That $90 leather working kit from the flea market turned out to be a trap

I grabbed one of those pre-packaged leather tooling kits at a flea market outside Lincoln last month, thought I was being clever for the price. Got it home, opened the plastic, and the stitching awl handle cracked on the second hole I punched through some scrap. Then the dye bottle had dried into a solid lump, and the stamp set was full of cheap zinc pieces that bent when I tapped them twice. I pushed through anyway, spent a whole Saturday fighting with it, and ended up with a wallet that looks like a cat chewed it and stained my kitchen counter a weird brown. That kit probably cost me $90 cash and a weekend I'll never get back, not to mention the aggravation. Has anyone else gotten burned by those all-in-one starter bundles? I'm thinking about just buying individual tools from a real supplier, but I don't want to throw another hundred into something that might also be junk if any of you know a decent brand that holds up, let me know before I try again.

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