fredk

100 years ago: chemical dyes were available, so was bees' wax and neetsfoot oil 150 years ago: the same 200 years ago: mostly natural dyes, eg reds/orange/yellow from saffron, blacks from walnut shells. Some chemical dyes starting to be made

Heres how I do game boards; 1. Cut leather to top size plus the height of the sides plus approx 10mm extra on each side, eg on a board 30 cm square on 15mm thick board the piece would be at least 350mm square 2. Put board on leather, onto flesh side, mark its size, then gouge a fold line along where sides meet top area 3. Apply contact adhesive to board top, and just a little to flesh side of leather in the top area 4. Place board onto the leather; turn over, I use a brayer* to flatten the leather and firmly attach it to the board, using the brayer in a star line fashion, always working from the centre towards the edges and corners * instead of a brayer, a good rolling pin might do 5. When the centre top has had time to dry I then glue the sides down using the contact adhesive. I do opposite sides first, then the other two. I use one of my antler folders/burnishers to press the leather tight. This leaves 4 sticky-out bits at the corners where the sides meet. When the sides are dry I use a sharp trimming knife to cut off these sticky-out parts; cutting straight down and the knife at about 45 deg to the two sides. This saves having to measure and cut the ends of the sides very carefully before attaching to the board 6. Now, using my sharp trimming knife I go around the board cutting the leather on the sides level to the bottom of the board; like a cook cutting pastry from the edges of a pie 7. I like to use upholstery pins/tacks along the sides of board. They are not necessary to hold the leather but they look nice. I place about 5 or six per side; but the same number on each side eg all sides get 5 or all sides get 6 8. I have a few templates for different sized playing areas and templates for making the squares. I place these on the board top in turn, marking them out. I usually gouge the lines for the squares now. 8a. Sometimes I cut and prepare a separate playing area which is glued onto the main board after #9 9. With the playing area marked and cut I case the whole game board, carefully, so as not to get too much water into the wood board. Once cased I stamp or otherwise make the pattern I want 10. After that work I use a few coats of thinned Resolene as a dye blocker on playing areas I do not want dyed. I dye the playing squares I do want coloured, then use an 'antique' over the whole board, then a beeswax mix as a sealant 11. I add a leather disc at each corner of the reverse side. The discs are punched out of waste leather. Prior to the start, depending on the type of wood base its has been either varnished all over or painted matt black. All corners on the board have been rounded, to ease the leather round them 12. Choice of ood is upto you, but it needs to be well seasoned and stable. I can no longer get such wood, the last full grain board I used warped badly after a while, plywood boards have also warped and even de-laminated, I now use thick MDF board It doesn't need a whole lot of glue; once its stuck down a bit and the edges are done that leather aint goin nowheres. The drying out after casing helps pull the leather tight too I don't usually keep photos of the things I make but here are a couple of a board game I made years ago

Try just applying the bare minimum to stick the parts together. It looks like you're stitching them together anyways so the glue only needs to be a small amount. Too much glue; the excess has has to go somewheres, and as you apply it to the top of the surface the excess goes into the leather and out the other side

Depends exactly on the Arbor. Its the Ram bar. Some need a hole drilled into it; vertical orientation. Some have the hole already. A hole from the side is useful too, for a lock screw/bolt to help hold the tool in the other hole Am I making sense?

Only you can say if you need it It can be adapted to take the Tandy fittings for their 3D letter and figure stamps. For easy-peasy, and quiet, embossing of those letters and designs its useful. It can also be used to set ready-rivets and snaps.

Are they rapid rivets or screw-backs? On ebay; one example, 8mm dia screw-backs; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8mm-12mm-20mm-Dome-Rivet-Screw-DIY-Leathercraft-Punk-Spots-Hat-Shoe-Bag-Decor/142242086124?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=441307270496&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 rapid rivets; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6mm-8mm-10mm-12mm-15mm-Round-Double-Mushroom-Cap-Rapid-Stud-Rivet-Leather-DIY/282401196506?hash=item41c06c49da:m:m-SVdK7eXKjmFdtPrJMRNOA

Lumber/timber yard or a hobby specialist which supplies special woods for pen makers or wooden model ships

Ask for a Back and tell the supplier that you need to cut some 78 inch straps*. A good supplier will try to meet your needs. * go longer than needed cos the ends might not be very good and you'll need to trim them, also asking for longer the supplier might have slightly shorter but still longer than what you actually need. The other sections you mention will not give you 72 inches. Buying individual straps is handy but not cost effective; they work out at about 10 times what you can cut them for

I'd go with bikermutt's suggestion; try to get more bleed through. if that doesn't work you're no worse off Over-all thats a nice bit of stamping etcetera - its worth trying everything to save it

You may not need to keep completed areas as wet as needed for tooling but you need to keep it somewhat wet otherwise you'll have tide marks on your leather ie where an area dried differently to another because it dried sooner I've never had properly stamped or tooled areas rise up again. Yes, you can keep the piece damp that way. If its going to take a few days or more put some mold retarder into the casing water. I use just a few drops of baby bottle steriliser

1a. I've never heard of a Husky Razor Knife; but by the sound of it its too light duty for the job. A heavier knife with a thicker/wider blade is needed. A handy one would be a box-cutter type with 18mm wide snap off blades 1b, run over your tracing with a blunt awl first; even wetting the leather then following the tracing with an inked-out ball-point pen, to mark your cutting line first. Cut slowly and steadily. Cut away from corners, not into them. Cut half-way around a curve, then cut from the other end towards that half-way point, finishing the cut. Do it in small stages, try not to do it all in one big cut 2. you may need to sand the edges to even them up before using a slicker

Reading thru this it reminds me of the sheets of mounting adhesive I used to use to mount photographs to mount boards and canvas and other flat surfaces, whatever would fit in my 20 x 32 inch mounting press. Similar temperatures and procedures. I once mounted some b&w photos onto canvas duck for an artist who then wrapped them around columns and posts in her display venue.

Happy to know you're happy We're a strange lot aren't we? Happy to have a nice, high quality working knife..........

wot he says;

I think you've answered yourself remembering back when I did a stint helping at a charity shop, we threw away a lot of decent looking women's shoes only because the ankle strap was ripping away. I reckon a bit of kevlar between the leathers would be the way to go right enough. I'd glue the two leathers for the straps then sew, but not cut too close to the thread when trimming. How close is too close? maybe less than 2mm is too close

Yes; I have had to do it too. If I'm still sewing and the needles are attached I just reverse stitch back to the error and then stitch forwards again. But if all is done, eg on a repair job I have three tools in my armoury for cutting the sewn threads. Two have been mentioned already; the dress-makers seam ripper [on the left] - mostly for fine threads, a Swann Morton #12 scalpel blade in a SM handle - good for regular leather thread and even lacing up to 2mm thick [centre] and on the right, a dental pick, as it comes the point is sharp but I blunted it so it doesn't dig into the leather - its handy for loosening threads or lacing amongst other jobs

May I throw in; if you need brass pin nails, try buying from a hobby shop which caters to wooden model ship builders. More variety in sizes, in larger quantities and cheaper. Thats where I buy mine from now

Interesting. But without a dedicated Leatherwork section I'll pass. I've joined such before and the leatherwork gets muddled in with jewelry or pottery etcetera as 'arts and crafts' and gets lost and at worst on one was put into 'lifestyle' - I don't do that type of leather

Sorry; I may have mis-led - heat just to get the wax into the surface, burnish when its hard, the heat generated by burnishing will be enough to work any wax on the surface into the leather and to even it out

All the alpahbet stamps I've ever seen are fancy shaped Two ways you can go a/ if you have a lot of stamping to do get brass or delrin stamps made; cheaper than buying a whole alphabet for just two letters b/ for just a few stampings; use a bit of tubing for the O and a straight bar for the arms of the X

Two thinned coats of Resolene followed by a beeswax/carnuba wax mix rubbed well in, both sides, and then buffed to a shine. Sometimes a beeswax /neetsfoot oil mix rubbed in [both sides] before the waxes, if I think the leather needs extra feeding

Brill = short for brilliant = an expression of approval for just about anything, eg; brill idea = a good/clever idea Yeah, we use real money here British Pounds £ ; none of your monopoly play money or Early Learning Centre play Euros

No kitchen making places round my way use real granite or marble. They use very thick chipboard with a plastic surface which looks like granite or marble We export tons of high quality granite and import low quality granite from India when its needed I can't decide on the best Doctor; I watched from Harkness to Davison or Colin Baker. Haven't seen much after that. I liked Pertwee, had an affinity with Tom Baker as I like jelly babies and we had to wear a very long scarf at college - compulsory to wear during winter, it had to be worn a certain way too.

1/12/17 update 1. Granite chopping board. From Home Bargains = £4.99, exactly the same one sold by Argos is £9.99. Size is 40 x 30 x 1.3 cm. It may be thin but I've been stamping on it and it hasn't cracked yet. Certainly good enough for edge skiving if you don't want to chance the stamping on it This was working out ok until I gave it to one of No.1's workmen. I wanted 10 cm cut off one end for use on another table. I told him I needed that but I forgot to say I wanted the remainder too. He's Latvian with a very basic understanding of English language nuances. He cut off and kept the 10 cm bit but broke the other bit up! 10 Another bargain. I'm currently 'remodelling' [ahem....clearing out, tidying, sorting the mess of, or as we say here 'redding it out' ] the room I do leather work in. I went to Homebase to look for another tool box and got this; £40, discounted from £160. It was a stock clearance sale. It pays just to keep yours eyes and ears open. I already have two drawer units [the top bit of this] from Halfords for my tools. Sometimes they discount the tool boxes too. I was in a local Halfords last week and saw a set like this but larger for £120, marked down from £200 for a 'Black Friday' sale 11: More storage boxes. all from Poundland/World A. Clippy box, a nice size. Two variations of lid; this one with handle clips on, another has two captive flaps which interlock for the lid. If getting this one check the end latches actually work, I've checked out some and 7 out of 10 do not latch properly B. Actually a two level sandwich lunch box. C. Costing £2, this box comes free with a filling of chocolate brownies or strawberry cupcakes or other treats. Box shapes and sizes vary 12: For thread or lacing. Have you got a load of lacing which is not on a spool and keeps getting tangled? Three options; the first two on the left are out of Poundland had garden string, the glass cost 69p in Home Bargains, using the straw is optional. Put lace or thread in one of these, draw up through the hole, lace/thread stays clean and helps keep it from tangling

Minimum order from Le Prevo is £10, before vat & postage