lightningad

Looks exactly like the Blanchard I just picked up at an Antique dealers for just £15 ! An hour with Japanese water stone and it's got an astonishingly sharp edge...bargain of the year for me! Adam

i'm with the marking only brigade - hitting it so hard the prongs pierce the leather will only knacker the Pricking Iron ! I use a very cheap Ivan iron, and a wooden mallet to whack it. Works ok til i can afford a better iron. To help keep the iron held vertically, i added a silicon putty (Sugru) around the shaft and molded it to my grip. Now i can hold it in the right position every time, and its less strain on my finger muscles - no more cramps after marking a big piece. adam

I've not had much time to work on leather projects for the past few weeks, so thought i'd post the only thing i have done...a strap for my new camera! Its an outer layer of British Tan dyed veg tan, then a layer of spongy foam, then lined with a Paprika coloured suede. Very pleasant to wear, and it feels very strong and secure. The hardware used is the plastic buckles that came with the manufacturers strap. Having used it for a few weeks, i now want to alter it to use some quick release hardware, as the strap can get in the way when using the tripod! adam

depends on what you want to achieve - you can glue and stitch, you can just glue. If you want to fold the edges thats also possible. These two images are of my second wallet - no glue used, just stitching. I made the pcokets for the cards using a purple satin, that was stitched to the rear of the main pocket face. The satin cuts down on the overall thickness and it looks quite flashy too! (I did cheat slightly and used double sided sellotape to hold the satin in place whilst i stitched them into position.) I did not fold any edges, just used a wooden burnisher to smooth the edges of the leather. edit - looking again - i didnt burnish these edges very well !! thats something that improves with practice. The great thing about leatherwork is that its really easy to have a go and find a way that works for you. There are very few hard and fast rules - if it works for you, its probably right! adam

Hey Jud, im also in a small town 6-7 miles outside Manchester! Wonder if its the same one? I get my thread from LePrevo - its pretty cheap linen thread but it does the job. Ian Atkinson who's videos you mentioned is also Leodis Leather who sells Tiger thread on Etsy. Its worth getting some to try out, and Ian is certainly the most cost effective way to try it, as the thread is usually only sold on bi reels costing close to £30 a go! You can get a really cheap diamond awl blade and handle from Le Prevo (mines from there) and as long as you spend some time sharpening it first, it should be perfect for making your holes. It also looks much better than the round holes a woodwork awl will make. As for buying leather - we're out of luck in this part of England…the nearest is J Woods Leather in Silsden, nr Keighley. You can go and look through the offcuts pile if you want a bargain, or via mail order. Le Prevo have been quite helpful - although the time it takes them to process orders seems very slow. I have also bought some lovely veg tan from Rolfords (Northampton). The biggest problem with mail order is not seeing before you buy…and the only way around that is a long journey! rgds Adam

yes - very stable. Its made from 2 layers of 2mm thick veg tan, with a 1 mm layer of styrene inside.

Its been a while since i posted on the forum, so i have just upload a couple of ideas posts - a litle thank you for all the useful tips, hints and general friedliness found on his great site. Ths is the second of those posts…hopefully it might inspire some creative ideas for recycling your own old stuff. I just posted a breakdown on Instructables.com showing how i converted an old wooden stool into a really useful tool rack. What do you reckon? not bad for 2 hours work and the £2 paid for the old stool a few years back! http://www.instructables.com/id/Leatherworkers-Tool-Carousel/ the round knife is held safely out of the way using two magnets embedded into the leg. adam

I recently made myself a desktop stand for my iPad, from leather with magnets attached using Sugru. It was also posted onto the Instructables website in the form of a step by step breakdown. If anyone wants to see how i made it, you can check it out here….http://www.instructa...iPad-Air-Stand/ and if you like it, please click on the instructables vote button too - i might win a prize! I must admit the stitching is not brilliant, but in my defence this was made as a prototype. I wanted to see if it would work and that the ipad would sit at a comfortable angle on my desk. Happily it did, and should anyone ever want one making, then the finish will be much beter now i have worked out the process! adam

why not just post it for all to see? I'm sure if he's doing it for money he'd be glad of the custom!

good idea…i'll have to try that one!