fredk

Be careful. I recently dropped a deal for cowboy holsters. The retailer want top quality holsters at a lower price he can buy poor thin leather ones from Mexico. The deal was for at least 5 holsters per month for at least 3 years. I can't even buy the decent leather for less than he is buying a cheap holster in at (eg, my good thick leather is about £5 sqft x 3 = £15 plus lining leather at £3.50 sqft = about £26, he's buying the cheap holster and a belt for £25). The retailer keeps asking when I'm going to make him some holsters and I keep telling him he can't afford my prices. He's been asking since 2017! Sometimes, after looking at a deal, ya just gotta walk away from it Hand sewing can take more time than you think. I recently sewed the perimeter of a book cover. It took 3, that's three, bluddy hours. At £10.85 (minimum wage here) that's £32.55 just to sew the edge! As this is for a friend, I'd told her £15 for the book cover. That just covers the cost of the leather (real cheap, but good, leather ) and a few fittings Also, a while back, as I was asked to do so, I used a stop watch to time every working step in making a simple coin purse. Actual working time came out at 1 hour 45 minutes, and I didn't have to dye or edge finish or anything fancy. So that was, at min/wg, £19 for something I'd sell for £3 or £5 I might do the stop-watch thing again sometime, just to see how long it takes me to make something

For that sort of need I just use ordinary thin (black) material and glue a cut piece on

sheesh! your own stamp as well Sergey had better watch out when you're on the block

Nice, good carving

I used to use that, mainly for its intended use, on my vintage cars' electrics, but also as a barrier between aluminium and steel I've not seen it here, nor been able to get it, for over 25 years now

Nice kit, make sure all the parts are plastic bagged. Seal the bags real good. Its very easy to loose parts out of boxes

Thanks. I have many sets of small files, from jewellers super small to larger small files, plenty to choose from. I use them in my plastic model building

By what do you mean 'premium'? I use a wide range of acrylic paint makes and they all work fine

Very excellent What method did you use to cut / shape the round?

The length of the oval should be aligned with the length of the strap, not across it. Really, there is very little difference of tension on a bonnet strap, a belt or a watch strap

Sounds like somebody tried to re-colour without removing the original lacquer top finish. Now, if it were me; I'd wash it all down with plenty of cellulose (lacquer) thinners, then apply a new coat of a tan dye and then a lacquer top finish

I disagree; the hole is always best to be oval. When the buckle 'prong' goes into the hole and the strap is pulled down it forces a round hole to become oval. This puts strain on the hole and becomes unsightly, but if the hole is oval to start with then this doesn't happen and the strap lies down more neatly I have, did, replace many vintage car bonnet straps because the round holes had torn the leather trying to make the holes oval. Mostly the straps were still serviceable but had to be replaced because of the mis-shapen holes and the damage around them

Benny Hill was a great comic of his time. We all laughed at his jokes and antics We bellowed with laughter and in this he wore Lederhosen probatur quod quaeritur

@MikeRock, for you

Well, I have a sort-of beader. It works I made the working end at a slight angle. I thought it would be easier to work Total width across is about 6.5mm (1/4 inch), with the bead about 4mm The test leather is only 2.1mm (5 oz ?) thick. The beader needs running to and back, going deeper on each run. I went as deep as I could on my test piece but I reckon I would get a better rounded bead on thicker leather I might try to make a smaller sized beader

In the past I bought cut straps from Le Prevo. If the thickness and width was not 'stock' they cut the straps for me, although the length was a bit more normal. I needed the straps for bonnet (hood) straps on vintage cars and the straps had to be a regulation width and thickness

Years ago, a friend in the medieval presentation group I was in wanted to try to make shoes. Being on a tight budget but being clever he obtained a pair of boot style shoes about one size smaller than his regular fit. Then he removed some of the insole and poured in thick cement. almost concrete. When that had set he cut away the cheap shoe, covered the cement cast with scraps of thick-ish leather, obtained from me. Extra thick layers of leather on the sole area. He made several pairs of medieval shoes on those cement/concrete lasts. His report was that the next time he would go down 2 sizes for the cast and cover the cast with strips of wood then cover that in leather. I don't know if he ever did that. Only real downside was that the cement casts were very heavy. Oh, btw, as the cement hardened he inserted an iron bar, about 12 inches long, so about 8 inches stuck out the ankle bit. With this he could hold the last in any vice of his choosing. And the cement cost him nowt as he was working on a building site and the boss allowed him to have some. After this my friend got the nickname 'the gangster' as he was making Chicago style concrete boots! I sometimes have thought of copying his idea

@Aven you need to do it as well,

That flower one on the right, using the dragon scale stamp, is much better than the earlier one, which I guess was just a try-it-out & see (?) So far the only alternatives I've done (photo to follow) is to use a long thin beveller and a seeder to make a !

@Plumejason you don't say where in the world you are thus its hard for us to direct you to places where you might get fixed asset supplies. If you are in the UK or Europe, go to antique or jumble shops. Not antique dealers though. Try the wee back-street 'antique' shops just about every tourist orientated town has numerous of

That looks nice. Its colouring matches the hat rather well. Not too ostentatious

Start one and we'll all follow

An archery type joke. You'll need to check English history for this if you don't know it already Harold Godwinson, sometimes called King Harold, was getting his army into place to fight the Norman invaders led by Duke William the bastard As Harold was getting ready a giant of a karl carrying four long spears approached and said ' Lord, I claim the right to fight by your side, in your bodyguard. I fought alongside you at Stamford Bridge 3 weeks ago. There I killed at least 50 of the invaders with my trusty spears. And my father has fought in the Royal bodyguard afore me' 'Let me see what you can do' says Harold The spearman takes out an apple, gives it to an axe thrower and tells him to throw it high, far and as fast as he can. As the apple flies through the air, high and far the spearman throws one of his spears after it. The spear strikes and slices the apple exactly in two. 'Impressive' says Harold 'you have earned the right to fight on my right side, close by me' Then an axeman approaches. 'I too claim the right to fight by your side Lord, I too was at Stamford Bridge and killed many invaders. I have fought in the Royal Bodyguard for many years, as did my father and his father before him' 'Let me see what you can do' says Harold The axeman takes out an apple, throws it high into the air. As the apple flies through the air the axeman cuts his axe blade, like a flash of lightning, at the apple. The apple comes down in thin neatly cut slices 'Impressive' says Harold 'you have earned the right to fight on my left side, close by me' Then a very elderly archer approaches. He says 'I too claim the right to fight by your side Lord. I didn't manage to get to Stamford Bridge. T'was a bit too far for me arthritis. but I have fought in the Royal Bodyguard for many years, as did my father and his father before him and his father before, all the way back to King Alfred' 'Let me see what you can do' says Harold The archer takes out an apple, gives it to an axe thrower and tells him to throw it far and as fast as he can. As the apple flies through the air, fast and far the archer takes an arrow and lets fly. The arrow misses the apple and hits an ox pulling a cart. The archer gets another apple, does the same, the arrow misses and hits the ox cart driver in the arse. Just as the archer was getting out a third apple - ' Enough! Impressive' says Harold 'you have earned the right to fight with the other archers on the left wing' As the old archer walks away, happy that he impressed the King, King Harold turns to his chief Huscarl and says 'Alfric, please keep that bluddy old fool away from me! He'll have somebody's eye out!' Here we see the proof; the spearman, on the left of the picture with the white shield, the axeman getting killed on the right of the picture and King Harold with that famous arrow-in-the-eye. But who shot the arrow??

Interesting. An off-side look to what a stamp can do