Handstitched

@Sheilajeanne Spam : "Something posing as meat " 🍖 It's all lips and a***holes , and tastes great .😁 @chuck123wapati just turned my cheapie wood fired brazier , with bbq plate, into a gas fired bbq using a 2 ring gas burner from the hardware . It needs a few adjustments here and there, but otherwise works great , I tested it this arvo with a sausage and piece of bacon 🥓 BBQ for dinner Saturday night with fried rice, and a few beers, of course that old ' bunky ' gas bbq of mine needs some tlc now , another 'round to it' job . I'd like to do a full restore on, it not too many bbq's with cast iron burners around these days . HS

800 euros is around $1500 au. That's a pretty good haul of goodies 👌 I'd be like a kid at Christmas, I just want to play HS

Are we allowed to know what your day job is, ? because those tubes look so handy and functional. I used to do a paper round in my little town some years ago, and I kept the empty cardboard tubes from the rolls of cling film that wrapped the papers, so strong and so handy . HS

That's what I call ' flying blind ' . For example: A customer asks me to make a leatherman type case, so I make a tracing , size, width etc of the item, and make template from the dimensions given *. I also get as much detail from the customer as possble. Same goes for sheaths etc. It's best to have the knife, leatherman , or item to make a custom leather case etc. *over the years, I now have quite a collection of templates for various applications. HS

Very nice 👌 All of my rolls of leather are under benches,, scraps, off cuts etc are stuffed in bags, boxes, on home made shelves under benches and in every conceivable gap in my workshop, and i've run out of those. I have a 20 x 20 and it's getting rather tight in there with 4 sewing machines, and a USM press, and a " partridge in a pear tree " 🌳 😀 Time for me to do what you've done, go up in stackable boxes, either that or have a ' clearance sale ' . HS

On of the 'wurst' accidents occurred in Pennsylvania this week , when a truck carrying approximately 500kg of hot dogs lost control scattering the yumny load along the hwy, according to ' sauces' . A truck load of hot dog rolls also crashed immediately after (just kidding) . There is now a competition to see how quick the mess can be cleaned up . It 'mustard ' have been a difficult job to 'swallow' . Just need a truck carrying a load of beer to spill its load to 'wash down ' the mess . HS

Experience also comes from making silly painful mistakes . It seems to have taken forever for my finger to fully heal after I got too close to the business end of my sewing machine 🙃 @chuck123wapati my Mother's potters wheel is a ' Venco', it's a floor model with a pedal on one side . It does still work.When I saw the current price my jaw droped they are now from $1000 upwards, holy crap ! You're a smart bloke , do whatever you can to make your own , but be careful , we're not getting any younger , lol 😆 Last week, I thought I'd try and make a camp heater for my portable gas stove using a dog food tin , it does help to wash the tin first ? the smell in my workshop was horrific , had to open doors and windows : epic fail , duh 🙄 HS

You may wish to kneel down to royalty 👑 Just kidding , lol. I've been asked to judge at our perth royal show in the leather section in September, can't say no can I? I do remember trying my hand on mums potters wheel eons ago, it didn't end well , it does take quite a bit of practice, and concentration and the skin around the fore fingers and thumbs wear thin. At this point in time, no more dressing changes for dad , just some moisturiser on the op sites. I hear you about your suburbans, I have 3 land rovers, 3 tractors and a 64 triumph herald coupe that I so love to play with. I am ' resource rich but time poor' atm . I tell my customers, " I can make almost everything, except time " Take care, HS

If my memory serves, years ago , mum had a few tubs of clay in one of our sheds, 2 different types for different applications. They were hermetically sealed , and still soft ready to use, heat and moisture kept them preserved. I might try to find them . I wonder ? 🤔 I also have her potters wheel, tools etc. Had our last visit to the hospital this arvo (hopefully) just another video conference to go. All that I've been doing seems to have paid off , according to the nurse, can't thank them enough for their help. And yes, not a period to be repeated. Take care HS

I rarely bevel the flesh side unless it's heavy leather like 5mm harness vt. I regularly bevel the grain side on most projects ,and fancy belts, but i dont bevel the plain belts as there are so many . HS

Beautiful pics Well , things are progressing . Dads op site is pretty much healed up. No more dressing changes. Yey ! Just some lanolin to maintain the area. Just his skin graft area on his thigh is taking a bit longer to heal, i have to change that dressing every 2 days now, makes a change from visiting the local hospital every 2 days. We know nearly all the staff now by name , been there that many times. Still have the occasional video conference with major hospital in Perth. Hope all is well with your daughter and recovering well , and you're looking after yourself as well, taking care of our loved ones can be 'challenging ' . Take care friend HS

It took me a while to spot it too. Only a leather worker would pick it up, but I 'd think the average person wouldn't see it. But as suggested, antiquing might do the trick . HS Nice work BTW

They are fantastic , the cat especially. Incredible talent HS

@fredk re: vintage radios, I have a shed with my collection of valve radios in . Along with parts, valves etc. It was a hobby in another life . Some are / were in working condition, some restored, table models and floor models ,but I have nowhere to display them in my house, no room The one that zapped me is a Philips (I think) single valve wood bee hive cabinet. When unplugged, it put out 95 volts ⚡️ . HS

@mbnaegle totally off topic, but i was working on a vintage radio and got zapped, it was unplugged. Capacitors didn't bleed off before I worked on it. But I hear ya . USM motors are so good . Finger is not quite healed , yet. What I read in your post made me feel the pain as I was reading it , ouch ! I wonder how many leather workers on here are now paying (more) attention to what they are doing after reading this thread ? It's so easy to get get distracted 🙄

@chuck123wapati you did real well on those pots , and don't forget to scratch your name and date on the bottom in the wet clay , they may become sentimental items in the future 😀

@AlZilla I did a smple test whilst sewing today .I turned the machine on , let it run for a bit, then turn it off and hit the pedal without thread, the machine turned for almost 10 seconds after it was turned off. So I would still need to be careful after its turned off . I made absolutely sure my fingers were well away from the business end and kept my foot away from the pedal when adjusting , refilling bobbins etc. Lesson learnt HS

Yeh, it's a clutch motor, and runs real sweet, touchwood 😀 HS

@chuck123wapati i was changing his dressings frequently before his cancer op, but post op at the local hospital they use specialised medicated dressings that aid healing, and they work too. Good to hear you're progressing well with your pottery , and just like leather, the sky's the limit 👌 The pot of soup is delish, there's a few more meals yet to go . God bless Mum for teaching me how to cook . I have yet to make her home made pickle, I found her 'secret ' recipe in her mountain of cook books. HS

Even after the machine is turned off, the motor continues to turn and takes a long time to comes to a complete stop, that's how good these motors are. My finger is still a little sore but getting better . However, I did knock it while collecting fire wood, , I didn't even swear, much . I was extra cautious when sewing today. It was just a lapse in concentration that caused my silly injury , it happens . HS

My middle finger on my right hand is now sporting a few layers of band aids after getting my finger caught up at the business end. I was putting a fresh bobbin into my Seiko stw, and I have no idea how I did it, but I hit the pedal and crushed the nail. Blood poured out , that and a few choice words. Just glad it wasn't the big leather machine, I would have passed out from the pain . My mother on her machine , Pfaff 60, the needle went straight through her finger , dad had to unscrew the needle and pull it out with a pair of pliers I we both nearly passed out . Be safe peeps HS

When making belts, I use inches, but I also use millimetres and centimetres for a lot of other things I make , I'm just weird . In the 'olden days' going from one country town to the next would be a ' 2 can or 3 can trip, ..... as in beer lol , can't do that these days @Northmount not sure what that plant is but it looks lovely . i was born in the uk and it snowed every christmas as a kid, i miss that . our summers here in Oz at the peak are often around the high 40's , and even tops 50 degrees c on occasion , as in Celsius

@chuck123wapati I do hope things are improving for you and yours and your daughter is getting better 👍 I take dad to the local hospital every 2 days to get his dressings changed, and the nurses keep telling me his op site continues to improve. Being in the bush ,We have a video conference with plastic reconstruction nurse at the major hospital in Perth every 2 weeks , and is looking (cautiously) optimistic for him . Just about to make a pot of soup using ham bone leftovers , it's really cold here atm , You take care friend , HS

Bingo ! we all learn something new every day . HS

The tool in the centre looks a bit like a rivet setter as I can see a notch in the middle ? HS