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pgivens

European Stitching Chisel From Goodsjapan

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This sounds about right! Can't wait for the review.

Hi Jan C I have tested quite a few irons.
Tandy, Dixon, Osborne, Craft-Sha, Pro-Line (the name may be wrong as this is popular on eBay), Seiwa, Kyoshin and Blanchard. These are the most readily available irons today.
If you can think of any i have missed, let me know.

Nige

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Mr. Beans, you are a legend. Thank you for everything you have brought to our craft/art/passion. Just knowing you take the time to read and add is very inspiring.

Thanks

jr

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Ordered 2.5 mm set and the 3mm set as well as a wallet corner tool. Placed order via net on 18 Jan and they arrived today the 23rd of January. I paid the extra for EMS mail and figured it as part of the of the tools. That being said two sets of irons, the small $25.00 corner punch and expedited shipping was still cheaper than one set of Blanchard irons.

They are stainless, magnet won't stick so no rust issues around damp veg tan.

Blanchard's rust like any other carbon steel.

For those of you not familiar with Japanese tools the corner punches may be a little bit shocking to you. The pricking irons are beautifully polished.

The corner punches are hand forged and NOT at all polished. Same way you get the woodworking tools. They still do apprenticeships in Japan and sharpening is a skill you're expected to have. It cuts just fine but I'm the guy who sharpens his new utility blades before use so as far as in concerned I've never bought a truly sharp tool.

Now to go stick some leather.

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post-53835-0-86063000-1422033212_thumb.j

Edited by Oldtoolsniper

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I forgot to update this thread but I too received mine this week. I paid for the mid-grade shipping and the tools arrived in 7 days (5 working days). First impressions are that they are very nicely polished. Any fears I had about the teeth being too large have been erased. I bought the 8SPI (3mm) set and I think that .8mm Tiger Thread is too thick for these holes. Need to pick up some .6mm now :[

These euro style pricking irons are harder to line up than I had anticipated. With the diamond chisels, you have a point to set on the line so it's easy to keep perfectly straight. With these, you have a sideways surface and you're trying to get the line right in the middle of it. I'm sure I will get better with some practice. There is also no issue with going all the way through two pieces of 4-5oz with these. It does make the hole on the front side pretty large to go all the way through, though.

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Thanks for the update pgivens.

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Thanks for the update, pgivens. Bear in mind that pricking irons aren't really designed to go all the way through your leather. They are designed to mark spacing and should go just deep enough to help guide the angle of a diamond awl that you use to actually make the hole. The diamond punches/chisels that you referred to are designed to go all the way through, and that's why they are straight sided for most of the length of their "tines". I know exactly what you mean about lining up pricking irons since I ran into the same problem when I first switched to them from the diamond punches. I found that the best way to deal with that one, for me, was to scribe a VERY light line alongside where you want the holes and align the edge of the pricking iron with that line.

Hope that helps

Bill

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But the difficulty is my record stands at about 1 hickup and hour... I was thinking of running a wheres the hickup competition for each video, but i couldn't afford the prizes :head_hurts_kr:

It is a no brainer... I have used Dixon irons for years and they do do the job, that has to be said. but the steel isn't strong, the two tooth irons, certainly in the slimline versions can bend and the finished quality leaves something to be desired.

I am quite taken with the Kyoshin European irons... I will add that the polished finish you see in the photo above is how they come. They do not stick in the leather like Dixons irons can, even when tapped gently.

I haven't had them long, I haven't been using them years like I have the Dixons, so this opinion is very much here and now, but... if you had a full set of the Kyoshin Elle irons, I do not think you would be disappointed.

I will also add that Goods Japan have excellent customer service.

For the price to quality ratio... at this time... a winner.

Nige

Any hints as to when the iron comparison drops?

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Jan, I am all ready to go...

I am waiting on the final irons to land from Goods Japan, the last order apparently landed in the Caribbean.

I toyed with the idea of omitting these or doing a second add on but I think it would have been too disjointed.

I will wait, it shouldn't be long now... if they land when expected, Monday, by the end of next week would be a fair bet.

i hope!

Nige

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Thanks for the update, pgivens. Bear in mind that pricking irons aren't really designed to go all the way through your leather. They are designed to mark spacing and should go just deep enough to help guide the angle of a diamond awl that you use to actually make the hole. The diamond punches/chisels that you referred to are designed to go all the way through, and that's why they are straight sided for most of the length of their "tines". I know exactly what you mean about lining up pricking irons since I ran into the same problem when I first switched to them from the diamond punches. I found that the best way to deal with that one, for me, was to scribe a VERY light line alongside where you want the holes and align the edge of the pricking iron with that line.

Hope that helps

Bill

Yeah I know they aren't meant to go all the way through, I just mentioned that because I know a lot of people use them that way. I have tried both methods. At this point I feel less comfortable using them than I do the diamond chisels, but I think it's mostly due to my lack of comfort in aligning the tool to my scribe line and the fact that I don't like how my .8mm thread looks through these holes.

Have you switched to pricking chisels for good? Never to go back to the diamond punches? At this point I'm not sure which way I'll end up going long term.

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Jan, I am all ready to go...

I am waiting on the final irons to land from Goods Japan, the last order apparently landed in the Caribbean.

I toyed with the idea of omitting these or doing a second add on but I think it would have been too disjointed.

I will wait, it shouldn't be long now... if they land when expected, Monday, by the end of next week would be a fair bet.

i hope!

Nige

Feel free to only release it to me for now :whistle:

Can't wait!

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I still use chisels as well as irons. In situations where it's better to punch the holes em masse before sewing the chisels work better and I punch all the way through. I also use have chisels in SPI sizes for which I don't have pricking irons, so I use the chisels more to mark the spacing in that circumstance, and use an awl to make the hole. I do think I get a slightly better result with the pricking irons, mostly because they really help to keep the angle of the awl just right. The chisels help to keep the awl close to the right angle, but since the mark is considerably larger there's more room for error.

Bill

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What sizes do you use most? I think I will mostly be using 6oz (2.4 mm) leather and a maximum of 10 oz (4.0 mm) for boxes?

I have the following book: The leatherworking handbook by Valerie Michael, she suggests 7 stiches per inch for a leather thickness from 2.5 mm to 6 mm. It is not clear if she means total thickness of leather or the thickness of one layer. What do you guys think?

I am thinking of getting a Barnsley pricking iron.

Cheers

ALex

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Jan, I am all ready to go...

I am waiting on the final irons to land from Goods Japan, the last order apparently landed in the Caribbean.

I toyed with the idea of omitting these or doing a second add on but I think it would have been too disjointed.

I will wait, it shouldn't be long now... if they land when expected, Monday, by the end of next week would be a fair bet.

i hope!

Nige

*cough... cough*

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Alright... sheesh!!! talk about pressure...

Still no irons from GP so I think I'll just have to move forward without them.

Shame really as it was the Seiwa irons and I thought they had a few things right from what i have been told.

Nige

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Just started using the six-prong/3mm Euro iron from GoodsJapan. Very happy with it so far. Pricks 8 stitches per inch cleanly, and has a great polish on it that helps with removal. I have a 2.5mm version on the way that I hope to use on wallets after I have skived the edges. Should make a handsome watch strap as well!

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Nigel,

Thanks for all the reviewing work on your videos. Very useful as I am trying to improve my stitching as you might note from my other postings, and all I currently have is a Craftool 2.5mm with 6 tines and a 1 tine (agree with you, one tine is pretty useless, not to mention it makes an entirely different sized mark/hole despite the size marking). I noted on Goods Japan's web page, that the Kyoshin Elle irons are "made for Kyoshin Elle." This sounds to me like made by someone else, somewhere else, and sold by Goods Japan with Kyoshin Elle's name on them (perhaps made in China?). Which makes me question all the other stuff they have. Was there any indication on the packaging to say where they were actually manufactured? And in their correspondence did they ever indicate they might improve the rigidity of the tines?

YinTx

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Unfortunately YinTx the text on the back of the packet and the leaflet inside is in Japanese and it just has Kyoshin Elle at the top of the packet and Kyoshin Elle & Co Ltd. on the top of the leaflet.
From the appearance they look like they are made by Kyoshin Elle and Simon from Goods Japan has said no different.

Nigel

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Here is the packaging and instruction sheet as shipped from goods Japan. The back of the sheet is blank.

post-53835-0-97211500-1424785916_thumb.j

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Found this on the 'net.

makes one wonder.

I didn't know Blanchards had that rough a finish on them. But I've never owned a set, maybe someone that has some can comment.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ja&u=http://www.leathercraft.cn//%3Fproduct-17686.html&usg=ALkJrhiul0hgBymZLW0YJCwKamSKsz2C-g

YinTx

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post-57438-0-70296200-1424800989_thumb.j

post-57438-0-79339200-1424801295_thumb.j

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Yes, the Blanchards are not a polished finish. The picture of the rusted irons is the result of neglecting to take care of the tools.

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The Blanchards will rust if not taken care of, most any cutting instrument will suffer the same fate if not taken care of..

Some collectors call it "Patina" and it sells for more money that way, to me it's just rust.

Here are my Blanchards as shipped to me. I keep them waxed because they will rust.

The edge that does the cutting is sharp and they don't stick in the leather but then I don't drive them through the leather either. As for the rest of the tool being polished to a mirror finish it is not. I'm not sure what the purpose other than how the tool looks polishing the entire thing would serve. It would bring the cost up and they are already costly enough.

The cost will keep most folks diligent about taking care of them..post-53835-0-95328700-1424804336_thumb.j

Edited by Oldtoolsniper

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I guess the main part I was wondering about was the fact that the pricking irons in the photos from my post are made in China, and appear to be an exact replica of the Blanchards, minus the branding mark. I think they are claiming theirs will not rust as the Blanchards do. Thought perhaps this was the source/manufacturer for the Kyoshin Elle irons, as I got to this (Chinese) web page by following links on GoodsJapan's web site.

YinTx

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I'm going to venture a guess and say that the KE pricking irons are not actually polished but rather, chromed. The finish is much too uniform for me to believe it was polished on a wheel.

Not to mention a full polish on the tool is pointless. I prefer the raw steel of a dixon to aid my grip of the tool.

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Mr. Armitage,

First off, I must say thank you for all your sharing. Without it I can confidently say my hand stitching would still be atrocious. By studying your videos and the tutorials and information on this site, I can at least show my work without complete embarrassment.

Regarding your Post #20, I believe JanC was referring to these irons in the attached photo that are sold on ebay. They are listed as European style, and can be had for $35-$75 for the entire set. There are also some listed as "French Angled" chisels that I have ordered as well to see how they work. These in the photo make a very fine mark, less than 2mm in length, and I have been able to stitch nicely with Fil Au Chinois and 0.6mm Tiger thread with them. I have some Osbornes, which as you note make a massive hole, and are pretty useless for a thread as small as Fil Au Chinois. Since I'm just a newbie having only been stitching since January, it would be interesting to see what a more seasoned master thinks of these tools from China. I believe they are missing from your review videos, but looks like I see a set on your log at the end of the last review of the Kyoshin Elle irons.

Photo: Hermann Oak 7/8 oz leather, 0.6mm Tiger Thread Samsung Phone slip case, "European Style" stitching irons, 3mm (a little over 8 SPI). First photo after marking, gallery photos after stitching, edge, front and back.

one pic here, the rest in my Gallery…

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2661

post-57438-0-03099900-1429150449_thumb.j

YinTx

Edited by YinTx

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On 16.4.2015 at 4:23 AM, YinTx said:

Mr. Armitage,

First off, I must say thank you for all your sharing. Without it I can confidently say my hand stitching would still be atrocious. By studying your videos and the tutorials and information on this site, I can at least show my work without complete embarrassment.

Regarding your Post #20, I believe JanC was referring to these irons in the attached photo that are sold on ebay. They are listed as European style, and can be had for $35-$75 for the entire set. There are also some listed as "French Angled" chisels that I have ordered as well to see how they work. These in the photo make a very fine mark, less than 2mm in length, and I have been able to stitch nicely with Fil Au Chinois and 0.6mm Tiger thread with them. I have some Osbornes, which as you note make a massive hole, and are pretty useless for a thread as small as Fil Au Chinois. Since I'm just a newbie having only been stitching since January, it would be interesting to see what a more seasoned master thinks of these tools from China. I believe they are missing from your review videos, but looks like I see a set on your log at the end of the last review of the Kyoshin Elle irons.

 

Photo: Hermann Oak 7/8 oz leather, 0.6mm Tiger Thread Samsung Phone slip case, "European Style" stitching irons, 3mm (a little over 8 SPI). First photo after marking, gallery photos after stitching, edge, front and back.

one pic here, the rest in my Gallery…

 

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2661

 

StitchingIrons.jpg

 

YinTx

Hello YinTx,

 

You certainly do some neat and careful work, which is a joy to look at.  I have never seen such polished tools, and I guess they help you.  Can you remember where you bought them from?

 

Cheers

Alex

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