penguineer

They might be wondering "if" and "what" and "when" Brexit happens. Arrangements for shipping from the USA to UK are less likely to change regardless of what happens with Brexit. (even if you aren't doing it now you can at least figure out what the arrangements are) Shipping from Spain to UK after Brexit will be ??? I guess if you're a business you would be looking for a bit of certainty....... Cheers!

If you don't want to oversew, just start the new thread in the same hole you have just finished in. So you finish in one hole, you've formed a knot and then run a new thread through the same hole - the three threads in the same hole should lock everything in place. May take a little fiddling with tension(or a bit of fiddling/hammering afterwards) to make sure it's even and looking like one long uninterrupted run, it's not something I've done often, but no issues with doing it that way. I like oversewing a stitch or two, but that's me - if you tighten things up just right you end up with the last stitches of the "old thread" buried under the "new thread" so it looks like one long uninterrupted run. And on some some jobs the look(ie a double stitch here or there) is less important, although it does make things look more professional. Try it out and see what works and looks best for you. Remember that hammering or running an overstitch wheel or bone folder over the stitching afterwards evens things out a lot. Cheers!

That's it. I can do it in my sleep(probably do it better that way) but it's hard to put it into words. Cheers!

Here goes: When you pass the needle from the front to the back, just as the needle emerges from the leather on the back "cast" the loop on the back over the needle. When you pull the stitch tight the thread will form a knot in the middle of the leather. With thicker leather you might cast the loop over the needle twice(or even three times for really thick jobs). Does that make sense? The knots mean that the thread gets locked into place and fills the hole better, if a thread gets cut you only lose one stitch and you end up with a neat angled appearance on the front side of the workpiece. I'm a fan of only using as much thread as I can handle easily. Got better things to do than untangle thread. When you come to the end of the thread, leave about an inch of thread when you cut off. Start your next thread one hole back from the last stitch, hold the loose ends of the last thread up and out of the way and continue stitching. When you have finished sewing just go back and trim the ends off with a scalpel. Cheers!

If you're having a problem with using the right hammer how about using a bone folder to press the stitching down? Slightly dampen the leather beforehand if it's too hard work. Cheers!

I've written up a small workaround in this thread It's not a fix but it's better than deleting the tag every time. Cheers

I thought the wierd tag might have been me clicking on something. Couldn't find a way to correct the default, but I could change the default if that makes sense. Workaround for now.... From the toolbar at the top that says Activity then New Content in the drop down menu 1 open up the default stream 2 unclick the bdsm tag in the first drop down 3 save as new custom stream eg my unread 4 beside the stream name above the list of articles are three little icons, a pen for editing the stream, a dustbin to delete the custom stream, a tick to make this stream your default. These are greyed out initially, you need to hover the mouse over them 5 select the tick and your custom stream appears in place of the dodgy new posts stream, with the name you gave it. 6 your custom stream without the tag is now the default. Sorry for bad formatting , using tablet so battling autocorrect and a twitchy touchscreen at the moment. Hope this helps in the short term. Cheers!

If you're using the 3/8" "fancy" set that Martyn has pictured above, I would do the base colour across the whole strap and then follow up with an antique to make the letters pop. Remember to buff well! To my mind - that fancy set has so little area to work in that I wouldn't consider using a brush. If you're using the standard block letters (eg http://www.tandyleather.com.au/en/product/craftool-standard-alphabet-sets ), I start with my brush from the centre of the letters. When the dye starts to move to the edges of the letter, leave it alone. I use a #5 brush for this - the tip is just as pointed as the smaller sizes, but the larger brush carries more dye. Very important to start in the centre and work outwards, gently, as you don't want a large pool of dye to flood the area, fill the edges of the letters and then bleed onto the rest of the job.!! Once the letters are fully dried, then airbrush(or block dye) over the whole work and seal as normal. Another option is to use your resist instead of the darker dye so you end up with lighter letters. Cheers!

Email sent - but knowing my luck recently it has been sent to your spam folder.... Cheers!

Hi All, Wondering if anyone knows if parts for a Nippy NP-1(?) bell knife skiver are available in Australia anywhere? I have a mostly complete unit rescued from the tip as a TAFE college shut down. The skiver is missing a small drive shaft that turns the stone inside the bell knife. It's a shame not to be able to use it just because of one little part....... Last I looked the Nippy site in Japan was pretty hard to navigate or understand, hence asking for someone that speaks Aussie(or even tolerable english) and hopefully can tell their billabongs and bunyips apart. Thanks!

Keep the rivets. but only through the first layer of leather. Run the turned over piece over the back of the rivet and secure it using lace. You can use black lace to blend in or use a contrasting colour(red?) to add an extra accent. Get rid of the rivet holding the buckle in place and secure using lace as well. Cheers!

Hmmmmm......given the forum I think chopping bits off of people would be frowned upon. As we all know, blood makes such nasty stains on veg-tan. However, you are likely to be judged on the quality and finish of your scabbards, balric and holsters. Cheers!

Stitch from both sides, knot in the middle and then you're done with stitching(and backstitching) either use a saddlers hammer or a rolling pin or bone folder to whallop(or roll) it flat. Don't worry about flatness when you stitch, worry about consistency. The whalloping tends to smooth it out and make it flatten. Work on consistent tension on both sides as you pull the stitches tight. Saddlers hammer is a round face one with smooth edges that doesn't leave marks on the surrounding leather....... Cheers!

Have a look for info on "tap offs" - essentially elements of a design that you use lots. Make one, seal it and lightly tap it onto cased leather to leave a negative impression....that is, a negative impression tooling-wise, if done well you'll create a very positive impression ;-) Cheers!

One negative Ebay feedback is not an absolute end of the world. Just suppose you have 199 satisfied customers leaving feedback with rankings in the 3-5 stars range and one customer leaves a nastygram review with 0 star feedback........ I tend to look for patterns in the feedback(ie if the last 10 feedback are negative or related to one item)..... On the other side - if a seller has 5000+ sales and every single one of them is five star glowing reviews....I start to get a bit suspicious(although it seems anything less than 5 stars these day is a no-no). Call me old-fashioned.... Cheers!

Bruce Grants "Braiding Fine Leather" has a similar thing(key lanyard that attaches to your belt) in the projects section, but it's six-strands of 1/8" roo lace. I've made a few out of either 2.5mm or 3mm lace and they look OK. If you were using thicker leather you would have to make sure you bevelled the edges properly(less critical, but still neccessary with lace) and spend a bit more time rolling the round bits when finishing. I'd still recommend lace - otherwise you're getting bulky. Not sure which lace you'd use, but roo has plenty of strength. Cheers!

One good place to buy pre-cut rolls of lace in Australia is wingarra leather - they buy their hides from packers.... Usual sizings are 10m hanks and 100m rolls in 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm and 4.7mm. Wide variety of colours. I'll check for a contact other than a phone number(not sure if they have email). Cheers!

Nice work! How does the 3' one go for cracking? (I'm sure it will as I've seen smaller hat-band whips crack) Cheers!

Thanks! One other thing that is noticeable in the comparison is that the tip of the blade is now in a thicker/wider/stronger section, so the awl should withstand bending when used on harder/thicker leather. Cheers!

Looks like I messed up the image URL in the post above......this is the piccie....

http://s628.photobucket.com/user/penguineer/media/leatherwork/tools/leather-tools-awl-points-800.jpg.html The one on the left is the original profile. Look at the width across the blade - you have to push more of the original blade through the leather to get the same size hole as the one on the right. The one on the left I think has a tendency to "rush" through the leather so it goes too far(more effort to pull back) and has more of the blade exposed on the back/hidden side, which could lead to cuts, stabs and messy bloodstains. I've used the awl on the right on jobs up to about 15mm thick(5/8"?)...... (Sorry about the link - seem to be having an issue with hosted pics......ill see what i can do....) Cheers!

I have a photo or two of the comparison. I'll have to find it though. The reshaping and polishing takes a little time but I just relax in front of the tele and go by feel. The result is worth it.... Cheers!

That point looks too "pointy" to me. Try reshaping the tip to a "bayonet point". The cutting edge at the end is wider, more strength, you don't have to push the awl as far through to make the same size hole and you end up with less of the awl in your finger. Cheers!

For what it's worth - I've also seen similar at one of our hardware stores, generally in the same area as you would find snap clips and wire cable. Usually available in stainless steel and may be heavier than what you are looking for. Is it bad that I look for leatherwork bits and bobs at Bunnings? Cheers!

It will attempt to curl. Tooling is basically mashing and stretching different parts of the leather causing it to be longer in the middle the the outside. Simple solution is to use masking tape(the paper stuff) on the back or stick the leather to some perspex(apply rubber cement to one surface only so it can be peeled off). Cheers! Cardboard would probably absorb some impact, but you're able to look at the work as you're doing it and can adjust...... Cheers!