chrisash

Have tried to diamond awl through 2x2-2.5mm veg tan with my awls and no luck, they were chaps ones and obviously rather blunt I also assume cheap steel and will not hold a edge Looking for recommendations from UK people on any good stitching awls they have brought and recommend, sorry but shipping from USA is to expensive

I have three Awl's with width of Awl in 3mm, 4mm, 5-6mm width diamond shape and all about just under a inch in length The 4mm looks about write stitching 8 stitch per inch roughly, but question what others use or suggest

I don't think its a Doctors Gladstone, as I think they were compartmalised inside, to hold bottles and other goods separate, so just a magnificent old Gladstone traveling bag, Carpet bags were the same design, but used cheaper thick woven material rather than leather

Might be cheaper to get a second hand 3 phase generator for the short times you will be using it rather than changing the electrics Domestic power may not have enough power (amps) to make it work well

3 in 1 is the most popular machine oil used in the uk for sewing machines and also embroidery machines. just act like a watch maker and remember a small amount goes a long long long way

Try Looking at English antiques shops online for old wooden lasts and the metal ones as well. they make the foot form you need to start with. there are also some metal leather tools that stretch the leather and also act as a small hammer. also old books Having been in Nigeria I doubt there are many tools available there To buy on the internet in England I would think that you would have to get someone living in the UK to buy them for you and send them on as Nigeria has as you are probably aware such notoriety for fraud that I doubt any UK company will supply direct to Nigeria YouTube.com will have many video's of how to make shoes and boots Hope this helps

very nice work

Looking to make my first purchase of Dye to use on Veg Tan cowhide, have looked at old posts but there seems to be two opposite views on what to use Spirt v Water based Perhaps someone can explain the main difference between the two if any, and if there are any other good consistent makes available in the UK. Resolene, seems well spoken of for the final coat, would that be a good choice for me to start with or any other outstanding finishes

Just started a few weeks ago and looking for cheap leather to practice on Emailed about 10 local upholstery companies found on Google and asked if I could buy some scrap off-cuts One emailed back the next day to say come down and get some free, Went down and had a big bag of their car upholstery offcuts (chrome) smallest piece about A3 size largest bigger than AO, just two bits was enough to make a tote bag. Told I could get as much as I wanted but if very large bits off rolls then they would have to charge but same again no problem as they just send it to a dump

Great posts and explanations of what its all about, seldom only one correct answer to question, but i think you have all added a lot of good information i can use from now on Many thanks to you all

Thanks Tom, I was looking for box pony and other words so failed to find it Thanks Its all clear now, don't see anything about length though, the ones in the images seem extremely long where i think i will make one about maybe 8 inches long as cannot see anything I am likely to make being over about 3 of 5 inches

Good afternoon Folk Looking at having a go at simple leather box using 45 deg edge box using box stitches I have watched Nigel's you tube which is great watching but unable to really see how he made his frame to use for box stitching Does anyone have any other information on how to make the frame or pony not sure what you would call it, but sure you know what I mean

Why not sub contract it out to someone who has a clicker, maybe a shoe factory or other leather or printing factory, that way you are not wasting your time doing repetitive work a monkey could do, and do what you do best Must be someone over the other side who could do them and post to you

Hi Leathermuchkin I only started about 6 weeks ago and had to practice without spending a lot to learn the skills What I did was search google for upholsterers in a 50 mile radius of my home and then emailed them and asked if they sold any scraps, one replied that if i came down to them they had some I could have for free but any really large bits I would have to pay Went down and they gave me about 5 kilo for free, the smallest about A3 the largest about 1/3rd about A0 or larger(six square feet) For veg tan shoulders I found a company that sells economy veg tan shoulders Email: sales@jwoodleathers.co.uk or www.jwoodleather.co.uk brought half shoulder in 2-2.4mm for £37.75 last week including vat and postage 2.50 ish a square foot and found nothing wrong with it for practice or making items or crafting Good luck Chris

As the third world takes on many more jobs at far lower prices than the more advanced countries can match, the modern countries must rely more on higher technical manufacture to keep employment and wages high to match the required standard of living I used to work in the oil industry in the North Sea and Middle east which in the early days was controlled by USA companies. Unfortunately for them they continued to use old equipment from the southern states all the time whilst the Europeans looked at the limitations and made modern equipment with high tech and low expensive manpower and gradually became the makers of most equipment made in the offshore oil industry around the world, this caused the USA companies to have to buy out the European tech companies to survive, but many old traditions lingered on with "we always done it this way" If high tech and low employers was brought into the leather industry a big change could take place just like many industries

Could you use the same stitch as used for sewing leather steering wheels,. looks like you run a line of machine stich along each side of the gap and then use two needles to diagonally stitch the two halves together using the machine stitches as points hard to explain but video on youtube Good luck Chris

I cannot see how using anything apart from another piece of leather can be good for keeping a sharp edge Leather as a back stop brings the punch to a controlled stop gently, all the others Poly, wood or Lead have little give and certainly less than leather. Run your knife over a poly board and how far does it go in the same with lead and wood, yet it cuts through leather with the same force, so to me leather makes the best stop and the easiest to renew Then again maybe i'm missing something

Biker In the Uk we have Gargoyle: (drains from churches roofs to take the water away from the stonework) these all have very ugly head shapes and may well make a good subject Not sure if they are just English or also in Europe Tudor or earlier wall paper may have some nice flower designs and also canal boats had painted flow designs (Canal Art) on the cabin doors, buckets and water buckets Hope these idea's give some inspiration

Still very new to leatherwork and enjoying it very much I notice on YouTube some are now forming their leather shapes using food processing vacuum machines to mold the leather around every day objects Just wondered if any on the forum have tried this I imaging you can get some fantastic shapes from household goods One question is once you take it out of the film/bag does it hold its shape whilst it dries

The op did mention earlier that he did not get the coloured veg tan to work properly just the plain natural veg tan if that helps Fantastic post I will give it a go myself

Sorry I have not learnt the differences or names of all the types of leather, so not much good at writing a magazine or giving advice maybe in 40 years but 71 now so might have left it to late

Its funny but for most things we buy we can find comparison reviews about them so we can see if they are actually value for money or only perceived value that's out of date. Are they really more resistant to UV and has anyone tested the strength? As a new comer again I am surprised that there appears to be no monthly magazine available for leathercraft, I can find many books on other hobbies from building model boats to weekly shotgun magazines, and ladies have far more on cross stitch and so on, even the printed books seem few yet leatherwork goes back many hundreds of years Guess I will have to fumble on and watch more on you tube Many thanks for the answers so far

Why is the price for ritz tiger 25 so expensive? Is it due to the strength of the tread or just because it has a perceived high value over similar far cheaper threads In the UK Tiger is about £38 x 500mtr yet Chinese about £8 or less per 250 mtr for waxed thread

Well said, I hope you continue fighting the cancer and win the fight as well as to learn enough to teach leathercraft at the required level I am myself a learner having just started and its obvious that there are all different levels of leathercraft from simple key rings and wallets to saddle craft and you don't have to be a top expert to start teaching the beginners sections and practice seems the largest teacher Wishing you all the best Regards Chris