Black Craftool Poly Maul durability?

[ChasCS]

37 minutes ago, ContactCement said:

I  fully agree that the holiday sale and Saturday super sale was pretty good. Our car was at the shop so we had a free dealer loaner car. So we finally visited the local Tandy store 54 miles away. I came back with a rather expensive item (not saying) and a few stamps. They also explained why a couple craft store stamps in a kit bent easily. The Z  indicates Zinc. The Lesson. Stamps with a Z on them are Cash In The Trash.

You aren't telling, because, perhaps the better half reads this forum? Haha probably their splitter or Tippman Stitcher.... ;-)

Really surprised yesterday, to find a $20.00 Gift Card from Tandy in my mail box. That was timely, and appreciated.

So I went out there today and picked up an awesome new book, and a Glass Burnisher, that was on clearance for $16.19..

Happy that I finally bought Al Stohlman's How To Carve Leather. I had a copy here that was given to me, but it was too water stained and smelled bad, to appreciate using it.

PM me about your new Tandy prize, you piqued my interest... ;-)

Chas  

[bikermutt07]

Not all the offerings from Tandy are junk. I really like the crafttool pro edge bevelers. And the pro stamps seem good too, though I don't carve or stamp. About 15 or 20 of those tooling stamps we're on sale last week for 6.50 a piece. That's way down from their normal 30 price tag. 

You really have to work to find a good deal at Tandy. Catching their quality stuff on deep discounts is difficult, but not impossible. You just have to save and bide your time.

That newer crafttool pro press looks like a great quality tool. But, I will never pay their retail price for it. Even in sale it's still 75-100 overpriced in my opinion. Not to mention their die sets are astronomical.

Something else I have noticed. They will regularly discontinue items all year long. Only to bring them back in a year or two.

I have lots of jeweled rivets I bought for next to nothing on clearance. Now a year later, I am seeing them back on the shelf at retail.

And one last gripe. Their pieces and parts don't match. Example: you buy some antique bronze snaps. Then you realize "oh, I need a rivet here". Go back to Tandy. They don't sell antique bronze rivets. 

I had the same problem with antique copper snaps. They sell antique copper snaps. You can get a bag if 500. Walk across the aisle to the rivets, they only have nickel, bright brass, and bright copper.

All rivets mentioned we're tubular rivets. I won't use the double caps for anything other than decorative.

In their defense, the staff was apologetic and sympathetic. And they did recognize me by name when I walked in. Even though I hadn't been there for 6 months.

And I did leave there with a new crafttool pro edge beveler #3 for only $9.50. 

That was a good deal.

[ChasCS]

Congrats on the pro edge beveler. Tandy have always been good to me. I have no complaints.

I only wish they still had a convenient location on the South side of the river...

 

Chas

[alpha2]

You make a good point about trying to match hardware finishes at Tandy. I've given up. The buckle is this finish, the rivets are this one, the D ring is something close, but no cigar, and IF they do have the finish, they don't have the size. It was a good place to start in the leather bit, but I've been forced to move on...by Tandy.

[bikermutt07]

24 minutes ago, alpha2 said:

You make a good point about trying to match hardware finishes at Tandy. I've given up. The buckle is this finish, the rivets are this one, the D ring is something close, but no cigar, and IF they do have the finish, they don't have the size. It was a good place to start in the leather bit, but I've been forced to move on...by Tandy.

I agree totally. It is a good place to start. But you have to move on.

[ContactCement]

 I picked up the $274.99 splitter on sale and six stamps at $2.99 each. They said it doesn't go on sale that low very often. So I ignored other items that go on sale more frequently. The Tippman is very impressive and well built however I personally don't need anything that heavy duty right now. I would describe it as strong and space saving. As for a poly mallet and rawhide maul I stumbled onto this online store. http://www.wrising.com/  I got a 1 lb mallet on sale and 2 lb rawhide maul for wood working as some of my chisels are very expensive. The general rule is the cutting tool must be sharper than material being cut. The tool hardness will vary. When it comes to wood handled chisels the rawhide should prevent mush rooming of the handles. Plus the rawhide has a nice texture for a powerful strike.

Edited December 22, 2017 by ContactCement

[ChasCS]

2 hours ago, ContactCement said:

 I picked up the $274.99 splitter on sale and six stamps at $2.99 each. They said it doesn't go on sale that low very often. So I ignored other items that go on sale more frequently. The Tippman is very impressive and well built however I personally don't need anything that heavy duty right now. I would describe it as strong and space saving. As for a poly mallet and rawhide maul I stumbled onto this online store. http://www.wrising.com/  I got a 1 lb mallet on sale and 2 lb rawhide maul for wood working as some of my chisels are very expensive. The general rule is the cutting tool must be sharper than material being cut. The tool hardness will vary. When it comes to wood handled chisels the rawhide should prevent mush rooming of the handles. Plus the rawhide has a nice texture for a powerful strike.

Hopefully, these new mallet and maul will serve you well, and you'll be happy if very productive using them. 

Looking over the Tandy flyer for the recent craftools sale, some of those newer Craftool Pro stamps are quite nice. 

 

I saw this pic the other night, and it made me think of your "twelve" threads on mauls, mallets, hammers and slammers... Ha

I realized, that "Nothing good lasts forever" also holds true with most of our leather tools. ;-)

 

Chas