Materials | Hardware & Tools

Leather Working Tools

All the leather working tools come from C.S. Osborne in New Jersey.  This company was founded in 1826.   I love that American craftsmen and craftswomen have been using these tools for almost 200 years!  To put that year in perspective – Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died in 1826 so this is OLD USA...

You can read a bit about the company history here.. 

Since 1826, C.S. Osborne & Co. has been manufacturing the finest leather working tools at its New Jersey factories.  The company has always been family-owned and operated beginning with Charles Samuel Osborne  and to this day,  the Osborne family continues to operate the business making it one of the oldest family-owned companies in the United States.

Here's what we're using form C.S. Osborne & Co.

Sewing Needles:

No. 517 - Harness Needle, Size No: 0, 2-3/8in, Gage: 18

Thread:

No. 413ST Waxed Poly Thread

Scratch Awl (optional):

No. 478 - Scratch Awl

We are offering this Awl as an add-on to our leather projects.  This tool is used to open up holes and mark surfaces.  It is very sharp and requires adult supervision.  The holes in our sewing projects are cut by laser and using the Awl to open them up a bit makes the sewing job a little easier – not strictly necessary, but a fun tool to use in the process.  This tool can also be used to mark leather and scratch the surface of wood (my wife has used these to scratch drawings into wood projects).

Flush Cut Saw

Gyokucho Razorsaw No. 1150

I’m super excited to be able to offer this Japanese made flush cut saw as part of the TogetherMade experience. The saw is made by Gyokucho in Ono, Japan.  The company was founded in 1969 and by my testing makes exceptional quality saw blades.

This saw is “the business” it is super sharp, cuts on the pull and leaves no surface marks.  I’ll post a demo video in the tutorial section so you can see the proper technique.  Dowel construction is going to be very common in the TogetherMade woodcraft projects so I tested a ton of saws over the past few months – these blades are the best we found anywhere.  We are importing these saws from the manufacturer in Japan and they have been great to work with.  If you don’t have a flush cut saw, this is the way to go, just add one on to your next TogetheMade woodcraft purchase.

Razorsaw has a little writeup on the history of handsaws here – has some fun pictures and timelines to ponder.  Good quick read with the kids… 

Scovill Fasteners:

 

The snaps we are using on the TogetherMade leather projects come form Scovill Fasteners in Clarkesville, Georgia.  Scovill was founded 214 years ago in 1802 in Waterbury, CT as a button and sewing hardware manufacturer.  To put this in perspective, the first First Lady Martha Washington was still alive when this company was founded (George Washington died three years earlier in 1799). 

This company was founded just 13 years after the election of the first president of the United States and for those Hamilton fans out there, this was two years before Hamilton was killed in his dual with Vice President Burr.   Some of the Scovill snaps also went to space with Apollo 11 – you can see some more history of the company here.

Anyway, the snaps are solid brass, painted government black (military spec) and they work great.  Snaps come in four parts Cap, Post, Stud & Socket.  We use a special snap-setting tool here in the shop to set the snaps for the leather projects so they come to you ready to go.