I Need Tools!

[Fiddlegirl89]

Oh, I'm not wishing him ill at all. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with him!

I do have a friend with a tack shop who orders from Weaver, so I'll look at that as well.

[Fiddlegirl89]

Ok...I didn't know what kind of mallet I had, but I found it after a bit of googling! It was the Osborne Split-Head Rawhide Mallet. I see it's pretty doggone expensive, so I guess my question is, is it worth it, or is there a more inexpensive option that would be just as good? Here's a link to an Osborne one for sale on Ebay: http://compare.ebay.com/like/120638552436?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&rvr_id=228377816630&crlp=1_263602_309572&UA=%3F*I8&GUID=4676ccb412f0a0265297cd57ff691df4&itemid=120638552436&ff4=263602_309572

Maybe it would work to buy a more inexpensive one for now and upgrade later? And if so, can anyone recommend a good rawhide mallet? It would help if I knew anything about shopping for rawhide mallets...lol! I'm learning a lot as I go!

Thanks!

[dirtclod]

If you get a good maul you will throw rocks at the mallet. I know because i used a malletl just like for a couple of years then got a maul daylight and dark difference.

[BearMan]

Hi Kayla,

What will you be using the Maul/Mallet for? Are you doing tooling,,, or for driving punches? If you need something in-expensive to drive punches with,,, places like Lowes, Home Depot,,, or a local Hardware store carries a replaceable face poly type mallet, that would work just fine for that. They cost about $13.00. One brand is: VAUGHAN 12 Oz. Soft Face Hammer Something like that would get you by, until you could get something better.

Here is a link to Lowes, with a picture:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_348341-414-SF12_4294857565_4294937087_?productId=3333072&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Hammers%2BSledges_4294857565_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1%26page%3D3

If you're needing something to do tooling with,,, a Maul is the best way to go. Hope this helps,,, Ed the"BearMan"

[Fiddlegirl89]

For now, I'll just be punching...english points on the ends, and slits sometimes. I'd like to try my hand at tooling at some point, but I don't know how...yet. Not knowing how to do something doesn't usually stop me for too long, though! Thanks for the info!

I see that you make Bible cases...my Dad has really been wanting to make Bible cases for a while. I made mine several years ago, but it isn't really any good. I'm the only one in the family who knows anything at all about leatherwork, and I don't know that much, so it's going to be interesting! I'm looking forward to figuring out how to make new things...

I realize that the price on tools shouldn't be the big deal, because high quality is best...but, my budget for getting started again is pretty small, and I'd like to save as much for leather as I can. It will be a while before I'm selling enough to get out of the hole! So, for now, I'm trying to balance quality with price!

Thanks again!

[bootsmt]

Hale and co is no longer on ebay, he has his site up( still tweeking it) he sells Barnsley leather tools. His site is www.haleandco.com and the site to view all his tools is www.bonanza.com under sellr name haleandco. His bussiness phone number is on both sites, suggest you speak to him in person, he very knowledgable and old school about leather work. Frank

[Fiddlegirl89]

Well, in the past couple of weeks, I've been a little too Ebay-happy! The way I figure, I can get tools that look a little rough and clean them up. So, that's what I did/am doing! So far, I've gotten a round knife, mallet, another fid, and 3 draw gauges. The draw gauges are where I went a little crazy...! Here are a few pictures of 2 of the draw gauges. I don't have pictures of the third that I bought from Ebay...just got it today and I haven't cleaned it up at all. The all metal draw gauge was one I found at a local antique shop for a steal.

Before/mid-cleaning...

I didn't get a lot of pictures before I shined them up nicely. So here they are all cleaned up. I was able to get all the rulers shined up nicely as well. They look a LOT better than they did when I got them!

\

Anyway, I'm excited about getting the tools I need, and I'm loving these tools already! It's been great to have all of the gauges here, so I can decide which one feels best for me. My plan is to decide for good which one I want to keep and turn around and sell the others. These are all C.S. Osborne, marked with the Newark, NJ stamp. The third draw gauge (the one I received today) is rosewood and silver, with the silver running down the middle. I'm going to celan it up and get pictues of it as well, but I'm not keeping it...I think I've decided to keep the more coppery looking one of the two above. (The second picture up^ and the one in the middle in the picture of all three.) What do you think...am I crazy?! That's what my family thinks....

Thanks so much for y'all's help!

[dirtclod]

They cleaned up real nice. But sometimes cleaning a old tool or anything else ruins the value if you want to resell them to a collector. The rosewood handled ones are he oldest. Guy i used to work for uses blades for utility knife i belive in his strap cutter if you don't to try sharpening the other blades.

Edited May 13, 2011 by dirtclod