fredk

4th or 5th refresh try on 'unread', top right of the 6 I get to see, and now bottom right on the top of this thread

Samco-Strong Ltd. ceased trading in 2016 but was a dormant company since 2002 so it might be hard to get parts for it if required

Is he a relation of 'Speedy'?

Clever. Nice simple pattern design Those type of switch plates have fallen out of fashion & demand here

It does sound a bit like your leather is too dry and hard. Does it feel and act like cardboard? A good sharp knife should slice through the leather easily; not like a 'hot knife thru butter' but easily with a little bit of effort. A scratch awl should almost cut the surface Mix some, very little, NFO with hot water and a few dribbles of washing up liquid soap. Then apply some of that in big swathes across the leather using a sponge. Not too much, too much NFO is bad. Allow that to soak though for 24 hours, see how the leather feels after that. If it still feels stiff and hard apply again, allow it to work for 24 hours and repeat until the leather is almost pliable, Stop then and allow the leather to rest and the NFO to work for a few more days Assessing the temper of leather does come with experience. I once got stiff as a board leather from Tandy. I managed to get a discount as it was like a sheet of masonite/hardboard but I knew I could oil it and rejuvenate it. Firm temper is often a measure of how the leather was tanned. I have belly leather that is as floppy as cloth and some which is as stiff as thick cardboard, neither is too dry

Most excellent artistry

Thank you for a. all the answers and b. taking the time to answer my Qs

Mine are made of nylon as well. I have no real power tools to make things. I bought a rod of nylon and a rod of delrin* (afair). The delrin is sized to fit into the hole on the swivel knife. A hole in a piece of the nylon rod takes the delrin. A small hole was drilled across and through the two rods and a small brass escutcheon nail was pressed in to lock the two together. Then the working end was drawn on for the shape of the bevel I wanted with a marker and was cut to shape with a very sharp craft knife. Its impossible to sand nylon smooth so it has to be cut smooth with a knife I suppose someone with a lathe type thingy could turn the beveller from one piece of nylon, but not having one I had to make it in two pieces * only got the delrin as that was the only material I could find I could get for the bit to go into the swivel knife And this reminds me; I want to make another with a different profile Here you can see the two part construction with the end of the brass nail showing

A few questions; Is the part with the notches leather or wood? What size are the holes for the shafts? On your original metal & plastic one the bit with notches is fixed, can it be made adjustable? that is, for different arrow lengths What are the lengths - over all? from the interior of the bucket to the notched part? On your leather version; is the piece between the bucket and the notched part stiff? eg a covered bar or something? or flexible? I ask, because I think I may try to make a couple of these, one for #1 favourite dottir and one for #3 favourite son, for them to try out I'm supposed to be making a standard bag case quiver for #1 favourite dottir; I must get on with that!

I can't help with the original maker info but the beveller is very easy to make I made two, with different profiles; The materials to make about 6 of these cost me less than $10

Nice leather work I've never seen a quiver like that before

I must say that in the UK and I think European-wide, ie those countries in and allied to the European Common Trade Markets, any person or company trading full time or part time as a business selling new or 2nd hand goods within the UK/EU must provide some form of guarantee * It might be the very minimum, such as, 'down to the bottom of the lane (50 yards)' as when I once bought a junk car or much longer ones such as for '10 years guarantee for quality of material, wear & tear excepted' As I said before, these improbably long guarantees of 50 or 100 years are not allowed, as is 'life-time', on this, many years ago, some courts ruled 'whose life-time?, the seller's, the buyer's or the good's?' Thus it was ruled that a guarantee had to have a definite time length * some exceptions do apply The point of this waffle is to say; any of you, if you were living or selling in the UK/Europe would have to provide a minimal guarantee for your goods

Glue the lining in place then use a very sharp blade, such as a scalpel blade to cut the edge of the lining 2 or 3mm in from the edge. The lining will still be held by the glue and any sewing at about the 3mm from edge

Excellent I made a small case like that for snips I carry. Which are mostly used to cut open those sachets of sauce in carry-out food places

Using manure and piss is very old way of tanning. Your leather might have been done in a very poor backward place and then supplied to bigger outlet

Depending on the cover, the type of pages and the size of the book the price varies from about $150 to $1100. Repros are about $25 - $50 It would be advisable to get a price from a very reputable antiquarian book dealer or from a specialist fine arts auction house

Try acrylic paint pens. They come in every colour in the rainbow and point sizes from 0.1mm to about 5mm You can also get metallic gel ink pens in 'The Works' 2 gold & 2 silver for £1. Modest, normal, pen point size, about 0.5mm afair All these are what I use

There are times only hand-stitching will be needed and there are times only sewing machine stitching will be needed. Knowing when to use either and being able to do either is part of the learning of leathercrafting

That looks very nice indeedy One for the connoisseurs, not the ones who buy bots by the doz

Tandy does an adapter set for their press to use their multiple change stitching holes punches these punches; https://www.tandyleather.world/products/diamond-hole-chisel-set this press https://www.tandyleather.world/products/tandypro-r-hand-press?_pos=5&_sid=8ee07cb9c&_ss=r or https://www.tandyleather.world/products/craftool-hand-press?_pos=1&_sid=8ee07cb9c&_ss=r this adapter https://www.tandyleather.world/products/press-die-for-hand-press-diamond-chisel?pr_prod_strat=use_description&pr_rec_id=c6c0b3465&pr_rec_pid=6614473965703&pr_ref_pid=6614474064007&pr_seq=uniform

These; really speed up the hole punching

The OP hasn't been here since posting his want Try PMing him directly. He may get the notification that he has a message

I've been following this thread and certain postings, such as the one I've just quoted, reminded me of certain things 23 years ago I started on the leather crafting raft ride. It was because I and #1 son had joined our local SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism), then wifey and sons #2 and #3 and #1 dottir also joined. I could not afford to buy all the leather items for all of us so I bought in leather and made it all. I must have been reasonable at it because our head guy asked me to make 20 sets of arm & leg guards (2 guards for arms and 2 guards for legs per set) The SCA normally play with foam weapons but our group wanted to start using real ( called 'live' ) blunt steel swords so special thick leather arm & leg guards were needed. I got the specs from SCA HQ, bought some moderately expensive leather from Le Prevo. 6mm thick black chrome tan plus necessary fittings. I made up 24 sets. SCA HQ heard about this and immediately banned the group from using the guards as they had not been either tested nor approved by HQ. Individually, I could use a set but not for live steel fighting. The group was only allowed to buy and use guards from an SCA HQ approved maker I eventually sold about 4 sets to some sword fighters here who were not SCA. I still have all the rest of the sets. Some are completed with straps and buckles and some are not finished except cut to shape; like the shape of an archery arm bracer, only bigger, especially the leg guards. Some day I'll think of something to do with all cut and shaped leather. And I was naive and stupid back then; I never got money from any of the SCA pple for the guards sets or for the outlay on the leather - 'sure you'll get paid when we each buy a set from you' yeah, right! These sports have spent years working with suppliers of safety equipment and insurance companies recognise this. Anything that hasn't been tested, even though it might meet or even surpass the specs will be frowned upon if not banned I used to do sports fencing. Our masks had a fine heavy wire mesh over the face. Before every competition the masks were inspected; visually for rust or broken wires, then a special gun was used to fire a small steel ball-bearing into the mesh, in three different places, and the mesh was measured to see the result. Ideally there was nothing to see. One day a chap came along with his mask. He had replaced the mesh with a piece of bullet proof perspex. The ball bearing put a tiny stress mark on the perspex, but the mask was banned as it had not been pre-tested and approved by the governing body

To boil it down; I would expect a manual working man's wallet in daily use to last 5 or 6 years, an office worker's wallet or a woman's wallet in daily use to last at least 10 years. A man's belt to last at least 6 to 8 years. A woman's daily handbag, at least 4 years When I say 'to last' I mean at the years I think of the items are not falling apart but are showing a lot of wear. That 'Lived & well used' look. The item might welcome some re-dyeing, maybe some stitching repairs, a very little amount of that though

I was reading through Al Stohlman's book on buckstitching and spotted something. After checking I found out that US paraffin wax is softer than UK paraffin wax