Search the Community

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents on a set of chisels/pricking irons I picked up off of Amazon recently. I usually post to Reddit/r/leathercraft, but figured someone over here might be interested. I had not heard of this brand before (Wuta Leather), and knew that they were based out of China, based on shipping info/wait time. I've been waiting to pull the trigger on a decent set of European-style irons, so I figured if these were bunk, I wasn't out a whole lot of cash. You can find them on Amazon in two sizing options; I got the 3.38mm as I usually make wallets and handbags. I was asked how they performed, so here's the review: Wuta also has a store on Ebay, but if you order there, they have different irons available and have a "W" on them. These do not. Even though the irons do not have the "W" stamp, they appear to come from the official Wuta factory. So did the thread I ordered. They are nicely polished, sharp, and made of quality stainless steel (site says "white steel"). Only downside is that they are quite small, about 4" in length. They are quite sharp - this is with one punch of the mallet through 5-7oz veg tan: I've punched them through 3-4oz veg and 5-7oz veg and stitched with .45mm, .8mm (sorry that it's yellow and a bit hard to see), and 1mm threads. I would not recommend using 1mm thread, as it was difficult to pull through. I usually use .8mm thread in whatever I'm making and this was the ideal thickness to get the regular, clean stitch pattern that I like with the European-style chisels. So, that's it! I haven't owned any Blanchards or Dixons, so I can't compare them to much, but I'm happy with the purchase, and for the price compare to those brands, I'm really happy.

I'm looking for a place/ supplier to get some high quality diamond hole stitching chisels (particularly around the 3 mm size). I've heard that some of the Japanese ones are great, but most of my internet searches seem to turn up cheap looking ones. Right now I'm using Craftool and Craftool Pro chisels and I just want to invest some $ in better quality chisels. To be clear, I'm looking for stitching chisels that punch diamond shaped holes, not lacing chisels that punch slits. If anyone knows a high quality brand or a source that sells some top notch chisels, please let me know. Thank you!