bermudahwin

Now Fredk, that is a good idea, H

Denatured did not work, but have got most of it gone. Don't be lost, Mike and I had gone off topic to a 1950s comedy radio show, in the UK, and also I explained ref Plantar Warts, Thanks for the suggestion. H

"Thinks" can you hijack your own thread? Of course you can "You silly Twisted Boy, you... Have a gorilla?", "No thanks, I've just put one out "Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause... not a sausage" but then "I am the famous Eccles" but "I've not been deaded", now where is Little Jim? All together now... "He's fallen in the water". Goons was must listen to, and learn and quote, ad nauseum, in our house, it was sublime, and Navy Lark, and Round the Horn, "Hi I'm Sandy..." who used Polari, which included many Romani words I grew up with, so understood more than perhaps a 12 year old should have. Still listen to the wireless for comedy, but decent comedy is rare now. Milligan was a genius, and I still shout at baffled UK crows in Norfolk from Puckoon, when "Caw" says the crow, "Balls" says the Milligan. "Where did you get that accent?" "Eton, Old Sausage" "Well stop eating old sausage" There, its too late to start that album now. I'll do a belt instead, but we may, just may "all be murdered in our Tigers" but who gives a fig? H

Mrs HWinBermuda has Vanish and others in her chemical store, and as I am trying to clean my fingers to make a family photo album, I should get access rights, with the correct chitty. For our US cousins... "plantar warts" are called verruccas in the UK. In US Virgin Islands I was telling a pharmacist about a verrucca and she was so baffled, she said "what like Verrucca Salt?". Now it was my turn to be weirded as I had only just come to terms with Kosher Salt (Salt in UK) and Verrucca Salt was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I did not make the connection. A kindly gent, in his 80s was laughing as he became our translator.

Thanks KGG, had never thought of that. H

Thanks Bill, It seems to be £38 (yes GB pounds) a bottle here, so even if it does work, and I don't doubt you on that, I think I'll keep the what appears to be a wound on the workbench, and let the fingers sort themselves out, unless its not gone by the Christening I have to attend later in the month. H

IDIOT WARNING I had one small jar of very old, but lovely, Feibings Cordovan, from late 70's early 80's that was still doing ok... You know, all of the qualities we hark on about in old dyes, not being in new dyes. Apparently, last Friday, I must have bumped the bench and it fell onto the bench top, between my cutting board and my granite block, unnoticed. I saw it just now, and picked it up, to find the lid had damaged and I now have a very dark cordovan patch on my work bench... not a problem, but no old dye left is a bit of a downer. AND I picked up the bottle, and as its an untreated MDF top (quick, cheap and easy to replace) it had soaked in under it and went all over my hands. Anyhoo.... hints on getting the really good, penatrative dyes out from fingernails and cuticles would be appreciated, I look like the a scout for the zombie apocolypse. Now for a good tip, pumice stone works well on bare skin. So I have very clean fingers and very dark red nails and cuticles. Have buffed the outsides, but it look like I've not washed my nails for months. H PS which is the best oxblood / cordovan available nowadays, please?

I found a local beekeeper and traded a couple of key fobs (nice ones) for 6 good pats (9 to 12 oz) of white beeswax. She's happy, I'm set up for a year... H

Also the Leather Dictionary is quite a a good resource https://www.leather-dictionary.com/index.php/Crust_leather Best H

Looking good, Chris, H

Like 10% of us here could freehand that, and I am dissing nobody, If I could freehand that, I'd chuck the art and CAD packages and save a heap. H

Why would you say this? Your work remains very good indeed, each person is their own harshest critic, seeing the tiniest, often immaterial flaws as huge issues. You are learning, from your own admission, and there are many that consider themselves veteran rather than novice that will look at your work and have great takeaways from it. On a scrap, use PVA as a water highlight, and see if you like the effect. It lifts the ripples and wave crests in water, you may want to thin it, which is why scrap is best to practice. H

I have just done this to get an even run around an odd shaped piece, glued, and will stitch tomorrow. If it works I may try it around a belt, see if its quicker. H

I think that the State of California may be looking at the carcinogenic properties of hard hats, H

Their reputation is excellent, Chris, but everyone has there own views on all tools; how they fit in the hand, how they perform for them, value for money, how long they hold an edge and so on, and sometimes, just sometimes, how good they look. There are some damask steel round knives on ebay that look wonderful, but talking to a friend that makes knoves they are unlikely to have any real performance plusses ove the good modern steels available a lot cheaper. My brother bought loads of Snap-On when he started out in automotive 40 years ago, some of which are still on his box, but now much of what he buys is run of the mill non-professional tools, that he rates just as highly. H

Chris is right, they are drawstring purses, a modern take on a very old design. Used in LARP, but not in bright blue suede. H

I put in a splash of Ronson Lighter Fuel, right or wrong. It works and I've yet to blow up the workshop.

They were about three weeks ago, and @Matt S mentioned them to me earlier this week, so I think he uses them. If they are busy in store they sometimes do not pick up calls. But they've been the same since I was in Hackney, in 1983. H

You can use a router to trim the edges.

You can do it without modding it, but be aware the blade's corners may snag the leather, the modding only came about after years of normal spokeshaves. I have seen people do it with a block plane, but have never tried it.  If you decide to mod a spokeshave blade, it needs sharpening at a 10 deg bevel. H

You can do it without modding it, but be aware the blade's corners may snag the leather, the modding only came about after years of normal spokeshaves. I have seen people do it with a block plane, but have never tried it. I have two shiny ceramic tiles 40 cm sq x 1.2 cm high 'no more nails'ed togetherjust for this and some skiving jobs. Yes it can, if you want a parer, you need something firm, but good small edge skivers can be made with 1" or 1/2" hacksaw blades, with the sawtheeth ground down. Great for awkward internal corners etc.

There's me being quiet on the forum, too. Yup, bookbinders use a modified spokeshave to pare leathers, and a right royal pain it can be, until you get used to it. It is a key skill in hand bookbinding with leather, but also works for other leather jobs onto boards, such as boxes etc. It is a 'must have component' if you want bookbinding qualifications. So get a load of cheap skins and practice, and in a shorter time than you'd think afte your first disaster, you will be pleased with the results. Guide to modifying the blade: http://www.hewit.com/skin_deep/?volume=16&article=2 has a good aticle on modifying the blade, The modification is so that the corners do not snag. From Jeff Peachey's page ( https://jeffpeachey.com/2008/05/05/towards-a-type-study-of-stanley-151-spokeshaves/ ) HOW TO USE A SPOKESHAVE First, some wise words from Burdett: “The use of the spokeshave demands confidence born of experience–sometimes bitter” (Burdett 1975, 173) A few general observations: The blade needs to be very sharp and only protrude a few thousands of an inch below the sole. Make sure the blade is level, and not cutting deeper on one side. Your skin can rapidly be ruined if this is the case. The spokeshave needs to be in motion before it starts to cut the leather, sort of a swooping motion. Hold it lightly with your fingers and thumb– you don’t need to have a death grip completly around each handle. Keep the front edge of the spokeshave pressed flat on the leather. Ordinarily the spokeshave moves fairly quickly. Once the leather gets very thin it is advisable to go slowly to avoid tearing. Press down a little harder on the front of the spokeshave, and lighter on the blade. If the blade starts to chatter, re-sharpen and make sure you have modified it correctly for leather. If the leather keeps puckering in the mouth, and gets cut through, the mouth is too big and the blade needs to be shimmed from behind. Be vigilant about cleaning bits of leather from under the leather–they can cause tears or an uneven thickness. Skewing the blade in use, and approaching the leather from differing angles helps get a clean cut and not just skate across the surface. Watching the color of the leather change is a good visual indication of the depth of the cut. Folding the leather over on top of itself doubles any thickness discrepancies for quick identification of areas that need more work. Goatskin is the easiest to spokeshave. Calf and Tawed skin are more difficult. Both Hewit in Scotland and Peachy in NY are great sources for tools too. Harry

My three year full time, degree level course at college in London in 1980 ish covered Leathergoods of all kinds design, pattern cutting, making etc, Factory Management, and one year full time Saddlery and ancilliary trades. There was no available, similar apprenticeship, but we took the same City and Guilds of London examinations as the specialist apprentices in say Light Leathergoods Production, Cutting, Skiving etc, leading towards the final qualifications. At todays rates the annual cost would be more than £9000, plus living expenses, in London (Cordwainers College has been subsumed into the London College of Fashion, part of the University of the Arts, London). If my business was bigger, I would offer an apprenticeship, but I would be their employer (hand in glove with the UK goverment nowadays), and when we get the sales going through, I will look into this, as Cordwainers no longer exists in the same format. H

Mike has it covered well, I am disappointed at the closure, but based on the recent centralising to US that they have exhibited, it is not surprising. Based on the $1 to £1 conversion rate we have seen from Tandy over the years, and split orders sent at full postage per split, I calculated on a £500 (UK) there would be a probable increase on about 2% (which could easily be lost or increased in currency fluctuations) This takes a random (highish) post and pack cost, Duty, VAT and Handling charge into account. And was Importing a product classified with HS Code 8206.00.0000 to GB from US, which was hand tools. I think that the biggest loss is one of competition in a small marketplace. I feel for the always helpful staff, and time, as I will have to source from many places instead of one, which was the main reason to shop there. H