fredk

All my machines use the same bobbin [15 class] so I use a cheap Singer clone machine for bobbin winding. I got the machine in a charity [thrift] shop for £10 as a 'non-runner' [needle was down, bent and jammed in the dogs]

Thanks, gotchya. Its a fine bit of using what you have to the mostest degree

I use an ad-blocker so I don't see adverts on any forums. I just turned it off for this site and the usual normal adverts have appeared

Just cut that bit of bashed up thread off. Its obvious that its not needed. The wing nut can be replaced with a thinner lock nut There seems to be some hammer-bashing damage to this tool

Are you sure its A4? It looks more like A3 to me

If you can get that wing-nut off the end, then the roller unit I'd dunk into some hot oil for a while. Really hot oil, either clean engine oil, diesel, home-heating oil or even home cooking oil. Keep the oil real hot. Eventually the metal will expand enough to allow the oil to get between the bar and roller and allow you to separate them or, is that wing nut just tightened up too much?

All punches need a good sharpening. Just invest in some supplies for sharpening what you already have

No, its actually not easy to saw. It bungs up and clings to the saw teeth. For big lumps a cold chisel and thumper to split pieces off, or sheet metal shears, or wire cutters for smaller thinner pieces

Actually some of my lead did come from a Church roof. Sort-of, It was left over flashing from the re-roofing job on the local Parish Church. About 20lbs. Too little for the builder to keep, I got it in exchange for biscuits. 20lbs of lead is very small in volume and not much of a roll. I still have that somewhere

I accumulated my stock of ready-use lead, now at about 100lbs, from car tyre places. I got their used wheel weights. Here the lead weights had to be changed to zinc or iron but the places didn't know what to do with the lead weights so I got them free and used to cast sea fishing weights for mates in the fishing club

oh, I didn't know that, not needing to use it. I prefer Semtex any way

No. the measures are ; size A, B, C, D, E. Envelopes are often in C sizes. My printer used to use a B size for printing my magazines. D sizes are often used for cash payment envelopes and E size is a speciality size

btw. I do some lead based pewter casting. Its easy peasy. I use a camping stove which runs on gas. I use an old soup ladle which I have bent the rod on for easier pouring. The ladle will hold a maximum of 200g of lead, for safety. I usually melt about 80g - 3 oz at a time. It takes just a few minutes to melt. I wear a leather welders glove on my left hand which holds the mould. I pour the lead into the mould and put the ladle back on the stove. I also use oil sand in some casting

I think them be too big for the OPs needs

or, small fishing weights, or stuff called 'Liquid Gravity' - expensive. 'lead' [now zinc] weights for fish tanks - to keep plants down

Go to a fabric shop. They usually sell small weights, probably in zinc these days, as 'curtain weights'. Used by sewing into the hem of a curtain to keep it hanging down straight

A4 is a European measure of area, usually used for paper, = 8.25 inches by 11.5 inches, approx

I don't think you're going to get the tonnage pressure you'd need out of this one we've discussing. I have a Tandy press, 1.25 ton pressure. I can cut thru 2 - 2.5mm leather ok, but I've not tried any thicker. I think this one will be only a bit greater I think you should go for a converted press which uses a hydraulic jack

ya gotta watch out for them durned meeces Many years ago I unrolled a large hide to find a meece nest in the centre. The meeces had chewed holes in the hide and used the bits to build their nest. Did they hole it near the edge? nay, right in the middle lengthways of the roll, but not only that, they'd chewed through the layers of rolled leather to each side of the nest, so when I unrolled the hide it had this repeating 'pattern' of holes down the centre! The holes weren't too big, about just larger than a US 1/2 dollar coin

Without a clear photo, I think the curved part we see is just re-enforcement to the main base as in this one This is what I believe it to be, but this one uses a hydraulic bottle jack

Thats not a leather working clicker. It a garage mechanics press adapted to be a clicker. Garage mechanics use them for pressing bearings into wheel hubs and such jobs. The lever has long since been replaced by a hydraulic ram or on some versions with an air-fed ram using air from a compressor

Sponge wash it all with a solution of oxalic acid

Some good ideas on here. I need to make a new, as in a better, holster for my phone. Its ok, but I want better. My no.1 son says its the 'American' in me that makes me carry a phone in a holster on my belt

What price can you afford? If I had a guide on that I could recommend something