Proper stitching chisels from Tandy?

[fredk]

On 7/6/2019 at 10:59 PM, Mocivnik said:

Does Tandy have some proper stitching chisels to use? I'm talking about 2-4-6 prongs, buying as set from the photo below.

I've got the diamond shaped ones from China, they're pretty useless, I think. They're impossible to pull out from nearly just 1 layer of leather, but really impossible to use them at 2 or even 3 layers of 7-8 veg tan at once (or is it that I'm doing something wrong?!).

Later you can invest in two pairs of these;

Available with four teeth and two teeth. Costs as little as about 12 Euro a pair. They make diamond shaped sewing holes suitable for 0.6 to 1.2mm thread. Most of what I make is no more than about 5mm thick (about 7 oz I think) and these do the job first class. With these I can punch stitching holes round an item really fast. Downside is the depth of the jaws, that is from the teeth to the hinge, only about 2cm so I can't punch holes within something which is further in than that, so the hand chisels come out for those jobs.

[chuck123wapati]

I bought a tandy chisel to replace one of Chinese origin and found that the way they measure the spacing is different, a 4mm tandy has wider spacing than the 4mm other brand. One is measured tip to tip while the other is measured in between prongs so be sure to check.

[Tugadude]

Tandy sells two basic types of chisel.  The black ones and the stainless steel ones.  The black ones are similar to some of the popular diamond-shaped tools out there and yes, they measure those differently so you have to be careful when ordering.  The black ones are coated, that is what makes them black.  They are pretty smooth.  Used with bee's wax blend to help lubricate they work pretty well.  I still use a block of wood when punching through thicker leather to enable the chisel to be pulled out without twisting.  

The stainless steel ones are totally different, sort of an elongated diamond shape, more like a slit and less chunky than the black ones.  I have two sets, one for finer work, 2.5 mm,  and the other for larger items where I'm looking for more strength.  The larger chisel, 3.5 mm, allows me to use 1.0 mm thread.

Nigel Armitage reviews the Tandy Craftool Pro chisels on a youtube video.  He wasn't as fond of the smaller irons as he was of the larger ones if I remember correctly.

 

[Mocivnik]

On 7/7/2019 at 2:07 PM, fredk said:

1. The teeth/prongs will be case hardened. You'd have to file away quite a bit to get through it. A bit of polishing by using a jewellers file or a metal nail file followed by smooth grades of wet & dry grit paper will make a lot of difference.

2. Mix a pot/jar/tin of soft bees wax and olive oil. Not soft and runny, just softer than beeswax on its own. Before you make the first set of holes dip the chisels into the beeswax mix, then as you go on, after about every third time dip the chisels again, if the leather is really dry you may need to dip after every second hit.

1. I tried to polish them yesterday, but unfortunatelly - no better feeling. Going out same as before :/

2. Will try with beeswax aswell, but I doubt it will make much more difference.

 

On 7/7/2019 at 2:18 PM, OldGuardDog said:

I stopped fighting the chisels.  I use them to lightly space the stiches.  I use a short length of an ice pick to push the holes through.  I mount it in my small drill press, which I have drilled an 1/8" hole in the edge of the table.  This allows me to pass the ice pick tip through as many layers of leather as I need.  I run the drill press at a medium speed.  You can then easily stitch the sheath using blunt needles, and no fighting to pull the thread through.  I also cut a groove for the stitching to lay in after pushing in the holes.  A few taps on the finished stitch closes the leather fairly tight, since you did not remove any leather, just "pushed" it out of the way.  This gives a nice flush stitch.  The blunt needles are great-  no blood from the pointed ones, and no need for finger cots!

Yeah, I want to avoid that. I tried, but the holes I poked on the other side were uneven and sideways, when I piked holes with ice pick from one side.

But I could try making holes like that..will do in future as test for sure!

@wizard of tragacanth: Will try to do this aswell,  but already now it takes me eternity, then it will take even longer for me :/

@fredk: But is it easier to pull them out?

@chuck123wapati: Yeah, metric standard is TIP-TO-TIP while imperial is stitches per inches.

 

 

 

[fredk]

3 minutes ago, Mocivnik said:

 But is it easier to pull them out?

very much a very big yes they are

[Mocivnik]

I've bought all chisels from (China) photo below, sized 4mm apart. None of them is working as should. Are any of them from Tandy better than Chinese ones?

 

[johnv474]

The ones from Tandy are from China, but have consistency going for them vs the no-name brands.

 

Use a small piece of wood, a ruler,or an empty dye bottle held against the chisel to hold the leather down while pulling out the chisel.  This will help prevent distortion. Also, moistening the leather slightly will make it easier to remove the chisels.

Edited October 12, 2019 by johnv474

[kiwican]

Not forgetting that they need polishing from time to time too. Also a bit of bees wax on the tips helps out alot when removing.