fredk

Many, many oils are 'occlusive'; Lanolin, bees wax, NFO . . . Rather than 'locking in' the water and causing leather to rot an 'occlusive' limits the airflow allowing moisture to be released slowly, keeping the leather from completely drying out

I had a block of pork fat based lard in my fridge for at least 10 years. It never went rancid. I only threw it out because of a change in my diet. I bought a new fresh block for to do our oils & fats tests. That was 3 months ago

Yes, you can buy velcro with self-adhesive backs, but I don't trust that and I glue it on

I have Mine was 2 - 2.5 mil about 5 -6 ounces Mine was too light weight, but it was very flexible so I'd say - No Yes, it would. Mine had a grain pattern, (natural, not pressed in,) on it which shouted 'leather'

The God of War rode out one day Upon his mighty filly. "I'm Thor!" he cried. His horse replied, "You forgot your thaddle, thilly."

3 Monthly Report; A bit late I had to check when I started, I thought it was later than 10/1 As of 1/1/24, 3 months on, none of the pieces have gone rancid or smell bad. Some smell of nothing at all. No sign of any fungal growth The first set were re-oiled and put back in the windscreen of the car on 1/1/24 I never did a second set but I will do them in about a months time. They will be for hanging up outside

I just bought a 7mm one on ebay for £2.19 (inc taxes and s&h)

I got some odd pieces, large pieces, of 'reptile' out of Le Prevo, UK. But that was many years ago. I've used almost all of it up edited to add; try a fabric shop. a large one might carry such

I'm going to try to make my self a new hat this year I've had the pattern for simply ages and some of the parts cut for coming on two years! I like this dyed effect, but how do I get it? Spraying comes to mind As you can see, I got the pattern from DIESELPUNK

Do you live in an area which is cold or have cold winds in winter? Make a door 'curtain'

Ageing

It shud be fine. As long as you don't put any more sealer on it

???

Bend it while its still wet from the sealer

I wish for you all to have safe, healthy and prosperous New Year Live long and prosper and to 2023

Cooking oil is rape seed oil. I shud have put that

K.I.S.S. My end of year report All the pieces, bar one, together. This is how they were kept in the car. Temps varied from 6.5*c at night to a max of 24.5*c during the day. Any curling evened out and they all flattened. Each piece received two coats of its oil, at approx at 2 week interval. I'll be applying another coat of it oil tomorrow and getting them back in the car None show any fungus and the car is a ripe place for it to grow. The car is full of cardboard boxes and there is a certain amount of dampness. Front; Reverse; in the same order as the front picture The flexibility and smell on each piece was judged by me and rated out of 5. Colour is judged the same with the explanation I'm colour blind so I can say little on that. 0 being the control pieces 0 to 5 in flexibility = 0, no change to 5 very stiff. In all the photos the test piece is on the left, top right is a control piece which was kept in my leather room and bottom right is the control kept with the test pieces Test piece in car; Flex = (-)1, S = strong leather, C = blotchy light tan 1.Baby Oil; Flex = (-)1, S = 0, C = Dark tan 2. Cooking oil; Flex = (-)1, S = Very slightly leather, C = Dark tan 3. Lard (pig fats based); Flex = 0, S = Slightly leather, C = Light tan 4. NFO Compound; Flex = (-)1, S = 0, C = Dark tan 5. Olive oil; Flex = (-)1, S = Very slightly leather, C = Dark tan 6. 3-in-1 oil; Flex = 1, S = very slight 3-in-1 oil, C = Dark Tan 7. Vaseline; Flex = 2, S = very, very slightly leather, C = Very light tan The photographs exaggerate the blotchiness. So far, I would be happy applying some of these instead of dyeing, especially #1 to #5

Go to a general car accessory shop* and see what they have. They usually have high quality at a cheaper price for mechs to use *not Halfords

As soon as its dry to touch.

If you soak the thumb-break in hot water then dry it quickly with heat it will go hard. But it will also shrink so you need to make it over-size and cut it down to size for fitting, and you would need to dye it first

+1 for vaseline

I've seen them on ebay but I have enuf tools or do I ?

I have not made a report due to certain technological issues

Very nice indeedy I like the way you rebated the leather to the wood

I like it (But in your photo there is no sense of scale)