Diamond chisel round corners

[LionCrownLeather]

Hi

I just bought a good quality diamond chisel set but I am facing some troubles, not with the quality of the chisels but instead how do I get a consistent look. 

I will attach an image, I started on the right top side and worked my way down and then I used a 2 prong diamond chisel at the lower right round edge and continued to the left top angled edge (half a circle) and then I used my 9 prong chisel and punched a straight line to the top left part. Now would you have done the same? Is this a good consistent look regards to the diamond chisel punch holes? I feel like I am doing something wrong here.. The angled holes dont look consistent, on the left side they point more down compared to the right side the holes are almost vertical 

[Northmount]

@LionCrownLeather Moved your post to fabrication, sewing leather.  Posts in help wanted require moderator approval for all posts.  Typically used like the classified help wanted (employment) ads in the newspaper.

Tom

 

[Tugadude]

It doesn't appear to me that those are diamond-shaped holes.  They are more slits to my eye.  Regardless, I guess the thing to focus on is how the slits are oriented to the lines and not to each other.  I agree when you look at one side and then the other it looks weird.  Stitch it up and then see how it looks.

[Rahere]

Might also be influenced a little by the gap on the top of the right hand line.

[mike02130]

Strange. I would think the left and right would match. 

[LeatherLegion]

Make round holes around curves...you are not gonna have that problem anymore..especially in small radius curves. Also start making your holes from the center of the curve and work your way up on both sides..this way your last stitches , left and right side, will be equally distant from your key ring 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by LeatherLegion

[chrisash]

Looks to me that half way round you picked up a different chisel as the interval on the right seems larger than the left. Do you have two sets of chisels from two different makers

[Tugadude]

16 hours ago, mike02130 said:

Strange. I would think the left and right would match. 

I think they do.  If you look at them individually they are uniform.  If the OP had used a Portmanteau iron on one side they'd look the same.  I'd like the poster to do one side from the rear and see how that appears.  I'll be it will look like a mirror-image.

[Frodo]

when using slanted chisels you have to go one way, you can not go both ways.  the chisel hole will not be visible after the stitching but he wrong way slant of the thread will be

[Retswerb]

@LionCrownLeather, I think it’s just an optical illusion. Here are your two edges next to each other, the angles look consistent. Ignore the spacing difference, I just zoomed differently on the two sides.

[Tugadude]

1 hour ago, Retswerb said:

@LionCrownLeather, I think it’s just an optical illusion. Here are your two edges next to each other, the angles look consistent. Ignore the spacing difference, I just zoomed differently on the two sides.

thanks for taking the time to do that.  It shows what I was saying, the angle of the slits is consistent with respect to the lines.  

[LionCrownLeather]

6 hours ago, Retswerb said:

@LionCrownLeather, I think it’s just an optical illusion. Here are your two edges next to each other, the angles look consistent. Ignore the spacing difference, I just zoomed differently on the two sides.

Thank you for taking the time to do this! What I have learned from the comments here so far: start punching holes from the bottom center and work my way up one direction and then start from bottom center punching holes towards the other direction. 

I got to say having consistency in angled holes like these around corners requires good skills, I used a two prong diamond chisel around the corners but to get that slow turn to look professional a one prong would maybe be ideal but then again the risk of punching bad angled holes increases as they number of punches increases. 

Now my keychain consists of two pieces of 4-5 oz leather folded and glued on top of eachother. I punched through both pieces directly and the back side did not turn out any good, a quite common problem.. Probably need to punch through each side seperatley and then fold on top of eachother. 

[billybopp]

Here's a little trick that might help you.  When you are going making your holes in a straight line, putting the last prong or two in the previously punched holes works well.  The angle isn't changing, so it's totally un-noticeable and works really well.   We're going to refer to that previous completed hole the reference hole. When you get to a gentle curve as you have here, that begins to cause some problems.  Putting the prong of your two prong punch into the reference hole and punching through is at a different angle than the reference hole because of that curve, and it is noticeable because it "wallows out" the that reference hole (which is what it looks like happened here).  One good solution is to put one prong of your two prong punch into the reference hole and press it LIGHTLY to leave an impression for where the next hole will go then move the punch to that mark and punch through your next two.   A very well trained eye looking closely MIGHT detect that the holes are made in pairs .. Maybe.  Nobody else will notice and the result will look really great!

I totally agree with the above comment about starting from bottom-center to ensure that both ends are equal at the top.  Just be aware that there is a bit of an optical illusion that the two end may not LOOK equal.  That should disappear when you get thread in the holes, though.

As the curve gets tighter, approaching ninety degrees, this technique doesn't work as well and other techniques are the order of the day.  But that's another story for another day!

- Bill

 

[HondoMan]

What exactly did you buy for chisels?  Either tell us or post photos.  From your photo, it appears more pricking iron than chisel.

Edited September 11, 2020 by HondoMan

[Tugadude]

1 hour ago, HondoMan said:

What exactly did you buy for chisels?  Either tell us or post photos.  From your photo, it appears more pricking iron than chisel.

I agree and pointed out that they look like slits and not diamond-shaped holes.  

[fredk]

I think they look like 3mm lacing slits

[chuck123wapati]

4 minutes ago, fredk said:

I think they look like 3mm lacing slits

me too!

[LionCrownLeather]

4 hours ago, HondoMan said:

What exactly did you buy for chisels?  Either tell us or post photos.  From your photo, it appears more pricking iron than chisel.

https://crimsonhides.com/products/french-style-crimson-irons

4 hours ago, HondoMan said:

What exactly did you buy for chisels?  Either tell us or post photos.  From your photo, it appears more pricking iron than chisel.

What is the difference between the french style Irons and diamond chisen exactly? 

[Tugadude]

Those irons are pricking irons and do have straight, not diamond teeth.  I helped start a topic in the 'Sewing Leather" part of the forum to help folks like you to differentiate between stitching irons and pricking irons.

The ones you bought are high quality and can be used as stitching irons or chisels on relatively thin leather.

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Tugadude
Added link

[HondoMan]

16 hours ago, LionCrownLeather said:

https://crimsonhides.com/products/french-style-crimson-irons

What is the difference between the french style Irons and diamond chisen exactly? 

Goodness....  Pricking irons are to be used in conjunction with an awl.  One simply makes wee 'pricks' or marks on the leather and then using an awl, sews the two pieces together.  A diamond chisel is ment to combine a pricking iron and awl.  One can punch through both pieces of leather (depending upon the combined thickness). 

You need to spend time watching Nigel Armitage videos to get a better grasp on this topic. 

 

[LionCrownLeather]

18 minutes ago, HondoMan said:

Goodness....  Pricking irons are to be used in conjunction with an awl.  One simply makes wee 'pricks' or marks on the leather and then using an awl, sews the two pieces together.  A diamond chisel is ment to combine a pricking iron and awl.  One can punch through both pieces of leather (depending upon the combined thickness). 

You need to spend time watching Nigel Armitage videos to get a better grasp on this topic. 

 

In nigel armitages video he demonstrates with these irons and punches all the way through. 

 

[billybopp]

In nigel armitages video he demonstrates with these irons and punches all the way through. 

He does indeed.  But there are some caveats there.  Pricking iron teeth are "V" shaped.  As a consequence of that, the hole that they make will also be considerably wider on one side than the other.  If the leather is quite thin it's not of much consequence, but with thicker leather it can just be too much.  They ARE designed to be used with an awl, but again, with thin leather it does not matter so much.  

Stitching chisel teeth have a sharp point, but the body of the teeth are more straight sided, making them ideally suited for making holes without an awl.  For that matter, if you want or need to use an awl with a stitching chisel (sometimes necessary due to accessibility in one place or another) you can.  You might want to do that when, for example, you've used chisels for most of a project, but need to sew a pocket into a bag that could not be done before the bag was mostly put together.  You would want the stitching spacing to be EXACTLY the same as the other seams.  Mark it in advance with the chisel, then use an awl to actually make the holes you need.

- Bill

[Tugadude]

Many modern irons have straight teeth with a very gradual taper.  They might be considered a hybrid in that they can function as both pricking and stitching irons.