needles

ply wood, then use what ever is left over to make your shelves and supported worktops....

we camp out a lot or used to when we had weekends free, and hardley ever saw much in the way of road kill, odd small animal but nothing of any real use larger. I think its a great idea, and may appease the anti leather/fur brigade. but probably not. still not sure i cold go pick up something thats been recently killed, skin there and then.... got to admit i prefer my hides pre detached...... think I'm just a wuss. ha ha certainly wish her luck.

hi everyone, I read a very interesting article, and whilst I think its a good idea essentially not sure i would want to be out and about collecting. what do you guys think..? would you/ could you.? would you wear it..? http://modernfarmer.com/2014/12/one-woman-revolutionizing-fur-industry-using-roadkill/

great workshops guys, foam walls robertmeco, bet thats warm in winter. works really well doesn't it

Merry Christmas everyone..... thank you for all your help thought the last year... here's another better better one

My work is slightly different to most of you guys, i have very little time making new stuff, and even less time learning to carve, have done a few things but no where near like I would like to, however I do make my income from repairing leather stuff, be it, gucci / prada, mui mui handbags etc to leather furniture to auto interiors, etc etc. so I am not a craftmens like you guys, although would dearly love to be. I started in the building trade and developed a love for leather and repairing such ( a lot in a childrens charity repairing leather furniture etc for them), eventually being made redundant, whilst agonising over what an old git like me is going to do to pay the mortage, wife said you've been making money at repairing leather for a good while, do that..... oh yeh why didn't I think of that...? your a bloke she said.... ha ha. difficult making ends meet sometimes, and sometimes hard to find the right amount of drive, but I love it. and its still paying the bills, although only just sometimes. If i have a choice I wouldn't change it for the world.... as one said above if you can start without debt, way to go, start small and build up your reputation, that will help big time to carry you forward, best advertisement ever. try not to worry about what the competition is doing, otherwise it can become an all consuming obsession, and if you're actively competing even if they don't know it, your already losing, because you'll be under valuing your time and work....... trying to be cheaper, quicker what ever. thats my take on it anyway

well I am ok, i stupidly sliced my leg the other day, so at least in the near future i know no ones gonna make a canoe outta me....

I use a calor gas heater in my workshop, until i get round to putting adiators in, runs on bottle butane gas...... gets really cosy, infact warmer thna the house, but has the tendancy to run out just when the suppliers are closed and its really cold outside.... as for electricity, depending on how much yyou need, ie, just lights or hand tools, as other have said above, generator-these can annoy neighbours big time if not careful being in london I guess there are a few around you. other wise solar panels, i have them on my van and it powers everything, but most is 12v. you'll need the panel a distribution board, a mppt controller, and batteries to hold charge until needed. kits can be had for a couple of hundred pounds, although they will probably be around 100watts, should eb enough for lighting providing you have good light outside and not shadowed. but you wuld struggle for powering other things. i have seen those portable starter charger units that hold big amounts of power, don't know how long the power would last for using for lights, but may be worth looking into as can be charged at home then used in workshop??

they sand some top grain surfaces to make Nubuck, it raises a small nap

if it were me I'd rather try to clean the wood insitu, removing it looks extremely difficult if not impossible without damage, but i could be wrong. you could try oxalic acid to clean the wood, don't know if it will do anything to the brass though, just a thought. al

that looks really nice electrathon.....

We managed to photgraph a peping tom in our garden.....

my groover got used to being used like a dart, it flew many times across the room........ it doesnt ruin anything anymore, because i stopped using it..so I can't mess it up again.... ha ha

ferg can I ask, whats the reason behind brown paper or is that instead of being baxed?

hope it all works out smoothly for you, glad no one was hurt....

superb... I bet you've got a market for those...... a couple of them sold would fund your next few projects......

thanks guys i think your right, i must of built too far forward, I think i had the roller further forward so the blade egde is closer to the far edge of the roller, cut was upeard, if that makes sense gonna play more maybe as someone said try to position the blade on the horizontal and roller below definetly need to work on the blade, but I'll do more on that when i get the main body right. been fun playing with this though.

Hi I've knocked up a skiver, managed to get it set pretty good and it managed to split a 10inch x 1inch strip of leather, unfortunately it came apart, so made another but can't get the blade at the right angle, can anyone please take a side pic of their manual skiver, hoping they may give me an idea of angles, etc Alan

in the uk can be a problem, temp down to and below -0 , freezing, our climate is often damp... up here anyway i left some leather in outhouse, it developed black spots..... if air can get to and around it may probably help al

unfortunately Bob hasn't heard of them. I think I'll have to measure the current feet, and try to get caparisons from someone with a juki dsc 244, if it has the same size fittings them problem sorted, I can buy zip etc for my new machine.......

I work with leather during the day and most nights, repairing furniture, bags auto upholstery pretty much anything leather, unfortunately I get very little time to learn to carve and make my own things,,

superb, you're an inspiration....

thanks again Constabulary.

fantastic thanks Darren, everyone I've contacted here it eh UK, basicall go.... errrrrr. dunno....

thanks Gump. i sent an email to the uk importer, they havent rsponded, i guess they are only interested in sales from them......