bermudahwin

Right length fo some "exotic" pieces, I'd guess, but there may be issues with finish, etc etc, I am a no-nothing in this area. H

That looks kinda nifty, I'll UK amazon hunt for it. Thanks GRod What and lose all of this space? Its heating it that's the bummer, as its a single skin brick garage that was converted by a previous occupant. my Godson's a PhD post doctoral naturalist and has been 3 months Guelph, 3 months northern Yukon, and he has 'explained' my workshop is not cold, many times... He is, of course, wrong! I dont envy any of my friends and ex colleagues in US, Canada and northern Europe the temperatures, and used to moan like a baby when it was me that had to travel in winter. So you have my sympathy. H

We share drink making duties, as both work from home. It's her measure as she always drinks hot drinks whilst they are hot. H

As I am not overwhelmingly stupid, and because I really appreciate the attention, I do drink almost all of them !

So how focussed are you? My wife measures it in cold coffees... "That is the [insert number here] coffee you've let get cold, whilst you are doing..." whatever. Today has been a four cold cup day, and I am mainly sketching a satchel and some bits for a commission. And its only 12 centigrade / 53 F in the workshop, so I should drink it hot if I had any sense.

My new servo motor is a joy. Good call, Matt H

Welcome, that's a steal for that machine in working order. Well done.

I seem to recall that chamois leather (of car washing fame) is an oil tannage of some kind. H

Old fashioned brewers pitch could not be bought as it contained non consumable ingredients. The Leather Man https://www.the-leather-man.co.UK. may be prepared to point you in the right direction. H

People are interested, but you do need to reply to them, or they will become disinterested. You posted Aug 2018, and have answered no queries. How much, does it include letter sets, and for me, cost to UK with 240v please> Thanks H

I do the same as creek, I have seen industrial systems using steel moulds, but not many hand crafters. H

Always a hard call... When you're starting out, its good for free word of mouth advertising, but if they become too "demanding" its hard to keep a happy diposition.

Hard to describe how, but for bridle and harness we were taught as in the picture, capturing the keeper, but not stitching through it. and then throwing a stitch over the edge. Will try to remember to photo the next one I do. It avoids postage stamping. H

Paraffin or whale oil in the lamps Harry? What to go with my walrus tusk knife handles? Yup, HDPE is a good buy, and I must get some too.

My reply here covers some of your queries.

In industry... in the olden days, if we could see through the fug from oil lamps... we had HDPE mats that we 6 ft x 2 ft x 1 inch, on the bench, and on a side bench (we were the design room so got 'special treatment') had a butcher's block that needed oiling and prepping etc, that was 3 ft x 2 ft and had a piece of 1 inch HDPE off cut for punching, or a block of lead for punching. Using my head knife I am ok on self healing mats now, but my round knife use on wood only. Remember, in the factory we were mainly using clicking knives or head (half round) not round knives, so my 'go to' is a differing one than many. I use my scalpel for bookbinding, nearly exclusively. Best H

I looked at this UK site, and when I have made my bench will contact them. I like the interlocking mats, as you can move them around as they wear. https://signgeer.com/equipment-workshop/sign-furniture/cutting-mats Harry

I use a German machine similar to this for skiving (at an angle), edge paring for turned over edges and paring for bookbinding (laborious but better than using a spokeshave and lots of bad language). If I could get another machine in my shop, it would be a bell skiver, but to do that I'd have to move my computer into the garden. In short, its as sharp as the razor blades you put in it. You will get through a lot of scrap getting used to setting it up, but it will do a job. H

@ Sheilajeanne Yes the Clicking presses were developed following the manual cutting of paterns by operatives. The noise of the blades against the brass bound patterns was the clicking that gave the operatives the name 'clickers' and then the knives were clicking knives, and the press with press knives were developed to speed up the clicking process. http://www.digitaljournal.com/image/111919 shows a clicking room. You can imagine the noise of the hand held knives around the templates. https://bowstock.co.uk/acatalog/info_CKIND.html is one of the clicking knives I use, but I grind my own blades from hacksaw blades. I have used zinc patterns for ages and used to use brass bound in the factory as a designer, as it was cheaper to get a bound pattern to test the design and show buyers from the big stores, before getting press knives made up, as it was reasonably cheap to change single components. As I am only doing batch runs at most, I thought I'd try both zinc and brass bound to see which I preferred now. The zinc cost 70% of the bound, but the thickness on the bound may make for a more even cut. Some top end shoe makers still use the brass bound for their shoes probably as it is more traditional. Harry I rarely tool my work nowadays, its not as popular in the UK, so I usually work in Bridle with a polished finish. Sometimes there are folks that want names on the belts, and I have stamps to do it, but not too often. H

I have now received two patterns, and will try them later. The service was excellent, and I cannot recommend S J West Press Knives in Rushden, UK, highly enough. Harry

Could not find the stuffed pigskin when I visited, unfortunately. H

the leather was saddle skirting, fully stuffed from Sharp and Woollard in Stony Stratford, UK and I only recently found a pigskin that (almost) matches it. So I will be making another using a cuir bouillon method in a couple of weeks. H

Seriously disappointed with it

Welcome to the forum, Peter, we are a friendly bunch, and we always seem to be learning. Best Harry

I'm a bit late to the party, but pigskin has a distinctive tyre hair follicle pattern on pigskin, which is evident if you zoom into the pictures. It looks like "..." all over the skin. Some cow splits are plated with this pattern, but the follicles are much more even when it's a patterned cowhide. Also it looks like a sueded split, but also there's no tell tale coloration on the edges, so I'd also suggest a mainly veg tan, possibly a mixed tannage. I love pigskin and have a coin purse that has had daily use, in a pocket with a billfold and keys since 1986, and has only just started to look tired.