fredk

Questions: I presume the leather is quite thin, approx what thickness? and how did you prevent it from going out of shape whilst tooling it?

The situation is echoed here. There is Ireland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Ulster, Eire, Hibernia, Erin, United Kingdom and Great Britain I'll not hijack this thread with details, unless I'm asked to

Simplest way; get a ruler in your preferred measure, eg mm or inch. Start on the '0' line and wrap thread around the ruler, each turn tight up against the last. Keep going for a few inches or centimetres. Count how many threads there are an divide into the measure eg, if you have 80 turns over 2cm /20mm = each thread is 0.25mm

The Tandy press will do them with a set of dies; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/press-dies-for-hand-press

That shore is purty

The top part of the unit is separate. It can be bought in 2, 3, 4 5 & 6 drawer sizes. The 6 is 4 uneven shallow drawers and two large ones, each half the width of the whol and each about 2.5 inches deep. With a top handle they can be carried around, but once loaded with tools they start to get heavy. Have you looked at kitchen trollies? I have 4 on which I store on-going projects and the necessaries. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8400444

I don't know of any reason it would not do

Another very nice piece of work from you. Very nicey indeedy

A garage mechanics type tool box unit like this ; Although I have plenty of storage space I have two of these units. One has all my 3D and letter stamps in the drawers and boxes of conchos & bag fittings in the lower cupboard. In the other I keep my sewing and riveting hardware

Thats a decent set and price Tugadude has linked to. I have a pair with 4 teeth (as pictured) and a set with 2 teeth. I got mine off ebay at under £10 a tool but I think they're up to about £15 a tool Before Christmas I made some note book/diary covers, it took under 5 minutes to go round the edge of each to make the sewing holes. Occasionally I still need an awl, to open up some of the holes. They only come in one size, stitches-per-inch and you can't go more than about 3/4 inch in from the edge. But they are a handy compromise

There is punching and there is punching. I 'punch' holes for stitching, but these are holes which do not remove material. For these holes I usually use this, pliers with teeth; I can work around a project and punch the stitching holes in just a few minutes Punching which removes leather, eg 1 - 1.5mm holes I keep for using with round lace that size

I'm no expert on this matter. However what I've learnt is that the older tools were quality steel, both handle and head. Then they went to steel handles and a zinc alloy cast head, with good chrome plating over all. Then they went to zinc alloy handles and zinc alloy cast heads, again with good quality chrome plating. The latest tools are a lower quality zinc alloy handle, zinc alloy cast head and a lower quality chrome plating. Also, with the earlier tools the pattern in the head is much more sharply defined. The later chroming softens the definition as does worn out moulds making them. eg, a patterned backgrounder, A104, has a fine pattern on it. On the latest tools the worn moulding and chrome makes this almost smooth, smooth enough that the pattern hardly shows in the leather. I have an old A104, bought 20 years ago, and it was old 2nd-hand then and the pattern is more distinct Take a magnet to the tools and see which parts are steel

Like this one? https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/makers-corner-radius-card or this? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Diy-handmade-leather-tool-R-ruler-round-corners-full-size-acrylic-template-NSNJ/114012751993?hash=item1a8bb08879:g:jKUAAOSwnWpb~lAh

a. Old fashioned wax based shoe polish in the flat tin. Not the liquid type in a bottle with a sponge applicator. b. put on a rubber glove c. small bit of cloth wrapped around a rubber-gloved forefinger d. get some shoe polish on the cloth, a fair bit, don't skimp. e. apply direct to the letter lines f. Immediately buff off any shoe polish from the raised part of the letter g. set aside and allow to dry, maybe an hour or so. Not letters, but a stamping in a small valet tray done as above

tbh, I think letters don't need beveled around. A bit of black shoe polish rubbed into the letter lines helps to make them stand out from a brown surface

I believe this is an annual event and afaik Le Prevo attends it

oops,

This knife can be bought real cheaply, £10/£12 https://www.windowparts.co.uk/don-carlos-moon-knife.html

A veiner is a tool which is a curved line with wiggles on it, see here; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/v407-craftool-veiner-stamp They are used in the stems of flowers to add details. Practice on your edges of the flowers. Move the beveler stamp over a wee bit as you hit it, a 'walking' type motion. If you have to use thicker leather, skive down the edges where you are going to sew. Recently I made some book covers using 2.5mm thick leather. I skived about 1cm of the edge down to 1mm thickness. I used one of these; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/craftool-pro-wide-edge-skiver If you are on a tight budget; I got one of the skivers for £3.34 direct from China, I'm waiting on a second one which has cost me £3.02. You can buy starter sets of stamps which have all the basic tools for under £10 As the others have said, cloth is good for lining too. Old silky type material from shirts bought at a charity (thrift) shop are a useful source Otherwise, fine work there PS. It would help us to help you if you put your location in your profile

Milliput would indeed be the job. Available in standard green, black, white and terracotta. Museums use white and terracotta for replacing sections of pottery which are missing, they use the contrasting colour to show up the replacement or repair. Milliput colours are inter-mixable as well

I have three of these for my stamping tools. Yes. I like them. I have the tools in rows, alpha-numerically sorted

The oils may be preventing the contact glue from working. Can you remove the oils or use non-oiled leather? PS. I use UHU a lot too. I get it in a Poundland shop. If you go to get it beware they sell two sizes of tube for £1. One tube is 60ml and is in a plain box, the other size is 30ml in a fancier box. Home Bargains also sells the UHU / 60ml for 99p or £1, depending on the local shop

a, has your leather any oils on it? b.are you gluing the flesh side or the grain side? the grain side needs roughing up before sticking or it won't stick very well. c. I used to use Evo until it became impossible to buy in N.I. for a while, then I switched to the B&Q and Screwfix glues

B&Q's own contact glue. Its available in 'liquid' or 'gel' https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-neoprene-contact-adhesive-250ml/3663602709305_BQ.prd Screwfix does their own contact adhesive as well; https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-contact-adhesive-beige-1ltr/34758

I'm thinking - as an acid is used, an alkali would be used to neutralise it. In the 18th C it would have been lye, made from roasted oyster shells or limestone. A little lye destroys, a lot will preserve. Near where I used to live there had been a murder in the 1920s or so. A farm worker murdered and robbed a neighbouring farmer. The worker buried the farmer under his stock of lye meant for use on the fields. Round this way Lye was also used sprinkled on dead bodies to speed their decomposition. But in this case the amount of lye mummified the dead farmer's body and preserved it, for the police to find it.