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Hi All - Up for sale are several stitching clams I recently constructed. These clams were handmade from a variety of hardwoods. Each has been signed, numbered, and dated. Due to the steam bending / lamination process and the use of different hardwood species, each clam is slightly different in its construction. Unless otherwise noted, each clam features the following: Profiled jaws, padded with whiskey Buttero leather Retaining strap for storage Contrasting wedged dowel reinforcements at joints Hidden needle magnets Mortised brass hinges Clam #2 (Ash / Sapele construction) - $500 (Sale Pending) Clam #4 (Walnut / Sapele construction) - $525 Clam #5 (Sapele / Walnut construction) - $525 Prices include domestic shipping. If you are looking to ship internationally, please message me for details on the additional shipping cost. Additional details (along with additional pictures) for each individual piece can be found in my etsy listing here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/784930167/leather-stitching-clam-saddlers-clam

Hi all - I’m sure many on here have seen (and like me, drooled over) the Fred Moreau clams that a few lucky souls were able to get their hands on. For my part, I’m still working with a very inadequate Tandy stitching pony, while continuously promising myself that I’d one day get around to building something bigger and better. That day finally came when I visited home for the Christmas holidays and I convinced my dad to donate his skills and equipment as a woodworker to help me in my endeavor. My goal was simple – create something as close to the Moreau clam as possible. Anything else just seemed inferior. For the wood I used zebrawood for the jaws (each jaw is a laminate of 4 pieces at about 1/8” thickness each, bent into shape with a custom form), walnut for the base, maple for the “lips”, and a combination of walnut / ash for the wedged dowels. Overall, the piece is 100 cm from tip to base, and has a little over 20 inches of space to work with on larger format projects. The one improvement for next time (if there is one), is to add some sort of internal “guide rails” on the jaws to keep things aligned well. The hinge has a little bit of play, so there’s some lateral movement that I’d like to get rid of. I’ve tried to chronicle the build process in the imgur album blelow (I’ll apologize in advance for my pictures – I’m slowly being convinced to spend money on a nice camera). This hasn’t been put into action just yet, but am looking forward to tossing the old tandy stitching pony, and actually being able to stitch bigger things like bags without holding them in my legs BUILD ALBUM: https://imgur.com/gallery/7C6NI1t

So I have a bunch of wood. I just made a stitching clam (Pics below, not great but it will work) I already have wood cut for another and enough to make at least 4 more kike it. I also want to make 4 (1 for me) stand up clams also. Literally standing on the floor 4ft tall out of 2x6x8 cedar boards. Free wood, a saw, a drill, and router to you... Help for me. I even have a few hinges if you are not particular. Win Win I am tired of drilling an screwing everything to my table to hold it still. Anyone up for a Pony Party? You bring the bolts & HW, I used a 5 and 6 inch in these pics. Here is a thread with ideas I had, and here is what I made. PM me or respond here. No staining involved this way we are done in 1 day. http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/78885-time-to-replace-the-shetland-ponyfoal/

I got one of the Tandy ponies when I started this leather thing. I got the higher level one, but it still needs some help to be "not annoying" to use. So far I've re-contoured the top of the clamp. (cut/peeled off the leather, contoured the wood on a disc sander, reglued the leather.) It was just too blunt for my liking. I also added a wire to guard the thread from hanging up on the wing nut. THAT is really annoying! Then, I counter sunk the bold head at the other end of the bolt from the dastardly wing nut. There are many ways to immobilize that bolt, this is just what I came up with. As you can see from the pictures, I have some extra Styrofoam insulation hanging around. I used contact cement to put a small piece on each side of the clamp, tapered so as to not let the thread hang up. Also put a larger piece at the bottom of the clamp to hold the awl. It's all easy stuff to do, but it makes a huge difference when trying to get a stitching flow going. Oh, and still had a lot of Styrofoam, so I made a holder for various misc. stitching stuff. It won't last forever, but I can make a thousand more with my stash of material.

I started new bag today.