kevinp

I work part time as an upholster for an airline company, the rest of the time I run my leatherwork business.

Both of these are excellent http://abbeyengland.com/ http://www.leprevo.co.uk/catalogue-index.htm

This is the best way, I find most people use too much glue, you only need to use a little

No still here http://www.connollybros.co.uk/present.html

So I missed the link http://www.muirhead.co.uk/

Not sure where Rolls Royce get theirs from but most airlines and other super car manufacturers get theirs from lovely leather to work with

I know it not the same but this is the reason we stopped selling knives and pouches, it was too much hassle and there is always that one person who will make a claim. we had one customer who cut himself badly with the knife we sold him within hours of buying it. even though he was told it was razor sharp and to be careful. We also had adults buying the knives and then giving them to their children at the stall, even after telling them it was illegal for the child to have a knife, just too much hassle so we stopped

This problem will disappear if you use a hand press rather than a hand setter and hammer, not sure why but it will

Beautiful work, I really like the idea of the label it makes the briefcase very personnel to the client. Well done

to stitch around the whole belt dont try to do it with one length of thread it will tangle as you found out. sew it with shorter lengths as far as you can spread your arms apart.it will probably take three or four lengths.

Thanks for the reply its a very nice finish, I use dye then gum tragacanth and then buf to a high shine.

just a question DR80 if you were edging a 48" belt how long would this take you, going through all the process ?

as impulse said you need to glue the layers together in a curve if not the belt will be stretched on the out side and wrinkled on the inside.

A waiting list is the best idea once you have your prices correct, there is one leatherworker in canada who's waiting list is one year and his books are full. Think about the orders you have how long would they take to do.... what if you were ill for a couple of days, what supplies were late or maybe you have to order special leather fittings etc add this into your waiting list. Its much better to have a waiting list than to tell a customer that their order will be late.

The angle of the awl is the same angle as the pricking mark,

Follow this your needles are going in wrong it should be left bottom right behind left and through the top.

Nice answer, practice is the key the more you cut the better you will get at it, and very sharp knives.

I would recommend Bridlework by Robert H Steinke you can order it from him its a big book full of information, http://www.museumofthemastersaddler.com/books_by_rhsteinke

good idea 25b what we are doing is putting one belt with holes all along its length from 28" up to 50" and marked up at these sizes, they can then find their belt size then choose their belt. We now supply our belts in wooden display boxes.

For us the worst part about having belts in a shop is that people try them on and they can become marked scratched or even the holes stretched where the buckle goes, and they are also not aways put back from where they came from If you have two keepers on the belt one fixed and one loose you need to find a way of keeping the loose keeper with the belt. Are they going to have security tags on them ? we LOST a belt the first week we had them on sale. One thing we always do when stocking the shop is after taking inventory, isthat we photograph the table and shelves from all angles,

Try this youtube channel he shows how to do french seams which are neater than the ones on the bag shown..

I use pen and paper to much effort and time to design in software. and as far as I can see little point.

This is another way https://youtu.be/RuTn9czGkQ8

I use a ball point pen that has run out of ink

This is what I do and dont have any dye coming off when this is finished, Sand the edge if needed, dampen the edge, fiebings edge dye, then burnish, fiebings oil dye then burnish again, then grab a cloth and rub the edges until they are shining then beeswax the edge and burnish then the beeswax again and final burnish and polish. This might seem like a lot of work but you can become pretty quick at this.