fredk

bikermutt has it; but I fold the card first, then cut the the 1/2 shield shape. When the card is flattened the two curves are the same. I just cut them out with shears as & when I need them

An idea/thought on peening rivets; long forgotten, just remembered. Last used a long time ago when I worked more with wood. Place a disc of thick card board around the rivet head, allow the head and washer room. Use thick compressed card, like the stuff on card envelopes, the ones that say 'do not bend'. When you start tapping with the hammer and you miss, you ding the card and not your wood or leather surface

The 'shadow' or 'ghost' is caused by the tool bouncing. Its all in how you hold the tool. Grip it fairly tight and hold it tight against the leather, pushing it down slightly. A loose grip or not holding it really tight against the leather allows it to bounce, and your reaction is to then increase your grip and push it against the leather, making the ghost

Get pure nfo, not nfo compound

NFO has only a very slight smell. You'd need to put your nose right up onto the leather and sniff in heavily for a few moments to get its smell. If it smells any stronger than this the NFO is 'off' and shouldn't be used

I cannot say just what you should charge. What I'll say is how I used to charge in my other businesses for bespoke or special items. I'd look and see what others are charging - but maybe not actually getting - I'd reckon mine was 2000% better and I'd charge anything from 2 times to 10 times the average asking price. Often I'd get that price, sometimes not. Often I'd get told 'so & so is only charging so much' so I'd tell them to go buy from 'so & so'. Only one in 100 customers were that way. Another group of customers I did business with always wanted a discount. For them I'd hike the price up then we would haggle till they got a price they were happy with and their discount, but still way high from my view In other words; do not undervalue your time, your creativity, your skill. Ask for as much as you possibly can, then if absolutely necessary give a reluctant discount Do not, never ever, cut corners on your work. It'll show. Be happy in the methods and styles you do. If you are happy/content with the way you make things, on how you finish it, your heart will be in it and it will show in the finished item An old joke; a man's car was running badly. He took it to a garage. Mechanic lifted the hood, reached in with a tiny screwdriver and turned something. The mechanic tells the man 'that'll be $100' 'What' says the man 'a hundred bucks and all you did was twiddle a screwdriver, and that only took 2 minutes!!' The mechanic tells him 'twiddling with the screwdriver costs $1, the other $99 is for me knowing what to twiddle' Skill costs money; the worker is worth his pay PS; #1 son has been having a go at me lately cos he thinks I'm charging way to low for my leather items. He reckons my prices need to go up by x5 at least

That looks like a water stain in the polished finish. You can get that if you put a hot cup of tea/coffee directly onto the surface. Sometimes it will cure itself over time. Sometimes putting a damp cloth towel over it and ironing with a mildly warm iron will draw it out and return it to normal In this instance I'd let it sit and air for a few days, allowing some warm air to blow over it; warm air, not hot

that one gets em every time

I'm still me on most other forums except one where my name was taken so I'm Black Knight on that one Chose Black Knight cos I'm not. In my history group all the men wanted to dress up as knights, especially in black, but not me. I always went as the craftsman, doing leather work, or making arrows, or cooking. I got my photo taken by the public more than the others and I got into the local/national papers more often

No, but its why an aeroplane can take off from a ship; take a WW2 type, nominal take off speed was around 70 to 80 knts air speed. An aircraft carrier steams into wind at 20 knts, wind speed is 15 knts = 35 knts along the deck, WW2 fighter just needs to accelerate to ship deck speed of 45 knts to get to take off speed of 80 knts a/s

yes , although the air speed is the same, the ground speed is different; going A-B the ground speed is 90 knts, going from B-A the ground speed is 110 knts. T'was one of the first basic questions at navigators classes in RAF. Then it got more and more complicated; air pressure at various heights, different cross winds, fuel consumption of a Buccaneer S2B in lbs per minute. Got through it all. Answer to Viking puzzle later...............maybe

With respect Oldnslow; I don't think thats the reasons. I reckon its because there are mighty few on here who have made a case, or do so at any time. Look how old the threads are Northmount found. Most of us make belts, bags, sheaths, holsters, saddles etcetera, but I don't read many talking about their cases. Its kinda more specialised

I reckon its either LumpenDoodle2 or Sheilajeanne turn to be 'it'

it takes a few days for others to come on and see it. I'm not playing cos I read that list on a certain website, Might be a give-away but I reckon they should have included Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum and Mrs Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel I'll give the answer to my Viking puzzle soon,........... maybe later.......maybe not

Part of that is false; the inside pockets do not need to be sewn flesh to flesh with the outside pieces; they just need to be sewn directly to the outer panels so that the two become one. The sewing of the inner pockets to the outside panels can be at the same time as the gusset is sewn to it, if its to be about the same size

If you sew the inside panel directly to the front and/or rear panels, they need to be flesh-flesh. When you go to turn it inside-out the double panel will turn as one, the outside of the outside panel will still be outside. I'd keep the tops of the extra inside panels weel short of the tops of the outside ones. especially the rear one, makes for easier access to the pocket

Give that man the ceegar! Your turn, you're 'it'

Trivia*; In the UK the 'Best before' date on packets of crisps** is always a Saturday*** ** crisps = potato chips in US *** I wonder if its the same in US/Oz/Canuk * Trivia. from Roman Latin, Tri Via, three-roads, or a cross roads, where people use to meet on market days to get the local gossip

I'll have to try it as well.

Here's a teaser, especially for Mjolnir. This is a genuine Viking puzzle, its been dated to as early as the 7th century [ thats the 600s, about 1400 years ago.] This one is one of my favourites There is a special form the Vikings [Norse/Danes] wrote/spoke their puzzles. Give me a name, name me The less I am the more men fear me Name me, give me a name

one word, the same word, 6 letters; means 'to join' and also means 'to separate' the word is ?

afair the Native Americans leave a knot undone so that the blanket does not keep evil in it, the evil has an escape route. Maybe thats a myth too.

Try gel-ink pens for the fine work

A. Nylon thread is basically a plastic. It won't absorb dye. Its made in different colours. It can be surface coloured but that will rub off with any use b. A shallow groove is cut or impressed into the leather as a track for the thread to sit down into. It saves it from most wear & tear c. Two pieces of leather have been stuck together and the sewing has helped join them. A different coloured thread on one side just means they used a different colour thread in the bobbin of the sewing machine d. the only option to re-colour the thread is to un-pick that already done and re-sew, by machine or hand. In this case by hand as the holes are already there, sewing again by machine will mean extra holes and the thread not lining up with the holes present. Unlike cloth, once there is a hole in leather, its there forever

Grand, its just that in the photos it looks like the stitching would be terribly close to the edge. Wouldn't like to see all that nice stamping go to waste cos you couldn't sew it