fredk

I'll join in; one time a 5 inch goose feather fletching came off and went into my hand, in that bit between thumb and fore finger. It went in by about 3 inches or slightly more. Because of the way the feather vanes lay you are supposed to pull it out from its front end, but that was deep in my hand, so I just pulled it out back ways. Slight pain, no blood. I poured a teeny bit of whiskey on the wound then onion juice. It healed up quickly, no scar. I was actually shooting again just minutes later. The goose feather was re-used that evening on one of my #3 son's arrows. He wrote on that one 'The Paw Killer' Its years since I shed blud on any of my leather projects. I've learnt that its better for my blud to stay inside me

Just remembered some things; when I first got the jacket a local Barbour retailer advised me to use only Barbour wax. I bought a tin of it, it cost nearly £20, at a time my weekly wages were £56. That wax was useless for constant motorcycling in rain. It washed or weathered out after about a week or 10 days. I was motorcycling to work 7 days a week and other journeys. It was my uncle, a long time very experienced motorcyclist, who showed me and made up the mix of beeswax/carnauba wax/pure turpentine

I have a Barbour jacket which is now about 111 or 110 years old*, handed down through generations of motorcyclists Paraffin wax on its own hardens too much, especially in cold weather. I used to use beeswax, carnauba wax and pure turpentine, just a bit to make the mix soft enough to apply A re-waxing process taught to me by a few older motorcyclists. This has to be done outside I used to get the jacket ( and the matching over trousers) hot by playing a paint stripper hot gun over it. The wax mix was already hot and liquid. I applied the mix using a large paint brush, making sure to work the wax into the fabric where the old wax had weathered off. I kept the paint stripping gun playing over the jacket to keep the wax melted as it got into the fabric. I let it all cool down for a while, then I heated the jacket up again with the p.s.h.g. to see if areas needed doing again; usually there were, so repeat in those areas Then, after the jacket was cooler, but still warm, came the real fun. I used a blow lamp to ignite the turpentine fumes in a flash burn. A big 'ole blanket was used to put the fire out before it got out of hand Then a good rub over, a light buffing almost, with a rough cloth The kit is then good for a whole season of riding in our very wet and often cold weather. A whole waxing was only necessary after about 2 or 3 wet seasons * dated by Barbour to about 1912 after I sent the jacket & trousers to them for some repairs

Blimey! you lot are dangerous I think y'all should be laced up in straitjackets and locked away in the rubber room to protect yourselves from further harm

Make a 3-bar slide with snap base out of a piece of thick stiff leather, copy the Tandy one but in leather

Tandy does a 3-bar strap slider with part of a snap attached https://www.tandyleather.world/collections/hardware/products/plastic-slide-snap you might be able to jury-rig something similar

the question is ambiguous. is it 'how many types. . .' of tanning? or 'how many types . . .' of animal leather? or is it both?

Sounds like chrome tan, two thin pieces with a piece of compressed card sandwiched in between Rather a standard way of making such bags as well as handbags, briefcases et al from the 1870s onwards

May I say; about 6 years ago a chap contacted me and wanted me to make holsters and gun belts for him to re-sell in his store. I got into discussions about styles, sizes, numbers et cetera. Then came the pricing. He was wanting top quality holsters for less cost than the cheap thin ones (about 2mm or 5oz leather) he was buying out of Mexico. The price he wanted to buy mine from me at would just about cover the price of the leather never mind the cost of time, dye, buckles et cetera. I told him this and told him what I estimated a plain holster would cost. I just stopped negotiating with him but occasionally when I run into him he still asks if I'll do the holsters for him, with the usual promises ' I can send more work your way . . . '

A lot of you say you are using the skiver blade which seems to be the sam blade for the automatic razor. My skiver blades are too thick to go into the blade slot on my strap cutter btw another answer for the OP is the pistol shaped cutter, or the plough gauge here; https://www.amazon.co.uk/OwnMy-Leather-Cutter-Aluminium-Cutting/dp/B0868B1N9S and; https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/958106152/leather-cutting-tool-leather-strap T.169 here; http://www.leprevo.co.uk/cutting.htm

They are too thick for the holding slot on the strap cutter http://www.leprevo.co.uk/cutting.htm but I bought mine by 10 from China via ebay. I built up a stock of them

I clean mine in paint brush restorer, then wash in soapy water

Oxygen is needed to enable the corrosion. This has been proven via archaeological finds where iron items have lain in wet peat bogs without free oxygen and the iron items are only mildly corroded. The greater the oxygen content of the environment the speedier and stronger the corrosion

Where I buy snaps, aka poppers, from the millimeter measure given is the diameter of the nice head

I read it; 2 colours, one colour being dark and lighter in shade. Light & dark tan and black

I would thin tan dye down real thin and apply it with a brush. Coat by coat, overall a few times then just the main area not going over the secondary nodules, until the main piece has some decent colour to it

one of dem dare huge ready-mixed seeement deeeelivery trucks type drum?

Have you asked any Native Americans? I read these days a lot of tribes are trying to keep up and get old traditional crafts going. Curing hides might be within their remit and the instructors might have some ideas, even if they don't use modern methods but traditional ones they'd need to know which modern methods or chemicals not to use

GLAZED Pigskin Tandy has it. Its very thin and very stiff on its own. But for a bag section separator I think two layers might be better https://www.tandyleather.world/products/glazed-pig-lining?variant=32543852003463

I would use glazed pig skin. Two layers with a piece of thin compressed card inbetween

I would try pure turpentine first. The pure artists type turps not the artificial replacement

thanks guys

That is excellent tooling. Looks very sharp with good depth Please inform this ignoramus on two things; 1. Why is it called 'Hand of God'? and 2. what is so desirable about having this holster over and above others?