I don't want to damage my chisels

[MtlBiker]

This is a basic question which most of you probably have an answer for, but I am not sure what to do...

What do you use under your leather assembly when using a stitching chisel?  Obviously nothing hard.  Or even a cutting mat.  I have a couple of those poly cutting boards but I'm not sure that's the best to use with a stitching chisel.  I use those with hole and corner punches.  I think it was @fredk who at one time posted something he'd made... some kind of wood cut into pieces and then stacked together with the grain facing up.  That might be good.  But if I made something like that using 2x4's for example, there'd still be a small gap between the pieces.  Maybe I could live with that.

Is there a better solution or product?

(I've ordered some expensive stitching chisels and want to make sure I treat them properly and don't ruin them.)

 

[Sheilajeanne]

After ruining a set of chisels on my poundo board, I now punch with a thick piece of belly hide under my project.  Cheap, and easily replaced when it gets too many holes in it!

Edited May 5, 2022 by Sheilajeanne

[MtlBiker]

23 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

After ruining a set of chisels on my poundo board, I now punch with a thick piece of belly hide under my project.  Cheap, and easily replaced when it gets too many holes in it!

That's a great idea!  Thanks for the suggestion.  But as a newcomer to leather, I'm going to have to learn what belly hide is.  I have veg tan leather in different thicknesses and of course chrome tan also.  Is belly leather very soft?  (Like a soft under belly?)

Scratch that... I just found that it's just veg tan, probably a bit thicker (6oz+).  I do have some veg tan that thick but I have no idea where it comes from (belly or what).  I'll give that a try tonight when I get home.

Edited May 5, 2022 by MtlBiker
found the answer

[fredk]

A. the board in question

1. the grain of each block is turned in a different direction

2. The individual blocks are glued together and were clamped up real tight. The glue was taken to within about 1/4 inch of the top.

There is minimal gap between the blocks

This sort of thing can be made from a slice of a soft-wood tree trunk.

B. I also sometimes just use a scrap piece of leather, usually on top of my blocks board. Any scrap leather will do, thick or thin, veg or chrome

C, I've also been playing with this; a thick block of candle wax. For smaller projects. Either punch through into it or use an awl to poke a hole. When the surface gets a bit chewed up I just re-melt it and let it solidify again = a new flat surface

[Sheilajeanne]

This piece of belly leather was unusually thick. Parts of it are around 10 oz!  Tandy was having a sale, and I bought it to practice my carving skills on. Found it had other uses, too!

Fred, that looks like a great idea!

Edited May 5, 2022 by Sheilajeanne

[MtlBiker]

52 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

This piece of belly leather was unusually thick. Parts of it are around 10 oz!  Tandy was having a sale, and I bought it to practice my carving skills on. Found it had other uses, too!

Fred, that looks like a great idea!

I just tried with a  piece of veg tan that's 8+ oz thick.  Put it on top of my poly board and it worked like a charm!  Thanks again!

 

[Spyros]

$2 plastic bread cutting board

That worked great for a couple of years, eventually I wanted bigger and I bought a giant piece of HDPE from ebay and screwed it on my bench.  That was like $60 or something 

[MtlBiker]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

A. the board in question

1. the grain of each block is turned in a different direction

2. The individual blocks are glued together and were clamped up real tight. The glue was taken to within about 1/4 inch of the top.

There is minimal gap between the blocks

This sort of thing can be made from a slice of a soft-wood tree trunk.

B. I also sometimes just use a scrap piece of leather, usually on top of my blocks board. Any scrap leather will do, thick or thin, veg or chrome

C, I've also been playing with this; a thick block of candle wax. For smaller projects. Either punch through into it or use an awl to poke a hole. When the surface gets a bit chewed up I just re-melt it and let it solidify again = a new flat surface

 

Thanks very much, Fred!  Why do you turn each block so the grain is in different directions?  I just tried using some 8+ oz veg tan on top of my poly board and that seemed to work.  But I'll keep my eyes out for some suitable soft wood I could use to make something like yours.  That really does look pretty darn effective.

Cheers!

 

[MtlBiker]

3 minutes ago, Spyros said:

$2 plastic bread cutting board

That worked great for a couple of years, eventually I wanted bigger and I bought a giant piece of HDPE from ebay and screwed it on my bench.  That was like $60 or something 

Well, you've certainly got more experience than I have, but my thoughts on that are that the $2 cutting board (I use those often to make templates) isn't going to absorb much if I use a stitching chisel on it.  And I'm not sure what HDPE is, but it sounds expensive and hard.  I wanted something that would not dull or harm the stitching chisels if I went through my assembly into whatever I have underneath.  I just tried what @Sheilajeanne suggested above... I used a piece of 8+ oz veg tan on top of my poly board and it worked like a charm.  Rigid enough to pound against but soft enough not to harm the chisel.

 

[fredk]

Three reasons for turning the grain;

1. when doing a line of sewing or lacing holes the multi-punch won't follow any one grain

2. I also use this for quick rough out cutting, again, the blade won't follow any one grain

3. there is a possibility that one block may start to split - that split can't travel through to any other block

HDPE =  high density polyethylene plastic - wot plastic milk jugs are made of, kitchen cutting boards and such. It is hard. Maybe Sheilajeanne can tell us how it compares to her poundo board.  I don't have one of those

 

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by fredk

[dikman]

HDPE = high density polyethylene. Same thing plastic milk bottles are made of. I made a couple of mauls from chopped up milk bottles, melted down. I suppose if I was keen enough I could make a cutting board using the same process, but it would be a lot of work!

[Spyros]

5 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

Well, you've certainly got more experience than I have, but my thoughts on that are that the $2 cutting board (I use those often to make templates) isn't going to absorb much if I use a stitching chisel on it.  And I'm not sure what HDPE is, but it sounds expensive and hard.  I wanted something that would not dull or harm the stitching chisels if I went through my assembly into whatever I have underneath.  I just tried what @Sheilajeanne suggested above... I used a piece of 8+ oz veg tan on top of my poly board and it worked like a charm.  Rigid enough to pound against but soft enough not to harm the chisel.

 

Ηigh Density Polyurethane, just soft-ish plastic basically.  Not too soft not too hard, Its perfect.  The cutting board was made of the same.

Low density Polyurethane is basically foam, like those insert cutouts they put inside tool drawers and presentation boxes.  High density polyurethane is basically the same thing but more dense.

[Sheilajeanne]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

HDPE =  high density polyethylene plastic - wot plastic milk jugs are made of, kitchen cutting boards and such. It is hard. Maybe Sheilajeanne can tell us how it compares to her poundo board.  I don't have one of those

I used plastic cutting board in my kitchen, and also have a couple for leatherworking. However, the HDPE seems a LOT harder to me than a poundo board, which is like firm rubber. After ruining those chisels on the poundo board, I'm not tempted to do any punching on the HDPE~

[LeatherLegion]

MDF board works great. 

[MtlBiker]

59 minutes ago, LeatherLegion said:

MDF board works great. 

Sorry, but I just don't agree.  MDF (we use a lot of it in our workshop) is really quite hard and I wouldn't risk using it as a base for my stitching chisel punching.  I still think @Sheilajeanne had the best suggestion here... to use thick veg tan leather under the assembly I'm punching through.  That way there's no risk to the (rather expensive) stitching chisels I plan to use.

1 hour ago, Sheilajeanne said:

I used plastic cutting board in my kitchen, and also have a couple for leatherworking. However, the HDPE seems a LOT harder to me than a poundo board, which is like firm rubber. After ruining those chisels on the poundo board, I'm not tempted to do any punching on the HDPE~

Where did you buy the poundo board?  A search of Canadian sources didn't turn anything up other than the poly boards sold by Tandy etc.

Would you use that under your belly leather when punching with your stitching chisels?

 

[Northmount]

53 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

Where did you buy the poundo board?

https://tandyleather.ca/products/poundo-boards?_pos=1&_sid=b6b8e5059&_ss=r

MDF very smooth, but ... may contain metal fragments.  Have seen sparks fly occasionally when cutting a 3/4" sheet.  So would not use it for anything where a sharpened edge is pressed or hammered into an MDF board.

 

[Sheilajeanne]

The poundo board was from Tandy. And yes, I have it under the belly leather when punching holes.

[Spyros]

3 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

I used plastic cutting board in my kitchen, and also have a couple for leatherworking. However, the HDPE seems a LOT harder to me than a poundo board, which is like firm rubber. After ruining those chisels on the poundo board, I'm not tempted to do any punching on the HDPE~

How it feels is irrelevant, just make sure it says HDPE not LDPE or something else

I've been pounding $200 KS blades on it for a couple of years now, and sometimes *really* pounding them all the way in, and they're just as sharp and straight as the day 1.  Same with my cheaper ones.

[Sheilajeanne]

Spyros, I have NO idea what the original label on my cutting boards said! I got them a long, long time ago. So, not going to trust them with my chisels.

[tsunkasapa]

+1 on the HDPE. I use under all my sharp tools. Round knife, punches, occasionally thonging chisels. No damage to any of them. I have a big 32"x24" on my bench, and a 12"x48" I use outside when I true up the straight edge on a side for strap cutting. Good stuff.

[Handstitched]

9 hours ago, Spyros said:

$2 plastic bread cutting board

Pretty much the same here. I use a  plastic kitchen chopping board  for cutting belt tips etc.. Its a fairly  decent one only  about $20.  Some chopping boards have a hard plastic, no good for cutting  tools, let alone kitchen knives.. The one I have is a soft-ish  plastic. About 6 months old, so far so good and kind to my tools.  

HS

[billybopp]

I use a cutting board for punching holes, and have for many years.  Just a couple of quick notes - Some cutting boards are really hard, so probably should be avoided.  The one I prefer is a bit softer, inexpensive and works great.  

Side note, if you're using a hole punch on these it'll sometimes leave the leather plug behind in the board.   I used to keep my cutting board for leatherwork just outside the kitchen.  Had a new roommate move in who threw it out one day while I was at work.  I went to use it and it wasn't there and asked ... He said "I threw it out - there were a bunch of these gross worms growing in it".

- Bill

[fredk]

Just to settle the 'argument' about HDPE. There are various grades of it

I have some small pieces, UK made, which are extremely hard and I have some Ikea kitchen cutting boards which are much softer. With the first I'll not put a punch to but I cut on them with a box-cutter/Stanley knife. Just a few cuts and the knife blade is blunt. With the Ikea boards I do occasionally use them with round hole punches and they don't blunt and leave a circular cut in the board

[zuludog]

What to back/support your leatherwork when using stitching chisels?

I used to use a typical plastic/HDPE kitchen chopping board, about  8 or 10mm thick .... then one day I couldn't find it..... and still haven't, it must have been thrown out in one of my infrequent but ruthless tidy outs

So as a quick & temporary measure I used an old magazine - and it worked perfectly!

It is firm & resilient enough to support the leather but soft & yielding enough not to blunt or damage the chisels .... and it is effectively free. As it gets damaged just move it around so you always have a new/good surface to work on.

That was 2 or 3 years ago, and I've been using them ever since, and intend continuing to do so 

[dikman]

That's a good idea, I might give it a try as a way to "recycle" magazines before throwing them out.