UKRay

Tony and I agree on this one. I made up a new lead block this year and used up a load of dirty old lead pipe that has been getting in the way for ages. I didn't really think too much about it whilst I was melting the stuff into an old 10" round x 3" deep saucepan but when I came to move the thing it was all I could do to carry it indoors. It now sits on my bench on top of a poundo board (about the best thing you can do with a poundo board IMHO) which soaks up a bit of the noise and never moves an inch. My advice is to make yourself the thickest heaviest lead block you can and you won't regret it. When it gets all battered and full of holes just drop the thing back in the pan and boil it up again - it will come out like new. Your tools will thank you for it! The beeswax is a really good idea too. I sometimes use a wipe of beeswax on my awl blade to make it slide in better. I'm not sure I would want to soak the leather before punching it because, with the best will in the world, you are going to tug the thing free at the end and risk stretching the leather. Ray

I quite like the idea of being a pirate - much more fun than being a ninja... If you are very good I won't post the pirate picture.

That really is a nice neat job. Is the brass fastening ring your own idea or one you have seen on an original bike bag. I ask because just this weekend I spoke to a lady in the UK making bags with a similar sort of fastening. She used a trigger clip to keep her bag closed. Ray

Oh no you don't, Suze. Enough is enough!... Right/left confusions definitely don't go well with my well known inability to confuse inside with outside and ending up with two turnshoes that both fit a left foot. I just played for another ten minutes and decided this was for someone with far more time on their hands than me! A lovely technique though, and one that I'm going to revisit when I need some particularly fine braided leather cord for a project. Long braided Medieval purse strings come to mind... or perhaps as part of some leather jewellery. Hmmmmmm! Ray

A heavier weight version of this stand could make braiding leather cord for neck (bolo) ties and the like a lot easier. It seems to work very well for more complex braiding and keeps everything in the right place . I've just build a prototype and had a try and it works well as long as you have the height between the top and bottom of the jig. Nice one Suze - most inventive and useful. Ray

Frank, you might want to try polishing the cutting edge of your punch as this will reduce friction and help your punch cut more cleanly. A quick whirl on a buffing wheel ought to make things work more smoothly. I don't mean the punch needs grinding - just polishing to remove any scratches and burrs. If you don't have a buffer then try stropping the punch with a little polishing compound. Think how much better a freshly stropped blade cuts through leather... Ray

I can see the fun in dressing up and partying but how come it works so well in the US and fails over here. Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh as there are a lot of great Halloweeen parties here too but Haloween certainly isn't held in the same regard here in the UK- I wonder why?

In the US, Halloween seems to be a big thing. Kids look forward to it and parents seem to be involved in all kinds of pleasant activities with their children. In the UK, Halloween is seen mainly as a time when gangs of noisy kids you have never seen before call at your door and make a nuisance of themselves by begging. Some threaten to throw eggs and flour at your windows if you don't give them some sort of treat. Tolerable at a push, but not enjoyable. Many people here now regard the whole 'trick or treat' experience as an annoyance. Few see it as something they would encourage 'nice' kids to do but over the past few days I've become aware of a much nastier side to it. Some inner-city areas have now banned 'trick or treating' because of the threats that go along with it. Some frail elderly and disabled people have been badly frightened by gangs of kids - some as young as six and seven years old - throwing rocks and smashing windows if they are not given money. Does this only happen here? I'm concerned that as a parent I spent time warning my son about talking to strangers but, these days, come Halloween, I would be expected to let him go off to bang on the doors of people neither he nor I know... how weird is that? How is Halloween managed where you live? Does it worry you that kids do this sort of thing? What does Halloween mean to you and your family? Ray

A superb collection of images, Peter, and great reference for those of us who enjoy history. I'm always amazed at all the intricate details medieval leatherworkers incorporated into their work. Ray

Thanks, Max - and Angster! Ray

Terry, I'm expecting a delivery of beeswax sometime soonish and will be glad to dip the mug if that is all it requires. I don't know enough about finishing a beeswaxed dipped item to offer more than that as I'm just about to start my learning curve. Maybe someone who knows more about finishing a dipped item can help here - what is the finishing process? How do you make something that has been dipped in beeswax look nice afterwards? Ray

Fantastic reference images. Many thanks. Ray

Hey Mooshi, when you get a minute can you drop round and fix my system up like that? LOL Ray

Reference: Joe Rollings Book "Artisans & Money" It really is a MUST have for those of us that make things to sell. Rick, I can't speak highly enough of Joe's book either. Mainly because he put me wise to some stuff about eBay that has saved me a fortune. IMHO, consignment selling is only to be considered if you can't find any other market for your goods at a price you feel comfortable accepting. Whilst I know that Dag has had some good experiences with consignment selling I think it fair to point out that he is a very smart guy and I bet he doesn't take many chances with his stock. I would also wager that he spent a bit of time weighing up the guy before he let him have the goods to sell - and I'd be pretty sure he didn't have to wait long for his money either. Most consignment sales are simply not like that. My own experience is you get all kinds of promises when you leave the stock but somehow there is never any money in the till/ in the bank/ in the store owner's pocket when it comes time to get paid. You end up making several fruitless trips to the store trying to get your money and end up collecting all your remaining stock and either getting nasty with the guy until he pays or writing it off to experience. Neither is a pleasant experience and I'm getting too old for that kind of nonsense. Nowadays, if I get something out of the cupboard I want hard cash - or the online version - in my hand before I part with it. Unfortunately that doesn't please some folk, but that is the way it is. Ray

Hey Lui, what is the news about your new store - how are things going for you? Ray

October update: A successful month. This month I have seen visitor numbers and sales double. I have edited one of my signpost sites to make it more relevant and added more appropriate content (www.lurchercollar.blogspot.com) and I also spent a bit of time on some related forums and watched my monthly visitor numbers go from 500 to over 1000. Okay, www.barefootleather.co.uk isn't in the big league yet, but it isn't doing badly for a site that only went live a few short months ago. Best of all, the more visitors I get the more revenue the site is generating. This really is a numbers game. Anyone who is thinking about using this method to generate website visitors should understand that signposts are just a part of the package. I'm looking at a new kind of promotional 'tool' this month and will get back to you with the results some time soon. Right now it seems to be working and I'm already getting plenty of interest from it - the trick is to turn interest into sales! I ought to point out that I only put my website addresses here because you might find it interesting to see what I'm up to and so you have something to copy if you so wish - I definitely don't expect to sell leathergoods to you guys! Ray

Hi Suze, I'm not losing much hair yet, but the grey whiskers have multiplied since I started out... good luck with your event! Talking about the problems, here on the forum, is really helping as everyone is adding such useful information. Do please contribute your ideas as I'd like to make this a real success and I can't do it on my own. You are quite right, Suze - we don't need to charge admission to the show, and as this is the first year the individual competition entries will only be around £10.00 each. Obviously there will be competition expenses. (rosettes, cards etc etc). Ideally i'd like to see 100 entries because that would give us overall prize money of around £750 plus donated prizes. I would imagine there will be around £1000 to be won on the day if we get a good turn-out. I definitely need a tough competition manager to make sure all the entries are in by 10am or thereabouts. I intend to charge the exhibitors around £25 for a booth and will need around ten sales to pay expenses. I'm happy to hear from anyone who wants a trade stand or who might be able to sponsor the event in any way. Obviously space is limited so this will be a finite resource. First come first served - I have five spaces left and a year to go... The venue has some lovely rooms for the individual sessions and a fantastic high ceilinged hall for the competition exhibits and for the table traders. The public will come and go but the demonstrations won't be affected by them as the sessions will be held outside the main event space. I guess we will have to take bookings for the demonstrations. How is this done in the US? I am planning for a one day event. This is the first of its kind here and I don't know what sort of response we will get but if all goes well the next one could be a whole weekend. (There is nothing like being optimistic! LOL). Ray

Buckles are an expensive issue for me, John. I have just paid this month's buckle bill of just over £650, and feel sure this could be reduced dramatically by buying direct. I'm reasonably confident that the solid brass harness style buckles I buy are made in China anyway so it makes sense to find the maker. Any thoughts on getting metalwork made to order or sourcing a supplier? Tools are also a constant battle as the new Tandy stuff bends if you give it a decent clout with a maul and getting good quality tools from the US costs a fortune in shipping on top of the high prices they attract. I'm not saying that US tools aren't worth the money, far from it - just that shipping costs and customs charges prohibit me from buying them. I think the stumbling block for many great import/export ideas is this issue of shipping and import tax. As you probably know, I already import and retail a number of items including Skidmore's Beeswax Products from the US and would love to expand my import business to include goods from China; but can I really afford to? What, if any, are the hidden costs? Ray

Hi Corvus, the demonstrators will be teaching all morning and afternoon and it doesn't seem very fair to ask them to spend their lunch break judging a competition - even if the entries are amazing! However, I'll certainly give it some more thought as they may want to be involved. Hi Casey, nice to hear from you again. I looked at the website and I am amazed by what you have achieved with your Art of the Cowboy Makers contest. It looks like an extremely professional event. Right now I'm at the base line and grateful for your suggestions. I really like the idea of competitors being judged by their peers. We all have an opinion and it is good to have that opinion recognised and acted upon. I suspect that this is the route I'll be taking with the competition judging so many thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought of cash prizes either but this is obviously the route to take. I'm happy to follow your lead and put 75% of the entry fee back in the pot as prize money. That ought to attract a few entries. It is hard to say what the entry fee ought to be as leathercraft isn't as well developed here in the UK - $100 sounds like a lot of money to me - anyone got any thoughts on this? Am I right in thinking that US leather shows don't have an admission charge for the public? I haven't heard anyone mention this anywhere. Are they completely free to attend? One of the ideas I had was to make tables available for people to sell their leatherwork. We may need to make a very small charge but it would be great to see what other folk are making. How do people feel about this? Will it work? Can I get Tom to bring some of his amazing bracers from Sweden? Will Tina bring along a wonderful carved bag to sell? Will we see leatherwork from anyone in Austria? How about Aulus and Gesa in Germany? There are plenty of makers in France, Italy and Poland? People from all those countries have been in contact and they all make incredible things. It could be one of the best bits of the show. I'd like to hear a few more ideas if people can spare some time, Thanks, Ray Ray

Thanks so much for the advice, Johanna. I am currently underwriting the show myself but intend that any profits should be donated to my favourite leather working forum... now which one might that be? We are fortunate to have found a superb venue that won't cost the earth, in a town (Ludlow) that is heaving with history, great pubs and some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK. An entry fee of £10 in advance (which will be payable online) or £15 on the day will help to cover show expenses (how does this compare with charges for US shows?) but I will need at least 100 people to attend. I have had around fifty emails so far - even some from Germany, Sweden and other European and Scandinavian countries. Total number of available tickets will be around 200 as I would like people to have plenty of space to enjoy their day. All the vendors I have invited - with one notable exception - have agreed to attend and the demonstrators for the four sessions will be world class. Hopefully our chosen carving master-class demonstrator will be coming over from the US (he is a very, very well known name in the leather world and on this forum), our preferred hand stitching demonstrator is the author of a world famous book on leather craft and I have one of the UK's nicest sewing machine people coming to demo machines from a whole range of manufacturers. One of LW's own is earmarked for the lacing and braiding session. One major vendor has promised a large number of second hand machines and old hand tools on sale that can be tried before purchase and another, the manufacturer of a world famous brand of saddlery tools, has offered a huge show discount. We have also been promised lots of support from our friends at Tandy UK. I have also had positive expressions of interest from three excellent leather merchants. I agree about the competitions, Johanna, and I would appreciate a bit more guidance here if possible. Ideally, I'd like to hand the competitions over to someone else to organise as I'm already feeling the strain. A volunteer or two would be wonderful. Local (ish) volunteers would be even better! As far as I am aware, we don't have any leather working guilds or similar organisations over here - however, I'd be very happy to be proven wrong and even happier if they wanted to get involved. I feel the attractions are almost in place but at this point I'm keen to see more support from the Leatherworking community. I've had some very positive emails but I'd like to see a lot more interest to reassure me that I'm not about to waste my time and money. Johanna, I'm working on a way to get you over here to judge the competitions! I'm planning a first meeting for those who want to get involved sometime in November (to be held at the venue) but please don't rush all at once to PM me or send an email LOL! Ray

It doesn't seem very long since you were making your first few belts and wondering where the next bit of leather was coming from... Don't things change! Nice work, Josh. I particularly like your snake inlay. I'm fooling around with some at the moment and can't get it to lay properly. I think I'll drop round for some lessons. Ray

As many of you know, I'm putting together a UK Leatherworker's show for late in 2010. The show will be held in Ludlow, Shropshire in the West Midlands - dates to follow as soon as I have a final confirmation from the venue (think September/October 2010). I have arranged some incredibly inexpensive (£20 per night) accommodation on-site (you will need to book very early) but there are lots of good B&Bs and hotels in the area. The venue has plenty of car parking and is all on one level so those with impaired mobility will not have any problems getting to see everything. There is a bar and restaurant on site. Right now I'm trying to sort out what will be happening on the day and could do with some suggestions from those who have more experience than me - which should be just about everyone as I have never run a leatherwork show before! LOL I have some ideas for competitions: • Braiding and lacing • Carved leather • Steam Punk • Western Style • Plain leatherwork (undecorated) Is there anything else folk might like to see? I plan to run 1 hour demonstrations, workshops and masterclasses throughout the day and have lined up some expert demonstrators to show you how: • Sewing machine demo • Carving masterclass • Hand stitching masterclass • Braiding and lacing workshop Please feel free to throw in your ideas for additional events and be assured that every one of them will be very valuable. Ray

Skidmore's produce a Biker Edition beeswax waterproofing product that is ideal for finishing and waterproofing either natural or stained bike leather. I have been using it for over a year now and no complaints. It goes on really easily and seals the surface properly. Best of all it can be re-applied as required and doesn't need to be stripped off before re-applying. It dries to a nice expensive looking sheen - not a high gloss finish. Just my opinion, but please be aware that I'm the UK importer of Skidmore's products and supply them through www.barefootleather.co.uk I wouldn't want any misunderstanding here! Ray

This looks like some kind of 'resist' has been applied to the leather prior to the dye and finish process. This is possible if something has been spilled on the hide during storage or at the leather merchant's store. Look closely at the failed section and you will see that the Leather balm and Atom Wax is simply lifting unabsorbed dye and leaving the surface blotchy. I have occasionally had bits of leather that won't take a dye particularly well do this kind of thing - I'm told the problem is due to poor tanning. The faulty leather has 'hard spots' that simply won't absorb the colour. The reason I think this is happening to your holster is that the USMC Black dye simply isn't being absorbed into the leather. IMHO it is not because of the Leather Balm and Atom Wax. If you want to check this out just spill a shot of black dye onto some different leather and try to remove it with Leather Balm and Atom Wax - I'll bet you can't do it! Good luck, Ray