The Stitching/diamond chisel is a leather stitching accessory and it’s a really great tool that makes hand stitching particularly for beginners quite easy and less intimidating. For this article, I researched the best stitching/diamond chisels, and here are the best 5 I found with descriptions to help you make an informed choice.
So what are the best leather stitching/diamond chisels? Here are the best leather stitching/diamond chisels in no particular order!
- Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel Set
- Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set 3009-00
- Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel
- Tandy Leather 6 Prong Diamond Stitching Chisel
- Wuta Leather 2 Set Diamond Chisel
Before we head on to more details on the leather stitching/diamond chisel, what do we know about the leather stitching/diamond chisel?
What’s a Leather Stitching/Diamond Chisel?
The leather stitching/diamond chisel is a leatherwork tool used to step up slanted stitch markings and punch holes on leather. The unique thing about the leather stitching/diamond chisel is how it marks and punches the leather for stitching all at once saving you the skill and time of using additional tools to make holes.
The stitching/diamond chisel generally looks like a regular fork but have slanted prongs that you would use to make slanted stitch markings and holes.
Benefits of Using a Leather Stitching Chisel
There are several advantages to using a leather stitching/diamond chisel that makes getting it paramount to your leatherwork.
1. It’s a great beginner stitching tool
Most people when starting out in leatherwork may find mastering the use of a lot of tools in the initial stages overwhelming. The stitching/diamond chisel help to simplify the stitching operation as you would use it to do both marking out and punching stitching holes all at once.
2. Stitching/diamond Chisels are Budget Friendly
If you’re tight on budget or probably just seeking to explore hand stitching to see if you’d like it or simply looking for a multipurpose leatherwork stitching tool, then the stitching/diamond chisel is one tool you will really appreciate.
3. Leather Stitching/Diamond Chisels Speeds Up the Stitching Process
With the leather stitching/diamond chisel marking and punching stitch holes all at once, you wouldn’t have to get an awl to work your way pricking through stitch markings before starting to and stitch. With this, you’re sure to finish up your stitch work much faster.
However, a downside I have noticed over the years with using a stitching/diamond chisel is how slightly less pleasing it may be when compared to using pricking iron and an awl. While this may be hard to notice by a layperson, you can put in a bit of effort towards making it’s resulting stitches looking great.
All in all, there are a lot of benefits you will find with the leather stitching/diamond chisel. Now rallying back to the topic, here’s the details on the best leather stitching chisels as I presented it in no particular order!
1. Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel Set
Material:
The Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel Set is made from 100% White Steel making it very durable and robust leathercraft tool. It has an anti-slip handle which gives the user a strong grip when being used.
The surface of the Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisels are coated with rust preventive substances and much be wiped clean when it arrives with the user.
It has a fine smooth polished handle that makes it very comfortable to hold.
Prongs:
The Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel has a sharp diamond-shaped tooth that help make stitch markings and punches very easy. This stitching chisel comes in different sets of 4 with the 3mm and 4mm having 1, 2, 4, 6 prongs, and 3.38mm having 2, 5, 10 prongs respectively.
Size:
The prong width for the Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel is about 2mm with a prong pitch of 3mm, 3.38mm, and 4mm alternatives available. The overall dimension for this product is 5.8 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches with a weight of 3.84 ounces.
Final Thoughts:
The Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel gives gives you the best combination set of stitching chisels that will really help you out with any kind of stitch markings and punches at all angles you will require. All this at a very affordable price!
If you’re interested in the Aiskaer Diamond Lacing Stitching Chisel, you can check it out over here on Amazon and while at it, also see some of the great reviews its gotten from satisfied customers.
2. Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set 3009-00
The House of Tandy leather is a huge leatherwork brand and has been so for many years now, helping the leatherwork industry with the best of the best leather craft videos tutorials, tools, and materials for leatherwork. Their high quality Diamond Hole Chisel Set 3009-00 is my pick for the best leather stitching/diamond chisels.
The Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel 3009-00 is a set of diamond chisels used for punching many kinds of holes for leather hand stitching using many different types of thread.
Material:
The Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set comes with one sturdy textured non slip handle , you can set or fix on all the chisels available in the set, a 1 prong chisel, and 3 groups of chisels.
This tool is finished with a black coating of electrophoresis chemicals that gives the tool its resilience to wear, rust or corrosion.
Prongs:
There are 3 groups of prongs in addition to a 1 single prong chisel. Each of the 3 Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisels have 2, 4, and 6 prongs each in 3 stitch sizes.
So all in all, the Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set comes with 10 interchangeable stitching/diamond chisel heads and one handle.Each of the chisel heads are made to be fine threaded for a safe and secure lock to the handle.
Size:
As stated above, there are 3 groups of stitching/diamond chisels in the set. The first group of prongs in this set is a 2mm or 3/32 inch small spacing you can use to create about 6 stitches per inch.
The second group of prongs in the set is 3mm or 1/8 inches medium size spacing that creates around 5 stitches per inch.
And the final group of prongs in the Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set is the 4mm or 5/32 inches large spacing you can use to create about 3 to 4 stitches per inch.
- Package Dimension: 6.2 x 4.6 x 0.2 inches
- Item Weight: 6.4 ounces
To ensure best results and the longevity of the Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisels, use it with the Tandy leather use it with their Professional Cutting Board.
Final Thoughts:
The Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set 3009-00is a fantastic great quality tool that gives you variety, in a very convenient way.
If you’re interested in the Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel Set 3009-00, you can check it out over here on Amazon! Tandy leather as always has created a very useful video resource to help you with how to use the tool. You can find it below!
Video: How to Use The Tandy Leather Diamond Hole Chisel
3. Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel
Material:
The Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel is made of high-quality Alloy Stainless steel and it’s a very sharp handwork tool for creating diamond-shaped holes on leather.
It has polished anti-slip handles that gives you a firm grip and helps you hold it comfortably especially if you spend a lot of time making stitch holes for your leather projects.
The Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel is strong in structure and robust texture that makes it difficult to break or wear.
Prongs:
With the Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel, you have 4 Chisels with each having 1, 2, 4, and 6 prongs respectively giving you a variety of leather stitching/diamond chisels to work with.
Size:
The Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel has a prong pitch approximately 4mm and the overall tool length is around 10.5cm. The weight per each in the set is 0.36 pounds, a total product dimension of 5 x 2.4 x 0.3 inches and 4.8 ounces item weight.
Final Thoughts:
You will find the Citian Diamond Stitching Chisel to have a durable structural design and a really nice simple design at a really affordable price. If you’re interested, you can check out it’s latest price here on Amazon and some of the great reviews it’s received recently.
4. Tandy Leather 6 Prong Diamond Stitching Chisel
When Starting leatherwork, one important thing I find really helpful to most beginners is being able to buy individual tools especially on a need basis. The Tandy leather 6 Prong diamond stitching chisel is in our list having artist who prefer individual tools in mind.
Material:
The Tandy Leather 6 Prong Diamond Stitching Chisel is made from the 41xx steel which makes the chisels ridiculously durable and tough. The steel undergoes a very rigorous hardening process in order to form these chisels.
It’s nicely finished with a black electrophoresis coating to prevent the surface of the stitching/diamond chisel from rusting, wear and corrosion. This makes the tool extremely strong and long lasting.
Prongs:
The Tandy Leather 6 prong Diamond Stitching Chisel as the name implies is a 6 prong chisel.
Size:
This spacing between holes of this chisel 4mm or 5/32 inches large and can be used to create about 3 to 4 stitches per inch.
Final Thoughts:
Not all crafters will want to buy a set stitching/diamond chisels. In many cases, most crafters will only want to replace a lost chisel, collect tools for fun, or simply want to buy tools as and when it’s needed.
If you find yourself in this category and would want an individual tool, you can check out the Tandy Leather 6 Prong Diamond Stitching Chisel here on Amazon.
5. WUTA Leather 2 Set Diamond Chisel
Wuta leather is a modern-day Chinese leather tools manufacture with the simple mandate of making quality tools at an affordable price. The Wuta Leather Diamond Chisel is one of such high quality tools.
Material:
The material used by Wuta leather for this chisel is Steel with an oxide finish. The steel and the oxide finish used makes this stitching/diamond chisel solid and strong. The surface of the tool is slightly polished and as such it can punch through leather smoothly.
Lastly, the handle for this tool is patterned to make it non-slip as such give you a really comfortable grip.
Prongs:
This tool comes with it 2 Chisels. You would also have 2 varieties of prong pitches to choose from that is, the 3mm and 4mm spacing.
If you’re interested in the Wuta leather diamond chisel, you can check it out over here on Amazon for it’s latest price.
10 Hacks For Using the Leather Stitching/Diamond Chisels
1. The head of the chisel shouldn’t be struck with a hammer but rather a mallet or a maul to prevent the head of the chisel from mushrooming.
2. Always use the stitching/diamond chisels with a soft board to ensure the teeth of the chisel is protected.
3. Make punches accurate by re-entering the last hole punched with the chisel to correctly align the subsequent punches.
4. When removing the stitching chisel after punching, make sure to always pull it out of your leatherwork straight not in a side to side stroke as this can cause the prongs to snap or bend.
5. Use a chisels with 4-8 prong chisels for long consistent punches.
6. Always use the single prong for tight corners for a neat accurate consistent punches.
7. Regularly apply a thin layer is oil to protect the chisel from rusting.
8. Always ensure the diamond chisel you use is right for the thickness of the leather you’re using.
9. However, if you have to punch through thick leather, a simple hack is to rub the teeth of the stitching chisel over a block of beeswax for a very smooth punch and pull.
10. You can also use large spaced prongs for thicker leather to help pull the chisel out smoothly.
Conclusion
The Stitching/diamond chisel is by far one of most important leatherwork tools you would have as the majority of the leather projects you will make, especially in the initial stages of your craft will be finished by hand stitching. So having the right chisel will go a long way to help you achieve the best of hand stitching finishes. I hope this guide is helpful and will help you make the perfect choice of the best leather stitching/diamond chisel for your leatherwork.
