Northmount

Put the knife right on the line, bring the ruler over to it, and parallel to how you see the line. Make sure you have enough light on that edge of the ruler to see clearly, not working in a shadow. If you have on good eye, and one not so good, arrange your work and lighting to take advantage of the good eye. Tom

You can also bury the ends of the thread between the layers of the strap. Tom

You can bury the items in cornstarch or kitty litter or floor-dry and allow it to absorb the excess oil. Might take several days, may have to shake it up to put new absorbent against the leather. Searches here for over oiling, neatsfoot oil, etc. will lead you to similar information. Tom

White PVA is flexible. Yellow PVA used by woodworkers is not. Yellow glue used on leather, you will hear it crack every time you bend the article, until all the possible bend lines have been bent. Then it will be quiet! Tom

If the top tension is set very tight, and is hard to pull through the thread path, try using a larger needle size. It will make a larger hole and you can reduce the top tension accordingly. Tom

If you haven't checked already, look at your settings on the left side of your new content page. Check forums and set the time period you wish see. Otherwise I would tend to say it's your browser. I use the latest version of FireFox and don't have this problem (unless I accidentally changed the settings as noted). Tom

Try more top thread tension, also see if the check spring is working. Tom

Thin slabs need to be adequately supported. If for example, the ends are resting on the support, but the middle is slightly above the support, it will crack with repeated hammering. Other than that, a good solid sturdy bench under most any thickness of slab will work. Portable is nice, which goes against using 3 or 4 inch thick slabs. But it depends on your work area and what you have at hand to work with. Eventually, people move towards a good solid bench under a 1" or thicker slab. Steel plate certainly does the job too. Maybe it needs to be waxed or sealed to ensure the leather doesn't pick up any iron, or will turn blue/black due to the reaction with tannin in the leather. I definitely wouldn't leave a damp piece of vegtan on bare steel. Tom

Could be interested, but where are you located? Price, location, shipping and any duties or brokerage have to be considered. Tom

Here is an upload of Eric's latest file as a PDF. 2D-3D stamps.pdf Tom

Gold foil/leaf doesn't fade. Sometimes may oxidize or tarnish, making it darker and less brilliant. Where it is getting faint is due to some abrasion or wear as it is rubbing off. There is a possibility that there was not good adhesion in this area during the original work. But more likely, a spot where someone always placed their elbows or whatever. Tom

Welcome to the forum. When you dampen tooled leather to manipulate it for molding, or anything else, you will lose tooling definition. Depending on what you are making, you may be able to mold it first, then tool with a block of wood, or part of your mold to support the tooling surface. Did you know you can search the forums to find previous threads with lots of discussion and experience? The search bar is at the top right of the page. Try searching for tooling and molding, or molded, etc. If you don't like the search engine here, the use google search and append "site:leatherworker.net" after your search string. It's faster and you will likely get more hits. It limits your search to this site. Tom

I would suppose the surface was sealed, else you would likely see a lot of stains from anything that may have been damp in any way had been set on it, or drips that had fallen on it. I wouldn't sell a table without it having a well sealed surface. I wouldn't want to have to provide a guarantee for a raw surface. The gold is likely gold foil/leaf. Scrubbing it will wear it off. Don't try to remove the sealer. The gold foil/leaf will come off with it. After a gentle cleaning, I would make sure it has fully dried, then wax it with a wax formulation made for leather, like neutral shoe polish. The wax will help protect the surface against spills and light abrasion and can be buffed to a very nice shine. That's really a nice looking table. Treat if gently. Tom

Also search "mop 'n glo", one of the product names used ... Acrylic floor wax. Tom

You can do google searches limited to this site by appending site:leatherworker.net to your search string. Google has the big servers with many many many sites fully indexed. So for anyone that isn't finding the built in search function adequate, try Google. The syntax used above works on any site. Be aware though, that areas that are not public will not be indexed. For example, you can't view pictures without being logged in, so if your know the pictures name, you won't find it in the Google search. Tom

Look for "grommets". There are long post in some diameters. Tandy has a 5/16' that has a 1/4" post. That's a fair amount larger than the 3/16" you are looking for though. If you have a Tandy or other supplier nearby, you can look at the post length to see if they are likely to fit for you. Tom

I remember seeing two or three threads here on making your own maul, along with pictures. Try a search and I'm sure you will find what you are looking for. Tom

Power in watts = voltage x current (amperes) x power factor. This is true for all single phase AC services. Power factor for an induction motor is typically in the range of 0.65 to 0.8. For three phase circuits multiply the above result by 1.732 (the square root of 3). Tom

It would appear that the UV rays of the sun do the tanning (same as for human skin). There is a leather binder sitting inside a glass window where the exposed leather has bleached to almost white. Glass for the most part blocks UV. Infrared passes through, so it would appear that the IR bleaches while UV tans. So it may be possible to reduce the rate at which tanning occurs by using a finish that blocks UV. Anyone got any permanent sunscreen/sunblock? Can't leave a wet sticky residue! Someone could do a little research so see what finishes are UV resistant. 2 parts to this, 1. UV won't cause the finish to breakdown, 2. blocks UV from penetrating. Tom

400 watts. 746 W / HP so this is 400 / 746 = 0.54 HP Tom

Love your story. When my youngest son was about 2, he came upstairs to the kitchen and handed his mom a number of screws. Where did you get these screws from. He took her to the basement stairway and showed her he had taken most of the screws out of the stair handrail. Anytime I went out to the garage, he would say where's dad going and be trying to get his shoes on to follow me. When I was about 2 to 3 years old, we lived in a house with no electricity. The wringer washer was powered by a little gasoline engine. One day I handed my mom a couple bolts I had taken out from under the washing machine. Kids that are hands on mechanically inclined will find ways to take things apart with or without the right tools. I have 8 grandkids now. Some of them are following this tradition. Tom

I've seen comments about using deglazer, or toluene or other solvent to remove the surface oil before gluing, so suspect that it would help with application of an acrylic finish. Looks like time for some test swatches to see what works and how it stands up to lots of flexing, etc. before you try the real project. Tom

Using a string gives you the wrong length. Belt length should be measured at the top of the pulley where the belt rides, not in the bottom of the groove. Bottom of the groove will be too short. You could draw out the mounting positions and size of each pulley on a piece of poster board. Then measure with a cloth tape. Or if you remember any of your geometry from school, you can calculate the length of the belts. Half the circumference of each of the 2 pulleys the belt will go around, plus 2 times the distance from centre to centre of each pulley will give the belt length. You have to know where you are placing each pulley for either of these methods to work. Tom

Oils are used to condition and moisturize leather. They do not seal. Acrylics and lacquers seal the surface. After you have sealed the surface, oils won't do much since the surface has been sealed. You can do a search here for sealing leather, or conditioning, or acrylic, or lacquers, or resolene, or neat lac, or saddle lac, etc. You will find lots of comments on the various types. If you are close to a Tandy store, you can go look at some of the products they have and ask about them. Depending upon the sales person you speak to, you may get some good information. Tom

See your other thread you started with photos for answers Tom