Hello dear Leatherworking community! I recently picked up a plough gauge from under a pile of tools at a secondhand shop here in the Netherlands. It seems to be in pretty good condition and has a interesting spring loaded tensioner bar to keep the leather pressed down when you're using it. The only trouble is, I have no idea who made it! It just has a horse logo on the blade and on the body there is an additional D.R.G.M and number stamp. I found out that this indicates a German patent numbering system but I have had no luck in finding a match. Any more knowledgeable people out there who know the maker?

Hi all, Not a directly leather related video, but an interesting watch none the less.

Hi all, Just some cool leather videos to share with you, one is from a German tv show which documents all kinds of craftsman and artisans (actually this show is pretty cool for all kinds of things) and the other is from a old Irish tv show called hands (also immensely interesting to see all kinds of older crafts).

Hello all, Here is another quick Sunday project. I came up with this idea because I know that bacteria is edge paints worst enemy and even though I only dip into smaller bottles than are poured from the bigger ones I want to keep the small ones as clean as possible. I quite like to use an awl to apply edge paint as it gives a lot of control but those are usually made of steel, then it struck me that leathercrafts favourite metal besides sharp steel is actually anti bacterial! Hence I took a brass rod, shaped it in a drill with some sandpaper and stuck a handle on it. So now just for edge painting I have this brass awl 😁 I honestly don't know how much of a difference this will actually make but it was fun to made nonetheless and it's fun to use. If anybody wants a piece of brass rod to make one let me know, I have 2mm and 3mm and i'd be happy to send a small piece for free since it's a pain to buy this in very small quantities when the shops are closed.

Hello all, I have found something very interesting that I thought would be cool to share here. Whilst going through listings for second hand tools I came across a very rusty looking plough gauge and I made a bid for €20 thinking he would ask more. To my surprise he agreed and today I took delivery of the thing. Now I didn't have time right away to do the restore but I quickly went to the garage to brush of the rust to check for makers marks. What I found was surprising and very cool, the maker was J.A Henckels, who are most commonly known for their kitchen knives (Zwilling). I never knew that they produced plough gauges at any point in time but some how I have ended up with one. The body is made of iron (hence the rust) however the bar that goes across your leather to hold it down is actually made of brass, a quick wire wheel revealed that. It also has the number 20 stamped into a number of places. I was also surprised by how well it was made, everything has straight lines, perfectly machined out spaces for all the smaller components, chamfered edges and it just feels right. The only thing that I will replace it the ugly bolt that the previous owner installed, I will try and find a better looking one. I will get to the full restore this weekend and hope to cut some leather with it :)

Hi all, Came across an add featuring these tools, one of which looks a lot like a large SPI pricking iron. The others seem to be more for decoration. Anybody have any more info to share based on the pictures? Or what something like this might be worth, the seller is asking €20. Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi all, Though I would share another quick gluing jig which can be made in a an hour or two on the weekend. I glued some thicker lengths of wood together to add height, first planed a 45 degree bevel on either side and then rounded that over with the plane. Sand to finish and screw on a bottom piece. This is will be used to glue bigger panels on a curve, notebooks covers, bag panels, etc.

Hey all, I decided to share some more of my DIY tools solutions, previously featured a DIY wallet jig. I am planning to make some more of those but with different angles in future. But for now here is a simple belt jig I made up for easier burnishing or edge painting of belts. Basically two long bits of wood lined with pigskin suede for grip and protection. I round the top with a plane and smoothed all the edges to avoid scratching. For now the belts are held in with two spring clamps, but I think I will add a rail in the middle of the two bits of woods to avoid the clamps. I'll test it on a few more belts to be sure if I want to. Also something i'll do on the next one is plane a high spot on the middle so that the wood itself acts as a clamp when clamped on each end (this is something Philip also shows with greyboard for edge painting I think), the first time I saw that trick was from Paul Sellers but completely forgot whilst making this and only realised after the lining was glued in.

Hi all, Just a quick and easy DIY jig for glueing up wallets or anything with a bend in it. Just glue two boards together with something else on the inside corner for support. Then use a hand plane or sander to round over to top edge. I see these around on etsy or instagram every now and again so I thought I would just make one since i'm in the process of making some billfolds anyway :) Hope it helps somebody!

Hi all, I have both the single crease and adjustable creaser from blanchard and I was wondering if anybody that also has them could offer some advice on getting them to perfect working condition. The reason that I ask is that the finish, particularly on the single crease, is somewhat rough (see pictures). The adjustable crease is definitely better finished. How could I go about reprofiling/cleaning them up a bit to get them in perfect working condition? Thanks!

Hi all, Just today I finished up a new strop following along with Philips tutorial on Youtube. Just the rubber and brass pins remain, which I don't have on hand and all the shops closed this Monday so I will have to be patient to get some (the shipping is more than the parts). I used a nice piece of straight grained beech here and I really love how it came out. I used a hand plane, chisel and rasp to flatten and shape the piece. There are 3 coats of boiled linseed oil on the wood and the leather has been treated with the same oil for hardening. The leather I used here is some spruce bark tanned 2.2mm veg tan which has some good tight grain and firm temper. The other side has some canvas sailing cloth, I couldn't for the life of me find the iron on version Philip used so sailing canvas was the next best thing. Now I have about 3 metres of that leftover to use for future burnishing 🙄

Hi all, Just want to share a quick project that might be helpful or spark an idea :) I just made this stand from some scrap birch wood I had laying around, added some brass feet and scooped out a bit of wood using a gouge. The creaser lays in the groove nicely and don't slide back, a cheap and easy solution for holding the creasers while they heat up.

Recently I received some spruce tanned leather from Sweden. Now I thought it might be nice to darken the colour a little with something traditional and settled on trying out some birch oil. I rather quickly found out that this isn't really available for purchase here in the Netherlands so I decided to make some myself. The procedure is basically the same as making charcoal, except in this case you place an additional vessel underneath your pot to capture the oil. From a 5 liter paint can size container I extracted a reasonable amount of material and after some filtering I went ahead to test it one some scaps of the leather I had. I will wait a bit longer to see how the colour changes before I decide to use it further, something to consider as well is that birch oil as a very distinct aroma. Mine also has a lot of smoke scent, probably due to not filtering tiny ash particles out in the first steps of the extraction. Here are some picture that I took along the way!