fredk

Copyright laws are slightly different in the UK and Europe. There is no such defence as 'fair use'; breach of copyright is breach of copyright - simple. But as Bob says; how much are you willing to spend on lawyers? Rip off a Disney character and they'll have your ass in court as soon as you blink because they can afford it [or rip off a pop star's image eg Rihanna; a court case in Belfast, small shop printed her image on T-shirts, sold a few dozen shirts. She had them in court. sued, and won thousands of $$] When a product goes into patent office before a patent is granted a lawyer and a person from the office searches the records to make sure there hasn't already been a patent issued and that the item is not a 'common use' item eg. you can't patent a potato peeler, but you can patent any improvements to make it work better PS. Note how Tandy do it. They will sell you the plans/patterns to make nice leather goods. They have the copyright in that design usually and they not only encourage you to make that item, but to make more and sell them. What you cannot do is print off that pattern and sell it as your own

yeah, its on the counter over there in the corner, behind the Buckin Bronco

FWIW I'm just redyeing some car leather for a client. It was a well worn very bright yellow and he wanted it just redyed black. I rubbed it all down with cellulose thinners to get as much of the top finish off as possible. I applied about 6 coats of black dye which was thinned 1:1 with methylated spirits. This morning it got a coating of pure neetsfoot oil, which has been buffed in. Tomorrow I'll start applying the Resolene which is also diluted 1:1 but with water. I'll apply as many coats as I see it needs Neat Resolene dries too fast and dries streaky, also drying too fast doesn't allow it to penetrate the leather. Diluting it helps it penetrate and flow better

I am another who is always late to the parties.: Happy Birthday Johanna, may you have a great day and everything goes as you wish it to ......... and the coffee is always fresh

For regular normal cones you can buy these inserts for the bottom of the cone https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-Cone-Adapter-Haberdashery-H165/263804819148?epid=2254360451&hash=item3d6bfe16cc:g:A8gAAOSwn55a8vpH They are re-useable. Although only one is needed per cone I find two works better

I'm contrary to you mike. I always use a sponge for the reasons you advise using a spray bottle. With a sponge I can control how much moisture to put on and just where. Its all in how you use it; a sopping wet sponge is not good, a damp sponge wiped over the working area delivers just the right amount of moisture I use sponges bought in a discount store, 10 for £1 or so. They are about 3 inches by 4 inches by 3/4 inch thick. I use them for applying dye and top finish as well.

a/ in wet or damp environments brass wont corrode, the steel ones will and stain the leather. Wet and damp environments in which leather goods are used are such as fishing equipment, fire fighting equipment, camping equipment b/ currently brass is expensive on the world metals market. It is so expensive that its worth salvagers' time and effort to retrieve brass off sunken ships c/ yes they are. In Europe most of the leather-work hardware sold in local outlets is actually made in China, imported and sold at a great mark-up in price. Save the money, buy direct, if you can wait 7 days to 35 days for delivery

Shaking it might not be enough. I opened a new bottle of black dye last night. I gave it a very vigorous shaking before pouring it into a larger bottle. When I looked into the dye bottle there was a fairly solid layer of dye colourant in the bottom. It took several attempts with my dye thinners to dissolve that sediment - which was of course added to the larger bottle

Not done a wallet but I did a sword grip cover. The owner had a piece of (real) gold covered leather he wanted incorporated. It was a simple rectangle. I used the whip stitch (your B ) and it did the job well. I glued the edge of the outer part onto the edge of the gold piece thus the stitching was to do what you want - to stop the cut-out edge from lifting. I did the stitches at about 2.5 or 3mm apart, about 3mm in and just over the edge because there was about 3 or 4mm of the gold under the cut-out edge. BTW I skived the edges too, and lightly tapped them down with a rubber headed mallet after it was done

That should do the job nicely

If you want the two pieces to move without binding punch out a small washer from a plastic drink carton/bottle which is made of HDPE and put this between the pieces

Tandy never say just where they get their leathers from. By prices here in UK, Tandy are over priced for what they have in large pieces eg Shoulder at Le Prevo, about £7 sq ft, Tandy £9.50 sq ft. The Le Prevo leather is superior quality. Thus I'd say go direct to a tannery, as advised above But Tandy do sell small pieces for small projects and for practicing on. Every branch is different in what it has available

When I used to do history presentations/ re-enactment type stuff I used to use a sewing box; like this style https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/wooden-cantilever-sewing-box/587609-1000 but without the legs. That was handy for the sewing items. When I have to go out now I take stuff in an aluminium covered cantilevered tool box https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lockable-Aluminium-Case-Tool-Box-Storage-Box-Engineer-Technician-Travel-Box-/401539016606 Whatever you choose; choose a good quality box. Your tools are an investment, they deserve to be housed well

Belly leather is good for caps/hats, ladies hand-purses which need a bit of 'in-built' stretch facility, draw-string money bags, ... Although I make hats like this from 'upholstery' leather, they suit being made from belly leather;

You need Veg tanned, at least 3mm thick (just as Chrisash says). It needs to be supple but not soft, and not too hard either. Belly leather is a bit too stretchy for carving. Get along to a Tandy. They have their faults but generally the staff are trained and know what they're about. Buying from a general Hobby shop has its limits; the staff will know nothing about the leather

Evo-stik made 'TimeBond' for a long time, then took it off the market. It has recently just come back onto the market Do as the tin states, do not apply any pressure when positioning, then when in place press together. 'Sliding' does not work, you need to lift off vertically and re-position. Full bond builds up over 24 hours and its as strong as regular contact adhesive

Thats really very nice TSes

a/ I never use resolene before using 'antique' b/ its supposed to be uneven - its supposed to give the leather a 'used' look. For an even coverage use a dye

Even they had sewing machines. As soon as a town was set up, even when the businesses were still in tents and half built wooden buildings, the newspapers had their presses, dentists had their foot-treadle drills, saloons had their ice-making machines. Do not think that just because it was the 1880s/90 they were 'backward'. In fact they were more advanced than parts of Europe. They embraced and used any technology they could

Most assuredly yes. Singer originally made his sewing machines for harness makers. If you look carefully at a number of the holsters you can tell which ones have been sewn on a machine. A great many holsters were made in bulk and sold by mail order direct to customers and to retail outlets. Only by sewing on a machine could a supplier be able to offer them at a cheap price 'by the dozen'. The military holsters from about 1858 onwards were sewn on machines, the first good sewing machine was about 1853

afaik 'skirting' is treated so its much stiffer than regular tooling leather. I have some thick side from Le Prevo and its very supple, a thinner piece I picked up [but did not buy] at Tandy was almost as stiff as a board. I guess that piece at Tandy would be like 'skirting'

I'm wondering if 'Artists Acrylic Medium' mixed with dye would work AAM is available in art shops. It usually comes in tubes or tubs. Available in gloss or matt. Its neutral in colour. Artists mix it with their acrylic paints to thicken them and give them body. It does sometimes take a time to dry. Although it dries 'hard' it stays fairly flexible. I use to thicken my model acrylic paints and as a gluecked Not DIY there is this stuff; a set of acrylic colour pastes. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Seat-Sofas-Vinyl-No-Heat-Liquid-Hole-Rips-Burns-Leather-Repair-Tool-Kit-Hot-/272961840219?hash=item3f8dcb245b I first came across them 25 years ago for repairing cracks in dried out dashes in cars, My Cadillac dash top was badly cracked and this stuff was mixed and pasted on. Back then it cost me about £25. I recently got some from China and the set cost under £3 - delivered. I tried some on a bit of leather. It took over night to dry but its remained flexible

1. Bridle leather is dyed thru and waxed on both sides so its smooth. Its usually about 3.5mm thick. Not necessarily 'soft' but more supple. Not too good for tooling or carving 2. Skirting leather is heavier/thicker at [usually] 4 - 4.5mm minimum, also dyed thru, but finished only on the grain side. Its stiffer than Bridle. Its good for tooling/carving and wet moulding Both are available as such from tanneries, but Skirting is more akin to your regular tooling/carving leather #1 would have been used on holsters which would get rough treatment and not much looking after care #2 would be used on the tooled/carved holsters were the owner would tend to look after it better NB; remember, in the 1880s/1890s a drover earned $13 to $18 a month. A basic cheap Mexican Loop holster cost about $2. Thats about 3 or 4 days wages. He would look after that holster

interesting

You really don't want horizontal [parallel] to the edge of the leather. Under any strain they act like the perforations on the edge of a postage stamp Angled or perpendicular to the edge of the leather is better. You'll find the multi-prong lacing chisels have the prongs at an angle 3mm from the edge. Distance between is commonly the same as the width of the lace. 3mm lace - 3mm spacing, 4mm lace = 4mm spacing --------- but you can do any spacing you want. I once made a copy of a medieval belt pouch; I copied the lacing pattern along the top. It was 3mm [1/8th inch] lace - out the front, across for 4mm, in towards the rear and the next slit was 8mm, out the front, across for 4mm, etcetera