fredk

Either; dye or paint first, but oil last. If you dye first you'll have more vibrant paint colours, if you paint first you'll need to put a resist on the paint work but the dye might still tone down the colours a bit

I reckon your best option is to feed them with neetsfoot oil. Let a bit, not too much, soak in and work the hides; rolling and unrolling in different directions

Can be used to start cars with carburettors too. As a waterproofer on leather motorcycle boots, especially good on the soles But seriously ; WD40 will remove label gum residue off almost anything. It will also take off chewing gum

Carson has said it. There are so many variations in the shape of scissors its best to draw around the actual pair the sheath is for

Cellulose thinners [aka lacquer thinners] will remove the ink. Soak a rag with the cellulose thinners and rub over the ink line. Turn the rag to a fresh clean bit every so often other wise you just smear the ink wider. Once the ink is removed, wipe the rest of the area around with cellulose thinners as well otherwise you'll get a tide mark. After this you'll need to feed the leather as the thinners take out oils too An alternative is to gouge out the ink line

do you have WD40 over there? If so; soak a bit of rag with it and apply gently to the gummy bit; try not to saturate the suede, just the sticky. Working carefully the WD40 will dissolve it and remove it. Alternatives to WD40 do not work

The neetsfoot oil / bees wax mix I use has some carnauba wax in it. The bees wax seals in the oil, the carnauba wax makes the beeswax harder giving it a harder surface - still very flexible tho. I've never yet had any oil or wax come off on clothes

I thought the English £50 was discontinued a few years ago. We was told not to accept any cos only forgeries were in circulation. Well, there ya go. But you don't have any £1 notes; theoretically we still do, but don't, only IoM still has afair

The English don't have a £50, but both the Scots and Northern Irish do have them and whilst not common in N.I. they're not rare either Just a wee titbit of strange info

Not something I need to do very often but a couple of clean socks filled with sand and sealed up, placed either side and into your stitching clamp should hold the tube in place. Or a couple of lengths of timber with a large V groove cut into the length of each. Use one either side of the tube in your stitching clamp

I'm assuming your pouch will be a row of pockets for the tools to slide into. I would use the Chicago screws at the open end join only. Stitching from the hole, with part of the first [or last] stitch just under the head of the screw. A dab of varnish or CA on the screw thread will lock it together for just about forever. An aesthetic point; make sure the slot in the screws are all aligned the same way

The work and technique look grand Just a wee bit of criticism; a pictorial balance thing. The tooling of the deer is spot-on, but for pictorial balance it should be leaping into a space. On this its trying to leap off the pad but hitting a 'fence' - the border edge pattern. In pictorial balance things/people/animals should be moving or looking into a space. On the balance of space in front or behind the subject can give an impression of speed, eg little behind/more in front = fast, same behind/in front = slow or stationary

Not too long ago I was walking in the Highlands. I heard a farmer shouting. I think he was a Rolling Stones fan but he couldn't get the lyrics of a song quite right. He was shouting; "Hey, M' Cloud, get off my you"

An old saying; "A wife, a dog, a walnut tree the more you whip them the better they be" Never worked on my walnut trees

That looks just fine and dandy so it does. It only appears big to you as you're not use to the size. Your finished size matches the one I use every day. I was looking at wallets on a Christmas trade stand a month ago and thought they all looked small. I tried a £10 note in one and the note was too big; it would seem those wallets were cheap imports but meant for either Europe or the US I can't say bout England but in N.I. most men I know [including me] carries in the back pocket of trousers. Only posh gents carry the non-folded type of wallet* in the inside pocket of a jacket. We don't have a pick-pocket problem here; very rare to hear of one * [ aka 'Banker's wallet' ] I really must make me a new one. The one I'm using was bought about 30 years ago, its still holding together well, but its rather mis-shapen now. Good leather items last well. Last year I priced a few leather wallets, just to find out what prices are like. True leather ones, similar to yours, are about £40 in N.I. and hard to find; most available are faux leather

LePrevo in England has them http://www.leprevo.co.uk/buckles-steel.htm code 070 type

Sorry, no I don't have any patterns Could you not trace around one you have, scan into a computer and print out at a larger size, or enlarge by way of a photocopier? Those are the methods I use to resize patterns

see my answer elsewhere

My wallet is 102mm [slightly over 4 inches] deep by approx 235mm long [about 9.25 inches] on the outside. All UK notes fit in ok. It could actually be better if it was a bit deeper for the £50; say 4.25 to 4.5 inches. On the notes; £5 is smaller than £10 which is smaller that £20 which is smaller than £50 which is the same size as £100. Euro notes are closer to US notes sizes. Euros are not used in the UK but your client may put them in the wallet when on holiday in Europe

After I dye a belt, both sides get a few coats of water-thinned resolene and then some neetsfoot oil/beeswax mix rubbed in. The back side gets more soft beeswax rubbed in and buffed up, more than the front gets. This really slicks the flesh side smooth and waterproofs it

I use a regular edger, on both flesh and grain side edges then the edge becomes rounded when I work it with my slicker

Very nice indeedy

You could try an industrial work place; they use spring steel banding around packing cases etcetera. I used to get if from that sort of place when I made wooden toys. However that steel is very hard to cut and drill. An alternative is brass strip from K & S Metal out of Chicago. A lot of hobby shops carry racks of their brass and aluminium in strip, sheet, rods, tubes. It can also be bought directly http://www.ksmetals.com/ I always have a selection of their brass strips and sheets on hand. Its useful for supporting or backing some fittings

Nicely done I have to agree tho; that bull-dog clip just doesn't suit it at all. The rivets are much nicer The 'interim' one is nice too

As JMcC says; buff after the dye has dried. Use a pale coloured cloth and buff, buff, buff. When you think you've done buffing, buff some more. Keep turning the cloth to a clean part so you can see when its not taking any more dye off. Depending on your work and home area let the item dry for at least a few hours or overnight. If it feels cold to the touch its still drying; when its room temperature its dry. Now you can put on that thinned resolene. Patience is needed in finishing an item to top quality standard