UKRay

For what it is worth, I bought one of these about thirty years ago specifically to make 5 strand magic braid belts. I still have and use the tool and can't imagine a better way to put four parallel cuts down an inch and a quarter wide belt strip. The only problem I found with it was the way it fastens to the bench. the screw device simply isn't strong enough. I ended up drilling a couple of holes and screwing the thing directly to the bench to stop it moving around when I used it. I also managed to break the guard about five years into ownership - no great loss although I still have four very faint parallel scars on the palm of my hand where I forget to let go one day... be warned this tool can be really vicious! My technique is pretty simple: I start out by pulling the strip down hard onto the knife blades (ordinary Stanley knife blades work fine with this by the way) then, having made sure all the blades are through the leather and keeping the downward pressure on, I slowly pull the blades through the leather strip until I have a long enough series of cuts. This tool also works really well for magic braid wristbands but remember to leave enough at each end for a fastener. I can't imagine using it to cut simple straps but I reckon it is great for cutting 1/4 inch 4-5mm thick thongs for bag lacing and I dont have to adjust the plates either.

I have a Tandy belt roller (the old 'square' sort - purchased more than a year ago) that, to be honest, doesn't work as well as I hoped it might. I have been looking at the classic looking Weaver Leather belt rolling machine and wondered if my Tandy pattern rollers might fit a Weaver machine - has anyone got any experience of these things please? I'd be very grateful for the advice. Ray

Okay, it is a bit like an 'instrument of torture' although the seat is surprisingly comfortable... I guess the reason for all the adjustment is because it was built to do really heavy harness work rather than standard saddlery. When I make timber hauling harness I have had to stitch through more than an inch of leather before now - by the time I have a pair of big, fat 1/2 inch felt and 4-5mm leather (note the versatile combination of imperial and metric...) protective pads in place to save the work (or the horse) from getting scuffed, the jaws are getting nicely filled. The 'beast' really comes into its own if you need to hold a piece of wood or metal steady when you are stitching a tight leather cover over it - for example, a few years back I made some boom support jaws for a 60 year old wooden sail boat and covered them in stretched and sewn leather to protect the varnish. You need all the 'clam space' you can get then! Does anyone still use loop sticks? Pictures of the technique would be kind.

I'm definitely looking forward to visiting you, Cousin, I'd learn so much - I just need the airfare! How about a picture of a stapled loop? - R.

I have looked at a lot of amazing leather projects on these pages and many of the items have a leather 'keeper' loop to tuck the strap end through. I have seen all kinds of ways of making these: sewn, riveted, stapled, thonged and even braided but despite my best efforts I can't seem to make a neat job of one. Can anyone please help? A few pictures of the way you make and finish your loops would be a real bonus too. Perhaps someone could show me how to use loop sticks? - Many thanks, Ray in the UK

Quite right too Luke - hard evidence is what is needed! The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour by Alan Williams has some interesting passages about copper rivets and armour found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial but it has to be said, the subject has a limited appeal so the book might not be in your public library! That is the trouble with being an historian, it is very hard to prove anything conclusively unless the artefact actually survives however we do have some 'evidence' in ancient stories. A good example would be the King Conchobar (Conor) who ruled his kingdom from a hill fortress called Emain Macha near Armagh in Ireland. Legend says that there were three great halls there; one for the kings, one for the severed heads and spoils of war and another for the javelins, shields and swords. Conors hall had 150 inner rooms and 'the walls were made of red yew with copper rivets'. I did find this picture of a very early comb that was discovered when archaeologists excavated an ancient sewage pit - nice job eh? The comb is made from antler or bone or possibly a combination of both. Approximately 70 mm long – from centre of end plate and 37 mm wide at the end plate narrowing to 23 mm across centre of comb. Rivets – four copper alloy rivets arranged in an irregular line but roughly evenly spaced along the side plate. Teeth – one side are coarse and widely spaced whilst the other are fine and relatively closely spaced. The ends of the teeth are cut to form a sweeping concave curve on each side. Double-sided combs were made from the about the third to the thirteenth centuries. According to the archaeologists who found it, this comb appears to fall into the last few centuries of that range. Aparently antler was the preferred material for comb making and iron for rivets and few examples have copper alloy rivets or were made from bone. But, I guess what I am saying is that there is no reason to suppose that copper rivets would only have been used for 'hard' material fastenings. Leather is an obvious material to be riveted. I'll be in touch shortly!

Hi Luke, Copper has been around, one way and another, for the past 6,000 years so my guess is that it was in use as a fastener pretty soon after it was first 'invented'. Ships of the line in Nelson's navy 1800 carried leather buckets rivetted together with copper and I do believe I have actually seen leather buckets even older than that - for some reason quite a number of English churches were used to store the parish fire engine in days gone by and there was often a row of wooden pegs to hold the leather fire buckets hammered into the wooden partition walls. We have a row of such pegs in St Lawrence's church here in Ludlow. Armour straps were sometimes rivetted on with copper as it was much easier for the 'lay person' to work than iron. It was sometimes used as part of a repair. I guess that could take us back to the time of the crusades - so say about 1100 and onwards. I have seen examples of eather straps and copper rivets on plate armour in various english castles. Sailor's knife sheaths were often rivetted with copper and I believe I may have seen something of this in the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth UK. The Mary Rose was Henry VIII's flagship (see: http://www.history.uk.com/timeline/index.php ) - I was very privileged to have laid some of the first search lines on the wreck back in the 1970s whilst working as a volunteer diver with marine archaeologist Dr Margaret Rule. The MR museum has some of the earliest leather I have ever seen - bundles of reindeer hides still saturated with tallow were found buried in the mud that covered the wreck site. I had the chance to buy one many years ago but didn't have the money! - I wasn't sure it was real either... but that is another story. Sorry to digress and I don't think I have really answered your question either but I do believe copper rivets were used a heck of a long time before the War Between the States. best wishes, Ray (Hatley)