As my leathercraft developed, I found myself working more and more with vintage English saddle leather, carefully repurposing it into bags and other pieces that I hope will be used and enjoyed for many, many years.
I had also discovered the strength and practicality of saddlers' rivets. They are incredibly useful when working with heavy leather, but I had one problem - cutting the rivets.
The pliers I had simply weren't up to the job. I struggled with them for ages, and quite often ended up waiting for my husband to come along and cut them for me. Not exactly an efficient production method!
Then one day I had a visitor, a local engineer, who happened to see me struggling.
He pointed me towards Maun Industries, https://www.maunindustries.com a local company specialising in hand tools and pliers, and suggested I give them a call and explain what I was trying to do.
So I did.
I contacted Maun, explained the problem and sent them a photograph of the rivets and what I was working with.
They recommended their End Cutting Plier for Hard Wire, Comfort Grips 150 mm.
And wow! what a difference it made.
It felt like cutting through butter.
I was so impressed that I made a little video showing the pliers in use and tagged Maun Industries.
What happened afterwards was something I certainly hadn't expected.
I began to feel that Maun were one of those companies that genuinely enjoy seeing new makers develop and are interested in supporting people who are building something from the ground up.
Since then, they have supported my leathercraft by providing tools that I can use for my festivals and workshops.
This has made a huge difference to my workshops in particular. Maun have supplied enough rotary punches and pliers for each participant to have their own tools to work with.
When you have a table full of people learning and making at the same time, having everyone equipped with their own tools makes the whole experience so much easier.
I am incredibly grateful for their support.
For a small maker like me, having a company with such expertise take an interest in what I am doing means a great deal. And their tools don't just sit in my workshop — they are now being used by the people who come along to learn leathercraft with me.
That's something I really value. 
