fredk

Many from the US on here use an arbor press from Harbor Freight [? afair] Cheap. Some need the press ram bar drilled out to take a stamp adaptor

As the coloured part has the same grained pattern I'd be thinking that the area showing [of the back piece ] has been dyed that colour and the window part glued over the rear piece

Sorry; I keep forgetting the language barrier. Meths , short for methylated spirits, a wood alcohol, bought from every chemists [drug store] or even supermarket. Here it is dyed purple. Cellulose thinners, aka lacquer thinner, for cellulose based paints which are mostly used on cars

With Mike's warning. I use cellulose thinners to cut through industrial finishes. On work I have done meths will take off resolene, then I use the cellulose thinners to remove the dye. I recently had a chap want some car fittings done in black; duly done, then he changes his mind and wants them in mid blue. Meths to take off the resolene then cellulose thinners to remove almost all the black dye - what was left was just a darkening of the leather. cellulose thinners dries out the leather something wild so it needs a good feeding with nfo afterwards

Buckle tongue bar to main hole = waist size

The name has an Italian thing about it. As you are in Scotland I would assess that it was done by a local Italian in Scotland. For those who do not know; Scotland and Northern Ireland became home for very many Italians. The rivets/upholstery nails around the edge are rather like the type and in position typical of the 1920s & 30s

Sometimes I do, or a beer, or fruit juice. I make my own meade; I have red and white, I drink it when and with what I like

Its what I call the 'Kings New Clothes' symptom. It has to be xxxxx because 'everyone' says it has to be. Like drinking white wine only with fish meals; I'll drink white wine whenever I please. Learn to never listen to those people who try to dictate 'rules'. There are certain ways of doing things because that way has worked out best/more efficient, but they are not the 'rules' When all is said and done, the stitches can be zig-zag, straight, herringbone, baseball, done by hand, foot or machine, as long as they are strong and fit for purpose is all that matters

Thats exactly what they are

Nice to see a result

just add up the square inches of each piece. Add a few more square inches for bits you cut off. Divide that total by 144 for your square footage eg; you do a wallet 9 inches by 4 inches = 36 sq" for the outside, x 2 for the inside as well = 72 sq ". Four card pockets, each about 4 in x 3 in = 4 x 12sq" = 48sq". . . . . 48 + 72 = 120 sq" .....1 sqft =144 sq" . . . . . 120/144 = 0.833 bar, or about 0.85 of a square foot 0.85 sq ft was used but the parts were cut from a larger piece, so I'd round that up to a full 1 sq ft.

5 oz - 2mm approx. You'll need to double that up for a decent belt. I don't use any thinner than 3.5mm for belts. We use thinner belts than our US chums as we have no requirement to carry heavy items on our belts. Our belts merely serve to hold our trousers up

29 ft is kinda average for a side in the UK. We have big cows

Not really; depends on just how stretchy it is. Try pulling it in different directions. It'll stretch most going away from the back bone. The leather will stiffen up a wee bit as you work it. I find belly is decent for womens' bags, as they try to cram the whole house hold into it. yup, they are. choose carefully, buy wisely, but they are an investment, just like a good knife. But try here too; https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/ Via that library you can download most of Al's books - at a price of course, but often cheaper than a paper copy https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/category/79/ebooks

Generally the thickest and stiffest part is along the back bone, it gets more stretchy the closer you get to the belly. Belts from the back, purses & book covers from the middle, light weight occasional bags from the belly, but as there is no hard line from one area to another a piece has to be judged on its own merits I never cut a side up. I cut a number of belt strips from it and then just use it as required. I'm not sure but I bet Al S said something in one of his books

The largest is about 3.25 by 3.6 inches - about 82 x 92mm

May be this helps. maybe not. I use the Tandy press - https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/craftool-pro-hand-press It is about 1.25 T pressure. Whilst is good for single letters using the adaptors, the ram bar has a small cross section/area. I have several embossing plates bigger than this. I put a 3mm steel plate between the embossing plate and the ram bar which has the wider letter adaptor fitted. I press the embossing plate centrally first, then I move the leather around carefully doing the outer edges of the embossing plate; its usually - top left, bottom right, bottom left, top right, centre left, centre right. As long as the embossing plate doesn't move out of register on the leather this gives me a pretty good even impression. My embossing plates are made of brass and of magnesium. I've recently purchased a couple of those from Bunkhouse, but not yet used them. Maybe in December. . . . Bunkhouse recommends a plate of steel over the resin plate and they supply a piece of hard rubber to go under the leather whilst pressing.

The stamping and colour is nicely done However; I find those bright rivets holding the name tags on very intrusive. If you really needed to rivet them on I would have used a dark coloured rivet with a much smaller head

I've found that many conchos have slightly different screw threads but generally they are about M3. I've bought some of these [link below] as spares for conchos. Some they fit and some they don't, even ones from the same batch! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M3-3mm-A2-STAINLESS-STEEL-FLANGED-BUTTON-HEAD-SOCKET-FLANGE-SCREWS-BOLTS-BW/121640777933?var=420632488921 Generally for the ones these screws do not screw into its they are touch too small so I screw them in with some two-part epoxy glue in the concho screw thread hole, or with some gap filling superglue gel. They ain't goin nowheres after that! Next purchase for me is an M3 screw tap Search thru sellers like the one in the link and you'll find quite a range of M3 screw bolts

The angle of the hole; in hand stitching the hole is made with a diamond shaped awl blade or triangular needle. If you align the points of the diamond on each hole, when you pull the thread tight, it will cut thru the leather, thus the holes are made at an angle so the flat faces of the diamond are nearest each other, this gives the leather between stitches greater strength. Then when you sew each thread should go in and wrap around that stronger part.

St. Louis, Missouri ? From what I remember BM leather is about 1.25mm thick, quite stiff, some parts are backed with a thin layer of foam stuck on. I'll be down at my son's place either Wednesday late or Thursday and I'll look at his stock of BMW interiors, to see just what that leather is like. Regular upholstery leather will be about the right thickness but too flexible in comparison, perhaps also too stretchy. Motorcycle, lightweight leather, for 'leathers' over suits might be what you need. Although meant for clothing it is much stiffer than clothing cowhide.

25 plus years ago I was involved with a vintage vehicle restoration company. It was just before I took up leather work. We got the vehicle interiors and seats done by a professional vehicle upholstery company. I learnt from that. There are 'bad' leathers for vehicle interiors. Bad = unsuitable. There are good leathers, good = suitable To find out what is good for your vehicle I'd need to know what type of vehicle it is. The leather used on the seats and door cards of my 1930 Austin 7 is not suitable for the seats of my son's Series 7 BMW, nor is the type of leather we used on a 1935 bus' seats suitable for a 1980s Corvette I'd stay away from Tandy's leathers; from what I have inspected of them none are suitable for any vehicle. For some uses I would choose either high quality upholstery leather, or cowhide meant for making motorcycle racing leathers If you live in an area with a lot of sunlight - eg New Mexico, Arizona, California, you'll be lucky to get 5 years out of a good leather. Even with regular feeding it will dry out and the high UV will affect it. My son exports a great number of leather interiors from his company here to very sunny places because of this

I would [& have] only remove any prior glue if its loose and ready to come away. If the two bits of leather separate easily then the glue has soaked in and should not cause any problem. You can, if need be, use a scalpel to cut the joint opening longer for a longer length of fresh adhesive to be applied

I would use a thin glue applicator or diamond point modelling tool to prise open that area and then apply some contact adhesive. Clamp up the area nice and tight, allow some adhesive to squeeze out. As the glue sets it becomes rubbery. At that point I'd cut away the excess with a sharp scalpel.

Not wallets; on small bags, up to about 6" across, which I put a thin leather lining in the liner is just glued at the edge, and/or over any fittings [eg rivets] which come thru the outer leather. On larger bags, or any in which I put a stiffener, all the interior surface is glued If the whole piece is glued well it'll be a long time till it separates