UKRay

Thanks for the explanation, Jim. I quite understand. I used to own a converted hand operated edge creaser that would have done the job for you. It had a roller pinking knife instead of a crease and cut onto a brass roller underneath. It was a weird thing and I couldn't find a use for it - wish I knew where it is now... Have you asked the guys at Tippmann if they could make up something for their roller press. That would be the simplest way I can think of. A fairly simple zigzag roller type cutter and a brass roller platten would make it an easy task especially as you can increase and decrease the pressure with the big hand-wheel underneath the arm. If you could get the roller made and file the zig zags yourself it would save a lot of money - but what do I know? Have a chat with a tool shop and see what they say about hardening the cuting edges - but I'm fairly sure the Tippmann roller press would be the easiest way to go. Ray

Ahhhhhmmm... Well, maybe a slightly bigger box is called for! LOL Sorry Holly, I didn't get the small box bit and thought it was a buckle in there. It looks great anyway! Ray

Y'know, Suze, sometimes your knack for stating the obvious is precisely what is needed LOL I have been doing that for years with my history website: www.history.uk.com because it presents all kinds of opportunities for advertising and links.

That is a lovely piece of work, Bob. The final owner will definitely have something to be proud of. Ray

I didn't know toilets were in season! Do you need a special permit?

I have a bunch of curved and straight hand tools for 'pinking' the ends of straps and creating fancy patterns round the edges of bags - is this what you are looking for or do you want a cutter to create a pinked edge strap? Ray

Welcome Katsass - I hope you get as much out of this place as I do! Ray

I couldn't agree more, Kevin. This is a learning curve that shouldn't be avoided. To be honest, it gave me an insight into colouring leather that has been invaluable. I was amazed at how quickly my colours faded when exposed to light but this knowledge allows me to sell with more confidence. I know almost exactly what will happen to the colours and finishes I use and can prepare customers for the change as I sell them the product - I call it 'developing a unique character' LOL

As someone who was born and bred in Sussex (well known to be one of the toughest places in the UK to get any kind of firearms permission), and held a class one firearms certificate for some twenty odd years, I can empathise with the feelings of frustration that most British folk feel about the UK's draconian gun laws. When I let my certificate expire, I had no idea how difficult it would be to apply for a new one and how many hoops needed to be jumped through to satistfy the demands of the firearms officers. I gave up in the end. I'm thinking about applying for a new shotgun license but can't bring myself to start the process as I know how painful it is going to be. The UK establishment needs to recognise that people are perfectly capable of running their own lives and thinking for themselves. Restrictions on firearm ownership simply means the only people with guns are the bad guys - and the police. And given the British police's record of shooting down innocent members of the public, I am dubious about how many of them should be allowed to carry. Rant over... for now! Ray Edit due to inability to spell...

The circumstances are certainly very unfortunate but how could anyone design a sheath that was proof against all events. The report claims that the sheath was defective - okay but IMHO that could mean almost anything. My big concern is that anyone who makes a knife sheath could now be held responsible if that sheath is involved in an incident and deemed defective by a police officer. So what are the criteria for effective? Who is setting out the rules? This guy was wrestling whilst wearing a knife. Do we need to specify that the sheath we make is not suitable for wearing whilst wrestling? The guy who made the 'defective' sheath is possibly facing all kinds of harrassment from relatives and police but is it his fault the poor guy died? I don't think so... unless maybe the dead guy made his own sheath.

We don't have anything like this in the UK, Tom - can you explain what will be on display please. Is this finished knives or parts or what? Thanks, Ray

Monica, to be honest, now the dust has settled on another day, I'm not too worried about PayPal as although they adopt a severe attitude to complaints, this is the first problem/complaint I've ever had in all the years I have been dealing with them. I'm not expecting another anytime soon so it is probably best to put this down to experience and try to make sure it doesn't happen again. PayPal has just emailed again and said that if the guy doesn't prove to them he has returned my stuff by June 2 they will unfreeze my money and all will be as it was. Karma will hopefully catch up with the and all will be well with the world; so I'm going to go and pound some more leather... Ray

Very helpful indeed. Many thanks for your time and effort, Tomcat. Ray

You are a woman - you can do anything, LOL - stop worrying and just go for it! Steve is on the end of a phone line and will talk you through the tricky bits. Ray

Monica, Dye is relatively cheap. Order whatever you like in the smallest quanties they do and try it. Choose the ones you want and make a set of swatches; the rest will always come in handy (I promise this is true!) when you need to match a piece of leather to an existing job. Go on - just do it! LOL

Monica, I don't know how many swatches you had in mind but it takes minutes to do that stuff. Why not set up a little production line of dye dips and produce your own? I have a very basic system that works for me, I make up a batch of keyfobs tooled with my maker's stamp (I own the knife and have them cut on a clicking press) these are dipped in jam pots full of dye and left to dry. I only use half a dozen colours so each set takes minutes to dip. A quick wipe over with some Atom Wax and a good buff to get a shine, a quick spray to seal the back and minutes to make up with a split ring and rivet. Okay, if you are planning on doing a hundred colours then it may not be a good idea but small scale production is a breeze if you plan it right - best of all, each bit of the swatch carries my mark and is a marketing tool for years to come. I can make around 2-300 of these keyfobs in a morning if I really try. How many do you want to make? LOL Ray

No argument there, Bruce and Kate. As long as you have good tools you will always be in a position to take on the work when it comes along. before I started selling I spent a lot of time, effort and money gathering machines together that would cut down the amount of 'bench-time' it took me to complete a job and they are just starting to earn their keep. In fact, I could produce a list of small machines I wouldn't want to be without simply because they give me 'extra time' in a day. To take Dave's point ("We have to be all things to all people...") a bit further, as small business folk we are all striving to make the best of our situation but sometimes we simply can't do everything ourselves. I don't begrudge my accountant a penny of his bill each year because I'm numericaly dyslexic - I can't do maths. I wouldn't let anyone else cut my leather but he is welcome to play with the numbers. It frees up more of my time and I'm happier because of it. A 'no brainer'. Until now I have been using the day job to fund my leather tool habit but I'm looking to cut down my paid work by another day sometime soon to give me more time in the workroom. Financially it will make me a little poorer but I have bought my tools and machines now and won't have the need for as much expenditure. I'd much rather be in my workroom than dealing with corporate clowns and if that means earning a little less money for a while I'm delighted to do it. There seems little point in being unhappy doing what I do... The web side of the business is certainly my main focus at present but as soon as that is under control and building I'm planning to switch my attention to the show circuit. There are so many medieval and country fairs in the UK that I can be busy every weekend in the summer. I have just purchased an 18ft x 12ft x 12ft high tent (see www.past-tents.demon.co.uk ) ready for next season. It has had a single owner from new (and doubtless has a low mileage LOL) and cost me half the price of a new one. I'm happy to invest as long as I'm spending sensibly on developments for the future. I don't know how successful I'll be as a show trader but one thing is for sure, I'll enjoy the experience and will meet lots more nice folk. I might even sell a bit of leather! Ray

Nice one, Josh - enjoy the success. Ray

Just reading these stories makes me feel very fortunate as although I don't make a whole lot of money from leatherwork it is now becoming a useful part of my income. I started out back in the 70s by opening a string of leather shops. I ran them successfully for several years but eventually, as the market slowed down, I found I could make a better living elsewhere. Eventually I packed all my tools in a box and put them under a bench and only pulled them out when I needed to make something for myself, friends or family. I always had some kind of project on the go but money was always easier to come by in other ways. Now I think we are seeing something of a shift in values as the world eschews big business and is taking more interest in artisan made products. People seem to like having something 'special' that is 'custom made' and personalised in some way. Like you, Dave, much of my work comes from networking, but a substantial amount is now arriving online. People are finding all my 'marker post' blog sites, Knols, Google Base stuff etc etc and the technology is directing folk to my doorstep. Before you think I'm doing too well, let me put this into perspective. I work at a 'grown-up' job three days a week and this pays my bills. The other four days, one way and another, I'm working at building the leather business. Sometimes it is rebuilding an old machine, sometimes it is working on my new e-commerce website or setting up some more signposts on the internet, sometimes it is making inventory but it never stops. Every day I'm adding to the business and finally it is starting to show some signs of success. So how well am I doing? Right now, if I calculated the amount I actually earn per hour I probably wouldn't work for anyone else for that money. In fact, I know I wouldn't - but I enjoy what I do far too much to stop. That, IMHO, is the only way to make a leather business like mine work in the early stages because it takes time to buld a customer base. I am confident that, eventually, the online stuff will do well enough to replace the 'day job' and I will be able to choose where I want to live in the world. That is my ambition. Today I've got a load of leather to cut, photographs to upload and... it goes on! I won't make much money but I will have had another good day and that is enough for now.

I'd like to know more about knife making too - bring on the tutorial! Ray

The safety aspect of sheath building probably doesn't occur to most people, outside of the obvious stopping the blade from cutting things it shouldn't. What do you feel are the important things to consider when building a sheath? Ray

That is really nice, Holly. The box would be really good for displaying carved leather buckles too as they do tend to attract the dust and, a few months down the line, never look quite as sharp as when they are first made. Ray

Paul, I may be completely mistaken, but it looks as though you are using veg tan leather and staining/finishing it yourself. Whilst I agree with RDB that there is no need to change a thing, you did say you wanted to sell these pouches. If so, may I suggest you try using pre-finished leather as I think the design and construction is excellent but a sharper overall finish may appeal more to the UK shooting marketplace. Steve Brambley is the guy to discuss this with as he makes lots of wonderful stuff for shooters and some of the finest gun slips I have ever seen. Most of his leather is pre-finished and his products are some of the best in the UK. If you drop me a PM with your address I'll gladly send you a few samples of the sort of leather I have in mind plus addresses where you can obtain it. Ray

Interesting story, Bree - but I use my PayPal account to pay small overseas bills because it is so much cheaper and easier than using a bank. THis is the first time I have had any problems with PayPal and, trust me, I'll be much more careful in the future . The thing to recognise is that making any kind of payment to a private individual in the US, or even in mainland Europe, is a nightmare if you live in the UK because of the astronomical charges the banks impose for international transactions. I have bought great stuff from several forum members without a glitch using PayPal and been paid for all kinds of leathergoods. The essence is being able to trust the folk you are doing business with. It is also very easy and much cheaper to deal with trusted businesses in other countries. Just picking up the essential bits and pieces for my new sewing machine was made easy because the vendor was happy to take PayPal (thanks Ryan!) so I simply spent my dollar balance and didn't incur any exchange fees. The problem comes when you get a piece of poop like the guy who tried to rip me off - you simply can't legislate for weirdos, mad people and sad little men like him. The financial aspect isn't a bother so I'll get over this quite quickly, but it has definitely left a bad taste. Thanks for your support folks - I'll stop moaning now and get back on my horse... my stitching horse!

That was exactly what I did, Johanna. I withdrew almost all the 'cash' in the PayPal account as soon as it was paid in, but PayPal simply put a minus sign on the balance for the whole £250 transaction which means anything that came in (up to £250) was annexed and I couldn't pay anything out - unbelievable. Okay, there is a credit balance in there now but I had some small bills to pay last week. I really hate feeling so completely powerless! PayPal even demanded that I paid money in to the account to cover the outstanding balance... I declined!