UKRay

Hi Mick, I suspect the problem could be caused in part by the dryness of the leather you are using. Some of the veg tan I have seen recently has been a bit too dry to work effectively without some extra TLC - I suspect it has been around for a while. You didn't mention your supplier... Anyway, dry leather is much more prone to cracking when you bend it so I have started to use a leather conditioner (I like Lexol) to add some flexibility to the leather before I apply a finish coat. The carnauba wax ought to be a good finish over the Fiebings oil dye so I don't believe it can be that although I prefer to use Skidmore's Leather cream as a finish on any dry leather as it seems to 'feed' the leather very effectively. Drop me a PM with a phone number if you want a chat - I'm not too far from you. Ray

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. The insulation is a given. I've planned to build 6 inch thick walls and they will be stuffed with it. The ceiling too. I hadn't thought about the floor so thanks for that, Terry. I couldn't find a Vornado in the UK, Holly. With a 240 volt mains supply I guess I'll have to pass on that one. Ground source heating is a bit above my budget right now Mike - but maybe the next workshop will have it... great idea though! The interesting thing was that nobody mentioned wood burning stoves... Is there any reason why you don't use them? I like the idea of instant gas heating - your wall mounted furnace sounds interesting, Randy, and I hadn't thought about fans to move the air around. 52' x 15' eh? That isn't a workshop, Tony. It is a hanger... but I wish mine was going to be as big! Although the wood pellets are very attractive, I don't have a source of supply locally so I think gas is probably the best option for me - I'd be interested to hear the downside of the gas heating story - what about drying out leather? Does bottled gas give off a lot of moisture? How about the danger from naked flames in a dye shop? Anyone had a problem with any of these? Ray

That looks like a lovely job. I'm sure you had a huge sense of pleasure when you looked at the end result. What reference sources did you use for this? Ray

The time has come to expand my workspace. It only seems a few minutes ago that I moved into a huge space but now it is overflowing and I need more room. I'm planning to erect a timber frame building in my yard but have concerns about heating it in the winter. I know that many of you guys have amazing workspaces in some pretty wild places but how do you keep them warm enough to work and still manage to pay the heating bills? Do you rely on good insulation? What sort of heater do you have? Have you designed your building to conserve heat? What did you do? Any suggestions before I start building would be very helpful and I thank you for your time. Ray

The old harness maker who taught me had a small cast iron gas ring connected to a gas bottle that was always burning in the workshop. It was used to melt beeswax, glue, heat creasers and make gallons of tea. I have been looking for one for the past four years and can't find one anywhere. A real relic of the past. The thing that made this stove particularly good for heating creasers was a kind of rack designed to hold the pot or kettle away from the flame to get maximum heat. By resting the wooden handle on the bech and the metal shaft on the rack the 'head' of the tool was right in the hottest part of the flame and heated up very quickly indeed. We used to crease all our straps very hard. The idea was that compressing the leather fibres close to the edge of the strap stiffened the strap slightly - think about the effect of welding a couple of strips of channel section steel to a sheet of tin. It added a nice 'feel' to the leather and also helped to keep the new strap rigid as it was fed through a buckle. Sure the effect didn't last long but I always thought it made our new harness feel rather special and somehow emphasized the 'new' factor. Ray

Steady, Mike! Cool seat and a great idea. It could so easily have been tacky but you really nailed it. Nice job. Ray

It always seems a lot of money when you begin, but trust me, $100 is just the start! LOL Have fun! Ray

I keep mine in a tiny chest of drawers that live on the end of the cutting bench. My knives live in the drawer below and the one at the bottom houses all the other seriously pointy sharp things. I never poke my paws in there without looking what I'm doing as there are far too many things in there waiting to take the ends of my fingers off Ray

You have no idea what you are suggesting. The shipping charges would be outrageous for something my size... I'd best stay over this side of the pond! I was thinking of mooring ropes stowed below. Fix the straps onto a bulkhead or inside a hanging locker. Use old felt tip pens and spirit dye and seal with oil - or for bright colors try acrylic paints. There has been a thread recently about sealing acrylics. Ray

I'm extremely pleased to see Crystal as a moderator because, in addition to her other attributes, she brings a great deal of common sense to a job that demands so many fine qualities. The forum exists as we know it because the moderators make it so. Thank you Crystal (...and IMHO the rest of you Mods rock too!). Ray

Glad to hear your meds are getting sorted out, Tom. It looks like you have made yourself a very useful and attractive space to work. I like the detail on the end of those beams. Congratulations on a good job! Ray

That sounds like pretty good advice to me... Ray

What about leather key rings with signal flags on them? Nice and easy to make with a few coloured pens and a flag template... They would sell well if you pointed out that each flag represents a letter of the alphabet and people could have their own initial letter flag. Had you thought of leather loops to hang ropes from. One end is fixed to the bulkhead with a heavy duty press stud and the other loops round the rope and clips it all into place. You would need to oil them nicely to keep the moisture out but they worked for me. Tidy ropes are a delight. How about a long thin pouch to take a screwdriver, marlin spike and a pair of pliers when working up a mast. Make it out of chrome tan and it should last for years. Talking of working up masts: how about a leather masthead bucket (like the ones on HMS Victory) with the yacht's name on the side. A bit like a huge leather tankard with a rope handle. The beauty of it is that it won't scratch or mark varnish or gelcoat like a hard plastic or metal bucket and can be hauled aloft easily because it is nice and lightweight. I must get on with some work... Ray

I think one of the problems women face (and I generalise horribly here) is that bags tend to be designed and made by men... To be honest, it wouldn't do male leatherworkers any harm to listen (no, really listen) to what women actually want before they make any more purses! I'd personally like a copy of that Tandy Pattern too, because it looks like a good foundation for some creativity - but what could be really useful are some kind of 'female focused' guidelines on bag design. What works and what doesn't. I accept that this would be extremely subjective but that never stopped a good survey! Ray

Leather tends to hold moisture and signal flags are prone to rot... Ray

Outstanding, as always! Ray

A few tips you might find useful: Invest in a pair of thread snips rather than a pair of scissors. Snips are very inexpensive and very sharp indeed. Best of all they aren't much use for anything else other than cutting the ends of threads so they don't get moved away from the sewing machine. Buy your oil in bulk (I get mine in a gallon can) this is much cheaper than the small tins. Spend a few dollars on a small trigger operated oil can and fill it from the bulk. You will save a lot of money this way during the time you own your sewing machine. Find a small stiff synthetic haired brush to clean the thread ends from around the 'business end' of your machine. Keep the machine clean and it won't get jammed and cost more money to get sorted out. Get into the habit of checking that your spools are always running clean. Any thread snags can screw up an important job. Find a seat that can be adjusted to the right height. It is very easy to strain your back working a sewing machine from a poor seating position. Find a quart sized plastic detergent type container with a wide mouth and write 'SHARPS' on the side with a black pen. Use it to keep broken machine needles and utility knife blades for disposal to save accidents with your trash bags. I've had my container for about three years and I reckon it will be at least twenty years befoe it needs emptying! Hope these help. Anyone else got any? Ray

Thanks, Gary. That is most helpful. I have just found the plans so thanks for those too. Very useful - but I wasn't looking for a Ruth! Ray

That is a very 'functional' looking shape for a sheath and gives a lot more scope to the things that can be added to it. Nice job on the stitching too. Ray

That is a very 'functional' looking shape for a sheath and gives a lot more scope to the things that can be added to it. Nice job on the stitching too. Ray

One of the things we hear regularly on the forum are requests from newbies for help to get their stitching machines working nicely. Too often they are referred to Barra, Art, Steve or Ryan and the solution is never made public. A week or so later the same problem happens to someone else and so it goes on. Now I'd be the last person to suggest that a single post could encompass a lifetime's learning but the basic stuff about basic adjustments, cleaning, oiling, setting tensions and choosing needles and thread could save hours of angst for someone and could save a lot of repetition for our team of experts. We need to know things that the average person can do to their own machine to make it easier/nicer to work with. Can I please ask all our sewing machine vendors and top machinists for their top tips for making a leather sewing machine work properly? A few notes on the essential stuff like thread sizes, needle sizes and why you might want to change them and how to do it would also be very helpful. What about servicing: how often and why? Over to you guys! Ray

I'd agree that the stitching tips seem to get lost in amongst everything else at present. Unfortunately they do seem to crop up during discussions about other things so I reckon it might be hard to separate them. Ray

Frank, You don't really need a lot of space to tool small items at a show so how about looking for a very sturdy crate that will carry all your stuff and can be put on end to act as a tooling bench. As long as it can take the weight of a 12" x 12" stone it ought to be plenty good enough. Find a small folding table for your tools and a bottle of neatsfoot oil and you are away. IMHO it is best to take a bare minimum of equipment to shows and to leave dyes and finishes at home. Neatsfoot is a nice clean (ish) way to finish a small item and doesn't take up too much room or make too much mess. It sounds obvious, but I only take belts to shows that are finished with a black edge... Gary, I hadn't thought of using Dylon. Can you explain how you use it please? Ray

Nice concept. The first one is always the hardest - now what are you going to make next? Ray

David, I made my first round end strap cutter (about thirty years ago) out of a piece of steel water pipe. I just cut through the pipe (lengthways) with a hacksaw and then put a fairly easy taper on the cutting end with a file (a grinder would be easier on your arms but make sure you don't get the steel too hot). The knife making guys may be able to tell you how to temper the edge but mine was used just as it was cut out. It worked fine for a while as long as I used it onto a lead block. Eventually I bought myself an end cutter but that old bit of pipe is still under the bench somewhere because I couldn't bear to throw away something that had taken me that long and that much sweat to make! Ray