UKRay

The problem with tightly laced leather stool tops is that they need to be quite supple if you want to be able to fold the stool frame - which is why I riveted the tougher leather into tubes that allowed the frame to rotate easily inside.

Thanks for the kind words, Craftsman827. Most generous! Ray

Brilliant!

Nothing camp about that stool, Suze! I did a few seats for stools like this some time back (I picked up the frames cheap at a fishing tackle shop) and used 3.5mm tooling leather. They looked pretty good with an edge pattern and a central motif. I hardly dare say it here, but I actually riveted the leather onto the stools. It was quick and easy and they sold pretty well. I just wish I could get some more of those frames!

Tim, seeing as none of the 'greats' have given you an answer I'll have a try. Dapping punches are generally used by silversmiths. I can't imagine a use for them in connventional leatherworking other than, like most metal stuff, you could hit them with a maul to create an impression on your leather. Ray Eidt due to tpyo

Not sure what you mean by a 'camp stool' Suze - I have visions of pink crushed velvet...

My lovely new Highlead sewing machine is now in place, complete with its shiny new silent servo motor, just waiting for me to get my act together enough to use it properly. I'd like to be able to top stitch belts and straps but find myself drifting away from the edge as I stitch up the length of the belt. I'm currently using my fingers as a guide but I wonder if I should bite the bullet and spend the money on a roller guide to make the job easier. Can anyone tell me how to use one of these things and has anyone got any other tips for me on keeping the stitching straight. And yes, Luke. I am going to practice a lot!

Great idea, Harry. I'm going to try the painter's tape thing tomorrow. It should stop any danger of an 'overspill'. Ray

I tend to prefer 1/4" thong lacing to hold my stools together, but I know a bloke in Memphis who says that his machine stitching is much better. To be honest, I'm not sure the thin lacing on the stool in your picture will last too long. It is great as decoration but IMHO you probably need to re-enforce the corners with stitching or simply use heavy lacing like the stool in my picture. Ray

Okay, I'll buy it. What part of the neighbor's cat have you been sticking your thermometer pistol in then, Ed?

I agree with Luke, Ed. Get back to work and stop playing with those toys! Ray

IMHO, marble or preferably granite is the best stuff to tool on. A plastic cutting board is too soft and resilient to resist the pressure when you stamp the leather. Craftaids stay in one piece and you use the chunk of pattern you think fits the job. If you chop 'em up they don't work too well next time you need 'em. Hope this helps. Ray

Nice job, Ed. LIke the lining... Don't they take a time to make? Ray

The horse is lined with veg tan, the large clams are lined with a scrap of chrome tan and the small clams are lined with a scrap of suede. Take your pick - and use the softest, toughest bit ofleather you can find. Jaws measure 4" on the horse, 3" on the large clams and 2" on the small clams. I also have a pair of pliers and they don't have a lining at all! LOL

I'll certainly give that some thought, Mike. I wonder if anyone else has ever used one of those Harbour Freight presses for cutting leather? I guess you might have to weld on a hunk of steel top and bottom - and get it level or you would simply tear the thing apart when you pumped the jack...

What a lovely piece of work. That must have taken you hours and hours. The silver really stands out well against the tooled leather. An excellent choice. Ray

Badger took one look at my tooling slab and called it a tombstone. Most unfair! It is a huge lump of highly polished green flecked granite that I scrounged from a monumental mason who had cut it the wrong size and it didn't quite fit with the rest of a set of grave furniture. I was actually going to ask him to put my name and an inscription on the back but it seemed somehow a bit... well, you know what I mean... ...tempting fate!

No, I'm old enough not to worry if I get a bit older - in fact I'll regard a few more years as an achievement! I just saw a feature in the UK press about epitaphs and decided that I would be happy enough if mine simply said: "He didn't do much harm". It made me wonder what the leatherworking wits would make of it all. Now I know! The following tombstone is just down the road from me in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England Here lies the body of Martha Dias, Who was always uneasy, and not over pious; She lived to the age of three score and ten, And gave that to the worms she refused to the men.

Just overkill for my pocket, Monica. A good Hydraulic press will cost twenty times what i will pay for a flypress. Fortunately I have just found a warehouse in Birmingham full of all kinds of presses at the sort of prices we would all like to pay... I'll check them out and report back. The guy who owns the place said I can can bring my knives along and try out the toys... I wonder if he would let me do that once or twice a week? Then I wouldn't need to buy one!

Spike Milligan's famous "I told you I was ill" is the UK's favourite epitaph. Winston Churchill came second with: "I'm ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter." Third was Frank Sinatra with: "The best is yet to come." Cowboys will appreciate Robert Clay Allison's epitaph - see below. A man who patently didn't have a problem making decisions... What would your epitaph be?

This looks like a useful bit of kit - have you ever used one?

Deb, I love the workmanship of your tool cabinet and will strive to find something that finely made for myself - but at least five times bigger. The integral drawers would be very helpful to hold tiny stuff. I currently have three small chests of drawers - one on each bench plus a set of very nasty plastic drawers in a metal frame that drives me insane every time I want to get something out of it. The drawers stick and being plastic break quite easily too. Give me wood every time. We seem to be thinking along the same lines, Bob. I need to get the tools off the bench as much as possible. I wondered about making something akin to a set of shelves with 'hole blocks' instead of planks and then finish off with something like your top shelf for edge shaves and 'small handle stuff'. I particularly like your round knife sheaths. A great way to protect the knife - and the leatherworker! I would also like to find a way of racking hole punches so you can see what size they are. The 'hole in wood' method is fine but I find the 'chads' (the bits of leather from inside the punch) swiftly fill up the hole and I'm for ever hoovering them out. I have used the strap method you use on your rack for some tools and I do like the way you have fitted those strap end punches in there. Perhaps that is the way forward? Getting mauls off the bench sounds like an excellent idea as no matter where you put them they get in the way, fall over or roll off the bench. I like the idea of a dedicated maul stand like yours, but IMHO it needs to be mounted up off the stone in some way. I have managed to find a couple of ancient cast iron nail cups - like two lazy susans - that I use for rivets and snaps and although they are extremely useful they take up valuable bench space too! Very useful picture, Bob. Thanks.

It was your tool rack that started all this, Ed! It is a lovely job but just a tad too small for me. I'd like one with around 300 holes plus a back board where I can attach other bits and pieces. I have a size constraint of 3ft wide (to fit on my stone) so it might have to be a two tier job! LOL

I have been struggling for some time to contain my constantly growing collection of embossing tools and pointy bench stuff and wondered if anyone had any good ideas about the best kind of rack to build. I looked at pictures of Peter Main's bench and realised that I was never going to need something as big as that although the overall style and ease of use is exactly what I had in mind. At the other end of the spectrum, I have seen and used the block of wood with holes in it type supplied by TLF and even built a bigger, version of my own; but now I need to make the ultimate tool rack. What should I be doing? Have you got a tool rack that really works well - if so can you please tell me about it, why it is good and what you might have done differently? Pictures would be really helpful and worth a hundred words of description. Does anyone already build an elegant, functional tool rack? If so tell me; better still show me a picture and I'll gladly send money!

Very helpful information, ATX. I will cut some coasters and use them to check out what can be done locally. Thanks. Many thanks, K-Man. I'm working on it!