celticleather

This 'guy' is Joanna Flint - a thoroughly reliable eBay trader! I have often bought butts of bridle leather and other bits and pieces from her, and have always found her to be honest and efficient. Her leather is all good stuff!

This is his son's inheritance!

Looks like the sort of result I get from Fiebing's Professional Oil Dye, Saddle Tan, but it can vary from one hide to the next!

I make a lot of belts for people who insist on having their leather undyed and natural. Like lazybum says, it's some sort of 'cult' thing! To avoid getting dirt and fingermarks on the the leather, I give the belt blanks two coats of Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax before I start handling them . . . seems to work for me!

Rings like this can usually be inserted not by prising the ends apart, but by twisting the top and bottom in opposite directions, until the gap between the ends is wide enough to pass the leather through. The ends of the ring are then twisted back to their original position. This also works for D-rings and jump rings, and prevents the shape from becoming distorted.

Take a look here . . . http://laundry.about.com/od/stainremoval/a/leatherinkremov.htm. No guarantees, but it's worth trying!

Whenever my cement brush dries out, I just drop it into a pot of fresh cement. The solvents in the cement soon loosen it up.

The 'fixing length' of a belt is usually 2 or 3 inches greater than waist size, because of the thickness of the waistband of the trousers (pants). The safest method of measuring is to use a belt that you have worn, and measure from the end of the buckle to the point where you most often fasten the belt (see pic). This will be the centre hole of the new belt.

If you have some dried-up cement, perhaps from around the edge of your glue pot, roll it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Gently dab it or rub it onto the glue that's on your project, and with any luck it will lift it away without damage. Alternatively, rub the area gently with a piece of crepe rubber . . . this usually works.

Hi Julia I almost always use Fiebing's dyes, and I prefer to use the Professional Oil Dyes, since they don't seem to dry out the leather as much as plain spirit dyes. Other folk prefer Angelus dye (which I've never tried), but I've no doubt you'll get responses from them as well! http://www.fiebing.c...lor_Charts.aspx http://www.angelusshoepolish.com/ Terry

There's also a useful tutorial here: http://www.bowstock.co.uk/saa.html

I used to use a couple of 1mm calfskin sleeves on the little finger of each hand, and found them to be very effective. However, over the years the skin in this area has become so hard that I don't need them any more!

For the past 30-odd years I've used the traditional pricking iron, diamond awl and two needles - and they still work fine for me!

I think oil of cloves is supposed to relieve toothache . . . perhaps it will relieve your sticky headache, too . . ?

Ordinary veg-tan leather will probably be too soft for building heel blocks. You need bend leather . . . the type that is used for shoe soles - about 15-16oz. This has been very heavily rolled and compacted and has a wood-like density. The layers of leather should be cut oversize, fastened together with strong adhesive and nails, and then ground down to size on a belt sander. The top surface of the heel block then needs to be dished to fit onto the shoe upper . . . a flat surface won't mate properly with the underside of the upper.

I don't think it's Christmas until I hear Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl. I wonder why they never play it in the supermarkets . . ?

Ray I remember Corona, in all its flavours, delivered to your door every week by the 'Corona Man'. It had a clip-on cap that would keep the 'fizz' in. I went out for a drink with my daughters a couple of weeks ago, and one of them asked for a Corona. I said that I didn't know it still existed . . . and then found out that it's now a Mexican lager beer! I must get out more! Terry

There are a number of useful tutorials at http://www.bowstock..../tutorials.html, and a lot of information can be found at http://www.kingsmerecrafts.com/ (scroll to foot of page). Another very useful source of information is The Leatherworking Handbook by Valerie Michael, with step-by-step guides to a number of projects.

I often dilute to 50:50 to achieve a lighter shade, and I've never had any problems with durability or rub-off.

Joanne Flint sometimes has offcuts for sale on eBay. Check out Item No 130442625206 for a link to her shop. If you can't find anything there, send her a question via the eBay 'Ask a Question' facility . . . she's very helpful.

Same as above, in pictures, at http://www.bowstock.co.uk/tan_win.html

We once had a printing press that slid out of the lifting sling and rolled into the managing director's car . . . made quite a mess of both press and car!

The proper tool is a fleshing knife . . . not very expensive to buy, but I'm sure a draw knife would work equally well!

I agree with Norwegian. If you soak the pegs they will swell, and when they dry out they will be loose in the sole. They also need to be dry and hard to achieve a good penetration.

Abbey Saddlery (http://www.abbeysaddlery.co.uk/) in the UK has everything you would ever need, and they're quite happy to send stuff overseas.