Northmount

Good old fashioned anvils had a nice conical point. You could slide it over something like that and gently tap and work on the dinged area. There was another thread hear the past couple days bout sharpening drive punches, has some good ideas. Also to help with both driving the punch through the leather, and for pulling it back out, lubricate the end of the punch with paraffin or bees wax. Just press it into the block of wax. Tom

This could be done with two laces, alternating top and bottom. Sort of like saddle stitching. Just need to layout and punch your hole pattern first. Glue down the lace on the back at start and finish so you don't leave a bump like happens when you try to tie it. Can do single colour, or two colours, alternating. Tom

You need to upload the video to a video sharing site, make it public, and provide a link to it from here. Youtube is most popular. Vimeo is another. Tom

I want your shop ... and all the tools! Jealous! Tom

If you want wax or oil to be absorbed by the leather, it has to be applied before any acrylic or lacquer finish. These finishes seal the surface and pores of the leather. Resolene is an acrylic finish. Tom

Turn your item around 180 degrees and stich back over your seam. Poor mans reverse. Tom

You want to keep the inside as a straight tube so the punch outs can move through without jamming. So the inside is only dressed lightly to remove any bur from sharpening. And of course helps make the edge sharper. Tom

Also from Lee Valley Tom

Very ice! Tom

No heat, don't need to dry out the leather and cause it to shrink and crack. The balls are just beating it up to give some wear. If you want some scratches, wrap it around a few bricks in a pile of rags and drag it around the driveway. Tom

When I put magnets in wallets, purses, cases, etc., I usually fit the magnet into a piece of leather about the same thickness as the magnet. Depending on location, I would likely skive the edges of the leather to make a smooth transition. And the magnet would be covered with lining leather on the inside. Keep the thickness of leather between magnets, or magnet and keeper to a minimum since the further apart the magnets, the less pull exerted to keep the flap closed. Tom Edit And make sure the parts are strong enough, well enough made that they don't pull apart when opening them.

Put some Listerine in your casing solution. There are a number of posts about preventing mold. Do a search for them. Tom

Way too nice! Tom

Go to the slaughter houses and buy the hides. For the most part, they are a by-product. A small slaughter house, or abattoir may be happy to deal with you on small quantities. For the big operations, having to handle a few hides for you would just be a nuisance. Cattle ranchers and feedlots make their money on the beef (meat), not on the hides. By the way, the price of beef (on the hoof or in the supermarket) has recently doubled. That is due to so many ranchers and farmers reducing their herds several years ago due to BSE and the loss of foreign markets. It's now gone full cycle so there are fewer cattle and higher demand. Now it will take time to build the herds up for a few years until they can meet the demand, then the price will start to decline again. It's a familiar cycle that animal meat producers go through about every 5 to 10 years. Tom

I think what I see is trouble with following the cut with the beveler. It could be how you are holding the beveler, or it could be that your swivel knife is undercutting on curves. Keep your knife blade perpendicular to the leather. Tom

I think it is time to close this thread. The vast majority of people here appreciate all the work that Tom Boyce does and shares with us. He's doing a great job. Tom

Do a search here and you will find lots of info and lots of fairy tales too. Many tablet and smart phone manufacturers sell their own branded cases with magnetic flaps. They also use separate magnets to turn the device's screen off when it is holstered. They use rare earth magnets for these cases, holsters, sleeves. I had one case where it was questionable as to whether the magnets had caused a smart phone to seize up. Had to be rebooted by removing the battery and restarting it. It turned out the molded case was a bit too tight and was holding 2 or more buttons pressed on. Stretched the case and problem solved. The processors and memory used in these devices are not affected by magnets. They don't have magnetic properties. Even the old floppy disks were relatively immune to magnets. It takes an alternating magnetic field to erase or damage magnetically stored data. You might be able to simulate that by rapidly flipping a magnet over the storage material, but I haven't been able to do that. And by the way, CDs and DVDs are optical, not magnetic. So no risk at all to magnetic damage. If you want to be paranoid, keep cell phones away from DVD and CD players, and other sensitive electronics, including unsheilded network cables. I've seen the results for these, sometimes just a reboot, other times expensive repairs required. Tom

Wet the whole surface so it is even. If you are using tap water, it may contain various minerals that leave traces in the surface of your leather. Demineralized water might not leave stains, but I would still dampen the whole surface just so it is all treated the same. So try dampening the whole surface to see if it evens out. Else the next step would be lightly bleaching with oxalic acid or lemon juice or ... There are several threads about water stains and bleaching that you can research further. Tom

Pulleys are typically measured at the outside diameter since the belt surface should ride even with the rim of the pulley, not on the bottom of the groove. You don't want a belt to ride on the bottom of the groove as you lose the surface area contact on the side of the belt and pulley. Then you have to tighten the belt too much to stop it from slipping. Overly tight belts may damage the supporting bearings. Pulleys and belts should be bought as matching widths. Tom

Your method should be fine with all things flat. It looks fine. Just watch that there is no creep to skew the zipper as you are sewing it (hand or machine). Tom

Have you tried lubricating the zippers? Use either paraffin or beeswax. Rub it on the zipper, them zip and unzip a few times to work it in and spread it. I think it also helps to use a longer zipper with an inch or so buried behind the gusset. I think it makes a smoother transition. Also when installing, pin at the centre on both sides, and work to both ends when fitting the gusset. Glue or staple in place, then stitch. You should be able to test the fit before doing the stitching to make sure it is nicely aligned. Tom

With a laser, you just burn/brand the leather. You won't get silver. Tom

Welcome back! Tom

I'd consider using a laser instead of hot foil stamping for this size a project. Most hot foil presses have a small type box/platen. About 2" x 3.5". Tom

Which version of IE? I normally use Firefox, but just tried IE 10 and it works for me too. So maybe some settings in your browser might need to be changed. Click on the gear in the upper right corner (for settings) and pick "internet options". On the security tab, for internet, I have "medium high", and protected mode enabled. On the privacy tab, I have "medium high", pop-up blocker is not checked so allows pop-ups. For IE add-ons, I have Java enabled. I think that Java is required for some of the options. So if you could check these settings and if they are different, try setting them the same as mine. I have suspicions that it is likely Java or pop-up blocking that may be the issue. Tom Edit: Later versions of IE give me a problem with remote access to my office so had to downgrade to IE 10.