fredk

They nicey They look kinda Spanish

First report from me; 13.15, 10/05 Initially all the test pieces curled up a wee bit, then they flattened out, as they did their colour came back to almost the non-oiled look. Just a faint trace on a couple. I'll check the pieces again later

Invest in a press. I believe you can get a low-cost arbor press from 'Harbor Freight' (name?) A worth while investment. I bought the big Tandy one and it has been of great value in stamping things. Then you can buy the Tandy type 3D stamps and make pretty pictures and stamp in names et cetra with just a pull of a handle

Just a thought on what I think has happened; Resolene is acrylic as is the Angelis paint. Resolene's solvent carrier is aggressive When you applied the Resolene its solvent softened and thinned the paint. It didn't turn the paint yellow but thinned it enuf so that some of the natural brown of the leather is showing through the paint making it look yellow

I use heavy duty kitchen-type scissors made by Mundial. I have 3 pr, each cost about £12 when I bought them 20 years ago.. They'll cut leather 5 mm thick and thin sheet brass or sheet steel. Only recently has the smaller of the 3 been showing signs it needs sharpening 1. shop around, sometimes you can pay too much more $£$£$£ because a tool says 'leather' and you can buy the same tool cheaper in a different place * 2. take a piece of thick leather with you and try the scissors on it. Thats how I found the Mundial. I was working with some 6mm thick leather and mentioned to a friend who worked in a home goods store. He recommended the Mundial ones, I tried them and have them since * eg, recently I bought a special self-contained airbrush/compressor. Regular art places had it for over £80. One seller of leather working supplies had it for £120. I found one on ebay in 'Nail Art supplies for under £25 ~ And they had a discount sale so I got it for £21!

All the rotary knives are good. I use a 60mm blade one. But the 40mm is just as good plus the replacement blades are easier to get and a lot cheaper than the 60mm. The 20mm size is handy but watch out for the blade guard. On some, when it retracts it only clears the blade by about 1mm. Fine for cutting cloth free-hand but it won't cut through 1mm or more of leather, and the guard will run on top of your guide as well so the blade doesn't even reach the leather. Cut away a whack of the blade guard and it works better, but then you don't have a blade guard

The oils I'm using; NFO Compound, Baby Oil, Vegetable Cooking Oil (Rape Seed Oil), Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lard (pig fat) and 3-in-1 oil My test squares are 8 cm x 8 cm, about 3 inch x 3 inch. Each piece has one hole punched in one corner, this is for set #1. Set 2 will have 2 holes punched there. Each piece has a number of holes punched in another corner; 1 to 6 holes, which correspond to the oil used on it - see further down. Leather is approx 2.2 to 2.4 mm thick, about 5 - 6 ounce (?) The index of my note book; I use coloured paper clips as page markers in books. One extra section in case I decide to add in another oil. Details of each leather & oil combination will be written down in each corresponding section marked by the coloured paper clip The leather squares, shortly after being oiled. Oil was applied using a clean piece of sponge for each oil These were put into my special car just as you see them laid out here. They went in at 23.00 on 10/1. In the car they'll stay dry but get the full sun on them thru the day and chilled at night. I'll need to check the temperatures. Looked at, but not inspected, in the morning of 10/2 & 10/3 I'll need to make a frame so I can hang set #2 up outside. I think I can get that done this coming weekend Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?

I'll update later

Assuming it has been veg tanned; give it a good soaking with clean warm water. Lay it out on a big board, which has preferably been covered in clean white paper, cover the hide with more clean paper, then lay a big board on top of it. Put lots of heavy weights on top of the top board. Leave to dry for several days or a week, or even longer. This may need to be repeated

When you put a temporary board extension to your work bench and forget to clamp it down tight? Then you set an opened bottle of dye on the board and its enuf to tip the board and spill the dye Not too much dye spilt, its the clean up I hate doing. No mess on anything except the bottoms of some containers

1. in the UK these are known as a 'cosh'. I don't think anyone uses them here anymore, they prefer base-ball bats 2. They may or may not be illegal here. It may be the context in which it is going to be used. I know some farmers have a version for stunning animals before slaughter. They are so unknown that I reckon I could walk down any street in N.I. carrying one and no plod would recognise it and stop me 3. When I did a lot of out-door photography, as did some friends, we used to carry an old cheap but heavy USSR camera in its case. It was useless for photos but more than once a potential thief felt that camera across their skull 4. we do have self-defence laws but it draws the line at killing anyone Only 'reasonable' force may be used 5. In the bad old days of our civil disorder the old police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary used two versions of a 'sap' on rioters. One was an egg shape on a short piece of spring steel, the other was a short long thin tube shape attached to a wood handle. One for close up and one for long-reach. When the police had to give these up they changed to 'knuckle-duster' gloves

If its not reported here nor on the maker's website then I ignore these "we're doomed" announcements on other web sites Just last night I read on you tube that the actor Richard 'John-boy Walton' Thomas had died in a car wreck last week. No he hasn't, he's alive and well, not been a car accident at all

That looks most excellent I admire anyone who can master the mystery of basket weave stamping When I saw the title of this thread 'wheelgun holster' I thought it was a holster for a 'wheel-lock' pistol

Talc powder on top of adhesive sticky will stop it being sticky but won't remove it. For that try WD40. Spray a lot on and gently work it into the sticky residue. It may take tome but WD40 usually works

I agree

1. I had a brass stamp made for use on the Tandy golf ball caddy 2. another source is Letter Press printing plates. They'll press into wet leather but their impression is sometimes quite shallow https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183843967587?hash=item2acdf45263:g:0ZoAAOSwBZdc~3rA&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwM5Mlog5MsEvfpa34K%2F9ePD4XiOMrWp72E0FDEOPsAQ8LjxDPq37P%2B5Ggu6tLVCCij0Iwd2UhereOjOqavBk3FJgIuRD76t%2B3vfUEQgPdsn%2BQKeVM3RqoNVVlB4LX5G6Y4Htk4qzyZK8pbgnUJFPIcEbOC%2F5A2WlvhpEmJRjkh12WIm%2FyCMOF%2BGXfwZhPTqPLhEyVUuhwM3P6sdnrSBjB2YLSHl%2FE%2B03toMbA7CYBWikum6jLfnds7ScaCBNO0u%2Fkg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9L3xoPaYg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155226939158?hash=item24243f1f16:g:qAkAAOSwfDFjWpv~&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwHBjITvnAuy3K4vsDinrXXWWnW6YltRmETrIZyioM43hVoYGc5GFQcFt4I5FQKIFTQ9kJ9JQGScqSyhnODHp8k%2FSSYkLNC5tfrGvx8lYcvvATiLJBJOYv57vXxRxHpHHo1ypkHLU1%2B4QOswmgazXe6eesJn3nBBLso1sy82JPeaZyMDcUuXEvmcPiw6QuFOCUQiQdPYEAkb7I2UE8yekq1zEYXL%2BjRHy1a2H%2Fa7tQVdqk5fe5C4DSuFs9NXhxoUzdQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9L3xoPaYg hth

Wet form your tray and clamp the corners. When they've dried they should hold the shape and snaps should hold them together

There is a way which I use but would not recommend on new quality boots or bags as if it goes wrong the item can be ruined You need to break through the top finish. To do that I wash the item down with cellulose thinners. A lot of. I really scrub it down. This removes the top finish and also removes some of the dyed colour, leaving the item looking a mess of patchwork of very pale areas of dyed and maybe dye-removed places. Then I wash it down with soapy water. Whilst its still drying I start to put the dye colour I want on. The dye is thinned down. It takes several coats of dye to get the colour built up and even. When the dye is looking good the item gets an oiling with Neetsfoot Oil as the oils in the item were removed by the cellulose thinners, After the item has dried I give it a feed and polish with a beeswax mixture I use.

You're both well ahead of me! I'm still getting organised. I got to a shop this morning and picked up a block of lard I'll be back, later, dudes

dunno about 'cats pee' smell. Its not a scent I know too well. But, yes, some leathers do have odd scents. I have some that has such a strong bad scent I can't keep it near me for too long. It might have something to do with where the leather originated and their method of tanning Can you, or are you able, to hang the leathers up some place where they can get a lot of air circulating around them?. A real way-out suggestion; hang them up and have a big barbie. Let the smoke from the barbie circulate around them

I hadn't even thought of lard. Any amount of fat I get from my cooked bacon is not enuf to fill a teaspoon. Bacon and pork are just the same, one word is derived from the original Anglo-Saxon for pig and the other is derived from the original Norman-French for pig. The same for almost anything about cows Anyway, I can buy lard in the supermarket. I think its beef lard though as the shops here are catering more and more for the Jewish and Muslim shoppers. Its actually getting harder to buy anything pork-ish in some of our supermarkets. I think the lard has salt and food preservatives added. But as we are testing commonly available oils that might be ok ah, good on yer. I never considered mink oil. I even relocated several tins of it just on Friday too! Just another thought; all leather test pieces should be about the same thickness. Yet another variable! I mostly use thin leather. I do have some up to 11oz /4.5mm but my stock of leathers is mostly in the 4oz to 6oz / 1mm to 2.6mm thickness range. I think I'll use about 2.4/2.6mm thick. And I'm down sizing the test pieces. 6x4 inches is not necessary. Half that size should be big enuf, maybe even just 3 x 3 inches would do edited to add a PS This is gonna take up some leather. Make shure you can spare it Also, the same oil may react differently to a piece of the leather of a slightly different area. eg when I was making some coin purses all the parts were cut from the same hide. I marked some pieces which were from right next to each other on the hide. When it came to the dyeing they came out different shades, one part might end up a bright green and the other part dark green. On some that I dyed 'light' blue some parts were bright blue but their matching part almost a midnight blue. All dyed at the same time and in the same way with the same dye The oils might do the same. But we shall see I have to do some rivet sorting today

At a local store I buy lightweight zippers 6 for £1 and heavy duty ones 4 for £1.50 - thats about 17p per light and 25p for heavy, Lengths available are only 6, 8, 10 & 12 inch, Same price for which ever chosen. For continuous lengths I get it either from Le Prevo or a sewing shop in England. afair the heavy duty was £1 per meter with discount on long lengths. The last lot I bought wasn't for me but for someone else, afair 10m was about £6 or £7 inc delivery, and included some stops and pull things

Caveat, I don't make gun holsters, but I do study them Every tut I've read from holster makers from long ago up to recent times mostly, almost always, instruct just to take the design just around the fold bend by an inch or two and, afair, a lot of the original holsters examined in 'Packing Iron' are of the same, with the design either ending before the fold bend, on the fold, or just an inch or two past it on the rear I think, and its only my opinion, ultimately, if you want to do the stamping do it, if you want to reproduce an old real example do it as it was done. Its not lazy to not do it When I made copies of medieval or viking knife sheaths, which are usually one piece folded around and sewn, I've always done the design all the way around, just as the original was done

Tallow is something I cannot get or make. Due to the UK having BSE* in cattle a long time ago its illegal for butchers to sell beef fats and other parts and even porcine fats and parts are restricted but for another reason But I may be able to get pork fats, but not for a while Anyway, I have enuf oils to test I don't think we need copy each other's tests, but I think they'll be similar anyway. I'm off to the shops soon to get supplies *BSE = Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis

Two thoughts. 1. is there any small things you can do on the kits to prepare them beforehand? 2. use a stop watch to time every step, including the gaps between. 3. write your spiel down, edit it, look for where one or two words can replace 4 or 6 words I've been asked to do a 'class' to make my key-ring coin purses. I'll have approx 1 hour 20 minutes. I've timed each step. I've made adjustments to the making and I've taken the spiel about types of leather and threads from the beginning to the time the ladies will be sewing the purses up. I've cut 1/2 a minute here and there and took off 1/2 an hour. I've prepared the thread by making wenzels with the needle already threaded, I've pre-made up the key-ring part so they won't have to do that, but as they fit it to the purse its then I'll explain the parts