fredk

Iron poisoning. It is indeed a reaction of iron parts on the leather I think only oxalic acid will lessen it, but it might not remove it completely. You can usually get oxalic acid in powder form in hardware stores and some chemist will sell it to you. Sometimes its sold as 'Barkeepers Friend' (in B&Q afaik) When replacing any iron or steel parts, replace with pure brass ones

A thumb-break re-enforcer/stiffener Tandy; https://tandyleather.eu/products/thumb-break-stiffener-10-pack

That is a really nice custom bike bag

I think they are the one & same a. I've been getting promo emails from Tandy and Ivan lately. I only signed up for the Tandy. Both promo emails come together, one after the other and the Ivan offers hardware et cetera for projects in the Tandy email b. I bought a lot of stamping tools last year. They were in plastic self-seal bags with a card insert. Both the tool number and the barcode on the card insert were the same for Tandy and Ivan for the same design stamp

Just so we is all talking the same; The upright part of a fedora type is usually called the crown. The top bit which keeps the rain out is the Crown Former Yes, you need to add at least 1/4 inch, maybe up to about 1/2 inch for the bottom edge of the crown to fold outwards to sew to the brim. Commonly, the Crown Former has the excess and its folded down so that the Crown former inserts into the crown piece and then its sewn around the circumference from the side For fitting to the shape of your head; there are several ways to do that 1. If you have a hat that fits, or even if it doesn't, cut a piece of cardboard so it fits neatly into the hat and use that as a template to cut the hole on the new brim piece card pattern 2. Take some cardboard, cut a hole in it and try fitting it over your head, keep trimming it until it is a comfortable size that fits. Then cut another 1/8 inch or so from the edge of the hole. That's an allowance for the leather of the crown when it fits to the brim. The old time 'mad hatters' of London used to keep wood discs with egg shaped holes in them for sizing customer's heads. They kinda look like toilet seats, 3. I have a few polystyrene foam heads which I use for sizing the panel hats. In centimetres the heads go from 54cm, 56, 58 & 60 circumference. For doing a brimmed hat I cut a cardboard pattern and trial it out on one of my disembodied heads first

For #1 the best way is measure around the head; about 1 inch above the eye brows and just above the ears If you are making a hat of panels, the sum of all the panels, each panel measured between the sewing lines at a point which will the brow line, should equal the total of the circumference of the head For something like a fedora, which has a one piece crown, that should be the same as the head circumference plus any sewing/lacing allowance if its ab over-lap join #2 you don't, until you try it on. If you've measured and cut carefully it should fit ok

You can buy Grey / Gray dye I have some but there's no point me telling you who from cos they don't send out of GB, afaik Oh, alright then https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152663364215 Depth of shade of the grey / gray just depends on how many coats you put on btw, here in UK 'Slate Grey' varies from a blue-ish grey to a green-ish grey

What kind of foam is it? You can get thin sheets, about 1mm thick, in Hobbycraft. Its an EVA foam. From 50p/sheet See if this links you to a listing https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/kids/kids-craft-supplies/foam-sheets-and-shapes?sort=Sale_Price~asc edit PS Hobbycraft says 2mm thick but its not consistent. I just checked some of my stock and much of it is only 1mm, but some, same colour from the same multi-pack is closer to 2mm edit #2 This place does neoprene down to 2mm thick. I've bought thicker from them for sound proofing my hole-punching table https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252353238313 edit #3 above place; 1mm thick sheets https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254212795359?hash=item3b30436bdf:g:6aYAAOSwVL1V-Urt

What do you call 'the original' ? Le Prevo does the wood handle one. I've used mine for over 20 years. No problems with it http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/strap-cutter.html

I've used PVA glue. Have done for many years Its ok on joints which do not have any forces on them. eg my game boards, leather to wood board You can get 'weather proof' water resistant PVA. Also you can make ordinary PVA water resistant by adding that floor varnish 'Mop & Glo' or whatever its called in your area. About 5% added to the glue and it dries water resistant I'd not use the children's PVA I can get, its thinner and a weaker version. For roughly the same price I can get regular wood workers PVA, to which I add 'Astonish' floor varnish.

Generally you use a 'resist' on the bits you don't want dyed Use Resolene or 'Mop & Glo' varnish. Other on here have their favourites. Run the resist into the area, flood it mostly, using a fine paint brush, several coats are best. Then after its dry dye, but apply the dye lightly around your lighter area

Usually yes. But give it very light feed of NFO before you case it again Feed it (before mid-nite ), leave it for a day or two, then use it Case the leather, lay it out, put a weight on it, after a while, well before its starting to dry try running a brayer or domestic rolling pin over the wrinkles. Work from the centre outwards, then put the weight back on. Try this a few times

Any thickness from about 1.2 / 1.4mm thru to about 2.2 / 2.4 mm for small items About 2.4 / 2.6mm for knife sheaths about 3.5 / 4.5mm for holsters

Depending on your location; you local version of 'Mop & Glo' Its a water thin floor 'polish' which is actually an acrylic varnish. Depending on your version, it may need thinned, with water. My version is already very thin. About 3 or 4 coats of it should do

Magnets have a strength rating N35 is about the lowest and not very strong. Look for and buy magnets rated at N50 or N52. These cost a bit more but they are super strong. When I use magnets I put them in place with a dab of contact adhesive and then cover it/them with an extremely thin piece of leather glued to the main piece, pressed down tight around the magnet. The thinner the leather the better as the thickness of the leather reduces the pull of the magnet. And try to avoid chrome tanned leather for the cover. I found that thickness for thickness chrome tan reduced the pull far more than veg tanned leather did In haberdashery you can buy magnets enclosed in small plastic wallets, all ready for sewing into clothes and such. But I've found these magnets are not very strong Also, you can add magnets to each other to increase their pull. But you can only do so many. There is a formula for this but its basically less than 10x the diameter of the first magnet, after this you get a diminishing return, ie the magnet strength actually starts to weaken

Wot he says Its a sales ploy 'it'll sew leather et cetera'. I might sew very thin leather, like 0.5mm or so but really its a no goer. Having said that I use my Singer 99K for punching sewing holes in leather up to about 3mm thick, but I've not used it with thread to sew

Eire has made things worse. In the past goods were trucked from GB and Eu, through Holyhead to Dublin and up the road to N.I. But Eire introduced its own customs checks. A truck carrying an assortment of goods to M&S in N.I. needs, in triplicate, thats 3 copies, of customs forms of 300 pages each for each type of goods, ie boxes of chocolates, one set, ready-meals, one set et cetera. M&S says they employ 14 vets full time just to fill in the customs forms for goods to N.I. All foods need a vets clearance signed off. Now a lot of these trucks go Liverpool - Belfast, but there is still a lot of customs paperwork. A lot of courier companies have given up and won't deliver here anymore. Just the big ones still do. But even before this nonsense a lot of GB businesses would not post or courier to N.I. I used to have a friend in Northants who would accept my parcels and post them on via RM / PF

Here's a wee latest; For the last couple of years I've been buying dyes from a certain company in England with no problems. Just an hour ago they changed to ' we do not deliver to Northern Ireland' If I feel like it I might contact them and ask why the change

Be aware that not all these sets have the same size punches* In my set I have three fat oblongs and three skinny ones. Skinny ones; in mm, 30 x 5, 25 x 5 and 20 x 4 Fat ones; in mm, 25 x 16, 16 x 10 and 13 x 8 * I just check the sizes of mine against the list on the set I linked to; they are different

I use the ones I linked to as well. Under my press but without a magnet A swipe with a diamond sharpening plate keeps an edge on them

I think he's looking for this style of cutter; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254559300541?hash=item3b44eaabbd:g:9PYAAOSwQEtehzRr there are only a few oblong ones in a set though

yes, this line intrigues "This means that we will cease normal trading on 24th December."

'It was all a dream' He was in the shower all this time

Make them, sell them, pocket the money I only got a makers stamp a few years back and still 99% of stuff I make goes out without the stamp on it A makers stamp is good for knowing your work, especially traceability for guarantees and such Something I once did on a different product was to put a secret mark on my items. When I got one back with a complaint I looked and the secret mark was not there, the item was another maker's copy of mine.

Thanks for finding all that out