fredk

The most obvious answer to why is there aren't many around; the nature of leather, it rots away. Especially in damp or wet conditions. Early leather was not tanned extremely well and even today's leather will rot away eventually Second reason is, up to the start of the Industrial Period (late 1700s) anything made of iron, especially fripperies, were considered prestigious and thinks made of leather, wood or pottery were replaced with iron. Then after the I.P. iron and steel gradually became cheaper and it was easier and cheaper to make things like hinges in factories In some museums you can still find travelling trunks and such from the Napoleonic Wars era and before with leather hinges. The hinges go un-noticed as they are 'just hinges'. In most cases the hinges are two-part over-lap with a wood dowel pin, unlike your multi-part butt, or 'piano' hinge. I'm kinda worried that the leather will soften up too much with use. Perhaps a brass rod as a pin rather than C.F. in the briefcase one?

Looking at that photo I've just realised somat. I used to come across stools like that seen in the lower right. Cast iron with a circular wood seat. Most had Simanco cast into them. Just about every home had one or two, junk / 2nd hand shops had them by the tens. I had 3 in my photo studio for portrait sitting seats and general use. I got them given to me. Here they were usually used and called 'piano' stools, now I know what they really were. Its only recently that I learnt that Simanco is/was Singer Manufacturing Company. PS. I like my 15k models, my oldest is of 1913

No reason it won't work. I think two parts will work better than just a plain one piece hinge. Its a variation on the steel butt hinge. Lubrication is necessary on any hinge, and the use of carbon fibre rod is a good idea. A type of over-lap hinge has been in use since early medieval times. Some are still in place on doors. They've hardened up so much over the centuries they are like iron now and often mistaken for iron hinges

Its not easy to find quality metal tools. From my experience. You cannot trust the quality of the steel in punches by either price or 'name' . I've bought a set of individual hole punches by Draper. Price was about £27 for six. The metal was so soft the tube ends rolled over when I tried them on 3mm leather with 6mm leather as a punch pad. These were made in India. I've bought hole punches with other top names and they've usually ended up in my son's waste/scrap metal bin. They've been a waste of money. I had very old punches which were owned by my grandfathers. They could punch through 0.8mm aluminium they were so tough and hard. Maybe look for old ones. If you have 'garage' sales still going on in your area you might be able to pick some up Now I buy individual punches direct from China. 8 out of 10 are sharp and ready to use as they come. Of all the punches I've bought this way only one out of about 30 has been poor quality. The price I pay is between £1 and £3.50 roughly depending on size and includes postage. Rotary pliers punches; the same stories. I've gone through dozens of them, from cheap ones at £2 to ones at £15 (again Draper). I'm very happy with some Tandy ones I bought a few years ago. They have changeable tubes but I've not had to change one yet. As Arturo says, only certain sizes are commonly used. I go by millimetres and not # size, so I have 1mm up to 7mm as the most used, especially 3mm, then a I have a few random larger sizes, 10mm, 12mm, 19mm. I also have a few random sized oval hole punches 5 x 2mm, 7 x 2mm etc

The closest I can see are these at Le Prevo 1. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/315M-20.htm 2. http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/0508M-15.htm

I kno nutting bout that I know we have differences in the system and with that in mind; two weeks ago No.1 son drove 60 miles to me, bringing food. He stayed over night then drove home the next evening. He drove down and up our M1. Never saw a Plodmobile. However, that weekend the Plods said they had stopped over 2500 motorists to check and handed out over 190 fines. Where? No.1 said he just drove normally, so might not have attracted the attention of roving Plodmobiles

Really depends on Mr Plod. I would time it so that you travel during a busy traffic time. Mr Plod is less likely to stop one car in many than one car on an empty road. If you have to explain do it everso politely. Your reason sounds very reasonable - to me

a. You don't say where in the world you are and that would help us to advise you b, general advice would be to ask around your locality if anyone knows a leather worker. Don't ask at a shoe-repair shop as they think leather workers are competition, ask at a clothes repair or even a dry-cleaners shop c. a repair is to fix an item keeping what it has, you are asking for a rebuild. It might be cheaper in money just to buy a new one. If it is of special sentimental value then it should be repaired with very little replaced. (Trigger's Broom syndrome)

@D2G, the fitting in the link shows a screw back. That one is best used on leather about 3 or 4mm thick. If you use thinner leather make a circle or disc shape and glue it to the thinner leather to make that area thicker. A rivet back, it just means instead of a screw part to screw into the back of the concho, like the one in the link you have to hammer a ready rivet type head onto a post on the back of the concho. I do not like these as it is too easy to damage the front of the concho and they won't do what you want them for google translate to Spanish. I hope between these I can explain el accesorio en el enlace muestra un tornillo hacia atrás. Ese se usa mejor en cuero de aproximadamente 3 o 4 mm de grosor. Si está utilizando cuero fino, haga un círculo o una forma de disco y péguelo al cuero más delgado para que esa área sea más gruesa. Un remache, solo significa en lugar de una parte de tornillo que se atornilla en la parte posterior del concho, como el que está en el enlace, tiene que martillar una cabeza tipo remache lista en un poste en la parte posterior del concho. No me gustan, ya que es demasiado fácil dañar el frente del concho y no harán lo que usted quiere.

wot he says

Tbh I've only used the iron-on a few times. The solid sheet didn't work out happy for me; the heat was too much and the leather shrivelled. I need to get an iron on which I can set a lower heat. On the interlining, it was more successful. I used black to cover some thin aluminium tape (for RFID blocking) inside credit/debit card wallets. But again, that iron with a lower heat setting is looked for. As well, my iron is a steam iron which only works with water in it. Hot water and leather are not a happy combo.

As far as I know only Tandy does a snap for the back of conchos https://tandyleather.world/products/concho-snap-adapter-10-pack?_pos=12&_sid=7960432bd&_ss=r There are a few Tandy resellers in Europe. They might be able to get them for you

Another adhesive we have forgotten about; the sheets of heat activated adhesive. It needs using carefully as too much heat can destroy the leather eg; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adhesive-Iron-On-Sheet-by-Sizzix-by-Sizzix-663009-/113709155177?hash=item1a79980369 If you just need a fabric lining you can get materials with iron-on heat activated adhesive on it eg; ebay.co.uk/itm/Iron-On-Fusible-Non-Woven-White-Black-Interfacing-Lightweight-Medium-0-9M-Wide/262845535860?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

A difference in materials; here those square nails are soft iron. Look at it too hard and it'll fold up.

My #1 son got his business support grant about 3 days after it was introduced. He's been told he'll get the wages grant at the end of this month. He has two workers on 'furlough' who will get 80% wages, which he pays then the wages grant pays him. afaik he has to prove their wages.

Tandy also has hat patterns in their on-line Library. The patterns are free Have a look here; https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/product/1210/2662-leather-hat-pattern-pak if you can't find one PM me, I might have a copy saved.

True. But they should be entitled to the grants available. For some it might be enough to keep them from closing up. I only order from Le Prevo and a couple of other places. I have orders from those odd places but they might be closed up as my orders are now 5 weeks overdue, one is outstanding from 16th February.

Do let us know how you get on.

I should add; use your liquid adhesive sparingly. Too much wet glue can squeeze through the weave. You just need enough to keep the fabric in place. Generally its not going to be getting pulled away from the leather

Thats nice

1. your initial fraying will be on that excess beyond what is needed. If it frays badly just have a wide margin 2. If you pay attention to the edges of the leather, ie have good glue coverage, when you cut the excess fabric off the edge, the new edge, the fibres will be stuck together by the glue 3. If you do have a bit of fraying, just wipe a very, very small amount of glue along the new edge

I use one or two coats of 'Pledge with Future Shine' * floor polish which is actually a water thin acrylic varnish * It keeps changing its name. I'm not sure just what its called in the US anymore. Also there are cheaper but just as good alternative versions out there. Here in N.I. I use a version called 'Astonish' As long as the paint is dry I brush on one coat of the acrylic varnish. It needs put on softly as it can lift the paint off leather. Brush lightly or even spray it on. I find dipping is not so good as it will make colours run. When that first coat is dry I put on a second and thats it for normal things, but to really water proof something I put on a 3rd coat. As its an acrylic vanish too many coats* will make the item stiff and the coats may even crack when the item flexes. * I'm meaning 7 or more unthinned coats

How I do fabric linings 1. Cut the fabric larger than needed for the leather 2. Stretch the fabric tight and pin or staple to a board. 3. Apply a thin coat of contact adhesive to the leather only, with attention to edges 4. When the adhesive is still slightly tacky, almost dry, slap the leather down on the fabric 5. Use a brayer to press the leather down, working from centre outwards in a star pattern 6. Release fabric from board and turn over, use brayer to lightly press the fabric to the leather 7. Trim fabric to size of leather with scissors, very sharp scalpel or circular knife 8. Sew leather and fabric together as normal in project I've never needed to smooth the inside, the flesh side, of leather for this. Of course the leather needs to be dyed, sealed and edged beforehand.

1. as nice as it is I would have used star shaped rivets. You can get them with fold over tags, rivet-on or screw backs. The rivet-on are in two types. a ready-rivet type or a nail type. The stars can also be got in silver, gold, black, copper, bronze, gun-metal colours. I think if you could remake this with the star rivets your pal will like it that much more 1a. If I was doing this, not only would I use star rivets, I would deepen and widen the flag lines, use different coloured dyes, or paints, for the flag's coloured areas and use a white or silver paint pen in the wider flag lines Polite remark: If the flag is important to you take extra time and care representing it. 2. a great-grandfather on my paternal side fought against people carrying this flag. Here in N.I. people only associate this flag with the tv show 'Dukes of Hazzard'! 3. I might just make a wallet as in 1a above just for the heck of it.