Anyone made their own chisel roll?

[DigitalM]

Just watched a youtube by a guy made his own leather chisel roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY5mRRkyQu8

All the commercially available ones are fairly craptacular. Given the effort I've just put into reinstating a primary bevel on a load of chisels sourced from far and wide, I'd quite like to have a go at this. How hard can it be!

Anyone else had a go?

It seems that "Sides" of leather are far easier to obtain for a realistic price in the US than they are in the UK. Obv. they eat whole cows raw for breakfast. You'd think in a place like Gloucestershire I wouldn't have to go far to get such a thing. It's dead easy to buy the inside bits of cows round here, less so, the outer bits.

Well I like makin' things, and this looks like winter project, for when it's raining cat and dogs and stair rods and stuff.

 

[thick_mike]

Can you buy a leather jacket from a second hand shop, or eBay. Probably some bargains around for a particularly ugly one.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I made one for smaller tools using the leg of a pair of jeans, I think I got the idea from Roy Underhill. Cheap if not so durable.

 

[AndyT]

I've always been put off by posts on here complaining that leather tool rolls have made chisels go rusty.

Eg here ln-chisel-roll-t36911.html

 

[paulm]

Good quality veg tan leather (similar to that used in the video) available from Tandy Leather, Le Prevo, Identity Store, or for cheap, thin, treated/coated stuff then second hand shops or free sofas on gumtree, facebay etc.

Haven't yet made a tool roll, but made a few sheaths for carving knives, silky saws etc, very satisfying

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That leather is a bit thin for chisel rolls though, surely, if you've stitched it on a domestic machine?

 

[Harbo]

Paul’s got a heavy duty machine

I’ve got a few leather rolls and none of them have damaged the steel, one however causes the brass ferrules to produce verdigris (which wipes off easily) so I wrap those ones with a small piece of plastic.

I have made a couple of sheaths with hand tools and it’s quite hard work piercing the leather especially if it’s reasonably thick.
Here’s my amateur efforts:

Rod

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, that's what I was thinking. A friend's wife did one for me and said it was hard work even on a commercial machine. I found rolls unwise here (high humidity - although it's low atm - 87%, though it's back to 94% later) - they cause tools to rust.

 

[paulm]

That leather is a bit thin for chisel rolls though, surely, if you've stitched it on a domestic machine?

That's reasonably thick leather Phil, 2.5mm or thereabouts, hand sewn with awl and needle and thread.

I have an old hand cranked singer sewing machine with leather needle and it will do a surprising thickness too, but haven't fully tested how much, but certainly great for a few mm combined thickness, on leather, suede, heavy canvas etc.

 

[graduate_owner]

I use an old spanner roll for mine, made from some sort of plastic covered canvas. Would canvas work for you? If it has to be leather, how about checking out some facebook groups based on horse riding, and getting hold of some used leather chaps. A pair of full length chaps would make you quite a few tool rolls.

K

 

[Tasky]

One that big in the video would need a full half-hide, but they can be had in veg-tan at 3.5mm for about £20-30 from most decent wholesalers. Smaller rolls, sheaths and the like can be made from offcuts which are usually just a couple quid.

 

[DTR]

Not chisels, but Doris made me a roll for my augers out of some canvas-y type stuff. I'll have to ask her where she got the material, as she almost certainly recycled it from somewhere else. Or lifted it from a skip. Or probably both.

 

[DigitalM]

Well, all that was enlightening! I'm a bit gutted that leather tool rolls might not be useful in the UK. Maybe I should make two, one from leather, and one from something else, and do some proper testing! For umscientifical purposes!

So the idea is that the leather swells with moisture and keeps it next to your steel. Very annoying. But then, the leather's not going to get MORE humid than the atmosphere is it? Maybe it does. Baffling. Excuse my thinking out loud!

What about Waxed Canvas I wonder. I think jeans is a little bit Cozy Powell, maybe David Hasselhof. You know, it's not for everyone Denim is it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5TuGQcXgc8

 

[DigitalM]

One that big in the video would need a full half-hide, but they can be had in veg-tan at 3.5mm for about £20-30 from most decent wholesalers. Smaller rolls, sheaths and the like can be made from offcuts which are usually just a couple quid.

I spent ages looking at website trying to find reasonable prices. Are you talking about the sort of places you have to turn up, in person, in the old fashioned way, like on the doorstep, with cash? I don't think I've shopped like that in ages.

 

[DigitalM]

Guy in the video says 6oz leather. (=2.4mm)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

So the idea is that the leather swells with moisture and keeps it next to your steel. Very annoying. But then, the leather's not going to get MORE humid than the atmosphere is it? Maybe it does. Baffling. Excuse my thinking out loud!

I think it is that it holds it to the steel that is the problem. You see the same problem with rust on tools that have stored in cardboard boxes where the cardboard has been in contact. It wouldn't really be a problem if you took the tools out regularly, I'd suppose.

 

[Eric The Viking]

The answer is moisture displacement. It's how WD 40 works (I think). If the vapour pressure of the 'something else' is high enough the moisture isn't a nuisance. My BMW tool roll (for the bike) is showing a bit of rust spotting on stuff now, after 15 years, and that's plastic coated fabric, not leather, and the tools themselves are well chromed (as you might expect from BMW!).

I have two rolls: one for chisels and one for Japanese saws. Both were really cheap ones from Toolstation. With the exception that I could do with sub-partitioning for smaller chisels (my collection has grown recently), they're fine. I will dry them in the airing cupboard and then run a little bit of 3-in-1 into the pockets this year, to make sure they continue to work well. But I don't keep the chisels in the workshop over winter (hence having tool rolls). I think 3-in-1 is more woodwork-friendly than WD40. Liberon wax works a bit, but doesn't have much vapour pressure long-term. The BMW roll really needs similar treatment.

 

[DigitalM]

I'm erring on the side of having a go and being cautious with it.

 

[paulm]

I would have a go, source the decent veg tan leather from one of the suppliers I mentioned earlier, veg tanning process doesn't use the same chemicals, salts, process or whatever as "ordinary" leather so is unlikely to affect the tools in the same way as some normally tanned leathers as I understand it.

Regarding moisture and rust, I always wipe my tools, knives or whatever with a little gun oil, Napiers from memory, and it gives off volatile corrosion inhibitors too, which all help protect the tools. Probably other similar products too.

 

[Tasky]

Are you talking about the sort of places you have to turn up, in person, in the old fashioned way, like on the doorstep, with cash? I don't think I've shopped like that in ages.

Yup.
TBH, it's the only way I'd do it anyway, unless you can find the exact leather you want just from looking at a web photo.
I use JT Bachelor in London, myself.

Worth noting that, as any biker will tell you, leather is not waterproof. It is a sponge. Any wetness or moisture that gets inside a tool roll will stay there and soak in, unless you have adequate temperatures and air movement. Treat it the same as preventing mildew on an old tent or seldom-used clothing in a wardrobe.