Jimdad

Title says it-- anyone know where I could get this done? The searching I've done has brought up mostly autoparts shops and places that only serve major industry. I'm looking for the usual-- vertical hole in the ram for tools, another tapped in from the side for tool retention.

Hello Dustin, I'd be happy to send you a yard or two of the colors I have of Ritza: I sell some of my excess ritza 1.0mm (purchased from abbey england by the spool) through my etsy store, so if you're interested just put in a "custom" request there and I'll send some over, no charge-- Having an easy state-side supply is well worth a couple bucks in shipping to get it to you. Here's my listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/240689473/lowest-price-10mm-ritza-25-tiger-thread?ref=shop_home_active_1

It appears that Amazon has some shipping to Chile, so you could try there. Here's a search to get you started: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A2617941011%2Cn%3A12896081%2Cn%3A8090707011%2Cn%3A262593011%2Ck%3A0.6+mm+thread%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7108330011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A3363971011&sort=price-asc-rank&keywords=0.6+mm+thread&ie=UTF8&qid=1441780290 If it isn't already waxed, it may be easier/less expensive to wax it yourself than to source from elsewhere. Good luck!

Abbey England (http://www.abbeyengland.com/) out of Cheshire in Great Britain sells what might be considered the most popular of 2 or 3 standard choices, ritza tiger thread, in a number of colors and thicknesses.

Newbie alert: I'm not a seasoned export, and I'm about to spout some stuff that may be way wrong, so take it all with a grain of salt: First: if it isn't noticeable when wearing the belt, maybe don't worry about it at all. That aside, I think part of the problem is the relative thinness of the leather. Consider adding a stiffer lining to the back. Any lining may help, but a medium to firm but of pigskin should do nicely. If you want to test the theory, you could always do it just over the few inches on that part of the belt with a bit of temporary double sided tape. If you don't have any other leather suitable for the test, you could do it with a thin bit of card board or chip board like that used for cereal boxes. Best of luck.

If it's been less than a week or so, call the local municipality where the guy lives. As you might expect, accidental disposal isn't uncommon, and facilities have some provisions for working through potential reclamation, though you may have to pay a small fee for the privilege of garbage diving. Edit-- and the long holiday weekend could work in your favor for things not being processed & piled on

Thanks, exactly what I needed to know. One follow-up: any thoughts on using tannin powder (tannic acid) vs. making the bark mash?

Yes, I understand that if rawhide were tanned, it would no longer be "raw" hide. Also that a raw steak, once cooked is no longer raw But I know steak can be cooked-- I don't know if rawhide can be tanned, or if the process of making it into rawhide precludes the chemical reactions necessary to turn a wet blue hide into leather.

Could be fun to be able to say my stitching is bullet proof

Okay, my gut says there's a short two-letter answer to this, but I can't think of why it wouldn't at least be possible, so here goes: Would it be possible to tan rawhide in veg/bark solution? If not, why not?

can chrome tans, or certain chrome tans varieties, be wet molded?

Hey folks, I'm making a journal cover with full stamping on the front-- about 5x7 and the leather is about 8/9 oz veg tan. With the stamping complete, the leather is quit a bit more stiff than when I began, given the compression from the stamping. I haven't dyed yet, just gave thorough single coat of neatsfoot. It's only been a few hours since I applied the neatsfoot, and still very stiff. Should I work more oil into it? Gently flex/bend the leather to make it more supple? Something else?

I can't vouch for it, but Plaid Craft has their line of "Leather Studio" paint made for use on leather. A seat gets more wear & tear than your random piece of leather though, so you'd probably want to let it dry real well and then stress test it bending, folding, and just sitting on it for a day or two. It's easy to find though & cheap-- I see it all the time at AC Moore & Michaels, both of which always have a coupon 40% or 50% off one item, so you could pick it up for about 2 bucks.

the "green" portion looks like standard faux copper patina paint. Modern Masters has a set for just this purpose, where the base paint is imbued with copper particles, and an accelerator can be used to achieve the patina. (http://www.worldpaintsupply.com/modern-masters-metal-effects-reactive-paint-copper-16-oz/)%C2'> store like AC Moore have something similar. Short of that, acrylics with a copper finish aren't difficult to find either, and many craft paints have a color actually called "patina green" here's the link for the set from modern masters, as an example. Never used this particular type though, so it's not an endorsement of quality

Gone-- returned them.

well, 498 rivets. It was a package of 500 and I used 2 testing. These are blind rivets, copper with a steel mandrel. It's grip length is for thicknesses between 0.188 inches to .25 inches (4.8mm to 6.35mm) I'd planned on just returning them, but they were a special order so I figured I'd offer them here first given they don't seem easily available. $30 + $6 for shipping via USPS flat rate envelope. This is what I paid, so I'm just looking to recoup the purchase price. If you're interested, let me know ASAP otherwise they're going back tomorrow.

Hello All, I couldn't find an option to edit or delete my prior post, so I'm putting another here. In short, I wanted to ensure I was giving a good price on my excess ritza thread, and after a bit of poking around the web tubes I found a few other people giving comparable or slightly better rates. So I added a bunch of length to my original prices to make sure I was giving the most competitive options for ritza. Any way, the rates work out to the following: $3.5 @ 15 yd, or 3 colors @ 15 yds each for $9 $7 for 40 yds $17 for 120 yds https://www.etsy.com/listing/240689473/lowest-price-10mm-ritza-25-tiger-thread?ref=shop_home_active_1 I'm open to anyone's thoughts on this pricing if it seems unreasonable from what other folks might be offering.

Hey Folks, after seeing a few other folks offering this stuff at slightly higher rates but with shipping included, I decided to add more length for the price to make sure I'm offering a good deal. Same prices as above, but now it's $3.5 for 15 yds, $9 for 15yds of any 3 colors, $7 for 40yds, $17 for 120 yards.

Hey folks, I'm selling some thread through my Etsy store, trying to offer shorter lengths at reasonable prices for the folks who only need shorter lengths or to try it out. https://www.etsy.com/listing/240689473/10mm-ritza-25-tiger-thread I'm offering long lengths at good prices too. Here' what I have: $3.5 for 10 yards $9 for any 3 colors @ 10 yards each $7 for 30 yards $17 for 100 yards Shipping is $1 for the first item, .50 cents for additional items. I'm starting with the colors I know I'll use, but I'll add more if it seems there's demand.

I have used 400 to 600 grit sand paper for similar purposes, starting with a very light brushing first then heavier if needed. This will partly depend on the specific properties of your acrylic, but they're usually thick enough to benefit in their adhesion from the light scuffing and still make smooth any marks made by such a fine grit. As always, scrap tests first. Edit: the paper I prefer is the (more expensive) wetordry/wet-or-dry. It seems to produce much more consistent results in any application I have used it.

I have a bit of experience "exceeding manufacturer specifications" on printers, and may have a few useful tips: 1) Highest quality settings make the printer feed slower, which often helps reduce feed slips. 2) Tape or very lightly paste a piece of normal printer paper to the back. The rollers are made to grip paper, so this often solves grip problems 3) The manual feed option, if present on your printer, will make a straight path that also may reduce slip/grip problems 4) Some printers will have screws that can be used to adjust the height of the rollers-- not that they're made for that (though some are, but usually on very high end printers only). Instead it may be what actually secures the roller bar, but you can insert a washer in between to the height, making it much easier to feed very thick stock. 5) When all else fails, there are a variety of methods to transfer images to other materials: A bunch of techniques exist for this depending on printer type, though for inkjet the easiest might be printer to a transparency, "painting" your target with clear gel-medium, such as liquitex sells, and then burnishing your transparancy onto it. This will keep color vibrancy pretty nicely also since the ink isn't absorbed into the leather. Heat transfer JetPro soft-set works nicely, but image quality is a little less than normal printer paper, and you will definitely need to coat it afterwards to protect it or else normal wear & tear have it peeling off.

Tandy has leather sheen. Fiebings has tan kote, which is a little thicker. I'm very much a beginner in this also, but either of these seem to prevent rub-off effectively. I have also experimented a bit with Liquitex varnish & medium, which is commonly used as an all-in-one medium, sealer and top coat for painting, and rather like the results I have had in some limited testing.

Hey folks, I'm new to all this-- a small project that suffered from "scope creep" has now resulted in a new hobby. Anyway, I bought a set of Keda aniline dyes, and have not been at all happy with the results: with either water or isopropyl the color has lacked any vibrancy unless completely submerged long enough to soak the piece, which then severely degraded any stamping. But, while I wait for some fiebings to arrive, I have tested a bit more, and last night remembered that I had a bottle of Liquitex medium & varnish (details on the product: http://www.liquitex.com/glossmediumvarnish) In the paint world, this is pretty versatile stuff, suitable for use as a sort of thinner or "extender", a binder, a varnish, and yes, as medium for powder-based pigments as well. So, I took a bit of keda I'd already made up and added an equal amount of the liquitex, with some very interesting results. The keda portion was about 1 part hot water to 3 parts 90% isopropyl. The pigment was roughly 1 part blue to 15 parts red, and a very small amount of yellow. Here are the results on two short 1.75" strips of veg tan that was not prepped in any way prior to application, and left to dry overnight: The mixture was highly viscous, but with the high isopropyl content it also dried quickly-- touch-dry inside of a few minutes, so it might be difficult to cover larger areas evenly without an equally large applicator. I don't know how this will fare in terms of longevity, but a scratch test showed color penetration beyond sitting on the surface. As such, if the gloss dulls or wears off in time, the color should still be there, and allow for refreshing with a light coat of liquitex varnish by itself, or simple waxing. Another consideration is that liquitex makes a very wide variety of medium of this sort with different finishes and consistencies, and is readily available, and inexpensive. (often or 50% off retail from AC Moore with their single-item coupons). For now I'll probably stick mostly to fiebings, but this versatile option will be nice to keep in my back pocket, and once the fiebings arrives I'll also be very interested to see how the liquitex might be used with that as well.