Sheilajeanne

Have met Ferg in person - he's amazing!

I didn't ask. He was working on my old riding mower, which was pretty dirty and rusty. The bearings needed replacing.

Come on now, no one twisted your arm and made you watch it! Yeah, the popsicle sticks look like mini tongue depressors. And, as the song says, kids can use them to build things.

Yeah, just giving that clarification for those in the U.K. And round N. American lollipop sticks would suck as glue-spreading tools... . So, popsicle sticks for the win... Edit: if you remember the Jan and Dean version of this song, you are OLD!!

I save popsicle sticks for spreading glue, so the sandpaper sounds like the best way to go. Popsicle is actually a brand name that's become generalized, like Hoover for vacuum in the U.K. In N. America, lollipops are hard candy on a stick, popsicles are frozen flavoured water or ice cream.

Cool idea! I think I have some paraffin blocks, as someone recommended them for finishing edges. I have some small files, but they aren't as fine as jeweler's files. Will see if I can find some. And, of course, nearly all women own that type of nail files. Wonder if jeweler's rouge would also work for the final polishing.

Chisels have arrived! The prongs are thinner than the Tandy black chisels, and therefore should be sharper/easier to punch through the leather! They also match the 8 stitch per inch width I need for this project. Fred, how did you sharpen yours?

Wow, with the price being that cheap, I'm willing to give this a try! I really need something so I can finish my project, and if I use Chrisash's tip, hopefully they will last a long time. I would pay much more than that for a single one of Tandy's Pro Diamond Chisels!

When I look at the tines under high magnification, it's not so much bending as it is they've become blunt. VERY blunt - to the point the metal has spread out sideways from the points. You'd think I'd been pounding it on a rock... Yeah...Springfield. Unfortunately I'm in Canada. Shipping and duty costs, plus really slow shipping is why I prefer to deal with a Canadian seller, if possible. The Canadian postal service is MUCH better than the USPS. Last time I ordered something to be shipped from Tandy's, it arrived within 3 days!

Good idea, Crisash!

Tugadude, thanks. I have two of the above Tandy chisels, but need one with the teeth slightly farther apart for the current project - 8 stitches per inch, while the diamond chisel I have is 9. And I am NOT satisfied with the black ones! They are supposed to be the higher quality 'pro' chisels, but in spite of me never having used them without a poundo board beneath them, they are pretty much ruined. And, of course, this happened in the middle of a project, so I want to get something quickly so I can finish it. Are the poly boards easier on punches and chisels than the poundo boards? Just wondering what I could have done to have gotten a longer life from these chisels.

For small caps that give me trouble, I pull out the old nutcracker that's been in my family for generations!

I once made the mistake of putting cayenne pepper in an Italian seasoning bottle and not removing the label. I knew what was in there, and even if I forgot, the colour of the contents should have been a dead giveaway. Then, my diabetic friend who has poor eyesight was doing some cooking in my kitchen... Fortunately, I caught her before she put too much into what she was cooking!

You don't live in Canada, battlemunky! They are all too common here! At least my pharmacy has designed a bottle for the medication caps that allows you to disable the child-proof feature by removing a small tab on the cap, or I'd likely be leaving my pills sitting in the cupboard WITHOUT a cap on them! Unfortunately, can't do that with liquids...

Me too, Squid! We have them in Canada, and they are a terrible PITA! Glad to know that trick with the inner cap, will give it a try! One way I've tried to avoid trouble with opening them is making sure I wipe both the threads on the bottle and the cap before closing the cap. If the buildup of dye doesn't come off with a simple wipe, I'll wipe them down with alcohol. Another really annoying thing about them is they are supposed to be childproof, but they sure aren't LEAKPROOF!! And you'd think that would be one of the most important features of a bottle that contains dye! To deal with the leakage, I keep them in plastic sandwich bags, inside a clear plastic storage container with a lid. You can get bottles suitable for dye storage at craft stores. Michal's has dropper bottles with caps, and also larger clear plastic bottles with a spout that flips up. I bought some of the latter, but have never gotten around to using them for some reason.