fredk

To me, its a gamble; how much do you want the splitter and how much can you afford to loose? I no longer gamble, but when I did I set my limit, what I could afford to loose, about £1 per week. Sometimes I won, most-times I lost I've taken the gamble on machinery or cars, sometimes I've won, sometimes I've lost; but I went in with my eyes open and knowing I could loose, but just my limit

I wonder how they get away with using bitumen in bottles and cups For the last 25 years or so bitumen is only allowed to be used in agriculture by licensed users, eg arborists. Its forbidden for other uses UK 'nanny' state laws

I've been following this Sometimes the old saying 'if its too good to be true then it is' often holds true But sometimes, bargains can be had, people just want rid of things, they need either the space or just get rid of an ex's garbage In the plastic modelling world over here we often come across a modeller's 'stash' being sold off very cheaply because his/her ex or widow just wants rid of it all And I'm reminded of a sale a very long time ago; a lady near where I lived sold a low-mileage, almost new, part customized, Roll Royce car for £1. Why? it needed a new interior, or the interior well cleaned, because her husband had blown his head off inside the car. She wanted the car gone Check everything out carefully and go with gut instinct

It was 21 years ago and I knew nothing about leather (I still don't! ) so I'm trying to remember I was using the rawhide from chews to edge Viking shields. After soaking and unrolling and allowing the rawhide to dry a bit I sliced off the thicker parts. In slices about 2" wide. These were laced or nailed to the shield edges. Almost all the rawhide was no more that about 1.5mm thick, the thinnest parts which I considered waste was no more than about 1mm thick, a lot of it thinner. I realised that the strips of very thin rawhide could be used, the width could do a baby shoe sole and the vamp made in two or three pieces. I was working the rawhide slightly wet. I think, just by constant working of the rawhide in my hands it became more flexible. Certainly the soles dried relatively stiff but the vamps had more flexibility. It certainly was not as soft as the turn-shoes. But if you check out baby shoes in a shoe shop you'll find them very stiff. They are more for protection and for getting baby used to wearing shoes. As baby grows and needs more flexible shoes then the turn-shoes are worn

The turn-shoes were all chrome tan upholstery leather, vamp & sole The rawhide shoes were different ones; both uppers and soles. Made for babies who were yet to walk or do much walking. I don't know if I still have the patterns for them They kinda looked like these, with the sole laced to the vamp, a strap over the top to pull tight and a small buckle. After construction the shoes were given several coats of Resolene to seal them. #1 favourite dottir started with these then went on to the turn-shoes All these were made at the start of my leathercrafting years. With either of these shoes, they don't very much shaping as children's feet are still forming. The shoes just need to be very flexible

Ps. Make them out of rawhide Get some big dog chews*, soak them, open them up, flatten them then make the shoes I've made items out of rawhide this way as rawhide is not available here *if its safe for a dog to eat it'll be safe for a toddler (maybe)

When my #1 favorite dottir was a toddler and we as a family did medieval shows I made her slipper shoes from upholstery grade chrome tan leather. They were in the turn-shoes style of making. She had a new pair just about every 6 months, from age about 1 to 6. I think I still have all her sole patterns somewhere; I'm just too lazy to have a good clear-out Now, whilst she never sat and chewed them she liked them and even when she was of school age she used to change into them after school. She said they were the most comfortable shoes she had A few years ago I made some small valet trays in veg tan. Dyed and sealed. At that time I was having a problem with sealing the dyed finish, so I really worked on these. After sealing they were soaked in warm water, in cold water, they got a good saturated wash with alcohol and then with acetone. No dye came off at all. A month after the trays were given out one of the recipients told me, as a funny story, that her 3 y/o grandson had sucked on her tray and came away with a red mouth. I never thought of testing with a toddler's saliva!

There are several ways. This is one way another way

The best you can do with that is to pre-construction clamp each piece between two pieces of wood, so the edge is very, very close to the wood, like 1/2 or 1mm, then rub some soft beeswax along the leather edge

Copydex

Thanks for sharing I have loads of templates for car wallets. Do I need another one? yup, you can never have too many templates !

I have numerous lamps to light my work area Have any of youse considered using a small cheap head-lamp, on an elastic strap, and wearing it on your wrist? This sort, wear the strap around your wrist and manoeuvre the wee light into the palm of your hand. It puts light just where you want it. You can get these for just a couple of $$ in most discount stores. I have several of them laying about. Wear them on yourself to point where the light is needed, or strap them to an object for the same purpose

Merry & Happy CHRISTmas every one If you are in area which is experiencing extreme weather, please do not take any risks, stay safe, drink responsibly and if you have the opportunity please look after other people either less fortunate than us or just those who need some attention A very mild 13* here, raining occasionally

I'm going to put a real damper on your plans In my experience almost all 'defects' in leather can only be detected by actual handling of the leather. The defects can not be seen. Some 'defects' only appear after the leather is dyed or worked, they have not been seen until then I do not count scars and blemishes as 'defects' but as character of the leather and as these are unique to each hide which might have them no AI will be able to classify or recognise them

The way I see it; only those who know your name will see 'Joel' as your personalisation. Others will see it as the 'makers brand' Think of all the big names in the fashion trade, eg Gucci, Nike, Zara, Prada, they only put their name on their items and people accept that As for me; I preferred a 'Western' styled makers mark, But that's my choice I've just had another one made; Both are 3cm across I'll be getting a different version made soon I got my latest one made in Hong Kong. Its made in brass. Including s&h and taxes it cost me £17.99. Quite affordable imo

The thickness of your leather has no bearing on the size of the awl cut/hole. You should be looking at a hole size to suit your thread

Le Prevo might have it in stock http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/stamp1.htm D444 or D445

I could list quite a few. But I don't think this thread is the right place for it

Here is one guide

1. the mangle was in use certainly by the iron age Romans 2. these carvings were done in, afair, the Victorian period, who certainly used mangles 3. the Victorians often made-up things to do with earlier history. Its been the bane of my life separating Victorian myths from real historic fact for history teaching 4. rather than pressing down on the leather, could it have been used for applying some sort of drying agent, such as salt or chalk ? Think of one of those pots with a roller for applying edging finish to a strap or belt and sort of turn that up-side-down - pot on top with a slot for chalk to fall onto the roller which applies it to the leather

Use a scalpel to cut open a slot where the stitches will be, They will cover the slot. Then use a curved sewing needle to sew the loops. Leave the end on the outside. Lay it parallel to the sides of the strap. Sew some loops over that end to hide it and hold it. Sew more loops. On the final loop bring the needle up between the leathers and out through the slot, in between some of the loop threads. Trim close and maybe apply a small spot of glue to the end

Nice, I like it. Very much proper looking too

Clever idea A few of these in different sizes could be handy

As you want the holster for display; the way museum conservators would do it here would be 1. sew the flap back on and fix up any other stitching with a thread which matches the original 2. use a non-chemical bonding adhesive to stick something like acid free board / card or lightweight leather to the flap 3. cut that card / leather to the shape the original flap would have been Note; the card or leather is not dyed or coloured to match it in but is actually of a contrasting colour to show it 4. have a new copy of the holster made to put along side the original. The new holster can have the firearm partially inserted Your biggest problem is getting one of those special flap closures to put on a copy holster

I would need to see a picture of the bellows to consider what approach to take in replacing the bellows leather And we would need to know whereabouts you are in the world to advise you on where to get the leather