Sheilajeanne

If you're shipping anything by the U.S. postal service, it SUCKS big time! I've shipped a few things via Canada Post in the last year, and they got there very quickly. USPS took close to THREE MONTHS to get two small packages to two people in the eastern U.S! Ordered a book from Amazon. It arrived from the States in less than a week, but they used a courier company, not the post.

Yep, the Stohlman round knife is made from very cheap steel and will not hold an edge! When I purchased a used round knife the seller was smart enough to make a sheathe for it out of cardboard and duct tape. Wow, sorry that happened!

Well, wouldn't hurt to e-mail him and find out.

I assume you mean 'holly'? The stuff with the red berries? If you scroll down far enough, you'll see a holly border: https://www.newcreationleathercraft.com/santa_stamps.htm I know nothing about this seller, or how reliable they are.

Yup, it sure does... No such thing as 'too many tools' in this hobby!

And it's DONE! Yesterday my tenant and his 2 sons installed the new pipe. A retired master plumber who is a good friend of W's was here to supervise and make sure everything was done properly. The new pipe was checked frequently before gluing to make sure it had the correct slope. We're going to leave everything uncovered for a few days to make sure there are no leaks, and everything is working properly. Then, the area will have to be backfilled, and a whole bunch of new patio stones installed. I need to find some clean fill to bring the area up level with the other section of the patio, as the cement was 6 to 8 inches thick, while the patio stones are only 1". W. left the section of old pipe which went under the oil tank as it would have been a really bad idea to dig out the earth supporting the tank. Also, unlike whoever installed the original plumbing, we were THINKING AHEAD to possibly having to replace or repair the line at some point in the future...

I don't know how well it would work on leather, but goldenrod can be used to dye yarn and cloth yellow. It's a very common roadside weed here in most of North America. Unfortunately, it's become an invasive species in other countries, so I doubt it would be welcome in Iran! https://www.cedardelldesigns.com/blog/goldenrod-dye

Klara, as someone who rode a lot in the past (and cleaned and oiled a lot of tack) I found that very interesting! I have noticed neatsfoot oil will partially solidify at low temperatures. Does that happen with the purer NFO, or with the mixes? I know NFO with petroleum additives will rot stitching after awhile, and is thinner (and therefore easier to apply!) than the stuff that's supposed to be pure. With the 'pure' NFO, I found I'd often have to warm the tack with my hands to get it to sink into the leather. Edit: any cook will tell you that vegetable oil eventually goes rancid. I would never use it on leather. Yes, it may be in commercial leather preparations, but they have added preservatives to prevent it from breaking down.

Yes, hides are pickled so they can be stored. It also gets them ready for tanning: https://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Pickling-W49.aspx#:~:text=The pickle helps dissolve the,salt water and acid pickles.&text=What a pickle will do,cannot get it right way.

Ookay, I see now you could be right! And the posters sig picture would back you up - click on it, and it shows leather being dyed in vats. But when I saw 'natural' that reinforced the way I was thinking!

Never underestimate the power of Google! Leather Dyeing with Plants Dyes: A Review Shazia Pervaiz*1 , Tahira Aziz Mughal1 , Filza Zafar Khan2 https://innspub.net/jbes/leather-dyeing-with-plants-dyes-a-review/ I am sure that if you search, you can find articles about dyeing leather that are written in your own language!

From the the title of the thread, Dwight, the poster wants to use plant pigments to dye leather. Not knowing what plants are available in their country, the only thing I can suggest is to make some vinegaroon:

kgg, that's NOT where the backup is! It's in the area showing in the first of the three pictures I posted above. When the plumber put the camera down the line, that whole area was filled with water, because the line doesn't have the right slope. The connection with the pipe next to it is also at an angle, another thing that's causing the problem. Edit: I see I said above the line has too much slope. Yeah, the section of pipe coming down to the join has too much slope, and the one it flows into has too little - it must be practically horizontal. Plus, the join between the pipes is at an angle. THIS is definitely the area that has the problem. But of course, the whole run of pipe is going to replaced, and the backasswards Y connection will be fixed! The original house was well built. The garage with the apartment above it was a later addition, and you don't have to look too closely to see it was definitely a D.I.Y. job. I've been told the original owner of the house was an electrical engineer, so at least the electrical is in good shape. I had extensive electrical work done when I added a kitchen to the apartment, and the electrician found everything was in pretty much up to code.

[rolls eyes at rednev] Got it one, Tim! You don't have to be a plumber to know the waste should flow TOWARDS the septic tank, not away from it!! Whoever installed the plumbing was definitely NOT a professional.

Gorgeous work, Mike!

Oookay, what's wrong with this photo? Septic tank is just visible at the top of the photo, line on the left is the one coming from my tenant's apartment/laundry room, etc. Other one comes from the main part of the house:

Wow! My mom's electric sewing machine from the 1940's had that exact same bobbin winder. I remember it well! I do think $5,000 is asking a bit much even for such a rare old machine. Anyone know if it would use a treadle or would you have to rotate the wheel by hand?

Pictures: First picture shows the problem area of the pipe. You can see the pipes are joined at an angle, and there is too much slope. This is what my patio looks like right now!! Here's where the two pipes join up. The one on the left is the line with the problem. The septic tank isn't visible, but it's at the top right of the picture. Wooden thing on the ground is a bird feeder that had to be removed because it was hanging right over the area where we were digging and hitting us on the head!

What fred said! When horse tack is concerned, there's rarely such a thing as too much NFO. Not enough NFO will eventually cause tack to crack and break. Where suspenders are concerned, you are never going to get the original colour back, though they may eventually dry out enough to not shed oil onto your clothing. Make a new set, or go with the elastic kind!

You guys are HILARIOUS!! Yeah, my late engineer husband would agree... if duct tape, wire or WD40 won't fix it yer screwed!

Today we unearthed the problem section of pipe. Not only does it slope down too much, the join with the previous pipe is at a slight angle. And yes, it does go under the oil tank (but not the air conditioner) so my tenant/contractor is going to reroute it, as Northmount suggested. Since the 3 inch drain from my side of the house has never had a problem, I suggested to W. that we could join it with a 4 inch pipe just after it comes out from under the deck, and run that the short distance to the tank, where it would connect it up with the new 4 inch pipe coming from his part of the house just before the tank. That way, we avoid having to tear up the deck, and having a 4 inch pipe draining into a 3 inch! It won't quite be up to code, which requires a 4 inch pipe outside the house, but sometimes you just have to say, hey this is going to be too damn difficult! It's a straight run of pipe from the house to the tank, no bends, and it's only about 13 or 14 feet, so it should drain without any problems.

Okay, have finally had the time to sit down and figure out just what you are talking about. The translation leaves a bit to be desired, but with the help of the English labels that are on the bottles, which you showed me in your private message, I now know what you were trying to say! Please let me know if I've got this right: First you apply a water based leather dye to the background areas, using a small paint brush (red bottle). Next, you apply an acrylic resist coat, what the translator calls the 'craft agent' (green and white bottle). This is the equivalent of Resolene or Tandy Super-Sheen/Satin Sheen. You apply this only to the high areas of the tooling, as you showed with the diagram with the red markings. You apply 2 coats of this, using a cotton cloth. You let it dry between coats. Third step, you apply the Fiebing's antique (vintage dye, also translates as retro dye) using a toothbrush. You use a cloth to wipe the antique away from the high spots of the carving. I think the toothbrush will be a great help in getting the antique to fill in all the carved/stamped areas. You can see I didn't do a good job of that with the tote bag! Thank you for sharing this, and thank you for your kind words about my leather work!

Well, the first step is still going to be to dig up the old line, and find just where it goes. That's still a work in progress. If it gives the oil tank and air conditioner a miss, replacing it will be easier. If not, your suggestion is worth a shot!

Here's a better picture of the change purse:

Okay, FINALLY got around to taking photos! The change purse and wallet are projects I had stashed away in a box because I was unhappy with the way they turned out. The tote bag is waiting for me to add a lining to it. The wallet is about the way most of my projects turn out if I antique them. There is some contrast, but not nearly enough. I applied two coats of either Super Sheen or Satin Sheen to it before antiquing. I honestly can't recall if I applied the resist to the whole project or just the area I wanted to protect. It was a long time ago! I know one of the problems with the change purse was the texture of the leather. It would have turned out better if the leather had been smooth veg tan. Also, the tooling could have been deeper, but again, I think that had a lot to do with the temper of the leather. The Molly tote bag was resisted with Resolene. As you will see from the picture of the panels before I assembled it, the finish turned out blotchy, even though I left it to dry for more than a day. I had this happen with a dog collar I did, too, only MUCH worse. It looked so bad I tossed it. And this was with me diluting the Resolene 50/50 with water. I've been so disappointed with the way the Tandy antiques turn out I bought some Fiebing's antique, but the results with it were no better. I can't remember which one I used on the tote bag. The other two were definitely Tandy. What I've done lately is gotten a dark background by painting it with dye and a small brush, as I did with the front of this messenger bag: