fredk

Check if its an acrylic; if it is, add alcohol - methylated spirits, IPA, vodka. Let it soak over night; shake and stir and see if it starts to dissolve into the alcohol. If it does keep repeating the adding/shaking/stirring over a number of days. If it doesn't show any signs of dissolving its too far gone. IMHO it's cheaper and better to throw it away and buy a fresh bottle

Very happy to hear your project is now saved I guess thats goin to be the slow-draw holster?

The swivel knife blade used for leather cutting widens out so that it leaves more of a wide bevelled cut and its easier to control the depth of the cut. An xacto or scalpel blade produces a fine straight edged cut and its too easy to cut too deep with it. That carving is looking much better. Get a modelling tool which has a ball on the end. Dampen your leather again then write around the edge of your letters etcetera with the ball of the modelling tool; it will help smooth out the lines https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/craftool-pro-modeling-tools

Not web sites - ebay sellers. I've bought from all of these three. Nothing to choose between them. All excellent work and speedy enough. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Leather-Flexible-Interchangeable-Letters-Stamp-Mold-for-Hot-Foil-Stamping-/131844191235?var=&hash=item1eb286b403:m:mo-Hbbdsc4Fqm_J4mnKejRA http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Seal-Stamp-Logo-Leather-Carving-Tool-Foil-Embossing-Stamping-Machine-Mold-/131849677396?var=&hash=item1eb2da6a54:m:m8JF0-uDByLiJGhePKo_gVw http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142322898759?var=441360988489 The second one does some 1cm letter sets. It'd cost at least £139 to have a full set http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Leather-Flexible-Interchangeable-Letters-Stamp-Mold-for-Hot-Foil-Stamping-/131844191235?var=&hash=item1eb286b403:m:mo-Hbbdsc4Fqm_J4mnKejRA

Not letter stamps, but I've had stamps of line-art cut in brass by a few sellers in China/Taiwan/Malaysia Cost from £14 for a 2cm stamp. Cutting is perfect to the line-art, even very fine lines have been reproduced. Takes about 9 -10 days from ordering & paying till the stamp drops through the letterbox. Tried 3 different sellers/cutters, just see if there was difference in quality or speed of delivery - not a sausage betwixt any of them Never a problem. I'll be ordering more soon

Get a couple of cheap thonging/lacing chisels and grind of the 'sharp' edge. A 4 pronger for the straight runs, a 2 or 1 prong for the curves. Or just get an old straight blade screwdriver, grind it down a bit to make it wider if necessary and do the dashes individually

Not 100% on this; I seem to remember we used vinegar on our boots. Try vinegar on a bit of cotton wool, rubbed gently

Know what you mean; I recently bought two books and they're 17 inches across by 11 inches high. I need a new bookcase

It looks very nice Stamping looks nicely done and quite quiet yes, it is a pity about the stitching wandering a wee bit but its a hand made sheath after all

Resolene will make the sharpie ink run and blur. Diluting the Resolene with water will make it even worse. In this case I would simply coat over the writing with bee's wax; rubbing it into the leather with a bit of linen or denim. But I'm not 100% sure that even this will not affect the writing

Egggcellent find; it looks quality made whoever the maker might be

Not exactly the same; https://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/craftool-pro-edge-dye-roller-pen But I got one from china for about 1/7 the regular Tandy price http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIY-Leather-Craft-Top-Edge-Dye-Oil-pen-Applicator-Belt-Strap-Finisher-Tools-New-/132163089188?var=&hash=item1ec588b324

Where are you based? Leprevo in England have two types; http://www.leprevo.co.uk/leathergoods.htm Look at the bottom section - Folio lock and Tucktite [it says not lockable but I bought a couple and they are lockable] or here; http://www.gdltradingnz.co.nz/shop/Example+Category+2/Locks/Folio+Lock++KA0131A+and+KA0130A.html and http://www.saddler.co.uk/shop.html?cr=2471&cdesc=tucktite_clasps_for_bags_and_cases

I take your point My sewing machines only have two wires coming from the foot pedal to the motor. The drill unit has two wires from the trigger to the motor. My father did a sort of reverse to this; he wired up an old s/m foot pedal to his vertical drill stand switch unit, so he could control it whilst using both hands on the work

I made for myself an end grain block. I use it when I'm punching holes. The punch can go into the end grain, it doesn't take any bits out of it and the edge of the punch is not harmed I use a block of granite - household heat proof counter top protectors - when I'm stamping by hand & hammer For general cutting I use a bit of cheap hardboard as my cutting board; when its all covered in cutting scars its goes into wood recycling. A new piece only costs a couple of $$ at most. When I started I had a very expensive very large self-healing cutting mat. It didn't really self-heal and I thought it was a waste of money.

Can't say about a sewing machine, others will know Should be no problem sewing by hand. Prepunch the leather, attach the webbing with double-sided tape or contact glue - just to hold in place, use a 1mm thread and an appropiate sized sharp glovers needle. If you are sewing near the edge of the webbing - eg say the end of a strap, I'd double over the end [or edge] so you are sewing thu two thicknesses

you could cut it in the same way one would cut a long thong; start from a circular hole in the hide, using a strap cutter of your choice cut it out by enlarging that hole from the inside. Once cut out, soak it in water and stretch it straight by attaching the ends to something solid. It should dry pretty straight. added; if you start with leather thicker than you really want, you can then take it through a skiver to bring it down to a uniform thickness

I've actually seen that switch in action. I used to help out at a Special Learning School and it was used in the craft room by certain pupils. Not only used with a sewing machine but with a vertical drill stand and other power tools as well.

Would the trigger mechanism from a [cheap] mains powered multi-speed electric drill [ or even a sabre saw] work? It has a speed reducer built into the circuit, a finger trigger and a push button [usually] to lock the power tool on. I'm thinking; just saw the handle grip off the drill unit. You have the mains power lead already wired in, from the trigger unit run the power leads, which would normally go to the motor unit, to the sewing machine motor. Cap the top cut off part of the drill handle with a bit of plastic or even a bit of leather. The trigger can be made into a multi-finger one by attaching a large piece of plastic or aluminium to it. With a wider or longer attachment to the trigger the handle unit could be mounted somewhere close to the s/m so it can be operated by an elbow or a fore-arm New cheap drills can be bought for as low as $15, even cheaper at car boot sales, a couple of ££, it doesn't matter if the drill actually runs, as long as the trigger parts are intact.

Interesting design concept. Personally I'd go for a spiral wrap. Edges flush to each other. Skive and overlap the end joins; hide underneath and it'll look continious. Plus, maybe, doing different shades every so often - to make a feature of the colours of the leather.

oddly enuf, I came across this just last night; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Vergez-Blanchard-LIndispensable-Flat-Leather-Cutting-Tool-Cutter/231956741566?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D43782%26meid%3Da062a1b25a534160b112c287ea2b73ac%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D162429787557

Interesting design One thing I'd do is to end the cut line of the front panel with a cricular hole, to reduce strain on that part

Also I learnt that a cobweb was made by a male spider. The male spider being a cob, the female is a hen. Ancients* thought only the hens could spin the perfect web and that the males could not, thus the messy type of web, typically used in the old horror movies is a cob-web * Ancients as in the ancient Greeks who believed that the shepherd's daughter Arachne was turned into a spider to spend her days never-ending spinning near perfect webs

Not shure about that. I learnt it was because it was shaped like a bird's head. Now the half-moon shape doesn't look much like a bird's head, but if you look at the original leatherworkers' knives of the Roman to Medieval period they do look like a bird's head. On these the cutting blade is just over a quarter circle and on the opposite side is an awl tang; this makes them look like they have a beak and a comb.

Well, thats a nice little quickly made piece