UKRay

Your post prompted me to look up my old 29K58 patching machine, serial number EB018029 which, according to Singer, was made in 1937 in Clydebank, Scotland. Despite being 73 years old it still looks great and stitches perfectly every time. Like you say, cousin, mistakes are simply operator error! Ray

Try using Tea Tree essential oil, Suze, there is nothing magical about it, other than it is a great antiseptic and seems to relieve pain and help things heal quickly. Sorry you hurt and I hope it gets better soon. Ray

Okay - I give up. How should I inlay a piece of exotic leather into a belt or knife sheath? Everyone seems to have their own way of doing this and I'm getting very confused (it really doesn't take much!). How much overlap (or is that 'underlap' LOL) do I need to ensure the stitches hold? Should I use a lining piece inside a knife sheath or is the exotic leather inlay enough? Can I use a machine to stitch the inlay into place or does this need to be hand stitched? What do you do? How do you do it? Some pictures would be really helpful. Thanks guys. Ray

Roo uses a good sized Ford van and I have an estate car (what do you call those in the US?) which always has stuff tied on the roof rack - no point in trying to get it inside! Ray

That is a lovely display, Holly. Your stuff always looks so good. Those are the bulbs I'm using, Suze. I have them in clip on holders so they can be attached where they are needed. I want a heat lamp - do they really work? Anyone else tried them at a show? The cover idea is a really good one - I'm waiting on some cream coloured material. I liked the wire rack too but have found something that may be even better for large displays. I saw a leather trader (I know he checks out the forum and is a member here - thanks Roo) using fine garden trellis at the back of his stand and it looked great. I also saw another trader who uses large mesh wire panels sprayed matt black and that looks pretty fine too. I'm still trying to find the ideal layout for a leather booth - anyone got any thoughts on this? Ray

Tgidry, this may seem like a foolish question, but what, exactly, are you going to do with that machine? I believe it was designed to cut really heavy duty soling leather rather than belt or strap leather. Do you make boots and shoes? Ray

I strongly suspect you know exactly what it is, George, and I bet you have used it too. This is a boot sole roller. Designed to put a 'dish' into well soaked leather boot soles before they were added to an upper - or used in a repair. Celticleather will doubtless have more to say about this lovely machine as I understand his dad used to keep a bucket full of boot soles soaking in a 'marinade' made from a secret recipe so they were all soft and ready for use. I bet he had a boot sole roller. LOL! Ray

Feedback: The newsprint packing paper pads are plenty big enough and work really well for absorbing the mess from 'wet' dyeing and edge staining and the greyboard really does soak up the odd dribble of dye that escapes when I'm busy. The downside: The absorbent newsprint paper is quite soft and inclined to screw itself into a ball if I'm burnishing the surface of the item - Yes Mike, I should probably rub more carefully - so I now burnish on the, much stiffer, greyboard before applying a finish coat... Apart from that there isn't a downside. As a bit of paper becomes impossibly grubby I screw it up and use it for fire lighting. Job done! Thanks again Kate and Terry - and all the others who contributed. Ray

This time of year a lot of folk are taking their leatherwork to Christmas Fairs in the hope of raising a few more dollars for the festive season. Obviously we have a huge amount of show experience between us and I thought it might be good to share this. I'll gladly start the ball rolling, hopefully others will follow with their experiences: I've just got back from a fairly big 2 day outdoor Victorian Christmas fair - around 50 traders of various sorts including one other stall selling leather. Because of the poor lighting (I was in a long, low cart shed) I needed to rig six mini-spotlights to illuminate my work. This made the whole stall stand out and definitely attracted more customers than the competition. I needed to provide my own extension leads and multi-plug adapters but it was definitely worth the extra trouble. I picked up 5 huge (4ft x 16" x 16") heavy duty plastic shipping crates earlier this year and used them to transport all my stock and equipment. It made life so much easier to have a small number of boxes to shift and even though they were heavy, they fitted on my four wheeled trolley and were easy to move around. Originally I had planned to demonstrate some tooling (making wrist bands with names on to order) but it was just too cold; my fingers wouldn't work and the casing water was freezing. I switched to lacing up little pouches and found I could do this wearing fingerless gloves. Much more comfortable. People still asked questions and wanted to know what I was doing. The first day I made a mistake and put a workbench out front for my demonstrations. It acted like a barrier and kept the customers out. I know it is obvious when you think about it but hey - it was cold and I was in a rush to set up! The second day I set the stall out in a square to allow maximum customer through-put and taking improved enormously. Best selling lines were keyfobs, wrist bands and other 'small stuff' - key cases and glasses cases also did well for me. Biggest sales were three reindeer skins - people loved them. I also sold a couple of sheepskins and a few bags and belts. I had a huge amount of interest in my leather masks but people weren't prepared to pay me enough for them. Things I will do differently next year: I will replace my dark coloured table cloths with a lighter colour - the lighter the better to make the goods stand out. More clip-on spotlights - the more light the better. Coconut matting to stand on - my feet were freezing! Some kind of charcoal fueled heater Period costume that is warm enough to wear in severe weather A rotating key fob stand so people can find initialled keyrings easily - I used a basket this year, but people took too long finding the letter they wanted. A tiered/tilted display system so people can see inside my display baskets. A better display system for bags. People need to touch and smell the leather. Hope this helps someone, Ray

Raleigh, the world is full of people who want to 'get rich quick' and who will steal your money in one way or another. This guy is no different, he wants to steal your ideas, simple as that. Just remember: Intellectual property theft is stealing. Whatever you decide to do, be sure you will feel good about it afterwards. Ray

Russ, apologies I misunderstood your question. As an old tool enthusiast I was interested to hear that Barnsley stock had started to re-appear so I phoned Woodware Repetitions (owned by the Barnsley brothers) and spoke to a delightful lady who told me that George Barnsley tools are back in production again, but almost all the stock that is appearing now is the last of the old Barnsley stock that was purchased from the liquidator when George Barnsley closed its doors. I believe they found a warehouse full of finished tools and a mass of spares. So, to answer your question, the stock you are seeing for sale in the US is old (and almost certainly genuine) Barnsley stock purchased by an American tool dealer direct from Woodware Repetitions and re-sold. I was assured the Barnsley tools always used good steel! Hope this helps, Ray

I'm always on the lookout for old Barnsley and Dixon tools and picked up a superb pair of Barnsley saddler's nippers this weekend. On a personal level, I rate Dixon slightly higher than Barnsley, but they are both extremely fine makers. Ray

December update I have just seen visitor numbers to Barefoot Leather creep past the 2000 per month mark for the first time. A huge sense of achievement. I can track the increases and know that a percentage of the new traffic is from the Blogs and Google Knols I set up. I also know that Google is directly referring visitors to me now so all the links I built are earning their keep and building my site's 'importance' with Google. I have a number of links from other websites that direct even more traffic - notably one on the www.lurcherlink.net chat forum - a popular place for UK based lurcher owners. See if you can find it (try refreshing the page to rotate the graphics). The link costs me nothing more than an occasional donation and brings in around 200 potentially dog-collar-hungry visitors each month. I reckon to get between 1% and 2% of my visitors to make a purchase - go figure! Do you know any sites that would carry a link like that to your website? Ray

Correct me if I'm wrong, Terry, but I thought you HAD spent 37 years behind a bench... LOL Ray

Now one for the knife and sheath makers: http://picasaweb.google.hu/Raga.leather/Munkaim?feat=directlink# This guy's work is awesome! Ray

With that sort of recommendation I had to go and have another look... I guess I gave up too soon. There is some lovely work there and much of it is really inspirational. Thanks for the pointer King's X Now go and check out this one: http://www.leatherdesign.net/success.html This has to be one of the most inspirational leather stories I've read in years - 'Tough enough to wear pink' is a brilliant idea. Ray

Colonel Littleton is a class act, Kate. Sadly I couldn't find much leatherwork on those Japanese links, but here are a few more that I think are outstanding: Amazing leather armour first: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/10/amazing_fantasy_armor_leatherwork.html Now a chopper seat: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlozeau/3840289050/ Saddles and cowboy gear: http://carneyleather.ms11.net/bohlin.html Come on boys and girls - share! Ray

I've spent a few minutes looking for inspirational leatherwork websites today. I'm particularly interested in new ideas, new ways of working with leather plus new ways to sell leather online. Here (in no particular order) are some I like: www.auntsanduncles.de check out the messenger bags www.saddlebackleather.com just check out the whole site... I love this stuff. www.scaramangashop.co.uk check out the leather bound journals I'm sure other people know of some great websites - so here is your opportunity to share! Ray

Hi Mike, I also have a Merkle bell knife skiver. I found a guy in Birmingham who really seems to know what he is doing with skiving machines and he is currently overhauling mine. He gets some great sewing machines too but you have to go in there to see what he's got as his website isn't as exciting as it might be... but don't tell him I said so - here are his contact details: Hartley Sewing 29 Butts Road Walsall West Midlands WS4 2AR 01922 721136 www.hartleysewingmachines.co.uk If you get Merkle spares problems you might try phoning John at Merkle in South London. He is extremely helpful, but expect to pay an arm and a leg for genuine spares. P.W. Merkle Ltd., Unit 14, Eagle Trading Estate, 29 Willow Lane, Mitcham, Surrey, UK, CR4 4UY 020 8640 8631 www.pw-merkle.co.uk I also have a lovely old Merkle strap cutter that is invaluable. Merkle make great equipment though, IMHO, it is worth getting the older models - they seem to be built better somehow. Hope this helps, Ray

Greetings, Pete, from just down the road in Ludlow, Shropshire! Enjoy the forum. Ray

Both great ideas, but my problem comes when bulk buying things like buckles, eyelets, snaps and rivets. The pesky little plastic drawers simply don't hold enough and if you do fill 'em up they always break. How many times have you seen a set of these with one or two drawers missing? Yup, me too! Also, if you split a pack of 1000 tubular rivets you invariably end up with rivets all over the floor and then you can't find the other half of the pack when you need it. Bah! I have just found these beauties that might be the answer to my problems. They are all metal and according the measurements they ought to hold plenty. Now all I have to do is find the money and some place to put a couple! If you have any other good ideas then tell me soon before I squander my son's inheritance... Ray

Thanks, Terry. I'll give them a call - after I've had a chat with the printer! Ray

Every now and again the mess in my workroom becomes so oppressive that I have to tidy up properly. The trouble is I'm a hoarder and a collector. I can't resist new and exciting tools and have to try out all the new brass buckles and hardware I can find. This leaves me with a big problem. I'm drowning in 'STUFF'. What I need is a way to store things like rivets/buckles/snaps/eyelets etc etc that keeps them off the bench when I don't need 'em and yet close to hand so I don't have to crawl under the bench to find 'em when I do need 'em. I'm far too old and fat to enjoy under-bench crawling. LOL For the past three years I have been using an ever increasing number of screwtop 1lb and 2lb glass jars and whilst there weren't too many, I found them a good solution but the problem has now outgrown them. I now have far too many jars and not enough space to store them. Glass jars simply won't cut it any longer and it is only a matter of time before I drop one and have glass all over the place to add to my woes. I'm starting to think I need some kind of 'parts' storage system like you get in small warehouses. Okay, there isn't quite that much inventory but given the vast number of different bits and pieces I use, the storage requirements look to be very similar. I recently tried plastic racking boxes for buckles - the sort that fit on a louvered panel on the wall - but they simply became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish and, as they filled up, the problem simply got worse... So how does everyone else cope? Do you just have a few bits in a box? Do you have a lot of bits in a box? Do you use tins, jars, boxes - or what? Perhaps you only buy the stuff you actually need for each project? Maybe you have a 'state of the art' racking system and a 'full-on' computerized inventory? Tell me how you manage your 'stuff' and help me sort out this mess! Ray

Okay, the clean-up decision has been made. A combination of Kate's newsprint paper blotter and Terry's grey board ought to do the trick. I have covered the filthy bench with two sheets of greyboard I have had stashed away for the past five years (where on earth can I get some more from, Terry?) and invested in £15 worth of bright new and very clean looking newsprint paper from a packaging company on eBay. I'll make myself a few pads and see how I get on. For what it is worth, I thought almost the ideas (apart from Mike's - LOL) had merit but these were the easiest for me to implement. Thanks for all the great ideas, folks. I'm in with a chance now... Ray

I like your website, Al. Straightforward and very easy to navigate. It never fails to amaze me how much work goes into building something like this - not just the stuff you paid the website developer for but the writing, photography and all the rest of the stuff you need to pull together to make it all happen. You have my congratulations. Now the hard work starts... You need to promote your site like mad or nobody will ever find it! Have fun. Ray