Nice old tool

[Slowhand Bob]

Guys, I have one of these and it does not look this good but after a bit of light cleaning and adjusting it has been my favorite leather weight measuring tool for some years now.  I much prefer them to the machine shop micrometer style that is common now.  Not sure what these will go for but as of the time of this post they are well cheaper than I paid for mine. http://www.ebay.com/itm/290634412342?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_500wt_1202

[GunClick Rick]

Boy i never really thought of it,but if your making a good holster does it have to be the same thicknees all the way through?

[Slowhand Bob]

Not when compared to aero space machine shop work but leather tolerances do need to be somewhat reasonable for consistency of fit and many patterns do require keeping leather within fairly close limits.  Notice that the common method of selling leather seems to be in a range of 2/64ths of an inch, such as 8-9oz with anything under 10oz being acceptable.  With that said, I find leather out of its advertised range frequently and think a sponge effect prevents any great preciseness with leather. 

[Springfield Slim]

Seems like a waste of money to me. I use a 5.00 plastic caliper, gets me close enough. After a while you can tell if it is right, but I like the calipers to double check. I have bought 9-10 oz from Tandy that was more like 8-12. For my better holsters I now have W&C split a side to be 12 oz throughout. More expensive but it is worth it.

[Johnny McCrae]

Here are pictures of a measuring tool that a friend gave to me several years ago. He used to design Wallets for a large leather products company.

[Slowhand Bob]

Good looking tool Johnny, easy to calibrate and they are extremely fast and plenty accurate.  The fact that the reading is taken from a constant spring, rather than feel makes these much more repeatable for most of us.  They are particularly good for those times you pull a big pieceout of the scrap box that didn't get marked.

[JD Alan]

I've got a small pocket guage I bought from Grizzly for under 20 bucks that works great as long as you are satisfied with a reading on the edge. It measures in hundreths of an inch, so I use a conversion chart to figure ounces, though by now I remember the thickness without refering to the chart.

I like the idea of a plastic caliber to reach farther in, and will give that a try. Thanks Springfield Slim for that idea.

JD 

[Massive]

There is a similar tool for measuring sound board thickness in guitars.  Just saying in case anyone wants to buy a new version of this or follow one of many build threads.  There is also a whole rage of tools, for measuring thicknesses with magnets.

I bought a Landis skiver for a 100, that seems like one answer...