Hello @Philip,
It seems to me in a few of your videos that you actually use quite a few cheaper tools. Bought from Amazon or eBay etc that you've then adjusted or modified to your liking or needs.
It's kind of a fresh breeze among the leathercraft blogs, vlogs and how-tos who usually use the quite expensive tools. They use a Regard fileteuse where you showcase an alcohol lamp, a cheaper looking creaser in a homemade heaterstand. The 2.7 pricking iron you used in the watch strap videos also looked like a cheaper type but the teeth still looked a bit modded. Would love to get some tips and tricks on what to think about!
It can be a bit demotivating to all those other videos when you have no clue on how to get the same results using cheaper hobbyist tools, so keep up the good work!:)
Would it maybe be possible to make a video on some tool-mods?
I blow waaaay to much money on tools. For me, this will always only be a hobby. Selling a little over facebook ect. Im never forced to work. and I get a hard on, of good tools. And the idea, of them being around when im 80, and still like good, I like.
Like hole punches. I use china set for 10$.
Definetly agree with you. When I first started, I went up and bought lots of "fancy and pretty, OMG it's so shiny" tools. And i was like proud showing them to my friends.
Nowadays, most of them are not being used (apart in photographs where they do what they were meant to do, i.e look pretty). I definetly started the switch from "i bought this beautiful tool" to "i made/modified this". For example, right now, i am designing my own 4-ton clicker press (Mostly because a 1000$ press would cost me$1200 to ship to where I live). So no, I make my own stuff now :D
Much like business it comes down to assets and liabilities. There is a definite point where there is a drop off in the return on investment (Wuta plays that line best). As much as I would love to blow an extra 10k into the workshop I am always cautious not to buy more than I really need and I ask myself whether I really need something before I make every single purchase.
Being as I am a full time leatherworker, I have to be a lot smarter with what I choose to put my money on. Sometimes that means blowing 2.5k on a new hot foil machine with type and logos and sometimes that means manually polishing the teeth on a £20 set of pricking irons since I use an awl anyway.
I also then have to ask myself weather I lose credibility by not having the latest 'Gucci' tools. Would I sell more courses with more expensive and fashionable equipment? Probably. But I have always maintained 'technique over tools' which is something I preach to all my workshop students.
@letter.t.404 Yeah I would have that up on YouTube.
I believe there is a point when more expensive tools start to be less important, after all craftsmen in the past did not have the fancy tools we have today and still they made some absolutely beautiful things. Case in point, electrical creaser is just the same ordinary creaser with a bit of resistor wire used to heat it up, awl handle made of mahogany or simpler wood doesn't affect how the awl tip works on leather, etc.
There is a certain sweet spot where the tools is not bad in quality but not too fancy nor expensive. The suggestions that Philip provides in Course Supplies are an excellent example.
This could be something maybe not for the course but certainly a nice series on YouTube.