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They look really nice, my son would love something similiar for his Nerf gun foam bullets. I'm not sure if I should show him though as the pestering would be non stop.

That is absolutely stunning David, I love that rich golden colour on seats I hope it's off to a good home someone who knows how to take good care of it. Cheers, Clair

Thanks guys, gives me something to go off, my father in law is a butcher and I'm going to let him have a look at it. He's used to sharpening his own knives but I wasn't sure what to tell him in regards to what sort of edge it's supposed to have. Cheers, Clair

Wow that is nice David can't wait to see it finished.

I finally got my Dixon plough gauge today after winning it on Ebay Oz a couple of weeks ago (stupid local post office that doesn't open on Saturdays) and I was just wondering if someone could tell me how sharp the knife should be. Not having used one or seen one in person I've got nothing to go off as I've only used Stanley Knives and rotary cutters before. It seems to be all intact with the numbers matching up and has a stamp of J Dixon, the owner before though obviously hadn't used the knife part for awhile as a Stanley knife blade was put in the knife slot and it was pretty mucky when I pulled that out. So any members here who have a J Dixon plough gauge would you be able to if possible post a close up photo of the knife part that is sharp so I've got something to go off. Also I was thinking of getting a replacement knife from Dixon and wanted to know if the new ones will fit it. Thankyou for any help Cheers, Clair

Thankyou for posting them Jon, I love to see old machines cause where I live I'm extremely lucky if I even get to see a new leatherworking machine somewhere. Cheers, Clair

Wow Tom, that's coming along nicely can't wait to see the finished piece. Definately going to make an excellent portfolio piece. Cheers, Clair

Noah if possible would you be able to put up a photo of your splitter as I thought the Landis 30's only come in 6 inch as well and I would love to see the bigger version as it's definately a rarity. Cheers, Clair

Wow what a bag I love the bird, that is definatly work you can be most proud of. Clair

Welcome to forum Bernie, you have some amazing whips on your website. I was lucky enough to do a bit of travelling around Tasmania a couple of years ago, beautiful place. Cheers Clair

From an ascetic point of view I agree there is no right or wrong way it's what pleases the maker or the makers customer but I'm writing from a purely safety aspect which has probably wandered off topic a bit compared to what Leatheroo originally posted. You can do what you want in your own shop but if you work in mine you will be asked to follow my safety rules. Some examples I used to make stop motion animation puppets and I used to get people to come and help at times I had one particuliar person who thought it was perfectly fine to smoke and light up cigarettes while doing the fibreglass backing molds for the puppets, I don't like smoke around me anyway due to being asmatic but to have a lit cigarette around polyester resin is stupid the stuff is nasty as it is. Their excuse you guessed it I've been doing it for years. Another one to make the internal skeletons so the puppets could move you would drill into ball bearings and then solder in rods for the joints these were then seated into plates of the bearing size and screwed together. I had made up a jig so the ball bearings couldn't move while you drilled into them this also allowed you to flatten the top of the ball with a file so the drill bit wouldn't dance on top(before milling machines were cheap enough for the average person). This person decided nope I don't need no silly jig normal vice jaws will do when I asked them what they were doing I got I'm a machinist I know how to drill stuff except these weren't metal but hard plastic bearings. Want to guess what happened next I left them to it and came back to a bearing size dent in the wall (not a surface dent either). Thankfully no one else was in the room and the windows were on the other side. I got out of it soon after this tired of having to deal with with so called experts. . Yep have to agree with that.

My line of thought came from an old Phys Ed teacher who said practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect ie in our field say you have been cutting leather with a head knife but have been holding it wrong for the last ten years. You've been practising but practising the wrong way then someone shows you how to hold it the right way and you thank your lucky stars that you haven't done yourself a serious injury in that ten years. Yes there are two sides to every story the market fellow probably did have a good reason for saying what he did but in the fields I've worked in I've found more closed off nope I'm doing it right even though it's dangerous so called experienced people than know it all newbies. Clair

I use an Aztek seen here http://www.testors.com/product/136949/A7778/_/Ultimate_Metal_Airbrush_Set its both a single & double action and siphon & gravity feed. It works a bit different though in that the needle is built into the nozzle which you change for different spray sizes. I originally bought it for spraying my stop motion animation puppets which were made of silicone and you could only use a silicone paint mixture to paint them with. The other airbrush I had a cheap badger I think used to clog up with the mixture but the Aztec was fine I've only dragged it out once for leatherwork as I don't have the room to set up it all the time at the moment. But I was happy with how it performed with leather and will be using it more often once I've got a dedicated work room. One thing I like about it is it flushes colour really quickly as the only place the dye can go is through the nozzle the rest of it is sealed off. They do two versions of the one I have a resin and a metal one, I did have the resin one to begin with but found it too light and the balance would be thrown off when you plugged in the siphon bottles so I sold that and got the metal one, which is alot nicer to hold. It is a bit different to what others are using here but will give you something else to look at. I didn't buy it from Testors though I got mine from http://www.micromark.com/AZTEK-METAL-AIRBRUSH-SET,8271.html Cheers, Clair

Hope everything went well today Caroline, any idea when it will air. Best wishes, Clair

Doesn't stop them from coming around though we didn't have any where I lived previously but when we moved last year we had quite a few at the new place I politely told them that we don't celebrate it and the majority were quite polite about it saying sorry for bothering you. What worried me though is there were little ones who were about 5 or 6 and the parents were no where to be seen. I think I will lock my front gate or go out this year though so I don't have to deal with it all. Clair

That always annoys me when someone says that have being doing this for so and so years just because you have been doing it that long doesn't mean that you have been doing it right.

Welcome Happy Viking from a West Aussie, thought you might be interested in this software I've only used the trial version but it seems to be pretty good for knot work http://pagesperso-orange.fr/hypatiasoft/ Cheers, Clair

That is excellent Jay I love Japanese style tattoos, I see you popped into the other thread where I was asking if anyone had tattooed leather I knew I would finally come across someone who has. I prefer hand created art as well compared to printing. Welcome to the forum Cheers, Clair

That sounds great the Polka site definately shows the artist tattooing the leather and it does look to be sealed with something. Alot of blogs mentioned the Polka stuff was veg tan but it's hard to tell for sure. Cheers, Clair

Paypal is probably the easiest, I use it all the time for overseas purchases, if you do want a cheque though their bank should be able to write it in USD. I know in Australia we can but we get charged an extra fee to do it. I haven't had to use a bank cheque since Pay Pal came along. To ring Australia 0011 61 then the state code then the 8 digit number (61 is the country code) State codes 2 NSW, ACT 3 VIC, TAS 7 QLD 8 SA, NT, WA Example: 0011 61 8 ---- ---- (only thing you need to check if it still is 0011 it's been awhile since anyone has called me from overseas). Cheers, Clair

Leffler sells Neoprene haven't got their catalogue in front of me so can't remember what thickness they stock.

The second is chrome tan as I found somewhere else where the artist mentions it and it's not actually tattooed but laser engraved with the pigment rubbed in. The tattoo thing come from that he is a professional tattoo artist.

Rawhide would be possible just not stuff for carving, one of my first jobs was to debone chicken and pull the skin off for it to be trayed and sold in the supermarket. I hated the skin part cause if you didn't grab it right you would slip and wrench your wrist.

Nah the majority of it would be too thin the only bit suitable would be at the back of the thigh bones and it isn't that big, has a bumpy texture as well.

Now that is a sweet wallet, very sharp