Help Picking Out A Stitching Chisel/iron

[DavidL]

Only issue with the Seiwa is you can't get small ones, if you want a decent SPI you are stuck with the marking/awl types.

I don't think Osborne do very high SPI irons either.

One comment regarding the dixons, you have to ask for thin teeth on the lower SPI tools, dixons teeth get thinner the higher SPI so make sure you tell them what you want, they will finish them to your requirements at no extra charge ( dixons are hand ground, just like the Blanchards, not sure where the idea they are machine made came from)

Is this confirmed? I just look at the iron prongs and they look exactly the same, like it was made by machine. To do all that work by hand and sell it to a wholesaler at 40-45 dollars

for an hour of work or however long it takes wouldn't make sense business wise.

Vergez had some marks that I can see were made by hand and prongs were slightly different, that the dixon don't have.

If dixon was made the same way as vergez then they charge way too little at 67 dollars for a 7 SPI w/ 8 prongs, where a vergez w/ 8 prong is 180 dollars. The one I gotten may have been the "b" selection since the handle has a hump in it, the dixon wasn't bought from dixon directly. Vergez is worth the extra money since I'm looking to sell my dixon and my 4 prong vergez for a larger vergez since the dixon quality was not how it was in their prime. At first the dixon was usable, now it creates more issues as I am perfecting my skill that are more aparent

Edited June 2, 2014 by DavidL

[tossik]

Macca, lol I like your joke. But no, nothing bulky, I like clean smooth lines, almost like machine sewn. I will be making sleek, modern looking items.

What is the best place to buy irons such as dixon?

[DavidL]

Macca, lol I like your joke. But no, nothing bulky, I like clean smooth lines, almost like machine sewn. I will be making sleek, modern looking items. What is the best place to buy irons such as dixon?

abbeyengland was where I got my dixon, it is the newer modern dixon. The prongs are double the size vergez so you have to file it down. Dixons are less than half the price for double the prongs compared to vergez.

The older dixons are better quality, and vergez is comparable to them, id recommend you get the better tool and keep it for years.

[Macca]

Well if you take your iron into dixons to get it thinned you see the bloke taking it to a grinder & thinning it by hand/eye, so I'd say that was hand made !

If you look at the teeth, you don't see machine marks unlike those cheap Chinese ones.

Don't compare UK & French pricing, salaries / cost of living is quite different between the two countries, also, Dixons are typically down to earth tools for the saddlery trade, Blanchard have a bit more marketing power behind them, basically they charge what they can get away with, very good tools but very, very expensive.

Macca, lol I like your joke. But no, nothing bulky, I like clean smooth lines, almost like machine sewn. I will be making sleek, modern looking items.

What is the best place to buy irons such as dixon?

What country are you in ?

abbeyengland was where I got my dixon, it is the newer modern dixon. The prongs are double the size vergez so you have to file it down. Dixons are less than half the price for double the prongs compared to vergez.

The older dixons are better quality, and vergez is comparable to them, id recommend you get the better tool and keep it for years.

You can ask dixons for thinner teeth, they don't charge any more for this

[tossik]

If I get two irons right now, what spi should I get from a maker such as dixons?

I am in the Northern USA.

[Macca]

Not sure where to get over there.

For sizing, 8&10 would be my choice to start

Or...hmm.. Maybe get a 7 & 9 ?

You can probably guess this is very much a personal choice thing...

[DavidL]

Vergez overcharge since hermes and louis vuitton use it and they are the top in quality in a niche market. But they are reasonable since the tools last decade.

Vergez takes it an extra step after they grind it down on a grinder and finishes it with a metal file, which was I believe how dixon use to do it in the past, not any more though.

The vergez whole tool has a v taper and works to distribute the force better and the metal is also bevelled.

In my opinion buy once and you don't have to deal with selling your old pricking iron to buy a vergez. You may like the dixon tool however as its personal preference.

[Macca]

Sounds like you got a bad one David.

All my dixons are like that, nice v taper with perfect teeth alignment.

I posted a close up here of ones I recently bought, I'll try and find the post.

[Macca]

Here it is

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=51392#entry327700

[DavidL]

The one I received has the taper as well. the stem is rectangular and bulges slightly when it gets to the taper. The V taper from the side view also isn't even, so when I hit the iron it won't distribute evenly.