Atalanta

I know, late to the party. I’ve been using weldwood since I started leather working (easier and cheaper at the time than barge). I never thought about spray adhesive, I would use white glue on fabric to line stuff. I’ll now have to grab a can to play with.

I got a similar one on eBay and haven't put it through its paces yet (been doing smaller projects where using my awl was ok). I did use it to try out a 3-d printed stamp I got. I'll have to futz with it some more to get the impression more evenly pressed - I had to move the stamp and leather under the press end to make sure there was enough pressure. I used a metal hinge between the press head and so all the force wasn't focused on one place. @acope I also use a lot of Dieselpunk patterns, just finished a hat that I love the way it turned out.

Searched and didn't find a topic covering this. I know, why make when you can easily buy it? I like to make my own - I have a collection of raw materials and like to see if its worth the effort. I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone has any recipes/techniques they'd like to share. I haven't tried it yet, but when I do I'll be sure to do a step-by-step of my process (if it turns out to be successful, that is )

Did you try this with a flat magnet or a donut shaped magnet. I'm thinking the donut shape would work better to steady the tool rather than just having it being held with just the flat surface of the top of the tool. I've seen people suggest putting a stack of magnets on the top of the ram to magnetize the whole shaft, but again, limits you to the end of the tool.

Hi neighbors! I'm in Lower Bucks County along the Delaware. Now, I've been thinking on either the arbor press (like I need an excuse to spend money at Harbor Freight!) or the "leather hole puncher" thingie I found on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TBKGFBW/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=A1CZK6KBEA5RDC&th=1) I did spend the $$ last year on a press from Goldstar and wished I had done so long ago. But I can't do much else with it unless I have the right dies (got it used and it came with a bunch of dies). So, what I'm thinking, is an arbor press with a DONUT SHAPED MAGNET! OMG why hasn't anyone mentioned this before???? This will hold your tool to the press and you won't be exerting any pressure on the magnet itself. It also has the advantage of not taking away from the space you have. Course I ask this now when I should have thought of this LAST YEAR before I got the Goldstar press. I'd better start selling my leather so BF doesn't give me too much grief for buying more tools! LOL So now I'm going to measure the diameter of my tools so I know what magnets to order and then take the mess to HF and try them out in a press to see if it works. These are the donut magnets: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=16&scri=51&scri=52&scri=53

Now, I've been thinking on either the arbor press (like I need an excuse to spend money at Harbor Freight!) or the "leather hole puncher" thingie I found on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TBKGFBW/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=A1CZK6KBEA5RDC&th=1) I did spend the $$ last year on a press from Goldstar and wished I had done so long ago. But I can't do much else with it unless I have the right dies (got it used and it came with a bunch of dies). So, what I'm thinking, is an arbor press with a DONUT SHAPED MAGNET! OMG why hasn't anyone mentioned this before???? This will hold your tool to the press and you won't be exerting any pressure on the magnet itself. It also has the advantage of not taking away from the space you have. Course I ask this now when I should have thought of this LAST YEAR before I got the Goldstar press. I'd better start selling my leather so BF doesn't give me too much grief for buying more tools! LOL So now I'm going to measure the diameter of my tools so I know what magnets to order and then take the mess to HF and try them out in a press to see if it works. These are the donut magnets: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=16&scri=51&scri=52&scri=53

I love this site! They're fairly local to me so I source all my magnets there when I need something special. Now, I've been thinking on either the arbor press (like I need an excuse to spend money at Harbor Freight!) or the "leather hole puncher" thingie I found on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TBKGFBW/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=A1CZK6KBEA5RDC&th=1) I did spend the $$ last year on a grommet press from Goldstar and wished I had done so long ago. But I can't do much else with it unless I have the right dies (got it used and it came with a bunch of dies). So, what I'm thinking, is an arbor press with a DONUT SHAPED MAGNET! OMG why hasn't anyone mentioned this before???? This will hold your tool to the press and you won't be exerting any pressure on the magnet itself. It also has the advantage of not taking away from the space you have. Course I ask this now when I should have thought of this LAST YEAR before I got the Goldstar press. I'd better start selling my leather so BF doesn't give me too much grief for buying more tools! LOL So now I'm going to measure the diameter of my tools so I know what magnets to order and then take the mess to HF and try them out in a press to see if it works. These are the donut magnets: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=16&scri=51&scri=52&scri=53

Been using the stupid little Tandy poly hammer for years. and for tooling, it still works just fine. Now that I'm doing bigger projects that require more holes (it can be a real drag punching stitching holes with an awl), I'm finding I need a better tool with which to whack (It sure doesn't get my corner punches through 5oz leather!). Years ago I got a rubber mallet that I really didn't care for, talk about bounce! However, as has been said, there's a hammer for every use and moving into a 200+ year old house that mallet is good for re-setting things that shift. Been eyeing the dead blow hammers (Harbor Freight is not far) and thought about that. In other groups I'm in that hammer (notably setting grommets), they will often use a brass head hammer.

It really depends on what you want at the end as well. I'm a cosplayer and I've repurposed a TON of the leather I got at goodwill into very serviceable gear for costumes. A black leather party dress was once a bunch of $3 leather skirts (there was one goodwill that was really good for leather skirts, joked it was because there were strip clubs nearby LOL). In my area, bulk trash day is when the cool stuff is put on the curb. I've seen what were once leather couches reduced to the frame from people scavenging the leather. A source that I was clued in to ages ago - tack shops. Places where they make saddles and such. You might be able to piggy back on an order and get it at their costs or relieve them of some scrap. IMO when you're learning, you don't need the AAA+++ grade stuff. You're going to make mistakes. And as was said, it's less painful to mess up cheap stuff than the primo. As your skills get better, then you start getting better materials. Good Luck!

Very interesting topic. I see this come up in EVERY craft forum I encounter. What I understand from what I've read over the years (and put together from the cases that were called as examples): 1. Changing X% is NOT OK. The example for this was a case where beader B took beader A's pattern, changed the orientation of the beads, and claimed they could do that. The beader B lost soundly. 2. As has been stated, you can copyright the written directions and your rights are covered. You cannot re-sell their instructions as your own (or pull the "change x%" myth). Can you resell their patterns as their patterns? That's more of a grey area and while I'll gladly sell a Simplicity or Folkwear pattern that I don't need/use/want, I'm not going to sell a Dieselpunk.ro file. 3. Take an extant pattern, create something, and sell the something. Hell yes. I don't pretend to be a pattern drafter, there are other ways I'd rather spend my time. Most patterns I've used have not had any restrictions on the use of what I make from them. I paid plenty of book bills in college with my construction skills (shirts, leather armor, etc). 4. I thought the bit on the using a trademarked image was interesting. Not something I would touch. I was going to make tower coozies for kegerators but when I saw in rather prominent print on the sports fabric NOT TO BE USED FOR RESALE, I decided that wasn't an ulcer I wanted. Let other people do the "if you didn't want me to sell stuff with it" excuse.

So I used the recipe I concocted on the bag I made. The repeated dying had made the top carved part quite stiff. I conditioned both the topside and underside repeatedly after dying and before painting. I had to flex it some and its still stiff but more pliable. I buffed the dyed pieces until there wasn't any rub-off and there wasn't really any rub-off when I conditioned.

Interesting. I get high strength vinegar at HMart (29-31% as opposed to 5%) and use it as an herbicide. Would this work or should it be 5%? And it seems the general consensus is to just rinse it off rather than give it a baking soda bath.

I can’t really add any more other than puppy training pads are great to put down when dyeing. You protect the surface and don’t end up with dye puddles.

Since I have to make a batch of other beeswax blends, I thought I'd concoct some of this and try it instead of the Satin Sheen. The piece I want to use it on has been dyed with Eco Flo waterstain. Will this mesh with the stain or will it make the stain more likely to rub off? I need to condition these pieces because the staining has made them really really stiff (5 applications of stain with 12+ hours drying in between to get even close to the color I want). I'm planning to adjust the recipe as follows (based on what I have on hand). Homemade Leather Balm 1part beeswax 1 part shea butter (or 1/2 shea butter and 1/2 coconut oil) 2 parts sweet almond/jojoba oil (or other not-too-greasy liquid oil) Plus some tea tree and orange or lemon essential oils (I have the tea tree, use it in a lot of things, but have to check on the citrus) The homemade wood butter is a very similar recipe: 1 part beeswax 4 parts mineral oil