toxo

I've got a piece of natural veg tan with that milled look on the flesh side and I thought the same thing.

To remove any rivet just center punch with a nail or a proper centerpunch and carefully drill with a 1/8th (or thereabouts). The top will come away with no fuss then pull out from the other side.

A lot of figurin out been done on that. Great job. Well done.

A great example of necessity being the mother of invention at some point in time. Took a while to get my mind off that mechanical broom in the background.

Not knocking airbrushes at all. I have two somewhere. Great for small/intricate stuff but I don't do much of that. I hear what peeps are saying about loss of pressure but I'm basing the following on the premise that it doesn't. It can't be that hard to seal the damn thing properly. Whenever do you use a spray can once and it loses pressure. OK, assuming you can seal it; The thing that appeals most to me is being able to grab the colour I want, spray the leather, DONE until the next time. If I have to re-charge after 10/12 times I'll take that. No looking for compressors, no cleaning airbrushes, FAR less cost in dye over daubers, sponges, brushes etc and NO streaks. It's a win win win for me. Just thought of another plus. If I want a mottled effect like the last bag I posted here, I can just spray the sponge. Take the way I did it before, 1st colour, take lid off bottle, take clean dauber, tip bottle up on dauber, daub the sponge. dab dab. replace lid on bottle replace bottle. 2nd colour, repeat, 3rd colour, repeat. All the while praying one of the bottles doesn't get knocked over.

That Jenni can looks useful Fred but every time I've ever used one of those finger pull sprays sooner or later it starts spitting. fine for watering plants or WD40.

For WD40 you're probably right, probably gunked up the tube over time hence lack of pressure. I know there might be reliability issues but so far I'm impressed enough to keep going. Just the idea of being able to pick up a can of "dark brown" or "tan" or a custom colour and use it is good enough for me and no looking for applicators or streaks or cleaning up. @Handstitched It did blow the nipple out @ 103psi but at normal tyre pressure - 30psi - it didn't even distort the nipple.

Update; Filled with half a cup of water, pumped up to just under 30psi. Worked really well but only when used upside down??? Maybe I damaged the tube when drilling the hole. At around 30 secs you can see it stutter when i altered the angle but recovered when I went back to the original angle. This can is working well with no glue or solder despite being messed about. There are so many plus points to this hack. No more going rigid with fear as soon as you take the lid off a bottle of dye in case you knock it over. Just pick it up and use it. When empty just re-fill it. Have a different can for each colour including whatever mix you're using.

It's a 50Ltr tank with a corresponding motor that's loud. It takes up too much room. I'd look at maybe coupling up a couple of smaller diaphragms if I can find a quiet motor/compressor. How long is like how long is a piece of string. It comes on when you use it. To be fair it doesn't get that much use and that's the trouble. Because of the faff to set it up just for occasional use I tend not to bother and let it all on the floor. It would be so much better to just turn it on and use it.

You're right of course but if I knew the answer to that I probably wouldn't have needed to ask the question. I was kinda hoping for someone who had a similar setup. @Constabulary That may be one answer but I'm loathe to break up a professional setup. As it is now the thing works when you hit the treadle. Also, provided you have an air reservoir the thing is silent until the pressure drops out.

The rugby ball shaped feeder roller is by necessity rough enough to grip the leather. Imagine you're skimming off 1mm of leather, those 801 skivers that don't have vacuums run an increased risk of that 1mm sticking to the roller so when that part comes around again the skive will be 2mm instead of 1mm and risks ruining the project. How often this happens I don't know. There are different types of roller, some will be more prone to holding onto the waste leather than others. The purpose of a vacuum system is to suck up the dross as it comes off the blade thus decreasing the odds of this happening. The other bonus is the waste is deposited in a sack for disposal. Otherwise it just falls on the floor or in a bucket. Here's a couple of pics from my initial post in 2021, not that they show much.

No-one!

This ^

This came to the fore again after Dikman started talking about airbrushes. Thought about doing it many times because I think having a charged up spray can of each of your most used dyes is a great idea but never tried doing it until now. Let me begin by saying this is a fail but not by much. Read on. I started off with an empty paint can and one of those rubber nipples you use to blow up your car tyres. Wanted to see if it could be done the same way it's done on your car, ie no glue, so I drilled a hole a bit smaller that the grommet. There was too much meat on the nipple. Couldn't get it in the hole so I cut away some of the meat. Once it was in I undid the valve and poured in some thinners to clean it out. Then I pumped it up gradually to see if it would hold and it did...... for a while. It held at just over 100psi Until this happened and it blew out. So cutting the rubber away and brazing or soldering would definitely be the way to go or maybe even araldite. The part I'm not sure of is the spray pressure. I was checking by pressing the the top now and then but the air coming out didn't seem right for the psi but that was with an empty can. When I held it against my skin it seemed reasonable. What are the hive's thoughts on whether it would be better with some fluids in it? I know if I filled it to about a third I definitely wouldn't be putting 100psi in it. Would the setup work as is with fluid and maybe only pumping up to around up to around normal tyre pressure, maybe 30psi. I'll have another experiment but it would be useful if you guys chipped in.

Skiver upstairs, Large compressor downstairs. If I want to use the vacuum on the skiver it means a long hose between the two. What's the smallest compressor (quiet) that will drive the vacuum pump? Thanks peeps.

This is not about design per se but it might help with any project that you take on. It's about your starting point and logic. I've got more fasteners and hardware etc than you can shake a stick at but you can bet your arse if I design for a 1 inch strap, when I get there I won't have any 1inch strap ends or buckles and if I do they won't be the same colour as the rest of the hardware. So work backwards and collate everything you need beforehand even down to the dye colour and the matching or contrasting thread. Hand sew or machine sew will be a massive difference. Hole punching on a curve will gradually bring those two pieces together around the curve. Try doing that on a machine. Not saying it's not possible but a whole nother ball game when designing for it. Good luck.

Have a listen to Arthur. He's probably a really nice man but I can't handle it. This is not one of his worst.

I think you should go slow or even use slow motion to show a difficult or intricate technique, in fact it will be appreciated but for me I can't do slow for no reason. There's one guy in particular talks so slow I can't watch more than about 30 seconds.

Never heard of it before but a good practical piece. Well done.

OK Yin! This is just my opinion and I only say to help and maybe show a different viewpoint. Back to the painters tape - I'm thinking it will stick much better if applied when dry, also hold the casing longer maybe. Don't know, never used it but tape is tape right. And maybe explain somehow how much the leather will expand under what techniques especially for people who want to make something to fit in a frame. The videos - With the amount of content out there these days you have to do everything you can to hold their attention before they move on to something else. You have to be ruthless. I think you could shorten it by half and not lose anything important. Doing one video on something as simple as casing on it's own would be a definite no no. more content but only long enough to get the point/technique across and move on. If aiming at beginners you have to think like a beginner. For instance, would a beginner know to search for "casing leather"? Love the intro and the structure and wanna see more vids. You're almost there. Good luck.

I would scrub the whole thing in a very hot bowl of water with some washing up liquid. When dry go over it thoroughly with leather balm/food/conditioner/beeswax etc to put the oils back into it. If you want it to smell nice some cocoa butter also.

Another great job Angel,Well done. Are the zip flaps tucked under a turned and stitched top line?

Good job Yin! I like the style, the font etc. If I might nit pick slightly, firstly I think some aspects could be shorter and secondly, if you are aiming at beginners, they won't understand terms like "casing solution", hell I don't understand what "casing solution" is, I thought it was just water but then I'm not a tooler. One last point, a genuine question, does the painters tape stick to damp leather? Or maybe put it on before casing? I've never seen blue painters tape over here in the UK. I'm not a tooler but I know your work and I will be following. I'm sure I'll learn lots.

Sorry no but where I do my workshop is very much that way inclined and almost everyone is involved in Cosplay, Larp, medieval, traditional archery etc. I'll ask and get back to you.