Left Handed Stitcher And Pricking Irons

[JamesR]

Hello,

I am left handed which can be a problem with some tools.

I want to try using a pricking iron (Blanchard or Dixon) instead of the overstitch wheel I have been using to mark my holes.

It seems to me that the angled holes produced would face in an opposte direction for a left handed person.

Is this true and does this complicate the stitching process?

Are there any other issues left handers need to know before investing in a tool like this?

Thank You

Jim

[Tugadude]

Inverse irons (sometimes referred to as Portmanteau or reverse irons) have teeth running at the opposite angle to our regular irons.

Normal Stitch Mark Direction: \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

Reverse Stitch Mark Direction: / / / / / / / / /

You'll need reverse irons when punching through several layers is impractical such as with really thick leather or several layers of leather. Punch holes on the top side of your first layer and then use the reverse iron to punch on the face of the bottom layer. As long as you take care to match up the holes and you'll have a clean bottom side of the stitching to match your clean top side stitching.

Reverse irons can also be used for an aesthetically to have stitches from different directions angle towards a center point.

[terrymac]

Watch the Nigel Armitage videos. He is also left handed and does not seem to bother him at all.

Terry

[Tugadude]

BTW, forgot to indicate that the verbiage above came from the Blanchard site.

I'm taking no stance on whether there is a "need" for a left handed iron, just trying to be helpful!

[JamesR]

terrymac,

Thanks,I did not know Nigel was lefthanded. I will have to look at his videos more closely.

Tugadude,

Thanks also, that was useful info.

Jim

The left handed issue comes up often in a right hand world.

These pricking irons are quite expensive so I did not want any surprises

[Art]

James,

Buy an inexpensive set of irons from Springfield Leather, called Finesse Tools, you can watch the video here. These tools actually work very well and will get you a feel for things without raping your pocketbook.

Art

[gmace99]

I have taught a couple of left handed people and they seam to cope with the normal stitch markers.

I do use the reverse irons, However I was taught to use that when we use a single needle to do a back stitch.

[joshua3]

Watch the Nigel Armitage videos. He is also left handed and does not seem to bother him at all.

Terry

Even that is thrue...

But If you see his videos, sewing left handed, sewing right handed... there is indeed no difference in which hand you give him the tools. Master of masters

sorry for but I couldn't help

Edited May 14, 2015 by joshua3

[JamesR]

Art,

Thanks for the heads up on those Finess tools. I don't think I like their pricking iron but I really like the quarter round punches for corners.

Jim

[Dangerous Beans]

Even that is thrue...

But If you see his videos, sewing left handed, sewing right handed... there is indeed no difference in which hand you give him the tools. Master of masters

sorry for but I couldn't help

Just seen this and you have made me smile... thank you Joshua, you rock!

Nige (the left handed one!)

and no, being left handed with pricking irons is not an issue James. you'll be fine.

[JamesR]

Thanks Nigel,

I know you scribe a line before using the iron and I believe you straddle the line with the tool.

Any advice on how to keep the tool centered on the line? Looks like you are doing it by eye.

[Dangerous Beans]

I do do it by eye James, if you're using a traditional pricking iron, it helps to have some light behind it, you can then see through the gaps and it is much clearer to see if it is in the right place.
If you are using the more modern stitching irons that fully penetrate, these have points so these simply sit in the line you have scribed.

At no point will you need a stitch grove for normal stitching, a gentle scribed line with a scratch awl is fine.

Regards

Nigel

[JamesR]

Nigel,

Your videos have convinced me to try a traditional pricking iron. So far I have only used an overstitch wheel.

I can see some practice is in order.

Thanks again.

Jim

[TinkerTailor]

An additional note, When I do baseball stitching to wrap handles and things, I hand punch the sides on opposite angles. The threads must pull on the flat of the hole, not the end of the slot or the thread will rip right out. In other words, the V's formed by the holes are pointing up \ / when the stitch V's point down / \.

If I used chisels for this, I would need lefties for one side. Here is a photo of the stitch with some of the stitches on the left starting to pull to see what I am talking about. This is fairly stretchy 6 oz chrome tan, around a 3" circumference and i stitched it with an initial gap between sides of 1/2". It is stitched on very tight to stay in place and required probably 15-20 lbs of pull to get it together at times.

This one I did with the left side leaning the wrong way and a few of the stitches started to rip, i managed to keep it together though.

Edited June 2, 2015 by TinkerTailor