ClaireAshton

Those tools must be worth at least £600 ($1000) retail !

OK, here goes..... My places of supply in UK are (I'm not bothering with addresses, links etc. as they go out of date. I'll let Google take the strain) Tandy Leather Factory Northampton Most tools, leather, hardware, dyes etc. (Online, phone and personal visits) Le Prevo Best Hardware, some tools, (difficult to order and deal with generally) Identity Store Mainly Tandy products Abbey in Walsall and Knutsford? Tiger thread and some dyes. Poor selection leather Dixons Walsall Tools, very good quality but pricey (personal visits) Ebay Various old tools, beware of 'rare vintage' rusty rubbish. Tools from china are rubbish quality, at least all the dealings I've had, but i can't resist! Etsy Ian Atkinson for small lengths of Tiger thread Toolstation Very cheap tools, things like rolls of sandpaper, real sheepskin bonnets (for dyeing and finishing - one of my best ideas!) smooth pliers for pulling needles etc. Amazon My first port of call for anything vaguely generic eg adhesivesu Goods Japan Brilliant web source for tools etc. Web site very clunky, but useable and payable by Paypal. NB Only order one item at a time, if you were to order, say, five items then you could get stung for VAT and import duty. I believe the limit for duty is £15 (pounds if this doesn't display correctly) and everything I've ordered always come with a value of $9 (dollers US) on it! As each item is free postage and no discount for quantity, I take the trouble to checkout each item individually. I leave a few hours between orders just in case. Delivery is very quick to UK considering. Axminster Tools Online, fantastic range of non-leather specific tools. Thinks like steel rules, dividers, knives Now for products themselves - only really the ones I have had to use because I can't source the American ones. Contact Adhesive (various including Barge) EvoStik Contact - brilliant. Available with brush but my favourite is the very small tube for direct onto small items eg wallet. PVA adhesive HobbyCraft Craft PVA in Litre bottles, dirt cheap and dispensed into a sort of 'eyedropper' plastic dispenser I got on amazon Heavy Maul In process of making one, don't want to pay £70 for another Al Stohlman one. Have ordered a fork lift truck wheel..... watch this space.... Grommet (Oval chrome with 1.6" inside clearance available at Ohio Travel Bag? but too expensive to UK) Amazon for a house door number 0 (zero) on its side - one of my better ideas. Now for 'Wants' Beveller (such as the Bevan one from Australia or I believe there is one available in USA) which is about £175 to UK Decent Stitching Pony / Clam / Clamp / Horse Made my own (similar to Al Stohlman book on Stitching) but want a leg clam similar to Fred moreau of France. Went to Walsall Leather Museum and they had loads of these clams in a box on display, all just merrily rotting away. Rounder Again made my own, but better would have been a properly manufactured one. You can get them on Ebay USA but at extortionate prices. Fiebings Glycerin Bar Soap Not at £15 a go! I'm posting this so as not to lose, but will edit when I have a think. I may try to put it in my first post as well so it's 'on top'

Not sure if this topic is in the right place. What I would like to do is to get a moderator to 'Pin It' in the most suitable section in the Forums. When I read posts about almost any subject on here, I seem to spend ages trying to hunt down the easily obtainable equivalents to those mentioned in the post. Even if items are obtainable they tend to be very expensive if UK stocked and dispatched and generally out of the question if sent from the States. There are one or two examples of the reverse problem, I'm thinking of Dixon Tools and Tiger thread which you who live in USA find difficulties with. So what I am hoping for are lists of equivalents, suppliers posting with the items they supply at normal UK post rates and so on. So who wants to start? Claire

Hi Van, Me too, so I made my own (well, a horse really) which I modelled on the one in the Al Stohlman book on handstitching. For what it is worth, I think the Al Stohlman books are still the best basic instructional books on leather basics on fabrication and tool use. Oh, I feel another topic coming on.........

Hi Bob, Our Shrewsbury in the UK has no official, or even locally accepted, correct pronunciation. I say SHREW not SHRO. Best Wishes Claire

Another thread led me to a thought, why did good leather instruction and pattern books begin and end with Al Stohlman? Am I right, or just not looking in the right place? My favourites are Al Stohlmans Handbook of Stitching, Cases 1, 2, and 3 and his Leathercraft Tools book. What are your favourites? While we are on the subject of leather 'knowledge', I do understand that here on this board is by far the best instruction if you can find and collate it. BW Claire

I did somewhere about chopping up scrap into small pieces and making handles for tools etc. by mixing glue with the scrap and pasting in layers until attaining the shape and size required. Anyone else remember this method?

I think you may need a bigger photo with a better resolution than this, I personally can't make out what this is.

Rubber Cement excellent if you need to assemble then disassemble, such as putting in a gusset for marking up, as you can pullit apart and even reassemble again. Very helpful for intricate assemblies where you can't get it right first time. Used many of the common glues, but for me it comes down to 2 main factors. First, 'holdability' when assembling and Second, issues when finishing. By hold, some contact cements hold well immediately but difficult to get lined up well. Most respond well to heavy clamping, but where damage from clamps is an issue, try to use an overall 'press' by placing protected piece of wood etc and a heavy weight or clamps over the whole job. Prefeerably have the work oversized and cut to size when the cement has set. For positioning sew through layers outside if the work area to ensure correct alignment. PVA is poor for getting into position easily but responds well to clamping directly or indirectly. Second issue for me is problems finishing. There is nothing worse than rubber cement (glue? I never know the difference between glue and cement) for sewing through and for messing up edge burnishing. Best is probably PVA. Hmmm...... Spreadability is important, but so is convienience of a small tube to allow small applications and don't like having thinners but........ SO you see it is what you like best for a particular job. Now believe this or believe it not, one of my favourite (we in UK spell this correctly, unlike those across the English Ocean in the USA ) jobs is pulling dried up rubber cement out of one of those Tandy tins so I can put my own stuff in, such as Evo Stik Impact. Then there is ....... What I really want and can't find anywhere is the white glue that Nigel Armitage uses in his videos that comes in a nice little dispenser he squeezes. My reason for wanting some of this is that everything he glues turns out into a really nice bag, or wallet or whatever. My final advice, learn like most of us - by trial and error, mainly the latter Oh... PS Barge is good when I can get it in the little tubes. And, nearly forgot, really strong double sided tape is great for holding just while you stitch. After all, if you are stitching, glue is only for holding. And... if it is a thin lining, some glues will soak through.

Sorry, Cheryl, I've just changed my profile to show Shrewsbury UK, and not Shrewsbury in USA somewhere. I hope the pricing is a mistake or else their economy is the one that will need protecting..... Looks nice though........

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Special-Magnetic-Fish-Angle-Stitching-n-Lacing-Pony-Leather-Tools-ONGAGE-/281385461108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4183e16574 The seller is HappyEveryDay - I'm not surprised at this price! Claire, who made one for 1% of the price of this......

Phew!

Hi Finally managed to get some on eBay.co.uk They are solid brass tacks and they are the only place I have managed to source any from. They are, I suspect, salvage of some kind as I ran a magnet through them and about 10% were steel or iron based tacks. So I shall be very carefil with the ones I got as I'm sure I'll never find any more! Thanks for all the suggestions.... Best Wishes Claire

Thanks for the ideas, but I was hoping for tacks (ie flat sided) as I find they 'grip' the leather better. I can source the escutcheon pins etc in the UK but not solid brass tacks. Best Wishes Claire

Thanks for the pattern, I'll have a go when I can. I was hoping for something a little fuller but I guess I'll have to try and do one from scratch.

Hi all, I've just posted in regard to Brass Tacks, but I also had this on my mind. I need a pattern or at least ideas for making a bandana for myself. I need one that comes down over half the ear and low at the back, much like the sort of bandana someone on Chemo would wear. I currently use shop bought or friend made ones made in textiles but I'd like to have go in leather. So the little perched on top ones that a biker might wear is too small, needs to be as above and no gaps at the back where the adjustment would be. I could even adjust a 'Baker Boy' pattern but a 'baseball cap' would probably be too tight fitting. Best Wishes Claire

Hi, I occasionally do wet moulding for tool sheaths, bags etc. What I need are some tacks that do not stain the leather, the only ones I can get locally or online in the UK are just steel and rust immediately and stain the leather. Not an issue so far as I tend to use dark colours, but I want to try a bag in an undied colour ie pale beige. In Al Stohlman's books he mentions HAND or SHOE tacks but all the local cobblers say even they can[t get them. So....... HELP! Best Wishes Claire PS The quantity I need is about 50-100 or so if reuseable.