Your favourite tools

[William Bloke]

On 6/24/2020 at 6:52 PM, jcuk said:

Mine is a old H Brindley martingale groover which i mostly use for my rolled work, its a lovely Tool to use or even just pick up and waste  a bit of scrap leather.

 

 

That is a lovely thing, I have a Dixit one od probably a similar vintage. That I didn't choose it as a favourite probably says more about my feelings about rolled work than it does about the tool.

 

My square doesn't have quite the same romantic story, but it is from the famous old English maker "Wickes"

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by William Bloke

[William Bloke]

3 hours ago, YinTx said:

I was sitting there stitching and really thinking about this question.  There are a lot of tools I really like, some I really really like, some I use a lot, but how to choose that one with the "Je ne sais quoi" the others don't have?  Then it dawned on me.  I was sitting on it.  Using it to stitch!  Thats right, my stitching horse.  It has been through a lot.  Was in some saddler's shop in Tyler, rescued and renovated, moved half a dozen times since I've had it, been through a fire since I've had it, now it is 3 different kinds of wood, requires a cushion on top so you don't get an uncomfortable sensation in the derrière, is pretty finicky and once you get to know how to use it, works  flawlessly and holds pretty much everything I have to stitch.  It's pretty much become a partner in the process for me with some history, and if it was gone, I'd be unable to find an adequate replacement.  Sure, I'd find a new stitching horse, but it just wouldn't be the same.

YinTx

 

Wow, thats a cool wee thing.

 

We don't really have stitching horses like that over here, but I can see how you get very attached to yours. After a while anything else must feel really wrong. 

I just use a clam, and am really finnicky about the hight of my stool.

Edited June 25, 2020 by William Bloke

[Spyros]

4 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Half-moon (round) knife. They were right: once you use it you won't want to use anything else.

Yeah I heard that too and it got me a little worried to be honest because i really dont want to add one of those.  Not so much because of the cost but because I know very well from years of woodworking what a pain in the butt it is to sharpen a round blade.  I'm talking really sharpen it, not just strop it a little bit when it's already sharp.  I permanently have a long queue of things waiting to be sharpened and it would really take a lot to persuade me to add round knife in there.

Thankfully I now have some experience with the projects I'll be doing which is just your typical bags/wallets/pouches etc, and so far I haven't really found anything i will not happily cut with disposable blades.  Give me a Rotary/Utility/Exacto trio of knives and I'm good.  Actually I'm not sure what the half moon knife was designed for, surely there must be something it's indispensable for, maybe it's for the things I don't do like shoes and saddles?  Or maybe it's simply because back then they didn't have rotary cutters and disposable blades, who knows.

By the way I really like traditional tools and i want to do adopt as many as I can, if only just to do my part in keeping the craft and the tools alive, and also because they look really cool

But giant round edges that need sharpening?  nah that's where I draw the line LOL

Edited June 26, 2020 by Spyros

[Hardrada]

9 minutes ago, Spyros said:

Yeah I heard that too and it got me a little worried to be honest because i really dont want to add one of those.  Not so much because of the cost but because I know very well from years of woodworking what a pain in the butt it is to sharpen a round blade.  I'm talking really sharpen it, not just strop it a little bit when it's already sharp.  I permanently have a long queue of things waiting to be sharpened and it would really take a lot to persuade me to add round knife in there.

Thankfully I now have some experience with the projects I'll be doing which is just your typical bags/wallets/pouches etc, and so far I haven't really found anything i will not happily cut with disposable blades.  Give me a Rotary/Utility/Exacto trio of knives and I'm good.  Actually I'm not sure what the half moon knife was designed for, surely there must be something it's indispensable for, maybe it's for the things I don't do like shoes and saddles?  Or maybe it's simply because back then they didn't have rotary cutters and disposable blades, who knows.

Best tool for cutting curves I've used.

I tried Exactos, clicking knife, steel curve tools, even bought an Olfa circle cutter (worst tool for circles, actually) and none of those cut smooth curves. Enter the Don Carlos half-moon knife and the curves just practically cut themselves.

[Spyros]

1 minute ago, Hardrada said:

Best tool for cutting curves I've used.

I tried Exactos, clicking knife, steel curve tools, even bought an Olfa circle cutter (worst tool for circles, actually) and none of those cut smooth curves. Enter the Don Carlos half-moon knife and the curves just practically cut themselves.

Ahhh gotcha.  Yes curves are challenging.  I bought a range of half circle punches and I try to use those whenever I can, but if I cant I use this and an exacto.  Works for me 

I might add a steel french curve ruler at some point for those odd shapes.

 

 

 

[Hardrada]

9 minutes ago, Spyros said:

Ahhh gotcha.  Yes curves are challenging.  I bought a range of half circle punches and I try to use those whenever I can, but if I cant I use this and an exacto.  Works for me 

I might add a steel french curve ruler at some point for those odd shapes.

 

 

 

Yup, that last tool is what I bought for curves! Except that I got mine from WindFire Designs.

For perfect circles, though, I still think the hole punches are the way to go. I ordered a couple from Abbey England. Ditto for the billet ends.

[Retswerb]

6 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Yup, that last tool is what I bought for curves! Except that I got mine from WindFire Designs.

Aww, now you’ve done it. Just looked at their site and now I have a favorite tool that I don’t even own yet. 

[Spyros]

1 hour ago, Retswerb said:

Aww, now you’ve done it. Just looked at their site and now I have a favorite tool that I don’t even own yet. 

Whatever it is, wait until some talented dude with a forge in ukraine makes it for half the cost  

[Spyros]

Man, I really need to make a proper stitching horse.  I made a couple of "ponies" for myself while I was still researching leatherworking and waiting for my first tools to arrive, without actually having stitched anything in my life.  So I went ahead and made a couple of tabletop versions because that's what I could see everywhere on Etsy etc so I thought ok that's what what everybody uses.  Didn't even know stitching horses exist.  But those little things that clamp on the edge of table are only really good for wallets IMO.  They're just too high when I sit and too low when I stand, the actual clamp is small and I don't like the screw knob, it's unnecessarily slow, I should have made a quick release. 

So now I'm looking at stitching horses and trying to imagine some sort of a design that will work for me.  I don't want to create another furniture though, my house is full.

Any ideas are welcome

[jcuk]

12 hours ago, William Bloke said:

That is a lovely thing, I have a Dixit one od probably a similar vintage. That I didn't choose it as a favourite probably says more about my feelings about rolled work than it does about the tool.

 

My square doesn't have quite the same romantic story, but it is from the famous old English maker "Wickes"

 

Yes rolled work is a acquired taste (time is money) don't get a lot of it but do some for myself just to keep my eye in.

Oh the square el cheapo Chinese made would not buy it today kind of think that's why Dixons and other Leather tool makers went to the wall cheap imports from the far far east glad to see Blanchard still going strong i hope.