fredk

12 x 12 inch or 14 x 10 inch

you had to ask, didn't you? you just had to ask! I don't think anyone really knows what the letters DFS stand for. There are plenty of ideas tho DFS is a furniture company which has 'this week only' sales running just about continuously through the year. Their short-term sales never end. Its become a joke in the UK. You have to see their TV adverts and experience them over several years to really understand the humour

It'll probably be fine.

The glaze is basically a top coat varnish. Your fav finish won't get through it. It'll just stay on the surface. But if its to feed the leather you can get in through the back side.

Its a matter of both quantity and refining costs. There is actually not a lot of lanolin on the wool fibres. This has to be washed off carefully and then go thru several refining stages to clean it and turn liquid oil to a creamy state. As an idea; imagine how greasy/oily your hair feels if you don't wash it for a few weeks, but there is actually very little grease/oil on the hairs, one wash and its off. But you cannot see it in the wash water.

Depending on just what leather stamping tools you have, you can take a pippin Swiss or jewellers needle file or a cutter in a dremel type motor tool and improve them. The state of your leather at the time of stamping also plays a part. The leather needs to be 'cased' just right. Too wet and the impression will be a smudge, too dry and it wont be deep enough to be sharp. Try some recutting of the tool face first before investing in the more expensive and better tools

Probably bad photos as BK has a very high reputation on this forum for extremely good tools edit; I'm hoping others on here will see this and have some input

Use a few thickness of thicker leather, just folded over. If the blade goes thru suddenly it might just go into your finger, so fingers either side of where the hole should be. A cork from a drinks bottle, usually wine, or I use part of a cork sanding-paper block. Available at hardware stores for about $1. Its about 4'' x 2.5'' x 1'' thick. I cut a piece off and use that.

Now you have a sharp blade, the problem might be there is too much 'give' in the thin leather. On the opposite side to your awl hold a piece of cork against the leather and push the blade thru the leather into it

1. Barry King ~ https://www.barrykingtools.com/

okee-doakly, a few folks have had their say about C-19 Sort of back on track, I see Tandy is having yet another sale. For UK readers, it looks like Tandy is doing a DFS,

On these projects its more fun, and sometimes frustrating, to keep the shape of the scrap piece and match others to it rather than cut them all four-square

Two places I can think of to direct you; 1 Will Ghormley, he sells pattern packs; http://www.willghormley-maker.com/OWC.html 2. Free from the old Tandy Library Belts_and_Holster_Patterns.pdf

I'm getting a 'THE PAGE YOU REQUESTED CANNOT BE FOUND!' with that link

The only method I know to test for real leather is a destructive test. Take a piece of the material, hold in pliers, put a flame to the material. If it shrivels up and smells like burnt flesh its leather. If it burns with a black smoke giving off small black sooty particles, its a plastic

a. they are not electro-plated b. nor are they 'electrophoresis' coated c. they have a chemical blackening d. you need to ignore all that and sharpen the teeth. You need a very sharp cutting edge and smooth sides to each tooth

Are the teeth really sharp? Those holes suggest they are not. Sharpen them and polish the teeth up, both the cutting end and the sides. Also press into wax before every, or every other, strike. It becomes a rhythm; into wax, punch holes, punch holes, into wax, punch holes, punch holes, into wax. . . . . Mark your line on front and back. After the first set of holes check that they are coming out on the line. If not adjust how you hold the chisel. Use the side of your hand to press the leather down and the fingers of that hand to guide the chisel. Hold the chisel lightly, just enough to keep it upright.

Its not the colour per se. Its the purity. Basically yellow wax is old wax, it contains microscopic grains of pollen and dirt. White cap wax is season fresh and almost 100% clean. To see the dirt in yellow wax. melt two or three blocks in something you can remove the wax from when it hardens again. When it does harden, look carefully at the bottom of it. You'll see it covered in very small dark specks. Thats the dirt and pollen Rub in some beeswax / carnauba / nfo mix. That'll soften it up, seal it a bit and polish it up a bit

@chuck123wapati ~ brilliant work, most excellent

If you give us info of where in the world you are we can give you the information you require In my country, all I have to do is make up a business name and use it, as long as its not the same as anyone else's. I can if I want to become a 'limited liability' company for a small fee, but that is not necessary There are different regulations in different countries

Not usual. I would send it back for exchange

Right, I'm off . . . 1. Johanna's way in her Tandy shop is the way Warhammer shops work now. From 0 table top wargaming players in N.I. in the late 1990s to about 20 groups (estimated at 1200 - 1500 players) now, not all using Warhammer products. 2. Tandy never had a presence in N.I. / Ireland. Nearest was in England and until just a few years before they closed down they refused to do postal delivery to N.I. One branch changed staff a lot and whilst I found one set decent the others were only interested in chalking up sales, they had no knowledge of the products they sold. 3. the OP opening is a rant against Tandy not specifically about the 'art' of leatherwork. Tandy is not the only leather goods supplier out there, as we all know already. Other companies are doing what they do, afair Le Prevo (England) attends 'medieval' fairs to sell leather goods. They go to sell but by having a presence they promote interest in leather working 4. Its naive to believe only one country can produce quality tools. eg Snap-on mechanics tools are all made in USA but they have a poor reputation in N.I.. I spoke to a professional mechanic about Snap-on tools and their life-time guarantee and instant replacement. He told me and showed me tools which were twisted and broken, he said the tools were 'soft' and not fit to use, they broke so often that Snap-on has to replace them. This mechanic now uses a top name of tool, also with the life-time guarantee and replacement, they are made in Taiwan. He's not had a breakage due to poor materials 5. This 'art form going to hell' is because despite our efforts the general public people out there no longer recognise it as such. They are happy to buy a cheap handbag of plasticky 'leather' from Tesco/ASDA/Walmart at £10/$10 than pay £30 for a true leather one. So what are we going to do about it? As we are from all over the world so our markets are so very different I read and look at the most excellent holsters on here, but thats not my market. Only two groups here use firearms; the police and terrorists. The police have to use the government issue holster and the terrorists don't bother using one. I haven't sold a belt in years. People would rather pay £3 for a PVC one from the local Tesco/ASDA/Walmart I'm in a special group which promotes Crafters of N.I. within and without N.I. Despite my approaches they won't recognise leather work as a 'craft'. Its far too long to explain here. Its the same with both certain bodies which promote and set up craft/farmers markets and the insurance companies 6. This 'art form. . . .' ~~ whilst in certain countries the Sheridan or Western style of carving is still wanted, outside of 'medieval' groups no-one wants viking or Celtic lace stamping. My society is very divided.; whilst some will buy Celtic lace others won't touch it with the proverbial barge pole. The 'art work' of stamping and tooling needs brought into the 21st century 7. Its up to leather workers everywhere to advance the qualities of leather and leather work. Its up to us. No one is going to do it for us. Just because a Tandy branch closes we cannot cry,. 'oh they're not promoting leatherwork in my area' What are you and I going to do about it.? With Covid 19 restricting and altering my plans for 2020 I have the rest of this year to formulate my plans of attack for the 2021 season, and those plans are being worked out Are there groups out there you can do some demo or teaching classes to? I tried it a few years ago, it didn't work out, but maybe a different type of demo might. I used to get lots of people standing watching when I made a small purse at 'medieval' events. At fairs I had two Oppos who minded the stall whilst I sat and sewed or made something, that drew a small crowd. Maybe the same in your area, get an Oppo to help out on the stall, do a 'demo' make at that farmers market next Saturday. Whilst show casing your work it also leads to interest of doing from others, especially if you put together some easy to make kits *waffle mode off*

Actually, my unit has a wood roof suspended over the top. Even in our mild summer that tin box gets pretty hot inside. So if not for dampness, ventilation space at least for air to help the cooling

I rent storage space which is made up of shipping containers. They stand on a concrete yard. My unit has a plywood floor but nothing lining the wall or roof. At another storage rental place their containers were stood on natural ground, they had plywood floors as well. My unit is as dry as you'd want it. I have no problems storing leather in it, but I'd not do so in the other place, dampness was coming up though the floor and there was a lot of condensation on the walls and roof. Mould was growing on a couple of cardboard boxes in the one I inspected. If it was me I'd pour a concrete base for the whole area and stand the containers on bricks or blocks to let ventilation underneath them