bermudahwin

Jewellers rouge on the edge of leather; I can see how this works and wish I'd thought of it years ago, thanks for the tip bikermutt. Jewellers rouge on threads of varying thicknesses; over time this may mishapen the cutting edge into a curve. And restoring a flat edge to a curved blade area is a nightmare. H

Sorry, myjtp, I am in the UK and use a leather factor for my skins. Best Harry

Thanks Tom, Yup, I am happilly vegetarian, and you forgot Fruitarians and Pescatarians from your list. A vegan is always a vegetarian, but not all vegetarians are vegan. Vegetarians donteat flesh, and that includes chicken and fish. I am Lacto-ovo vegetarian, as I can eat eggs and dairy, My brother has an immediate reaction to eggs, so I got the lucky cal in our family. I know and am friends with many veggies and vegans, and have never tried to convince one top change their lifestyle. I am often admonished by vegans for eating dairy and eggs, and using leather. Whilst a bit of the above has been off-topic, there is sensible advice on alternatives to leather, as well as more esoteric discussion of why people would happilly use products that are reliant on the petrochem industry, whist not using the readily available by product of the meat industry. Best Harry

Can be thin, but not as thin as kangaroo. Flexible, easy to work, and great pore pattern. H

Aah, that's a damn good thought. My dies are in 20 oz or 32 oz bottles mainly, so that one never even hit my horizon.

It was never EVER good to use this s**t on a hot day either Jeez, mate, I'm in the UK, it never gets that hot. You're spot on regarding the nastiness, but if you're covering a flask it's the mutts nuts

Wow, Ticks and meat allergy, who'd have thunk it? I refuse to even consider animals souls in the skins, just not on my radar, and will be ignored if it comes on my radar. SHEESH! Bikermutt, that would work. Good thought. H

Sorry, yes, Really Useful Box is a brand, and I have seen them in Office shops in UK and US, I have seen them in various online stores. http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/usa/

Mine are all in a Really Useful Box, so if they go over they're in a plastic box. Harry

Thanks for the sympathy guys, but its been 45 years, and I am well used to it. Not life threatening, but very unpleasant. Still enjoy leatherwork.

Another, more useful thought. If you are making straps or harness out of vinyl or similar, ensure you use a strong reinforcement on the back as its not useually as strong as the same weight leather.

Thanks Bill, for the review, it is very useful. I would add Porvair to the pretend leathers, used a lot in the footware industry, as it was wipe clean for a shine (I think it may have been Tuf in the UK that marketted that, but I may have misremembered). Patent leather, on the orther hand was genuine leather with a patent finish (some kind of dope) to give it a megashine. Many reptile and amphibians go into the killed for their skin list too, as exotics. Since I was about 13 I have had allergic reaction to eating all meats that I have tried - really the reaction is genuinely something I would wish on my worst enemies! As such I learned leatherwork and saddlery at college, as a vegetarian. Whoohoo, lets pick on the weird guy time. It has never been an issue to me, as I would rather ALL of the animal was used to give it some grace and dignity, than just eating the flesh and not using any of the rest. I am happy for it to go to tanners, finishers, glue makers, whatever, but do not waste it. I do not personally use exotice, but that's my choice, and I have seen stunning work with exotics, and marvel at it, I just cannot bring myself to use it. I rarely bring up the fact that I am vegetarian, but boy, you are right about the New Vegans, a sect that seems to self evangelise more than most others (maybe electric car drivers too...) If someone wants straps that aren't leather, that is their choice, but I will not buy in vinyl specially. I suggest fredk has it right, thrift store, or Richard suggesting Walmart. Maybe I could get them to do me a meat free beef wellington, as easily as I can come to teams with animal free leather.

I was taught by Francis in the early 1980s, and knew of the Leather Connection, but always thought the manuals were good but a little pricey. I understood the rights to the website and materials had been purchased by a commercial enterprise in the US. I haven't looked into who. Having reviewed the thread... Mr Mills was Senior Lecturer at The Cordwainers Technical College, London. He taught classic production, and factory management, so his bias was such that you learned benchmade styles for limited runs, as well as machinery use, material sourcing and product costing/break even points etc. He was a very highly regarded craftsman in the UK, and taught many that are now Master Craftsmen in Guilds in London and elsewhere. Ps. It was Burdett-Mills not Burnett-Mills. Harry

Brilliant, thanks Matt, I'd missed them. Excellent summary, I appreciate it. I used to work at Regent Belt on their light leather goods design side. So am used to it, and trained with it. That said, I am pleased they didn't test for driving under the influence after work. Everyone else... this is dangerous stuff, and should only be used in very well ventilated places. And now I will also use carbon filter mask. Harry

That looks cool, thank you for sharing.

Hi Matt I have been looking for toluene based contact cement for a few years, for leather onto metal. We used to use it in the factory I worked in. If you know of any stockists in the UK I would be grateful. Thanks Harry

Thank you all, will look over them at the weekend. H

And all this time I thought I was alone in my views.... We could start a group, just message me your... Nah, that wont work H

This, to a great extent, is why I am not on that or the tweety thing. No need for all of that information, AND I do not know who can access it from within groups. I am not a luddite, but there are some lines I would rather not cross. Good shout. H

That will work fine... I have .cmx and .cdr Corel format and Serif format on CD. I have scanned thousands of photos into JPG or PNG then put them into folders. Good luck, H

Old CDs but in unsupported file formats, and win 7 onwards is too advanced for the programmes So cds with 100000 images etc, but unavailable on modern machines. will look in the loft for my really old laptop tomorrow. H

Thank you, so much, Trying to access my old disks has proven mindbending. Best Harry

I am looking for clean simple vector graphics, such as those that were free all over the web about 15 years back, to browse for design inspiration. Has anyone seen anything recently, pretty much any subject, but not needing payment, credits, sign up, inside leg measurement etc. My old PC had thousands from Corel Draw, Serif etc, but nothing now. Thanks Harry

In the UK if you buy Oxalic Acid crystals, you must sign the poisons register. I have used it to clean very dirty leather, and also wooden table tops, but am never overly comfortable with it. With care it does a great job. H

It would be good to see the results Harry