fredk

I don't know about your area but where I am there are very tight regulations on 'mixes' which I used to sell. I used to be a beekeeper and used to make beeswax polish and leather food/conditioner which I sold. Then tight regulations came in. I can only sell it now if it meets the regs - which it does - and I have $X million in product liability insurance and its been government tested. So now I don't sell my mixes. What I do now, for any polish, is buy a few bottles of good stuff at the cheapest supermarket price I can get and sell it on with a small mark-up in the price. Its more of a service to customers than a profit generator. Wholesellers don't want to sell one case of 24 bottles to me once every year, or less.

Did ya's hear the one about the sewing machine wot wanted to be on X-Factor / America's Got Talent ? Cos it was a Singer ok, I'll get my coat

Believe me, you will know the difference between cared for leather and not-so-well cared for. Cared for leather will always be supple, easy to hold, feel good in the hands, look almost like it was made last week Not-so careful looked after will show signs of drying out, cracks along the edges and in bends & folds. It will look old and feel old even tho it was made recently A chap I know has saddles made 200 years ago. They are looked after; they look like they were made just recently. Not too long ago I was passed a saddle to see if I could 'restore' it. Not carefully looked after but not neglected either. It looked terrible. Turns out it was made less than 25 years ago. When I have to advise someone how to look after anything I've made I just tell them to give it a good going over with any of the top commercial leather care products. How often depends on usage; items used by sports persons to be done before and after everytime they've used it. Re-enactment people; before the season starts, a couple of times during and at the end before packing it away.

Very nice

I've not had this problem of bleed afterwards. On black I use thinned black Resolene mostly. Resolene is available in 'clear' and black. By using the black version I'm not only sealing the dye previously applied but also adding to it An alternative for you would be to buy factory dyed leather and cut the strapping from it. Sounds like your present suppliers aren't very good at the dying

1mm waxed cotton thread is ok I wouldn't go to any finer than 8 stitches per inch with it though. I think 6 spi is about the best

Last first; reply to number 7; for the last 10 years or more I can reckon on supplies coming from Hong Kong/China taking no longer than an average of 10 days. Eastern Europe takes about 3 to 4 days, but from the US, even by special delivery courier; at least 12 to 14 days [mainly due to customs] some have taken 3 months [due to the courier co sitting on it] or more on average. There is now a direct train from China to the UK. On rare occasions stuff from HK/C has not turned up, but there again its been the same for orders from US, Europe, Africa.... To me its more of a lottery of a/ when or if my order from the US will arrive b/ what amount of duty will I have to pay to get into my hands c/ how long will C&E hold it or even return it to the US #5. Bank tells me 'wire' is old fashioned and un-safe. BACS is the modern way but US banks mostly don't accept that, only European and Far East banks do. [are we using different names for the same process, where the bank differentiates?] #1. tongue in cheek, ok, but my country is not a 'colony' of any country; used to have lots of colonies tho, like 13 of them in that thar New World place Lastly, bread cheap enough but not the organic food; about 100 to 300% dearer than regular grub As I said earlier; If I lived in the US I'd buy local, but I don't so I don't

Thats nice. Pity it'll be mostly under somebody's bottom end

I store some leather in the cardboard tubes which carpet is wound round. They are usually about 12 to 15 feet long. I got some free from a carpet shop and cut them down to 4 foot lengths

Does it really weaken the leather so much that it matters? Perhaps in some items it does matter, but in a shoulder bag or belt pouch? When I was involved in medieval re-enactment I had a regular flow of items to repair. Mostly it was where the thread had worn away and broken and the two parts had separated as the stitching had become un-done. In all these cases the original maker did not use a groove. In the repair I grooved before re-sewing. I never had one of my repairs come back to me.

yup; we shure are

Happy to help and further learning

A few points 1. No 'congress' in my country; HMRC set the import tax rate. 2. A recent order for $25 from the US cost me $24 in taxes = $49 3. The $23 stamps from Hong Kong cost just that - no delivery or taxes added 4. As a private user I cannot set up either a Fedex [who do not deliver in my country anyways] or UPS contract in my country - their rules 5. My bank does not do 'wire' transfers 6. I have to jump thru hoops to use my CC in direct sales in the US, but not in Europe or via paypal - hoops include posting to the seller a signed written order before the CC will recognise and accept it - that takes 5 to 7 days. 7. The order mentioned in #2 came into my country 2 days after ordering it, it then sat for 14 days whilst it cleared customs; meanwhile the order from Hong Kong dropped thru my door's letter box.

I scanned thru that article; published on May 9th 2017, but copied from another article from when it was actually found, or slightly afterwards - June 2010; 7 years ago. As would be normal with such items the Archies will have written up the find; ie, the context of the find, the materials of it, measurements and its construction with line drawings of it, major points of interest and cross-sections The University College of Cork [in Ireland] was primarily involved so if anyone is really interested they could ask the Uni for a copy of the Archies report on it. The report might be free or there maybe a small monetary charge for it The shoe looks to me like a turn-shoe; only sewn along the seam where the two folded up sides meet on the top of the foot. No seperate sole sewn on, thus no welt. Basically, wet moulding would fit it to the foot then

Hand stitching is possible; pre-punch stitching holes on the edge of the piece which is on the outside - contact glue this overlapped part to the other [to hold in place] - use an awl to pierce the inner part, going thru the pre-punched stitching holes, sew it up. If the base is really hard to get into use a curved needle, from the outside. I've sewn up repair patches on the sides of repro-medieval shoes doing it that way IMHO the latch looks too big and heavy for the smaller bag. The Sam Browne fitting is a good idea, or a very light weight strap & buckle Seach out chinese and malaysian sellers of leather goods on Ebay; you can find them selling ready-rivets in all sorts of sizes, styles and colours and they are usually very cheap

Scroll down about 3/4 on this page and you'll see another; http://www.paintstoreonline.com/museum.html

Some arbor presses have a hole in the press bar. This just happens to match the adapters that Tandy has for its own press. On the other side the Tandy 3D letters fit to the adapter https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/press-dies-for-hand-press https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/category/alphabet-number-leather-stamp-se

Not ebay, an 'antique' shop in Ironbridge. I picked up some leather working tools for about £1 average each as they were wrongly classified with woodworking tools

Really Mike? [not doubting you, just an expression of surprise] I've seen some 'sharp' comments but I think I've missed seeing any outright nasty postings on here

Its a vintage wallpaper cutter. My father had a a dozen or more similar to this from the time he was a decorator in the late 1940s/early 1950s

you can get nails which are bigger than 1/4" diameter

If I lived in the US I'd buy US, but I'm not there so I buy where I can get things from. By the way I have bought supplies from the US too - cos suppliers there had what I wanted, A couple of points which stop me from buying more; 1: import taxes in my country 2: the sellers, either will not sell to over-seas or simply do not answer inquiries

As I have found out through vintage cars there are three catagories of old machinery buyers 1. Collectors; they want the machine in the exact colour and shade it came out of the factory in 2. Users; don't care too much about the colour as long as it works well 3. Collector users; want it to work well and preferably be in a factory colour, exact shade not too important and they'll accept a non-factory colour if its nice

The main ingredient is patience grasshopper Apply the thinned dye in stages to build up the colour. When its dry; buff with clean cloths to remove any excess on the surface. When you think you've buffed enough, buff some more, and some more Then apply a sealant. I'm happy with Resolene. Apply thinned coats in stages. Allow 12 to 24 hours for each coating to dry. Apply maybe four thinned coats, more if you want the leather shiny. Allow to completely dry for at least a week. Then wear it over a white linen tunic to make sure you haven't missed anywheres.