fredk

Have you tried just shaving off the worst then pasting/ gluing the rear of the piece?

Very carefully, I started with a smooth cut jewellers file, on each side and the angles of the tip of each prong. Then I progressed to a used * card & grit nail file. After this I used a slip of a broken 'India' stone from my sea-fishing days - that was used for sharpening the hooks. * used cos its very, very smooth, almost just polishes the prongs BTW. I've been experimenting with this, as a punching block for stitching chisels only Its a flat block of wax, about 4 inches x 5.5 inches by 1 inch deep. Made from all the scraps from incomplete burnt candles and some wax I had left over from when I made candles to sell. I think I heed to add some carnauba wax into it to increase its hardness. When I find a: a bigger tray and b: more wax I'll remake it with a bigger surface area. It does multiple things - it'll take the stitching chisels points without damaging them and also they get a wee bit of wax on them, for lubrication. Its almost self-healing - after doing some punching the surface is a bit chewed up with holes but I just put it onto a little electric cooking ring I have, heat it up and the wax melts and smooths out and a short time later its ready for use again.

I rarely use steel based rivets anymore. I use pure brass ones. They cost only a few pence/cents more. No more problem with corrosion You can get brass rivets with various platings, eg black, gun metal, antique copper.

I have several sets of those chisels from China. Once sharpened and polished they are the bees knees. Nary a prob with them. I think I got them for about an average of £5 per set of 4 - a 1, 2, 4 & 6 prong. I bought them to see if they suited me. My intention was if they suited what I wanted I could replace with 'better quality' ones but they've proved to be excellent and not needing replaced. BTW, I punch through into a piece of scrap leather not any sort of board, if this makes any difference

The largest hole punch I had was about 3.5 inches diameter. They are used for punching holes in special gasket material for mainly engine head gaskets on internal combustion powered vehicles, or for other fittings on the vehicles. In the vintage car world you need to make your own gaskets. On my 1930 Austin 7 there are several items which need gaskets and I need to cut and punch these myself as replacements are no longer available to buy. On some fittings oiled leather is the choice material for the gasket.

Thanks friend. I'm rather caught up catching up with some resin casting at the mo, but I'll get on this asap

I believe we have discussed this before; there is a 'real' size' and a 'vanity' size. Vanity sizes are marked on men's & women's clothing without actually saying 'inches' I pointed this out to my son and he went thru his wardrobe of trousers and belts and found this to be so. eg. he measured up at a 35 to 36 inch waist. A lot of his trousers and some belts were marked 30, 32, or 34 - but no mention of inches. Only one pair of high quality trousers was marked 34 to 36 inches. Yet all his trousers fitted him comfortably. He was most annoyed to discover he was not in fact as thin as 32 or 34 inches. Since then he's been on a special diet and doing more cycling!

I didn't realise it was so easy! I did this the other evening to a cap on a bottle of latex moulding rubber In the past I was cutting the outer shell off with wire cutters and pliers! But for the most part I've just been replacing the caps with others from other bottles

Only leatherworkers would get excited about an old rotary hole punch !

I do believe you are really enjoying all this creativity. I hope you get a decent price for these bottles. Now, I can see where the dragon scales are not tidy or are mis-aligned. But, you know what? I think it is all the better for that (I must get a dragon scale stamp some time) However. in this photo I did notice that you had a couple of gaps in your stitching holes lines - in the stack on the right. I hope you've noticed it yourself. Those gaps just might affect the sealing edited to add; PS; what thickness of leather are you using and what are you packing into the bottle to make it shape?

Try looking for vintage car - antique car to you, number stamping sets Number font styles change over time but that style was used in the 1920s - '30s for car body and chassis ident numbers. The usual size of the numbers is 1/8 inch. Modern fonts are plainer, like Arial font - 2 8 7 9 8

I have a 99K. Its a fine machine. I need to learn how to use sewing machines. The 99 has been only used once, recently, for putting holes along the edges of a wallet so I could hand sew it with fine thread My 99 came with electric motor but I converted it to hand-power

Bearing in mind that I've never done a basketweave panel, with or without a border; When I'm having to stamp a repeat in a straight line; I lightly scribe a line using a ball end tool, then I clamp an iron bar along that line. Then when I'm stamping I just have to worry about the spacing along the line. I have several pieces of steel bar of various lengths and widths but all 3mm thick for this sort of work. If the iron bar is going to be on damp/wet leather I back it with duct/duck/gaffer tape.

I've thought hard about writing the following. I'm not posting as a troll. Its for your information. This will really annoy the US members In Northern Ireland US made goods are considered to be crap. Mention that its 'US made' and the advice is to throw it away and buy better quality Everything from vehicles to tools. Even US food is banned here because of its low quality US made things have an extremely bad reputation for being of poor quality and shoddy. Tool dealers I know and have dealt with have long since stopped importing and after-sales supporting certain US made tools because of their poor quality. Certain vehicle importers have stopped importing US built vehicles for the same reasons

That is really nice. If I had something like that it would make me take up drinking beer just so I could collect the tinnies in it

Nope. I'm not seeing what you are seeing I get; This listing is no longer available It may have expired or been sold. Take a look at these other items below. And different searches don't bring it up

Thanks for thinking of me Buts its sold maybe

Smashed down tight the head of a ready-rivet would be no higher than what had been in. Plus the head would be a smoother surface than the edges of what had been there

On rebuilding' I would use brass double headed ready-rivets

I use small electrical side-cutters to crush the sides of the hollow rivet inwards. Often this works so I can pull the fitting off the leather quite easily. Or the side-cutters will be needed to hold the rivet and I drill the rivet. I usually manage to get the side-cutters inbetween the fitting and the strap, or between the peened over end of the rivet and the strap

Questions with a multitude of answers Size of punch first, for a 4mm tongue I do a 4mm wide hole, but I use an oval hole punch so the hole is 4mm x 5mm The distance between holes can be what you like; on a lady's belt I go about 12mm between ends, about 16mm between centres, on a man's belt I go 16mm between ends, about 20mm between centres. On a shield strap I go 20mm between ends, about 24mm between centres How much billet to leave from the end to the first hole? whatever you like or whatever looks good. About 70 to 100mm maybe

If you have a problem with lighting your work 1. I have a couple of poseable lights, on each side of the bench, each with a very bright bulb. I use day-light colour balanced LED bulbs, about 20w, equivalent to about 100 -120w incandescent bulb. I can angle these lights anyways on to my work to eliminate any shadows 2. very occasionally I use a small fore-head light. Its a small LED torch which you can wear on your fore-head using its elastic strap. You can buy these for a couple of $$. Mine cost me £1 and I have several lying around the place. It gives a very bright light for all of its small size 3. You can buy an 'Opti-Visor' with a light and magnifiers built into one visor. These are more expensive, from about $10 upwards.

I reckon the leather is just too dry. Try applying some pure neats foot oil and working the leather in your hands to loosen it up somewhat

That looks very tidy indeedy