zuludog Report post Posted May 25, 2015 (edited) There was a similar thread recently under 'How Do I Do That' so here is my similar reply. I'm a bit of a dinosaur and a technophobe, and I've yet to learn how to use my digital camera and post pictures, but I hope my written descriptions will give you some ideas. Not really homemade, but home - improved. I have a knife I use exclusively for leatherwork. It's an old Stanley knife, with a smooth handle that tapers slightly from the hole end towards the blade; Stanley 199A. I find it particularly comfortable; they don't make it any more, I got it for £1 in a car boot sale. I fettled it with a small file & abrasive paper to remove any moulding faults, scratches, and to make sure the two halves mated well with flat surfaces; then sprayed it with car touch up paint. Although the blades are disposable I found a few that fit well without wobbling and re-sharpen them; they seem to get better that way. I have Tandy stitching chisels in the 88046 range. I polished & fettled those with a needle file & wet & dry paper Got an old decorator's putty knife at a car boot sale for 50p, Rather battered & rusty. Cleaned it up, cut the blade at an angle and sharpened it with files, oilstones & strop. That is my skiving knife. It is a good one, with a proper forged blade, brass bolster and, I think, a rosewood handle. I have two scratch awls. One is an old dart head, the other is a piece of hard steel rod that was part of a magazine binder. Cut & sharpened it. Handles are from an old file, and an old vegetable peeler. Made a strop from scrap wood & some split leather that came as part of a job lot. For sharpening compound I use Autosol chrome polish. Made a sewing pony from scrap wood and odds & ends. I don't use a bolt or clamp to hold it together, I use several turns of 1/2" elastic that came from some old waterproof overtrousers; wrapped round like a big rubber band. Not very pretty, but it does the job. I use the glass oven door off an old cooker for skiving, but I don't do any stamping, tooling, or carving. I had a cheap & nasty block plane with pressed steel body & plastic fittings. It's fiddly to use and I don't like it so I dumped everything except the blade, which seems quite good. Sometime soon I might try making the blade into a skiving knife or a Japanese style leather knife Made a flat leather burnisher & edge slicker, based on pictures on websites. Wood was a broken axe handle Speaking of improvising or using tools for other purposes, I have been reliably informed by a professional saddler that a head knife is just about the best thing ever for cutting up a pizza. Edited May 25, 2015 by zuludog Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bullmoosepaddles Report post Posted May 31, 2015 BearMan, Great pieces of work. Thanks for posting. I have a question please. How well does the awl holder work? I make a good number of long straight stitch lines. I have recently suffered fairly severe damage to my right wrist. I am thinking the repair surgery will affect how well my wrist functions in the future. A machine like that would be of a great help I would think. Thank you again Gene aka Bullmoose Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zuludog Report post Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) If you think you might have problems with the traditional hand held saddler's awl you could use a stitching chisel, though you might need to finish or tidy up the holes with an awl. Make sure you get a stitching chisel, not a lacing chisel or a pricking iron. Search YouTube for Armitage Leather. There are reviews & demonstrations of pricking irons & stitching chisels; 'Part 1 Tandy' is good for showing holes without the use of an awl, but they are all worth watching Could use a small drill like a Dremel. Start with 1.5 mm drills and see how you go. If you fancy a device like BearMan's Rapid Repeater, search Google for 'hand drill press' and a lot of the work will have been done for you. Then make an adapter to take the awl blade. If you wish you could use a Dremel drill press + drill then that's the job more or less done. BTW - congratulations, BearMan, your Repeater looks an excellent piece of work! As are the other tools you have shown. Edited May 31, 2015 by zuludog Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
