX3.5mm (oval) 9.5mm X 2.5mm (oval) 11.5mm X 2.5mm (oval) 7.5mm X 3.5mm (fish mouth) 5mm X 2.5mm (oval) 7.5mm X 2.5mm (oval) 5mm X 3mm (oval) Also included in a 3/8th shaft Leather edge burnishing wheel. Used once to great results. The Fantastic leather burnishing wheel: Sells for $54.00 here on link below, also attached is a video demonstrating the wheel. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fantastic-Leather-Burnisher-HEAD-ONLY-NEW-Even-Better/323208306729?epid=1231479115&hash=item4b40b76029:g:2r8AAMXQcVNQ8Ccp:rk:3:pf:0

I am currently stitching all my wallets by hand because I like the way the thicker thread looks. I have a Consew 207rb5 that I use for any hidden stitches but it will not handle a large enough thread to replace hand sewing the visable areas. Being I am sewing wallets with 3-4oz Harness Leather it’s also crucial to have a feed dog that will not chew up the finished side of the leather. Any suggestions on alternatives to hand sewing that will give the same look with the larger thread?

Silly new guy question here - Can anyone share ideas to keep from cutting up the skin on the first knuckle of my pinky finger when I pull thread through stitching? Am I pulling too tight? Is it the angle I hold my hands? Should I wear something on my finger or hands?

I had great results from my KS Blade irons, but feel I’m ready to push forward to pricking irons, and awls to produce a higher quality stitch(eventually LoL!). Palosanto awls came today, and I was imeadiatly impressed with the quality and finish. Service was personal, and shipping was fast. Now I just need to start punching and stitching some scrap before a mess up any good bridle leather.

Good morning I'd really like some assistance please. I want to make the attached link roll out of leather. Will it be as easy as just folding the bottom part over and stitch the pockets or will the 'fold over' section have to be bigger and separate in order to make room for the bulges of, for example deodorant? Their tutorial says to cut two similar size pieces and sew together. Any assistance in this regard will be appreciated.

https://imgur.com/gallery/bmhP3gY Large assortment. Received as a gift from my aunt. I only use black and white thread generally, so wouldn't ever really use it. (I know, I'm boring =P ) 70 yards a roll. I have played around with probably about 8-10, of the rolls, but never used more than a yard at most of any of them. So, all are guaranteed to be at least 69 yards. =) Very strong thread. That's a lot of thread. You could use it to begin construction of the worlds largest ball of waxed polycord thread and start your very own tourist attraction!... Or just sew a million kajillion delightfully awesome handmade items and share your art with the world! 6 rolls of the .04" waxed poly thread - in top row of photos. Originally $6.60 a roll 8 rolls of the .02" waxed poly thread Originally $4.40 a roll Second row from top in pictures. 29 rolls of the .03" waxed poly thread Pretty much every color they have I think. Originally $5.94 a roll Conversion of sizes for those used to mm- .02" = ~0.5mm .03" = ~0.76mm .04" = ~1.0mm https://www.mainethread.com/ Total paid retail. 6 rolls @.04" = $39.60 29 rolls @ .03" = $172.26 8 rolls @ .02" = $35.20 Total Paid = $247.06 Plus shipping I'd prefer to sell as one lot. Asking $140 Over a hundred bucks off retail!

Photos upon request, since the site isn’t letting me upload them because they’re too big. All machines are local pickup only in Chicago, Illinois. 1) Landis 12L Curved Needle stitcher—red in color, recently cleaned, good condition. Can also provide sample images of how it stitches. $1,850 or best offer. 2) Luberto’s Classic Heavy Stitcher w/ accessories and thread. Capable of sewing up to 3/4” leather. $3,250 or best offer. 3) Landis 400 Line Finisher with Numkeg. Ask for further info. $1,500 or best offer.

I'm working on an idea for a wallet. I'm thinking about using a nice piece of soft green garment leather for the outside, with a cutout "window" showing a white background (a nice piece of white garment leather). Both the green and the white background will be stitched to a thicker piece of tooling leather. I'm thinking about the best way to stitch it, after gluing it down, considering the following diagram: (A) represents the normal saddle stitch, close to the edge. The edge of the green is not underneath the thread. (B) represents the other possibility, where the stitch passes over the edge of the green, locking it down and precluding the possibility of the edge being pulled up as the wallet goes in and out of the pocket over years of use. Is this something anybody here has experience with? There are two other possibilities: 1) Forget the inlay idea, and just tool the design into the leather. 2) Keep the inlay idea, but cut it into the tooling leather instead, dye it green, and then stitch the white background behind the tooling leather. What do you folks think?

I make turn shoes for mostly reenacting purposes. I have decided to up my game by doing some edge trim on a two-toggle Scandinavian turn shoe. The trim is skived to about half or 1/3 thickness on one side. The thicker side of the trim is first butt-seamed to the edge of the upper leather. Then it is turned over so the thinner skived side is inside the shoe and is then stitched to the inside of the leather upper with a sort of hidden whip stitch. These whip stitches do not show through the leather. I understand how to do the butt stitch, but I was wondering if there were any tricks or techniques or even special tools for this. I have some shallow curve bladed awls but have not used them for this purpose. (first image is a process photo by Simurlan. The images of completed shoes are made by Alexey Nikifovorov. )

I've been looking into getting some diamond stitching chisels and came across Weaver's brand of chisels. They are really cheap compared to many other brands that are known to be of good quality. Around $20 for a set of 4 irons, which makes me worry that the tines will snap as soon as I try to use them. Should I just get a slightly more expensive set like the Seiwa? If you have any experience with the Weaver irons, please let me know your thoughts.

A friend of mine asked me to replicate this Greek key pattern on his belt for a new hat band. I've been working with the pattern for a while now with little success. Problems are: 1) replicating stitch width to create pattern (left to right distance when looking at the photo) - all of the patterns I've tried are way too wide so it looks like random stitching versus a pattern, and 2) leather tearing out between stitching - when I do get the holes close enough to resemble the pattern then it tears out as one piece. Anyone done something like this? Any tips are greatly appreciated.

There are many threads on the forum discussing diamond stitching chisels but I thought another one was in order. Several years ago I purchased a 2.5mm Tandy Craftool Pro diamond stitching chisel. The chisel has 10 teeth and at the time was not offered in a 2-tooth version. I didn't buy the 1-tooth iron because I believe it is mostly useless. I will explain later. Those who use chisels already know why. I really liked the chisel and hoped that Tandy would listen to feedback and begin producing the same iron in a 2-tooth model. Well, good news, they have! Around the time I purchased the iron I was doing some fine work such as watch straps and because of that was looking to achieve 9 SPI. I already owned some of the Tandy Craftool diamond chisels (the black ones), but the SPI I had was approximately 7 and I felt that was too big of a stitch for the straps. The chisel is not perfect, but I still find it very good and use it quite often. I will add some photos (sorry for the poor quality) and add some thoughts that I hope will help folks who might be considering these chisels. It at least should be helpful for comparison's sake. Since the first chisel I have purchased two more but in the 3.5mm size. I went with the 8-tooth and the 2-tooth models. First, a comparison of the holes. The tools are made the same, but the size of the tooth and the spacing is different as shown below. As you can see, the row on top has 8 holes and then 2 just to the left of the main line. I wanted to show both irons so you can compare the two irons and see that they indeed match in tooth size and spacing. The middle row is the 2.5mm iron that has 10 teeth but only punched about halfway through the leather. I did this to show that it could be used as a pricking iron should you wish to do that. Notice that when the iron is given a light tap it creates a nice impression but not nearly as big as when it is hammered through. This certainly could be used as a reference in traditional saddle stitching with an awl. The angle is flatter than what is optimal, but it still is functional. Finally, the bottom row is the 2.5mm 10-tooth iron struck all the way through. I had a piece of approx. 3mm vegetable tanned scrap as the subject piece. The irons themselves present very well. They are stainless steel and have a satin finish to them. Nicely engraved with the name of the tool and an item code and number of teeth. Would be nice if they said 2.5mm or 3.5mm but they do not. I also took a pic of the 2.5mm iron sideways to show how sleek the tool is. In this orientation, the tooth is very slim. The real problem with the tool is the width of the tooth. If it were only a little narrower..... Here are a couple of figures that I hope you find helpful for reference. Tandy Craftool Pro 2.5mm diamond stitching chisel Tandy Craftool Pro 3.5mm diamond stitching chisel Tooth options: 1, 2, 4 and 10 Tooth options: 1, 2, 4 and 8 Stitches per inch: 9 Stitches per inch: 7 Recommended thread: 0.6mm Tiger Thread or similar Recommended thread: 0.8mm Tiger Thread or similar In summary: I really wanted to show the tools, the holes they create and discuss some of the features so that if someone is considering buying them they have a frame of reference and a testimonial from someone that has used them. Earlier I mentioned that I believe a 1-tooth chisel is mostly useless. I didn't say totally useless because I suppose there might come a time where you need to make just one hole. However, for most work a chisel with 2-teeth is a better option. When doing a long row of holes, the 8-tooth or 10-tooth chisels are great. When you come to a curved section of stitching, you change to the 2-tooth and continue around the radius. Since the tool has two teeth, the required spacing between holes is maintained. How do you do that with a 1-tooth tool? Well, there is a way, you basically use the tool with 8 or 10 teeth but hold it on an angle and just make a faint indentation beyond the straight section into the curved section. You then pick up the 1-tooth tool and hammer it through in the location of the indentation. So it does work, but you have to be very careful of the angle now. You might end up with the correct spacing but get the orientation of the tool out of whack and end up with an errant stitch. So a 2-tooth tool is the way to go IMHO. I didn't take the time yet to actually put some thread in the holes but I will and submit it later on. But for now, I trust there is some helpful information here that will give you some food for thought. I mentioned that the tools aren't perfect and here are some reasons why. Although the tools are quality SS, nicely weighted and finished, the teeth themselves are quite rough on two of the 4 sides of the diamond. Because of this, the iron tends to bind in thicker leather. Makes it necessary to use a wooden block to remove the iron. This can be helped by punching the iron into beeswax every so often or polishing on a buffing wheel, but it would be nice if you didn't have to do that. Second, the width of the tooth. I would like to see the size of the tooth slimmed down just a bit. As it is, you can see in the pictures that the "diamond" hole that is created is fairly thin but quite long. Wish it could be a little shorter. Finally, the angle of the tooth. As it stands, the angle is probably around 30 degrees or so. Would be much better if it were steeper, say 40 to 45 degrees. I think a steeper angle of the hole would result in a more angled stitch. So what's my bottom line? Am I glad I bought them? Yes, I find them to be good tools. I don't use them on everything, but in the right place they do the job. I use the black Craftool chisels on some of my work and use a traditional awl method on others. I'm hoping that Tandy will evaluate the tools over time and respond to the feedback they have received. Tandy has stepped up its game, introducing some really nice tools lately. If they could make just a few adjustments in these irons they would have a real winner. If you want more detailed information on these tools and reviews of a number of pricking irons and diamond chisels, you can look up Nigel Armitage on Youtube or at his website, ArmitageLeather.com. The Youtube videos are awesome and you get to see Nigel actually stitch the holes created by the irons. Nigel's website has a .pdf file which contains detailed reviews much more comprehensive than what I offered on not just these irons but most of the major players in the marketplace. It is THE reference for this type of tool. Nigel is a master, I'm a hobbyist with a strong desire to do good work. Hopefully this will help someone.

So I would like to start out by stating I know that this a leatherworking forum and not woodworking, as I am not a woodworker by any means. But I am curious. I have access to a lathe and would like to try my hand at making my own awl haft. But I am not sure how to make it hold a blade, prefferabbly to be able to replace the blade. Would anyone have any experience they would be willing to share with a newbie?

I have seen many leatherwork sites that say their belts have 500,600 or even 800 stitches. I know that is possible but do those makers do it with one continuous piece of thread or with a number of threads. If with only one, how not to have those spots of melted polyester if I use Ritza or similar?

So while making it around a corner, I got an errant stitch, noticeably longer than the others. I'm sure there is a simple and obvious explanation for this, but I'm way to new at this to get it. You know, now that I look at it again, the stitches after the corner are shorter...what is that all about? And I realize the border got a little wonky at the corner, that's another story altogether. Thanks for any advice. Jeff

Well, after getting some practice, including gluing up a proper thickness piece, I stitched a knife sheath. It went PRETTY well. I went REALLY slowly. I didn't use the edge guide, as I'm waiting on a part. I only messed up on the stitch line once, at the acute angle at the tip of the sheath. If I hadn't used a stitch groover it wouldn't show as much. I'm thinking I'll darken the visible line somehow. I'll be cutting a slot in the needle foot so I can see the line better. I imagine with practice I'll get a better at following the line. It appears that I'll have to do some more grinding/sanding on some parts, like the feed dog or edges of the plate. On the back you can see some sharp cuts from those parts. I didn't mind so much hand stitching the smaller, thinner projects, but keeping the back of the piece straight was always a challenge for me. Also, the thickness of holsters and welted sheaths was not as much fun as I'd like. This monster of a machine didn't break a sweat, though! The edges aren't finished yet. Just did some quick burnishing so far.

Hay guys, Anyone have experience with the cobra class 4 sewing machine? I am having trouble keeping my stitching even top and bottom from the edge. (top perfect, bottom to close to the edge or comes out the side of the edge) I'm using a left presser foot and the regular plate with feed dog. My thread is 277 top and 207 bottom - bonded nylon. I'm going through 2 layers of 8oz. leather. my stitch line is 3/16" from the edge. I also use the platform that mounts to the table stand so I can have a flat surface for my work to rest so I don't have to juggle the work and guide:) I see people using their machines on youtube to make beautiful stitches, and i would love to know how to do it also. Any advice would help, not many vids out there that show different ways for setup. I love projects that have the stitch line closer to the edges, it makes the work cleaner looking. Thank you for your time

Any tips on how to properly line up inside and outside pieces for saddle stitching holes using diamond point chisels? I am having a dickens of a time lining up the saddle stitching holes i make with a diamond chisel on the front of my card case or wallet with the holes i punch in the inside pieces. I have tried using the BRL precut templates which come with hole marks but none of my diamond chisels match the spacing and doing a project with a one hole chisel seems crazy. Last time i had the holes on the outside piece going in one direction and the holes on the card case inside pieces going in the opposite direction. (A shame because I spent a lot of time tooling some sumo wrestlers.) I can't afford a drill press or anything like that. Any ideas and pointers will be most welcome. Thanks !

Finished up the order of custom skinner pouch sheaths. Couple carved and a couple plain. All with different color stitching. Carved sheathed are antiqued before final finish coat is applied. It seems that thread color can make a big difference in how the leather dye color is perceived. Thread colors are natural, olive green, dark brown, emerald green. I had one person comment that the plain brown sheath with the olive stitching was a much nicer brown than the one with the natural stitching. Same color.