ferret

Hi Ian, nice work. Nice to see yet another northerner on here .

Sheep nappa is great for moulding, it's got plenty of stretch. Pip is right about the hot water, not a good idea unless your making heavy duty armour out of thick cowhide.

A simpler question would be "what isn't it used for?". If you use the search facility and look for "round/head knife" you'll find a wealth of information has been posted about them, including who makes the best, how to sharpen and even how to make your own.

emailed these pics to admin a while ago, forgot to put them on here. Think Jammon must be a mind reader, I've been meaning to make a notbook holder for months but never got around to it. The pics don't really do it justice, if I'd ordered a custom job I don't think it would be this good. I love the design and the personilsed bits.

Nice work, welcome to the forum

Recently decided to have a go at braiding and I've nearly finished this quirt Covered it with neat resolene and didn't have any problems, must just be lucky.

Hi Mike, nice to see another Brit here. Have you considered putting a plastic bag inside the flask before using the sand/barley? Makes getting it out a lot easier.

Glad you like it Shirley. I've done a fair amount of research into the battle, the tapestry and even taken part in the '90 re-enactment of Hastings, but so far I haven't been able to come up any logical or historical reason for King Harold wearing odd socks.

Try le prevo in newcastle. They sell cut straps that are exactly the width advertised and at a reasonable price.

I've had good results on smaller pieces using neat lemon juice applied with a sponge. Gets rid of mould and no musty smell.

Found this, might be usefull to anyone running their own business. It's microsoft and only works for UK or USA. UK version http://www.msofficeaccounting.co.uk/Downloads1.aspx US version http://www.ideawins.com/Downloads1.aspx

That's the middle of summer over here so tell Jim to bring a good waterproof coat. I'm off to check bus timetables and borrow my mates canoe.

For larger patterns I use baking parchment. It's cheaper than tracing film and comes in 16' rolls.

dunno about distressed, most of mine looks terrified when I've finished tooling it

Found this site http://www.airbrushtricks.com/ . Lots of vids and tutorials.

Try here or here. The pics are for 3 strands but the principles are the same for any number (within reason).

Great job on the mask, makes me feel homesick. Colouring looks just like the statues before they cleaned them (without the pigeon c**p). For anyone interested in history/archaeology there was a recent tv prog about the original dock in Liverpool, info here.

There's a cheap DIY alternative to hair baldes and bevellers, all you need to make them is a small hacksaw and a mallet.

I'd add some Al Stohlman books, a few hours reading can save you weeks of learning the hard way.

Most historians claim that viking sword scabbards were made from linden (lime) wood covered with thin leather, (but most historians claim cuir bullion was made by boiling leather in oil, I tried it and have had serious doubts anything historians say since then.). While there have been a few finds with this construction they have been from the graves of Kings/Cheiftans. Although there is no evidence for scabbards made entirely from leather in the vike period, logic suggests they were made. I've tried making a leather covered plywood scabbard but it was a pain and looked crap. Here's one I made from 7-8oz veg tan with neutral shoe polish as a finish for a 38" sword weighing 4 lbs. So far it's survived 16 years of everything the British summer can throw at it (rain, hail, snow and the occasional scorching hot day.) and the occasional blow from swords, axes, billhooks and flails. At 2 1/2lbs I'd worry more about the sword being too fimsy rather than the scabbard.

I'm in for another go, I need the practice.

I recently turned down the offer of a free car. With fuel costs over £1 per litre (about $9 us gallon) I can't afford to run it. Hand rolling tobacco and packet of papers costs about $12 an ounce, I daren't look at the price of ready made cigarretes. As for taxing urine it wouldn't work over here 'cos the goernment has been taking the p*** out of us for centuries.

Might be worthwhile getting Al Stohlmans "figure carving finesse", it explains about reverse bevelling and double bevvelling and lots of other useful technical stuff.

I'm afraid you're right. The laws of Chivalry haven't moved with the times and are somewhat sexist. Nice to see the family still remember his achievments.

The title is hereditary regardless of any change of nationality or citizenship, someone in your family is a Baron. Chances are you're at least an "honorable". Always knew this forum had class