tools brands Buying all new tools

[MattyIce]

Is anyone familiar with the Aiakaer brand of stitching/lacing chisels on Amazon?The prices seem to good to be true. Any suggestions on reliable and consistent hand leather tool manufactures that don't break the bank? No tandy! Thank you. I am new to the forum. 

[Rhale]

Barry King tools are very good, so is Clay Miller, Chuck Smith, and of course Bob Beard but they are hard to come by.

[canonitr]

my SGD0.02 after doing this for about 2 months..

i got a number of stuff from banggood... they operate from China/HK, and for some items, they have a USA warehouse as well .. one of the shops i got my stuff from seems to also get their stuff from banggood or similar..

The finish of the items might be a bit rough, though, base on what i read so far, might no be different from most other suppliers.. while i think a number of items can be gotten 'cheap', i do believe some items that you need to have need to be of good quality or finished/polished

1. knife
2. diamond stitching Chisel/Awl ( if hand stitching)

Your knife needs to cut cleanly.. else you need to spend more time cleaning up the edges

for stitching chisels which punch thru the leather, i find the unfinished metal teeth tend to create drag when trying to pull it out of the leather, making marking the holes a chore.. i did not indicate pricking irons which marks the leather, as you will use the awl to make the hole all the way through.. of course if you were to use it like a chisel, then yes, the pricking irons need to be  polished.

In my limited experience (namely , minimal exposure to the huge array of brands out there), i like the Crimson hide irons as it is a hybrid between a chisel and pricking iron. it makes holes that are neither too big nor too small that needs to be followed up with an awl ( for up to 4mm thick leathers at least) . The crimsons come polished, so the marking of the holes is a breeze. it however, comes with a price.. for a set of 4 (1+2+5+9 for 3/3.25/3.85/4mm or 1+2+6+10 for 2.7mm), the price is SGD290. They have various sets if needed.  I got the 2+5 for SGD130 and will be following up with the 1 & 9 teeth in 2 days time)

if getting from Asia is something you might consider, then you could try leathercrafttools.com or goodsjapan.com. based on comparison of same items from both sites, I find leathercrafttools.com to be cheaper (for the items i bought at least). 

 

[canonitr]

oh one more thing.. the irons i bought from banggood had no name, and were priced at less than SGD19 for 2 + 5 + 10 teeth set ( regardless of pitch) .. have used them for 2 weeks without issue.. tho the main worry would be that they are listed as white steel, and seems susceptible to rust, since over at my side, humidity is around 80% all year round.

they all probably come out from the same factory for 'different' companies... tho companies like Wuta might be getting it done some other place..

[bikermutt07]

I have had great service and tools from Wuta. They are out of China and take a bit to arrive, but the quality and prices have been great. 

The pricking irons and hole punch set have been particularly good.

I would love a set of the crimson hides as well. They offer more size options.

[canonitr]

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

I would love a set of the crimson hides as well. They offer more size options.

it was your statement of wanting to get crimsons , NA's video review, as well that they are a local company to me, that i plonked down the $$ for the crimsons, and i must say, its one of the best purchases i made!

[bikermutt07]

13 hours ago, canonitr said:

it was your statement of wanting to get crimsons , NA's video review, as well that they are a local company to me, that i plonked down the $$ for the crimsons, and i must say, its one of the best purchases i made!

[canonitr]

but seriously, @MattyIce you might get by on some of the cheaper tools for some part of the job.. but for some other portions, it's probably better to spend a bit more on good tools..  i'm only willing to spend more on the stitching irons, because after a month of so of playing with leather, i found that i liked the craft, but hated punching the irons..

don't quote me on this.. but for my current use, i find it's pointless to get those expensive mauls/mallets. i don't do a lot of tooling, so i mainly use it as a tool for the snaps or chisel/irons.. i see from some posts, people are using home made ones from pvc pipes or melted milk carton jugs.. a sturdy divider, regardless of brand, is used to assist in marking out stitch lines. a scratch awl to mark out the template .. 

if you have the cash, go for top of the line products for every single tool... if not, at least ensure that your knife is sharp, and your chisels are polished..

i will be spending the weekend trying to sand and polish the cheap chisels I bought ..