fredk

I see that as a personal choice Do you want an 'historically' accurate holster? or a holster with a modern safety feature?

I've not come across a self-healing cutting mat without the grid lines But do shop around. You'll pay for the 'name' on the mat, eg I can buy an Olfa 'named' mat for about £25 or a 'no name' one from my resins suppliers for £7. Yes, they do have slightly different construction but in the end they work just the same As said above, buy to suit what you make, not too big nor too small. I have ones 3 inches square for trimming corners on and up to A0 size, approx 33 x 47 inches, but my most used size is 45 x 60cm approx 17 x 24 inches. If you are making just small things you can get an A4 size, approx 8 x 11 inches for as little as a couple of $$

no, that doesn't work for us mortals

That looks just grand so it does Does that lower strap arrangement give good support? I imagine it does, looks better than straps coming up off the bottom

1. Its worth what anyone is willing to pay 2. as a bit of a guide. About 4 years, maybe 5 years now, I bought a 1950s 99K with fitted electric motor. Its in near mint condition, lower wood case but no top cover. I paid about £180 for it, fully serviced & rebuilt with a 1 year guarantee and servicing/repair deal. Old 99Ks without electric motors generally sell for as low as £15, with a full wood case

If you want to go tubes Go to a carpet shop and ask for their card tube inners. They have to dump them so they may give them to you for the taking away The tubes are often about 4 to 6 inches inside diameter and 12 to 14 feet long, so take a saw with you . You can cut them down to suit whatever length you want them to be. Before I switched to the plastic boxes thats what I used. I got a load of long tubes and spent ages in the carpet shop carpark cutting the tubes down just to fit in my car. The deal on the day was, take them all or none. I took about half the load to the recycling, half of what was left to a friend for packaging and I still had more than enough for my needs easy ways to know whats in the tube 1. make the tube shorter than the roll, or don't push it all the way in 2. write on the tube whats in it. and up-date that note every time you use some of that leather

Currently almost all my heavy leather is rolled and stored in plastic 'Christmas tree boxes' stacked in my back hallways. Thin soft leather is folded and stored in plastic or card boxes, stacked where there is somewhere to stack them

They are called 'lift-the-dot' One place; https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/category/58/lift-the-dot Now you know the name you may find them more local to you

As above clever and easy

current information is that all of these companies have stopped deliveries into NI and may not resume due the extra paperwork required. Where else in the world does a sender need to fill in multiple customs form for a letter / package / parcel going to an address within their own country?

I'd say yes there is. Hats are culture influenced though. A hat that sells well in one place may not sell in another

yeah, just because NI stays in the EU trading union, but also in the UK trading I didn't vote

My methods and hardware 1. I use an old Fujipix S5600 camera, permanently set up for close-up pictures 1a. The camera takes at 5 mp. ISO/ASA is adjusted according to available lighting but its generally at 100 or 200 2. I use an old photo processing program, Paint Shop Pro. I got it free on a give-away disc back in about 1994 3. I put the photos through the PSP and initially save the original photo to my computer using the suffix 01 eg, Dice Cup, 01. This is backed up on a DVD disc 3a then I edit the photo, cropping it, adjusting contrast etc. This is saved as 01a (eg; Dice Cup, 01a) 3b. If I want the photo for this forum I resize the photo to about 360 pixies width and save that as 01LWs (eg; Dice Cup, 01LWs) 4. When I want to put the photo on this form I just use the 'choose files' option, and search out that 01LWs photo. I preview my posting and if the photo is too large or too small I go back to PSP, bring in the 01LWs, resize it and rename it 01LWss or 01LWsl. That way I have multiple copies of the same photo, in case any get corrupted or something 5. hit 'submit reply' when ready and jobs done I've been doing it this way for over 20 years (tho not on LW, but other forums) and I ain't gonna change now no how

I've heard back from Le Prevo in England (they were on Christmas holidays until today) A parcel which previously cost me £13.50 plus VAT ( = £16.20 ) is now going to cost, at best, £75 plus duties. Mainly due to the extra paperwork the courier will have to do as well as anticipated taxes to be paid It may be cheaper for me to collect the leather myself! (a joke, as the ferry would cost me £300, plus fuel costs of £32) I don't want to change from Le Prevo as a supplier. I've been buying from them for over 20 years and they've served me well. I have an old-fashioned sense of loyalty

No, its the dye. I recently, only 10 days ago, used an oil dye I'd bought from a maker in England. I used it on my game board. It took several coats to get the dyed areas looking even. Then after an hour or so I started to buff it and guess what ? Nothing, absolutely no dye came off on my cloth, and I'm so used to getting a dirty cloth using Fiebings dyes. When I brushed on a sealer over the dyed areas nothing changed, no dye came off. As for it 'might have been the leather?' no, I've used other dyes on those two leathers before and got dye off thru buffing.

Deviation off topic: My father had an old friend who had a car servicing garage. Near the back was an old battered 50 gallon drum of motor-oil ' yup, I've been using that same barrel of oil for over 30 years now' 'You've never run out?' ' nope, when it gets a bit low I get the prentice to put some more in it. Same barrel of oil for over 30 years' No1 and I call that a 'Trigger's Broom'. Some UK readers might understand that

T'is either a very big jug or you don't use it very much

If its a ring with a hole thru the centre, very small 'sail eyelets' will do the job

Hot coffee hot no, but at least 1/2 up. Shake well as it heats up. Mix the oils and fats.

I used to get my pure nfo from Le Prevo and their bottles always carried a warning. One year one bottle got to 2* and semi frozen. It was never the same. The oils and fats had separated. I just checked my other bottles of Fiebings and none have any warning.

'Oiled Leather' has had oils forced into the leather at the tannery. I don't think we can do the same job at our craft nooks

Oiled Leather and oiling leather are two different things Best to use pure Neats Foot Oil, aka NFO. Apply just a small amount to dry leather. Allow it to soak in for a few hours. Its easy to apply too much and impossible to get it out so apply only small amounts. I use a beeswax/carnauba wax/nfo mix which I rub on. That way just a small amount of nfo is applied

I think, like a lot of other supplies, workers are not at the factories turning out the goods and the supply chain is getting used up

yes it can. It usually says on the container 'do not allow to freeze' or 'do not store below x* temperature' for this reason Defreeze slowly, mixing the oils together constantly and it may be saved

A Happy, Healthy, Peace-filled, Prosperous New Year to all leather workers May you cut your patterns right-sided, and not your fingers. May all your leather hides be perfect and your own hide be thick enough to ignore jibes and complaints May your leather dyes soak in evenly and buff up well and die may not come to those you love May your wanted edges be as slick as an ice rink but may you never be on the edge of want May your sewing stitches be as straight as the road to Heaven and the road to the Devil be as crooked as one of my 'mystery braid' straps F