Would Not Work!

[Tex Shooter]

Forgive me for the poor picture! The shape of the tips are much more precise that they look in the picture. I recently bought these two Tandy diamond stitching chisels and because of the crude machine work I could not pull them out of the leather even when I just barely put the points through. They had a lot of burrs and very steep tip angles. I got a saucer of water to keep them cool and re-shaped the tips and took off the burrs. Now they slide out of the leather nicely. I did not destroy the angle and the stitches look good. I use a stitching chisel like a pricking iron and just barely break the opposite surface I then use a diamond awl to open the diamond hole up. Even crude tools can be made to do a nice job. -- Tex

[Bob Blea]

Tex, what did you use to polish the points? Was it a grinding wheel or just some fine grit wet/dry sand paper?

[Tex Shooter]

Grinding wheel, but you need to do it very slowly and wet the tips very often. Then I used some wet/dry sandpaper, a thin fine diamond stone and finally rubbing compound. -- Tex

[WyomingSlick]

Bravo! Too many times I read comments from people on here bitchin' about some tool. It is nice to see that some people understand that most tools need to be tuned up to work at their best!

[Bob Blea]

Thanks Tex, I've got some older lacing chisels that I've thought were pretty sticky and I've often thought about trying to sharpen them up. You've made me think I should give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Bob

[humperdingle]

I have some cheap hole punches up to 3\4" diameter... They were always causing difficulties when trying to remove from thick leather, so tried pushing the cutting edge onto a slab of saddle soap prior to punching hole... Works a treat and the punch just popped out.

I was going to try and polish the punches but my sharpening skills are broken :D

[silverwingit]

What worries and confuses me about those Tandy Pro-Line punches is that they are supposed to be case-hardened. Now I don't know much about case-hardening, and please correct me if I am wrong, but I think the hardening is most pronounced at the surface of the resulting metal.

If that is true, and the tool surfaces aren't well finished to the point of requiring additional finishing, would that finishing not diminish if not entirely remove the hardened surfaces? And if that is true, what would be the point of the case hardening in the first place, barring any marketing ploy?

And if that is true, one could question Tandy's motive in introducing this "superior" line of tools?

Inquiring minds would like to know especially since this one just purchased a half-dozen Pro-Line punches.

Thanks,

Michelle

[electrathon]

Michelle,

Case hardening is hard on the outside and less hard on the inside. Truing up the outer edge of the tool should not be enough to go through the hardened layer. Sharpening of all cutting tools is necessary, better tools need sharpening less often and arrive sharp.

These tools are without a doubt "superior" to the tools Tandy has been selling. But it is a scale. The old tools would rate a 2 and the new ones a 5. They are superior compared to other Tandy tools, but have a way to go to be high quality. They are only about $6 each, it is hard to expect too much.

Aaron

[Tex Shooter]

I have made about 20 sheaths with these tools since I modified them and they are staying sharp and strong. Aaron is right though and I did not take too much off of the points for that reason. Here is a picture of the smallest sheath that I make using the largest tool only. It is for a 3 1/2 to 3 5/8 stock knife. I can cut and hand stitch 4 of these in about one hour. -- Tex