Handmade Tools

[Cattle Hide]

The following photos are of the various tools I have made to fabricate holsters, sew leather and a tool rack for stamping tools.

These are holster boning tools made from UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) Polyethylene. These were a bear to fabricate as the material is extremely abrasion resistant. I used a combination of sanding, filing, buffing with a raw cotton wheel (No Rouge) and final polishing on a piece of typing paper! Don't laugh it works great on plastic. 6" long by 3/4" wide scale fro comparison.

This is a power edge slicker made from a craft store spool and 3/8" bolt and washers. Canvas is tacked with small brads and saturated with natural saddle soap.

These are knives made from a power hacksaw blade (At top of photo, unmodified). The lower knife was made 30-40 years ago by my father who was a tool maker.

I sharpended these with the various instructions found here in numerous posts. The old knife is so sharp it practically falls through leather. Thanks Dad....

This is a horizontal stitching pony made from dimensional poplar wood available from Lowes and other sources. Scrap pieces are included to show how it works.

Jaws are leather lined and simple clamps are used to hold closed and to the table. Table clamps left off for clarity.

This is the rear of the pony showing how one can add leather shims to keep jaws parallel

This is my strop made from poplar and poster board with red rouge

Stamping tool rack made from dimensional poplar using my drill press with milling vice. 24" long holds 46 tools of various sizes and diameters.

[Luke Hatley]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention..........you did well.

[Blazin]

Making your own tools ROCKS! Congrats on your ingenuity. Inspiring!

[King's X]

Very Kewl!

[bdcoffey]

Nice! I like making tools as well and its neat to see what others are making.

[Knipper]

I really like the job you did on that tool rack!! Convenient, keeps all the tools at hand and keeps them safe. Now if I can train myself to put my tools BACK in the rack, I'll be a happy camper!

Knipper

[Nooj]

Great job on all those tools! (and great job on that holster you posted in the holster forum- very nice).

The bottom knife in the picture looks very similar to a Klein wire stripping knife I had. We've got some old big hack blades at work... I think you just inspired me to give it a try ;-)

I made a mallet out of that UHMW PE, and a wide slicker. It does takes a lot of work to get 'em smooth! I don't think I went nearly a fine with my polishing as you. I bet yours are a joy to work with.

Beautiful tool rack too- there's nothing like having your tools right where you want them when you need them. I like the little padding under the bladed tools. Nice touch.

Nooj

[Cattle Hide]

Thanks Nooj for all of the positive comments.

I had a vision for all of the tools and kept working until I got to where I thought I could. As usual this got me in some trouble as it did take a lot of time to do the UHMW tools. The good news is that this material is great for slickers. As you know from having worked with the stuff it actually feels waxy it has such a low coefficient of friction. Made the molding of the holster easy.

Thanks for your comments on the tool rack. The pads for the cutting tools are self adhesive foam "Feet". They are about 1" wide by 3" long in the package. I also placed a couple under the the rack to keep the wood off the bench.

Next project is another holster and some 4" square coasters of various designs. This will give me tooling experience and a pile of gifts when the holiday season arrives.

[BearMan]

Hi Everybody,

Here are a couple Stitching related handmade tools, I made a couple years ago. The first one is my "Rapid Repeater",,, it uses an awl, to punch the holes for hand stitching. Makes it a lot faster,,, & keeps everything in a lot better alignment. The next thing is my little stitching pony. It's made to sit on,,, so if I want to take my stitching inside,,, I can do that. I also have a stitching clamp I use quite a bit, since I do a lot of Bible Covers & Portfolios,that require more depth.

Thanks for looking,,, these are just the tip on the "iceburg" Ed the"BearMan"

[Leather Guru]

The following photos are of the various tools I have made to fabricate holsters, sew leather and a tool rack for stamping tools.

These are holster boning tools made from UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) Polyethylene. These were a bear to fabricate as the material is extremely abrasion resistant. I used a combination of sanding, filing, buffing with a raw cotton wheel (No Rouge) and final polishing on a piece of typing paper! Don't laugh it works great on plastic. 6" long by 3/4" wide scale fro comparison.

This is a power edge slicker made from a craft store spool and 3/8" bolt and washers. Canvas is tacked with small brads and saturated with natural saddle soap.

These are knives made from a power hacksaw blade (At top of photo, unmodified). The lower knife was made 30-40 years ago by my father who was a tool maker.

I sharpended these with the various instructions found here in numerous posts. The old knife is so sharp it practically falls through leather. Thanks Dad....

This is a horizontal stitching pony made from dimensional poplar wood available from Lowes and other sources. Scrap pieces are included to show how it works.

Jaws are leather lined and simple clamps are used to hold closed and to the table. Table clamps left off for clarity.

This is the rear of the pony showing how one can add leather shims to keep jaws parallel

This is my strop made from poplar and poster board with red rouge

Stamping tool rack made from dimensional poplar using my drill press with milling vice. 24" long holds 46 tools of various sizes and diameters.

Nice job on your work. The idea of making your knives with high speed steel is a good one. I've been using those saw blades for many years and they are the best ! Try making those plastic boning tools from bone,feels much better in the hand. Keep up the good work !