fredk

umm, thats what I do

I cannot give you an answer. They just will not send to N.I. They have their reasons. I've got used to it I'll not go into it too much, just one recent example; I bought a plastic model thru ebay from a seller in England. The seller cancelled the sale - ' I don't send to your country'. We're the same bluddy country!

When I started in this crazy lark about 21 years ago I searched out and contacted many places. Some never answered, some just said they didn't "export to 'Ireland' " or didn't send to N.I. Only Le Prevo, Stu himself, replied with, 'What do you want?' and I've been buying from them ever since afair I did contact Abbey a couple of years ago about buying a round knife but their answer was 'we don't send to Ireland' There are many, many companies, not only leather suppliers but in other things as well, in GB who will just not send to N.I. Sometimes we are just a pariah

Seeing this I just went to their website. Stu told me back in January he was thinking of retiring but I thought he was joking I've been buying from them for over 20 years. They were the only place who would send to N.I. If they close my only other option is to buy from Tandy in Texas

No, each element needs 2mm added to each side Lets say you have a straight line 3mm wide and 2mm deep on the male plate. The female accepting that would need to be 2 + 3 + 2 wide = 7mm wide and 2 +2mm deep = 4 mm to allow 2mm leather to fit in between

I think this is not really too new Swarovski do a range of wee glass animals. They are very, very expensive. I knew people who collected them. Then one day, ok, really, over a short time the word 'Swarovski' was removed from the description. No longer a 'Swarovski' crystal glass (name of animal). They became just a 'Crystal glass (name of animal) and the shop in Dungannon which sold these animals got a visit from an aggressive Swarovski rep who removed all the Swarovski signs and told the shop owner in the strongest terms not sell the animals using the brand name again. This was nigh on 25 years ago

May I suggest you try to find a local electronics geek and take the board to him/her? A story. Years ago my photo-processor's main developing machine broke down. A board in it had gone faulty. No replacement readily available. Would take several months to replace if at all. With the processor doing several hundred films per hour on 3 machines he was looking at buying a new main machine at tens of thousands of ££. One of our friends, who was a bit of geek and weirdo, came by. Disappeared in to the room with the machine. Then cleared off. Two hours he was back. Back into the machine room, came out and declared the film processing machine was fixed. And it was. Cost? was a small component at 25 pence (I kid you not). Our geek had looked at the boards, saw the problem, took the board out and home, soldered in a replacement component from his stock of bits. His payment? was 'will you give me a ten pack of xxxx film?' He got more than ten films and free film processing & printing for several months

Thats why we make so much, have more distilleries per head of population and so many Beta-tasters checking it out in all the pubs. But a Black Bushe will beat any other pretend whisky any day of the week

The Irish invented WHISKEY (note spelling with an E) Then they shared it with the Scots who cannot do it right and have to blend it to make it drinkable and they can't even spell the word the correct way - WHISKY - note, no E

yeah but its fun, interesting and satisfying when its done edit: umm, do I see another chewed up screw head? 3rd photo, bottom right,

It is an interesting piece Having both mm and oz on the scale might it be post-WW2? Maybe 1960s? I have a few old English leather work books of WW2 and immediate post-WW2 era and they measure leather in ounces. Its not till the 1970s books I see leather measured in millimetres edit to add; btw that chewed up screw head above the MM annoys me. I'd take a fine file to it and smooth it out

When I attach the the thin leather lining I 1. cut the lining close to the size needed 2. on the inside of my main piece I draw a line where my stitching will be, allowing for a trim cut - lets say, 6mm in from the edge, allowing 1 or 2mm trim 3. I draw a line between the stitching line and the edge, in this pretend case it would be about 3 or 4mm from the edge / 3 or 2mm from the stitching line 4. after I glue the lining on and before the glue has fully cured I use a very sharp knife to trim the lining leather to that intermediate line and peel away the excess 5. if or when I skive the edge before sewing the lining leather just gets a touch. 6. I glue and sew the next piece to the first. The edge of the lining is hidden but caught in the sewing 7. at an edge where there is no other piece to be sewn on, like the outer edge of a bag flap, I skive the edge of the main piece back about 10mm then just glue the lining leather to it. making sure that the edge is full glued down, then I trim it to tidy it

Sprat can adhesive. Has the main advantage of being able to cover a large area very quickly 1. a light spray coat of adhesive. 2. let it 'flash' off, ie let the solvent evaporate, takes just a minute 3. check tacky of adhesive, not wet just sticky 4. lay material on 5. use a brayer to press and flatten the lining material Only a light coat of adhesive is needed. It just needs to hold the liner in place, there is no stress on it

It was the best part of 30 years ago, before I started leather working/crafting but I'm 99% sure it was a veg tan. The care instructions were for a veg tan leather afair

One other aspect; sometimes, just some times, the flesh side of leather can act as an abrasive over time. I had limited experience of this with two different bags. One was for fishing equipment. The enamel coating on some reels was abraded off over time. The other bag was a very top make. I got one on the recommendation of a friend. We each carried our camera gear in our bags. Again, over time, the enamel coating on camera bodies and lens barrels was abraded off. Not only was this unsightly but it lowered the re-sale value of the camera equipment. It didn't matter to me as I used my cameras until I killed them but my friend up-graded about twice a year, thus he lost a lot of trade-in value. I get thin leather which is about 0.5mm to 0.8mm thick. I glue this to the inside of the main bag leather. That thinness doesn't worry anything when doing gussets and such

Not only aesthetics, but more of a 'finished' look. I keep quite a range of thin skiver leathers in numerous colours for lining shoulder bags. Once, when I made a simple one for someone she looked inside, saw the raw, but neatly finished interior of just the flesh side of the main bag leather and said ' you've not finished it then?' and ever since I've been gluing a thin skiver leather to the interior flesh side.

Don't forget chaps that the UK mains electricity has a different alternating rate than the US mains electricity. UK= 50 hertz and US = 60 hertz. This can affect how some electrical items will run I know you are going from UK 220/240 to US 120 but when we moved from the US to the UK we used transformers for some electrical items and they ran differently on the UK 50 hertz cycle

Gesso is very fragile after a while. I can and will crack off its substrate after time. Its a bane of art restorers My 'floor polish' on its own, with or without dye, is too thin as a 'paint'. It will seal the edge and several coats will build up something like a painted edge but then it too becomes rather un-flexible. Perhaps if a neutral filler such as talc is added to it as well to give it some body it might work. I occasionally use the 'polish' with talc added as a fine line filler on my model aeroplanes

Gesso is a paint with a filler, such as talc or gypsum which artists paint on their raw canvas before painting. As it has a filler it can be put on to canvas, and historically onto shields, thickly and built up to give a 3 D effect

Shure, I will I'll PM you my address

When my father sort-of gave up making cabinets and things for sale he went into 'hobby' mode. He then spent most of his time making wood stands for his woodworking machines and boxes or cabinets to hold all their removable parts

More sage wisdom, Get to know one or two leather suppliers. in a business sense. That relationship will work well for you in the long term. Ask those suppliers if they have any old or odd leathers they need shot of. I mean, I once got a big hide from Le Prevo real cheap because the way it had been stored part of it got darkened by light and another part was dusty dirty. It cleaned up well and once dyed the colour was all the same Ask for what I think you call 'close out' (?) leather. Sometimes a place has only one or two certain hides left. Too few to offer up on their website maybe but they might sell them off a bit cheaper to get room for a new order - I've got leather that way (I also got my Cadillac Coupe DeVille that way! ) Chrome tan has its place but certain leathers are suitable for only certain things. Chrome tan was great for this hat But its no good for covering a game board I've made book covers from both chrome and veg tan leathers Chrome Veg If you are really skint, get along to some 'thrift' stores. See if they've got in some old furniture that is no good to sell and they're going to dump. Some of it might have leather on it which you can cut off and re-use

I think the splitter sold by Le Prevo is by 'Ivan' Check their price before you buy

No formula, but I think I've noticed that the further from the back-bone you go the greater the shrinkage rate. ie, at the back-bone = very minimal, by the belly = more shrinkage. I do very little tooling but some stamping. I've limited shrinkage by keeping the casing to the very minimum, just sponge wetting the surface mostly and by changing from water/alcohol based dyes to oil based dyes

1. don't buy pre-cut blanks or pieces. Buy the leather by the square foot. It works out waaaaaay cheaper in the long term. Buy from a seller who quotes $X per square foot, not from a place that prices $Y for approx A to B square feet because you'll most likely get a smaller piece for the money, thus the sq ft price will be higher 2. shop around to buy that leather, you can get quality leather from many places and prices can vary as well 3. If having to pay shipping or delivery to you consider investing and buying in more than you need now. Its the same delivery charge from my supplier for one piece of hide of 20 sq ft as it is for three hides that size