fredk

When I was a small boy going to Primary school (Grade school?) one of my mother's annual rituals was to take me to a shoe shop a week or so before the school start after the summer break to buy me a new pair of shoes and a new school satchel, aka a school bag. Even though the last year's school bag was still good a new one had to be bought. ( see below, first image) Every child in Belfast had one of these school bags. Made of good stout leather and always brown. Since those times I've come to believe the bags were made by disabled WW2 veterans in some sort of work programme Thats not me, just a photo off the internety Last year I was passing a top women's fashion shop in Belfast and spotted what looked like a school satchel for sale. So I wandered in and had a look. I soon retreated when I saw the prices - £360( $475 USD / $665 CD) and some were reduced to 'only' £250 ( $330 USD / $460 CD). They were almost exactly the same as my old school bag, but available in a range of fashionable colours, eg bright blue, yellow, bright red, grass green and so on This is a picture from the shop's website. Except for the fancy strap on this one can you tell the difference. And below it is a genuine school satchel being sold on ebay for £65

Halloween; I prepared a large orange bucket with plenty of sweets (treats). I also included a few baby potatoes, as a sort-of 'booby' prize The childer came to my door. I got the bucket and told them to dive in and take lots. One we lassie got a spud. She laughed as she exclaimed 'I got a potato'. Then all the others cried they wanted one too. I tried to tell them it was a trick but they weren't listening They all crowded round the bucket and would you believe it the buggers err, the wee darlings all got a spud each! and were really happy There goes my Sunday dinner spuds

Wrap each bottle in bubble wrap. Make sure its very warm when you do tho. Bubble wrap is a fine insulator; it'll keep things cold or warm, but it depends on the temperature when the item is wrapped. I use medium sized bubbles, not the small ones nor any of the larger. This will help keep the bottles warm for a while but you may have to go out to warm them and re-wrap them

That is a reasonable price

I think that like many good tools it can be used for many applications other than the primary one

I think thats one I've sent to the posters

They are 'ruined' now to you. I'd suggest using clean water and giving the affected areas a real wetting and then letting it slowly dry out - days not hours That always worked on items that I had water-spots on

Right-o Frank I'll send them in PMs. One per cos their memory can be large

The piece of leather I treated with acetone was a piece of veg tan that I had dyed. I wet a clean rag with the acetone and wiped it over the leather a couple of times. It didn't take any dye out nor change the colour I would suggest you first try it out on a piece cut from each of the hides you have. If it works then use it to clean each piece after its cut and shaped and just before you glue it The other cleaner I use is cellulose thinners, aka lacquer thinners. It is a much more aggressive cleaner and will take dye out. Thats when I use it. I have things made 25 years ago of the leather that got a real wetting with the cellulose and they are still good. No change in the temper or colour of the leather

I tried going to that link to check out the leather but the Tandy website keeps redirecting me to the UK site which doesn't have that leather Any hoo, it sounds like the leather might have oil on it or in it. It might be intentional or accidental I had a piece of leather that wouldn't take contact glue and stick. Other pieces cut from the same hide were fine with the glue What I did was give the piece a good cleaning with acetone. That seemed to cure the problem. I don't think Feibings Dye Prep or anything similar would have been aggressive enuf for the job

Yup. shure can

Thank you But don't be thinking #1 son is a wee child - he was 36 when I gave him this set for a Christmas prezzie

Personally I'd use a hole punch. Mainly cos have one that size. I'd also use one with can be used in a press, and I have one of those too. I think a good sharp punch can give a good clean cut

When tin and antimony is added to lead to make pewter it lowers the melting point temperature. For this mix I use a special heat proof silicone rubber to make the mould. The heat proof rubber is meant to be used with pewter casting Plaster is usually mainly used for a single one-off casting as the heat of the metal cracks the mould and it breaks apart when removing the casting This is a medieval style belt end I sand cast, then hand painted;

I do some casting. I use 'model metal' which is a tin alloy and also pewter, which is a lead and tin alloy. For multiple castings I use a heat-proof silicon rubber mould and for one-offs. or two, I did the casting in oil sand For making conchos I'd use the rubber mould. Its good for about 100 to 150 castings. Less if you allow the metal to get too hot.

I already use LED lights by my spraying set up. I cover them in cling film and when that gets a bit grotty I take it off and put on fresh

Translation

I used to drive new cars, we had two at the time. The dealership I choose gave good deals. The cars had to be serviced at the usual regular intervals. The chief mechanic was a young lady. She did a first class, and quick, job on my cars. Her diplomas lined the service reception walls. After the first time of her servicing my car thereafter I always asked for her to do my car. Many times I was in the servicing reception booking my car in and I heard others say very strongly they didn't want her touching their car One time as I was going in to book the dealer stopped me for a chat 'you can't have Kathy to do your car' 'Oh, why, has she left?' 'No, she's gone over to England, the importer is doing mechanics classes for the new range coming in next month' 'Why did you hire her anyway?' He knew I liked her and meant no harm with this 'She's a first class mechanic, top of her class, and we always hire the best' After the dealership closed down I lost track of her

Its that time of year again . . . Tonite, 2am Sunday actually, we all put our clocks back to GMT We were on BST = British Summer Time, youse lot would call it Daylight Saving Time? Why do we still go through this needless exercise every year? The need arose in WW1 and again in WW2 (Double Summer Time) but with modern lighting et cetera its not needed As a farmer once said to me; the cows, the sheep and hens still need their feed at their time not by our clocks. Your dogs would be the same, mine was, didn't matter to him what the clock said he brought his food bowl over for filling

I recently discovered these semi-circular LED light units on TEMU, I bought one at £7 but the price is variable up to about £12 I thought they'd be good for photo lighting or spray booth lighting

I think it needs a good cleaning, with saddle soap, first of all The dark stains look like mould on the surface, not deep in the leather. If the saddle soap doesn't remove them try a very weak diluted bleach wash

?? like the brown paper you wrap parcels in, but the thicker heavier version

Try buffing it over with clean stout brown wrapping paper to polish it up a bit

Personal preference. But I prefer after

You are far too young to know this; there was a time when colour televisions were so expensive people could only afford to get them by renting them. My sister went work in a TV rental chain in a low management position. Within a few months she was head of the new computer section (computers were only being invented in the late 1970s) and she went upwards from there as a director of the company. Then she left it and changed career to sell coal and wood in a small shop she and her husband opened. ah, history is littered with the great achievements of some women and others just get on doing what they can In WW2 the famous bomber called the Lancaster was built mainly by women. They did 90% of the labour; riveting, fabrication, electrics, hydraulics et cetera. No inventors here, just doing a good job every day