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Leather working tools

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Wolf Watcher:
Depends on what type of lacing you plan to do and what type of leather you are working on.  I have made many large albums using 3/16" lace and for them I have made punches out of nails pounded flat to a chisel and sharpened.  I have different ones for different sizes of lace.  These punches allow me to be very accurate with placing and angling the holes to fit my needs.  Its a very time consuming method, but effective.  Also works on round edges like the round canteens I have made.  The head of the nail makes for easy striking with your mallet and you can make them as long or short as you prefer. 

MWirwicki:
I use the        o o o o      style. 

DC:
At the moment all I'm doing is lacing(if that's the right word) on the back of the handle.(see pic). I lace them on pretty tight and once or twice I've had a hole rip out. I've been using a single hole punch and thought that I would try a multi hole tool for more even spacing. I was just concerned that one of the three angles may be weaker than others. For the last few I have put a piece of piano wire in the fold between the holes and the edge to spread the load. This seems to work great but I want to get the spacing better.

PS I will watch the videos

Ranasp:
Ah that's part of the problem, you're using a hole punch.  When you use a punch, you're removing a chunk of the leather thereby weakening it.  Normally when you see holes like that, they have a metal grommet reinforcing it.  What you want is something more like Wolf watcher described, a slit in the leather made with a chisel.  What those do is cut the leather a little bit, but mostly shoves it out of the way which means most of the leather is still there (unlike a punch, which removes it completely).  When you use a chisel or an iron, the wound you make ends up partially sealing up, especially if once you're done stitching you lightly hammer it with a mallet. 

kevinnator11:
If you dampen the leather you can use a fork to mark where you want the stitches to be and then use a icepick to poke through.  That won't remove any leather and you can practice to find your depth.  I use a 3/32 drill bit in a dremmel and I've never had any problems.  If you're experiencing tear out your leather is too small.   

I agree with lightly tapping the stitching with a mallet after.  Also I use a good waxed thread.  I use the waxed thread from Tandy and after stitching and tapping I'll run a lighter along the stitch to heat the wax.  I would think that would make the stitching hold better but I don't know of anyone else doing it.

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