fredk

Naughty Tom. As punishment go sew a 72 inch belt, both edges, at 12 spi, saddle-stitch, by hand!

Interesting project Have you left enough room in the pocket for a phone? it looks a bit flat and tight in the photos Even though aluminium is light it still has weight. Would Kydex work for this?

I'm assuming the pattern carried in a computer virus which upset the printer's software programming. I had a similar problem once but my computer repair chappies simply wiped the old programming and installed it from HP directly. Some repair places don't know how to do this. its just , can't be fixed, buy new, we have one over there at $$' (me being cynical, btw)

I've not used that place you linked to nor will I go to it Simples; if in doubt do not There are plenty of other sites with patterns which are more reliable. Sometimes you can even get a pattern on here. And you can adapt any pattern to your own ideas

I keep a triple entry bookkeeping system. Because I need to be organised 1. several spread sheets on computer 2. 2 note books On the computer spreadsheets I keep inventory of all leathers I buy; colour, square footage bought, thickness, type (veg or chrome tan) and then a rough price of per sqft (I take off a small & for the squiggly bits of a hide which can't be used) and which box they're in and where that box is. I need to up-date my spreadsheets as I keep forgetting to mark off which hides have been used up or have very little left Another spreadsheet lists every project I make. It lists the leather(s) used, how much and the price, it lists the hardware, lace, a small amount for glue and dye and anything else, such as pens I supply in some pen cases. With this I can look and see how much each Item costs me to make and which thickness of leather I've used et cetera Notebooks; One main one lists the same as that last spreadsheet. but its a working note book in which as I make an item I use the info in it and might change the info as I work on the project A second note book; I keep a note of how I make the item, rough notes usually. Changing the steps of construction as I go, to make the item better, or to put in fresh ideas on making an item, eg as I was making some pen cases I found that the stamps I was using could almost cut through the thin leather, so I noted down to glue in a thin piece of fabric over the stamps on the inside. Later I decided to try putting strap loops on the back of the pen cases; note on size and positioning of the loops was noted down hth

Yes, but you may need to change some details on how it is done

Depends on just what it is. I use thin pre-dyed for lining bags and small goods or even over game boards with the main playing area put on over it. I have some real nice stuff which is kinda very wrinkly looking which I used to recover my work stool which had had PVC on it.

A lot of recent talk on the form about certain skivers reminded me that several years ago, maybe 7 or 8, I bought one of these. Never used it yet. I must set it up and larn how to use it And more recently, like only about 5 years ago I bought one of these. and again never used, or maybe just the once Another 'machine' skiver I have and do use for straps is this one. Not used too much recently but it was used a lot when I made battle-ready medieval shields and made the straps for them But most of the time I just use my two old simple types which I started off with; The safety beveller and the super skiver

I think you're in for a long haul on this one. Do X many rivets at a time, leave off for a while, then do more. You'll soon work through them. But, I'd do the reverse, sort of, what you're doing. This is how I polished up the dome heads on some coach bolts; I chucked the bolt into a small motor tool, like a dremel. I chucked up a polishing wheel in a normal drill. The normal drill & polishing wheel were mounted up in a bench vise and run at a moderately slow speed. Then the motor-tool was run at normal speed and the bolt head pressed into the polishing wheel. In no time it took off the '88' cast on the head and polished it up nicely. I only had about 50 to do. I did them in small batches, having a cuppa tea in between. It didn't take too long to do them all

If it needs any new belts, try a car parts accessories shop. They should have a range of different size belts to fit cars for driving the radiator cooling fans or the air-conditioning units. Some car or farm machinery places will even make you a belt to the correct size I have a 1930 vintage/antique Austin 7 car and a few others. When I need to replace the fan belt I just take the old one into the shop and match it up to a new one Have you checked if any debris is stuck down inside somewhere and stopping things from moving? With fine clearances it doesn't take much to jam it up

Use of cardboard as a stiffener goes back to about 1850s /1860s. What was better than cardboard, not too thick, stiff and also flexible enough to 'give'. Not until post-WW2 do we see the use of man-made polymer sheets, such as thin nylon sheets used as bag stiffeners. The cardboard used up to about the 1950s both as stiffeners in bags and in general purpose boxes was much thicker and more resilient than later cardboard and this early cardboard was eventually replaced with the multi-layer corrugated cardboard we use to day Adding a cardboard stiffener to a bag helps make the bag keep its shape, especially when using light-weight leathers. I used to make shoulder bags using chrome tan upholstery grade leather. That leather would never keep a bag shape so I sandwiched cardboard between it, on the outside, and a thin liner leather

By the way the hole spacing is fairly regular it looks like someone tried to make this belt take the US army fittings Repairable? No, But I think you could put sail eyelets into each hole and finish what someone tried to do

Excellent

I never get notifications, I never have. I just check through the forum to see what I'm missing

I guess that 4 years ago the OP decided on which machine to buy,

#1 favourite dottir is still at Uni. I think she's been out on a few digs as part of her course but getting detailed info from her is like impossible. She takes after her maternal grandfather who only answered questions with, no, yes or silence I bought a pattern for a leather tool box-bag off dieselpunk and I'm now getting things and making cases for them. I have to start on that tool bag too I'll sew straps on the bottom part of the scabbard and have poppers on the top side to hold them closed

A picture of the situation would help But, a glue joint is a poor repair. I would make a new keeper and either wrap it fully around the strap(s) or slice open the sewing joining two straps, push the keeper ends in between and re-sew

yup, nice work In the past a book like this was called a Journal

A belt loop might be a good idea but in this case I don't think its required

The trowel may not be used on too many occasions but maybe quite a bit on those occasions. Confused? Its for my number 1 favourite dottir's archaeology kit, so on the few occasions she'll be on a dig the trowel will be / might be used a lot. Easier to make without straps, nicer with straps? I'll go now and cut leather for them

@Sheilajeanne @Handstitched - there was a video circulating on youtube a while back showing a female police rider with a ponytail riding along and both her and the horse's tail swung in unison, like two metronomes. afair the rider was from Norway, maybe this same rider I've started to make a scabbard for a trowel. Its still at the early stages. Before I go any further I have to decide if I should, or want to, put on retention straps over the back edge. This trowel will just be laying inside a tool box until needed. Opinions on straps? yes, no? The trowel sits on the base of the scabbard with welt pieces fitted and the top part lies in front, yet to be shaped

Those slings are real nice so they are Just a thought, and you may do this already, Advise the customer to use thread lock on the screws after re-assembly having put on the hardware fittings as an aside, when I want a purdy Chicago screw head I use these;

If you mounted a cross-section slice on a wood block you could make a clicker die Only joking, the metal wouldn't be strong enuf

Ya gotta be sure thats what ya want. And ya gotta make sure its all stuck together very well. Its much the same as when I glue liners for bags; I rough cut out the bag pieces, glue them all to the liner leather then cut the bag pieces out neatly and properly

That looks a real beaut. It would look really well on a chestnut or black I think Welcome back. We've missed you