Japanese Leather working tools ?

[leatherbob48]

Hello - We recently acquired a large Japanese box containing vintage tools  some of which we believe may be for leather working. We would be most grateful for any comments about their use. We in particular are unsure what the brass "pricking tool " is used for  ( if it is such,) as it is seems too thin to be a punch. The box also contained 2 metal frames which we wondered whether they may be for stretching pelts/hides ? We grouped togther all the other tools that we couldn't identify and wonder whether these too have leather working associations. By way of background we believe that the contents of the box are 50 years plus and the other tools included in the box were saws , planes and metal blacksmith items such as a vice and varius tin snips. My wife and I are retired and enjoy doing up old tools as a hobby and returning them to circulation.  Any help woud be greatly appreciated. Bob and Bryony

[Tugadude]

Sorry I can't be of any help, but I did notice what looks like a makers mark on the pricking tool.  Is that a flower?  Perhaps that will be a clue as to the maker.

Some of the tools appear to be more for woodworking.  Maybe the owner of the tools performed both leather and wood work?

In any case, thanks for sharing as they are interesting.  I'll check back to see if others can identify them.

[billybopp]

The tools in the first picture look to be mostly cordwainer/cobbler tools.  The pliers at top right with hammer built in are Lasting Pliers. The pincers at top left are sometimes used to remove or cut off nails used in shoemaking.  The anvil shaped tools at the left are irons, used to sort of smooth and polish leather sole edges and such.   The curved awls aren't used too much in leatherwork other than shoe making / repair. I don't recognize the three tools near the center, but I'd guess the one that looks like a pricking iron is some variation of that.  Either used to space out stitches or nails in one way or another.  The flower on it looks to be an imperial chrysanthemum and is probably not a maker's mark.  I don't know anything about the knives at the right, but it's probably a good guess that they are also involved.

- Bill

[leatherbob48]

Thank you - yes we thought that it must be a leather AND wood worker as there were also saws and planes in the box. The pricking tool makers mark looks like a flower but with a square centre with a dot inside the square. Thanks again.

 

[MikeRock]

I'd like to see the other side of the knife on the far right.  It has a familiar shape to it.  If it is a file, it is a 'feather' file for sharpening Japanese pull type saws.  If it has a set of coarse file teeth on only the opposite side it might be for working horn.  I have one from the mid 1700's.  At a rendezvous there was a 'lant horn' maker who showed me how it worked.  He heated the cut open horn, pressed it flat, then filed both sides.  He made it nice and thin.  When in a candle lantern it provided a nice diffuse glow.  

If you can photograph that opposite side we might find something cool.

[leatherbob48]

Hi Mike - Thank you for your note.  It sounds like this is a feather file as both sides seek to have the same surface. It is perhaps interesting that within the tool box that it came in there were 3 Japanese saws. I attach photographs as requested of both sides of the file (?) and of the 3 saws as well just in case they are relevant.  Thanks again for your very interesting comments and help. Regarding horn work we inherited a horn box made by John Obrisset in the early 1700 which has a lid which is almost translucent. If you hold it up to the light it shows the Armorial of Francis Drake. I am told that they have tried to reproduce the horn box making process without success -maybe because the horn itself has changed over the centuries. Thanks again . Bob

[fredk]

Top set of photos: 

3rd photo - Lower left are 3 sets of feeler gauges, usually found in automotive work for setting points and spark plug gaps, above them is a compound-lever bolt cutter, not common to wood workers but more-so in automotive work

Last photo - those are tin smiths metal shears

[leatherbob48]

Thank you Fred - The owner of this box we got from Japan appears to have been a jack of all trades. The trades seem to cover Blacksmithing, leather work, carpentry and possible cobblers. Thank you for your help. Bob.

 

[fredk]

3rd photo of 1st set. the scissors - left set are tailors or dressmakers scissors, the large ones on the right are tailors shears. Small ones in the centre - are the blades bent slightly? if so, they are tailors snips

[Frodo]

 

This could be for spreading glue/mastic, possible tile setter? 

we use a trowel with notches very similar 

 

 

[chuck123wapati]

3rd pic on the right a soldering iron tip without handle and an electric soldering iron very old. pic 4 is a doozy all I can think of that I could use them for would possibly be to temporarily hold up one end of a stud or board so one person could do the job of two for example setting floor joists or some such.

[Rahere]

The curved awls are also shoemaking, some welting techniques use side-sewing to reduce exposure of the underside of the sole to damp. Every hole wicks water which rots the thread.

[Trox]

The lasting pliers most certainly have a makers mark to it. Looks English or German, but so many made these. Just because the box is found in Japan, the tools doesn't have to be Japanese. The awl handles looks to be English beech wood, pattern is similar to Geo Barnsley. You can hardly find a shoe maker shop without any of his tools. Yes the tools looks to be own by a shoemaker. Saws looks Japanese style, would have been used to make wooden sandals and last's. What's look like a pricking iron is a distance maker, used to guide an awl to uniform distance by laying it flat on the work surface. Shoemakers used these, but it also could be use to spread glue. Would perhaps been a little dirtier, traces of glue etc. I see sheet metal shears, for cutting soles perhaps. Some repurposed feeler gouges (car mechanical/machinist tools) looks like distance makers too. But the photo is to blur to tell. Those draw markers might have been used to measure the lenght of a foot or copy a pattern on to leather. There are heal and sole creasers that only a shoemaker would buy. Take some close up of makers marks on them for more info.

Tor