fredk

I give a life-time warranty on all my goods plus free repair. In 20 years I've had two items back for repair. Both were really well used, the damage was due to wear-and-tear, but repair them I did. When asked what 'life-time' means, ie mine, the item's or the owner's? I tell 'em, mine or the item's which ever ends first For 16 years my brand was just - Fred. Cos I was fairly well known in the Historical Presentation/Re-enactment circles. Just "get Fred to make it/mend it" But since I left that scene I have to start over again.

That sounds like a plan indeedy I've thought of another way; find a friendly hobbyist wood turner. Bribe with copious bottles of brew/wine/chocolates and ask him/her to turn it up copying a donor gaiter

Took a notion to make some of these. I used a bit of left over veg tan, about 2mm thick for the main tray body. The interior stamped panel is about 1.2mm and is simply glued in place. I used stamps for the centre pieces which are 8cm square. The sides of the tray stand about 2cm high. I don't really like the way the folded corners stick out so I cut them and rounded them, holding the two parts together with glue and a double-head rivet. Edges were slicked with my beeswax mix. I made a dozen in one session. I made 3 with the Monarch of the Glen, two in brown, one in purple. The one with the oval stamp I made eight, for club members. I did; red/red (2), red/blue, red/black, blue/blue(2), blue/red and blue/black. The other one I did was dyed purple and has a motorcycle design stamped on its panel. I decided to do a separate interior stamped panel as 1. I had a piece of very thin leather which I was able to cut the 8cm squares out of 2. By having it separate I could mix and match 3.. It gives a smoother inside base and I can have the grain side on the outside of the tray 4. a mis-stamp or other happening to the 8cm square means only it is scrap, not the whole tray. eg, two squares reacted funny to the red dye, so they ended up being black. ta for looking in

The donor bellows gaiter would need to be well supported on the outside to make it hold its shape. I'm thinking, a bucket of sand. The gaiter plugged at one end and set upright on a layer of sand in a bucket. Loosely pack sand around a section of the gaiter, pour in cement, pack sand tighter, let that section harden, repeat to the top. I'd have several 6mm steel/iron rods running up the centre as well eeee, this be fun

You may well be right about the plaster Mike. Regular Plaster of Paris is far too weak and soft I use a modelling plaster called Keramin. Its a special plaster with a high level of ceramic powder in it. I've used it for making bucks to mould leather over. But it still might not do the job. But. . . hows about using cement, regular house bricky sticking ceeement for the inside of the bellows gaiter? I've used cement to make bucks for moulding leather over as well as for moulding fibreglass over

Well, I'll tell ya folks; for about 16 years almost** everything I made was a copy of someone else's design and / or work. Thats cos nearly everything I was making was for history re-enactment type people so everything was copied from existing Ancient Hibernian/Saxon/Viking/Medieval items. For some History re-enactors, they wanted near-enuf exact copies, others were content with a variation on the real example. I doubt the original makers are going to chase me - well, not this side of the Styx anyways ** during that period only about 5% of my output was my original design/work

Thank you for the explanation. I've seen snaps with long posts for going thru thicker leather. I can't remember where but if I do I'll post a link

The idea is as old or older as the Industrial Age Leather bellows for sliding automotive parts are not unusual. I can still get OEM leather bellows for putting over part of the drive shaft of my 1930 Austin 7. A friend has leather bellows on various parts of his 1904 Lagonda Tri-cycle / Tricar

That is so simple its brilliant.

There is an odd dotty like diagonal line running thru the bellows, but its neither consistent nor continuous. There seems to be a seam running down the length, but no stitching. I'm thinking its thin leather wet moulded over a shaped buck and the edges have been over-lapped and glued together

No one is blaming you or condemning you for your part. It was the other chappie's attitude. There is no harm in asking for a pattern for something and showing a ready-made commercial item as the example. Most of us look at the commercial item and want to make our version of it, not copy it exactly ~ but that is what that chappie wanted to do. There is a pattern, and an acrylic template, readily available for that style of wallet but he seemed not to want to pay $5 -$15 for either of them. That chappie guy was toxic

Never worry. There is some common sense within copyrights laws. Not too long ago a fashion company Ben something tried to copyright and trade mark a Blue/White/Red roundel which they used on their items. The Royal Air Force told them where to stop as the B/W/R roundel is the British RAF symbol thus the RAF already owns it, but doesn't, as it is in common usage. Ben wotsit didn't get their way.

I'm lost on the meaning of 'short-shelf'.

Actually, he has, you own the 'intellectual copyright' on your holster designs and he has stolen it from you. But how far can you go to protect your rights. I've been there, almost in court, when someone designed and used a magazine title very similar to the title of a magazine I owned and published. He used the same fonts, the same colours and the same layout design, all he changed was the style of the ' & ' in the title. I went to law, he lost. Its very hard to keep control of a design of something that is a common item. Sometimes the copyright comes down to how the common item is made or presented. There's a lot of bad in the world. We cannot deal with it all. That is why we employ LEOs and courts. However, if we are in a position to stop or prevent any crime we should try to do so if its within our capabilities - that may mean stopping a shop-lifter physically or just getting the security person onto it, reporting crime to the police. I've prevented minor crimes happening, but when it come to the big stuff I call in the local Plods Only if a person stands by and does nothing when they are in a position to do something then I'd condemn the person In the UK we are very much enabled in protecting artists/artisans/performers/business' copyrights. Its been a while but people used to ask me if I could make a certain 'named' bag or whatever, 'yes, but that is their design sign and I'll not copy it, but I'll make you something that looks similar but is unique' A facetious saying used to be; copy one paragraph - thats plagiarism, copy a chapter - thats research, copy the whole book - thats inspiration

This is sooooooooo entertaining. Its been a while since we had someone with this (Michael222's) attitude. I'm off to my settings to 'ignore' him now

Right. Michael222 stop with this NOW. Stop the personal attacks on members here. The members of this forum are trying to help you but you do not want that help. NO leather worker on here will help anyone copy someone else's designs or products. There is such a thing as 'intellectual copyright' The members above have tried to direct you to patterns for this type of wallet. I bought an acrylic template for that style of wallet pictured. It cost me all of $10. Go you and do the same. You need experience in LEATHER WORKING to be able to make anything in leather. Go get that experience then come back. Leather working is far more involved than nuclear science - I have that opinion from a top scientist, so there. I'm going to ask the moderators to lock this thread

I had noticed the same thing. 3 things I did made a difference 1. dipped the item in a bath of diluted resolene and lay flat to dry. Repeat a few times 2. spray diluted resolene on, again, repeated coats and again lie flat to dry 3 let the antique dry and cure for about 3 weeks before attempting to lightly apply a thinned coat of resolene dabbed on by sponge, not wiped, but dabbed on edited to correct a spelling error

Thats clever. But oddly enough window squeegies are harder to get than rocking horse poo in my area. I've been trying to buy one for regular window cleaning. For the last few months I've tried so many places, many of which don't even know what it is. I reckon its an endangered species

use your standard skiver. either the safety beveler; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/safety-beveler a super skiver; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/super-skiver, I think better than the safety beveler for strap end skiving I also have this skiver for straps; bhttps://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Handheld-Skiver-Cutting-Splitter-Cut-Leather-Tools-Skiving-Machine-New-vs-/123067708889?hash=item1ca76835d9 which is a big investment but very useful when doing a number of straps from the same leather as it can be set up to do all the same. a note on the names of things; I call a 'skive' or 'standard skive' skiving leather down say from 4mm to 2mm. There is still some thickness at the end. I call a 'feather skive' is when I skive down so that the edge is as thin as the thinnest tissue paper which has been thinned. It needs the strap to have an allowance for it as when I do it the end might not be straight and needs cut with scissors to tidy it. PS. on the stitching. I'm not constant. When I sew from the D along the strap, sometimes I just do the straight-away, sometimes I take the first stitch over the edge of the strap a couple of times before doing the straight-away. I think Al Stohlman recommended doing it this way. There is a V gouge, but it can be a chance that the one you get actually works. Mine doesn't work well. https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/craftool-adjustable-v-gouge-2 What I used to use was a wood carver's V chisel. Now for handiness I use these, they are edges as well as V groovers; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-5Pcs-Working-Hand-leather-Edge-Skiving-DIY-Tools-Keen-Edge-Beveler-Silver/273261100050 Another thought; if you are not doing it now. Use contact glue on your fold over. Wet the fold area, fold over the D, glue down and tap it down with a mallet then clamp up for a while, then stitch it

Artificial or faux wool fleece works just as well. Easier got too in most material shops. Cheaper too and just a few ££ for a square meter. And if you are fancy-free, available in many colours, such as purple or red as well as brown or cream https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sherpa-Sheep-Skin-Fabric-Material-Shearling-Faux-Fur-110cm-Wide-Soft-By-Meter-UK/163570758205?hash=item261593b23d:m:mMuj715U_IfjDqIkNgAWZUw For Fiebings Antique paste I just use a cloth block. Some old clean rag folded up then another clean rag folded around that. Use that to apply and another clean rag in my hand to wipe it off The wooly is good for getting the paste on ok but I found it could also remove too much from the wee nooks and crannies so wiping it over with a cloth in hand I can be more discerning on how much and where to remove

I would 1. shorten the red. feather skive it and have it end before where the layers meet on the fold, ie if the bit on the back folded over is 1 inch, then have the red end about 1.25 or 1.5 before the fold. That will take away about 2.2 mm 2. feather skive the outer and shorten it to about 3/4 the length of the outer piece, ie if the bit folded over is 1 inch then the outer layer is only about 3/4 inch long. That will make the thickness at about 1/2 inch along most of the thickness of the two outside layers but tapering away to under 1mm at their ends 3. I say 1 inch, but to me that is too short on these sorts of straps I'd have no less than 2 inches, preferably 2.5 inches 4. I think stitching across the leather is not good. I'd have two parallel lines of stitching, each about 5mm in from the edges. Each starting at the D loop, or as close to, and running at least 2 or 3 stitches over and beyond the skived ends of the folded piece

Are you double layering the collars? you only need one layer to fold over for the hardware

Thank you

Loverly job. However you are breaking Rule 68 A, sub clause 37. That states, you have to tell us what leather you used, what thickness, what dye, thread, stitches per inch, final finish coating . . . . all that and more

thats one negative look at it. . . . however, in my experience, there are not enough leather workers, or just workers who are willing to do repairs. When I was involved in Historical Presentation I did a lot of repairs on kit. Even though I "don't do" shoes or horse tack re-enactor types from all over the island of Ireland would search me out to get repairs done to everything including shoes and some horse tack. Prior to me taking on repairs there was no-one willing to do it so expensive kit was trashed just because some stitching had ripped out/worn away. I charged by the hour rate plus materials. The folk were happy. I once sat at a show and did some repairs on a pair of riding boots. About 1.5 hours work, charge was about £20, guy was happy cos a new pair of boots would have been about £250 and until I did the repair the boots were unwearable. The chap said that no-one in Ireland or the UK would even consider the repair and some even told him the boots weren't repairable' Another; a woman picked up a nice handbag at a car-boot sale. She said it cost about £2 - because a lot of the stitching was parting. She asked me to fix it. I told her my rates. It cost her about £45 in my fees, but she was happy as that bag was a 'named' one worth about £500 in decent nick. I'll stop with examples Point is, I believe doing repairs, good repairs is part of our craft. It should be a skill to offer to customers