Howdy guys , sorry I'm late to the party.
I use to make roundkinves but don't anymore. Here's an excellent WIP on building your own. Lots of imput from Paul Long and myself and TK knocks it out of the park:
Greetings All: Recently I've decided to buy myself a round knife for leather working. I did some Google searches and found quite a few different threads on round knifes - seems everyone has their opinion on what constitutes a good one. Some swear by the old ones that go for a king's ransom...
www.bladeforums.com
Be very careful grinding them. The reason I don't make them anymore is I have three different shirts with slices on the ribcage, Thats with me standing to the side of the grinder while grinding and I've done lots and lots of them. Still the beechs try to kill ya. If I were to go out to buy a high quality roundknife right now I'd look at Leather Wrangler's offerings. Not used one but have heard good of em.
Leather tools are kinda a funny thing. Sometimes the cheapie tool works better than the expensive "good" tool, sometimes the best tool is best and sometimes the middle of the road deal works great. My recommendations are based on years of pro use.
Already took care of the roundknife for ya. Pricking irons I have no experience with. They come more from a European tradition of leatherworking and aren't really used in a western tradition. In western type leather work they are replaced by a stitching wheel that marks where the holes are to be punched. Pricking irons are meant to be used the same way for marking where the holes are to be punched later using an awl. You will sometimes see folks using them like a chisel and trying to make the holes in the leather with them. This will work on some lightweight leathers but not on sheaths. I have used many edgers from the most expensive to the least expensive. I do like the Weaver's and they work well, its what Paul uses. Day in and day out I keep coming back to the Osbornes. They are mid priced but work well. I use the Western Bent Tip Edgers from them. Easy to sharpen and they just work well. If sheaths are on the menu, you'll find an Osborne #4 in my hand. Their roundkives suck but I like their edgers.
Lots of folks have mentioned Barry King and we use a lot of their tooling stamps. In fact they are all that the wife will use. I'm not quite as picky but even still I bet ya 98-99% of the tooling stamps I use say Barry King on em.
Roundknife:
Roundknife, push skiver and a Paul Long Skiver:
Flower carving on a pancake sheath by the wife:
Some of the oak carving that I do:
We have two sewing machines a Cobra 18 for light work like these Horseshoe Coasters she made for the studio that produces Yellowstone:
And a heavier machine, a Cobra 4 for sheaths, holsters, tack etc. Working on the Cobra 4:
Anyhoo kinda our take on the deal. Hope this helps.
