fredk

I can't answer your question but I have one to you - have you left yourself enough room for the stitching up the edge? It looks like it will be rather tight and close to the edge

Thank you..........but yours are just as good

Another way is to make the grove with a creaser and make the black line with a gel-ink pen

Blunt blade I think. Even if it feels sharp, give it a kiss with a stone or strop every little while. Its surprising how quickly leather can take the keenness off a blade

Get some books, maybe from the library; books like Valerie Micheal's, look at the intro and see what tools they recommend to have. From this list remove the fancy tools, some of the tools you may have in a household tool kit I make bags, belts, hats, games, clothes and more; I have three large tool boxes filled with tools, but they've taken me over 20 years to accumulate. Build your tool kit slowly and with care and you'll only need to buy once

IF I may jump in: a cobbler which was in a small town near me [sadly closed down these many years] used several clamp-to-table clams. He used a low bench and clamped the clam to it, so it was at seated working height. The object of using them was he clamped the item he was working on in a clam and he could quickly change what he was working on without disturbing it in the clam. The cobbler told me that these clams had been in use since at least the 1930s, he'd inherited them from his fore-fathers. Proving nothing in this Leather-working is new, just slightly different

That is excellent

or, buy a cheap non-working/non-motorised sewing machine. I picked up a non-motorised Singer clone sewing machine in a thrift store [called a charity shop here] for £5 [about $7] It does from 6 spi upwards. With no motor to strain it'll punch thru quite thick leather, and of course all holes are equally spaced. It'll feed the leather as fast as I want to turn the handwheel No-one wants these old heavy simple sewing machines here. The charity shop was glad to see that one go. I picked up a rough Singer 15 class for £1 at a carboot sale. That one is motorised but it needs serviced PS: I've only tested my sewing machine out; its not been used in anger yet as I'm remodeling my workshop place PPS: I see dikman has mentioned this too

There are some holster makers on here who have used this technique. Have a read thru these; http://leatherworker.net/forum/search/

Sharpies and similar are grand for colouring edges, but not good on the surface. The ink spreads, unless you contain it by cuts. Once into the leather it continues to bleed out. I'd recommend using acrylic paints

I spotted this seller on ebay.uk. Has a large number of different designs listed. He's in Germany. Might send to Oz https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cowhide-leather-White-Newspaper-Design-2-4-mm-Thick-A3-Genuine-Buffalo-369/302653112849?hash=item4677880211:g:yeQAAOSwxKtX~0b- Also; just spotted on Le Prevo website they do metallic; [go about 2/3 down page] http://www.leprevo.co.uk/hides.htm

Wot bikermutt says; but ask the seller for either more pictures or some ideas of the sizes of some pieces. Tandy was selling parts of bellies last November. They were real cheap. Then I saw them - I've thrown better and bigger more useful pieces in the 'free' box

I send the Chinese stamp makers the image as a jpeg. For a photo-etched plate of stamps from Le Prevo I sent them a sheet of photo paper printed with the designs printed on to it in high quality. I find for best quality making the print out on photo paper is the best

Since posting the above I reckoned I should explain Le Prevo's embossing stamps a bit more. Base price is £50.80 for up to 20 sq inches. To that price add delivery of approx £10 plus VAT [Europe] or your local import tax; it adds up to £73 in my case. I kept a number of designs inside the 4 x 5 inch size but the photo-etcher chap said it was bigger by a couple of millimeters on each side, so he added in 2.5 square inches, which cost me an extra £8 or so. I ended up paying £87 for my plate. As I said, the lines have a beveled side. They make decent impressions but they cannot hold antique stain; it wipes right out. I reckon an embossing stamp needs a sharp straight side. The brass ones are cut using machine tools, have good straight sides on the lines and surprisingly they can do very fine lines, finer than the photo-etch of the Le Prevo product

I have had stamps made by Le Prevo; the main down side is the price. You get a minimum of 20 square inches [4x5, go a mil over this and you are into another sq inch!!] of design area to cover for a cost of about £80. Thus if you just want a couple of small stamps they are still £80. Another down side is the stamps/embossing patterns are photo-etched into magnesium metal; this means that every line is angled outwards towards the base. The deeper you make the impression in your leather the wider the lines become. I find the impressions are not as sharp as they could be, or as I like them to be The brass stamps made by certain Chinese sellers can be better value. Several of the Chinese brass stamp makers I've used have disappeared, one has been on extended holiday since February 12th - that must have been some CNY party! But another player is on the block, their prices are very slightly more than the previous makers. I'll be ordering my next stamp from them https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Made-Design-Your-Logo-Leather-Seal-Wood-Stamp-Branding-Iron-Carving-Mold/382286790022?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=651096957963&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Hi, you'll find plenty of info on here and plenty of folk willing to help and advise We go by millimeters for leather in the UK. Tandy has this info page which converts oz to mm; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/leather-craft-abcs.html Start getting the Al Stohlman books. They can't be bettered. He has one just on hand stitching; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/the-art-of-hand-sewing-leather-book They might seem expensive but they are worth it Be careful buying leather off ebay; many times you'll buy a small peice for 10x what its worth and for the same price you can buy a better bigger piece from one of the leather tanneries or retailers. Tandy is handy, but the likes of Le Prevo are more experienced and will give better advice

Don't use hot water; at the most only luke warm and apply with a sponge

I think its very attractive nicely made bag

Start with a guide line; use a pair of compass dividers or an adjustable creaser or even an adjustable stitching groover. Work slowly. Do the guide line before you bevel the edges. Use a thick straight edge to guide your knife in the prepared groove line, do a section at a time, eg 30-35cm, then the next but over lap the guide by about 6 or 7 cms each time

There are just soooo many designs for this sort of bag. But you have two starting points; a shoulder strap and outside pocket. I'd base it on a tote; but with a flap to go over the top to close it. Multiple pockets round the outside, some with closing flaps and some without; use velcro for keeping the flaps closed. Use upholstery or clothing weight leather

Your stitching is showing at the seam. I think its pulling the soft leather. Try sewing it with a thin welt Aye; those shoe lasts are so common here; antique stores sell them for £1, many homes have three or four, or even more, and they are commonly used for door stops. I have two of them and have turned away dozens offered for free. They are useful for other things than shoe cobbling in leather work

- love the eatin tools!

How to remove rust/corrosion from hard to clean parts metal parts Soak in a citric acid or in vinegar. The vinegar works faster if salt is added, it also works a bit more vigorously when its hot Last November whilst at RAF Cosford's Conservation Hangar a conservator showed me an engine he was recovering. It had spent 72 years in sea water and sand. One of he crank shafts he shewed us [there were two] and its connecting rods and pistons were just a mass of corrosion. Here we have multiple metals; steel crank, aluminium connecting rod, aluminium magnesium piston and white metal bearings. Then he showed us a treated assembly; it had spent six months in an airtight container soaking citric acid - it looked like it had just come out of an old working engine , not totally pristine but almost all the corrosion was gone - even the piston rings were movable it their grooves. Since then I've been using this technique to clean mild surface rust off old neglected tools. Usually a few days or a week's soaking is enough. I've also used it to clean brass electric components on a certain job order and,......btw CokeCola no longer works for cleaning anything

I had the fortune to meet Fred D and have breakfast & tea with him. All cooked on a coal shovel and eaten off it too

A teacher of mine did somat like that. He was a chemistry teacher and he kept a row of t/tube on his desk. Each had a chemical sort of label on it. Each actually contained whiskey, brandy, rum etcetera. He knocked them back one after the other during the day