MikeCahill

It would be a nice book to own, but at this age the leather samples will be very badly degraded cheers Mike

A guy called Henry Mayhew went round London in the 1860's talking to and recording the words of the under classes, this is what he recorded about "pure" "The pure finders meet with a ready market for all the dogs'-dung they are able to collect, at the numerous tanyards in Bermondsey, where they sell it by the stable bucket full, and get from 8d. to 10d. per bucket, and sometimes from 1s. to 1s.2d. for it, according to its quality. The 'dry limy–looking sort' fetches the highest price at some yards as it is found to possess more of the alkaline or purifying properties; but others are found to prefer the dark moist quality. Strange as it may appear, the preference for a particular kind has suggested to the finders of Pure the idea of adulterating it to a very considerable extent; this is effected by means of mortar broken away from old walls, and mixed up with the whole mass, which it closely resembles…… ...The pure collected is used by leather-dressers and tanners, and more especially by those engaged in the manufacture of morocco and kid leather from the skins of old and young goats…. In the manufacture of moroccos and roans the pure is rubbed by the hands of the workman into the skin he is dressing. This is done to 'purify' the leather, I was told by an intelligent leatherdresser, and from that term the word 'pure' has originated. The dung has astringent as well as highly alkaline, or, to use the expression of my informant, 'scouring,' qualities. When the pure has been rubbed into the flesh and grain of the skin (the 'flesh' being originally the interior, and the 'grain' the exterior part of the cuticle), and the skin, thus purified, has been hung up to be dried, the dung removes, as it were, all such moisture as, if allowed to remain, would tend to make the leather unsound or imperfectly dressed. The number of pure-finders I heard estimated, by a man well acquainted with the tanning and other departments of the leather trade, at from 200 to 250. The finders, I was informed by the same person, collected about a pail-full a day, clearing 6s. a week in the summer -- 1s. and 1s. 2d. being the charge for a pail-full; in the short days of winter, however, and in bad weather, they could not collect five pail-fulls in a week." a family could live on 6 shillings a week here is a clip off youtube showing a tannery in Morocco, there is a more in depth program made by National Geographic, but I couldn't find that

As the Baby Belle cheese adverts says "we need a bigger bucket"

Does anyone know where I can get spares for these machines? I want 2tension springs, (a new foot , and a new tooth dog for the 45k56) it has been stood for years with the foot down so both the foot and the tooth dog have distorted so when you try to sew it trys to push the job out sideways. I'm in the UK, so UK suppliers prefered, I've had nasty shocks with import duty! The Duty isn't that bad but the money is collected by the post office, and they are allowed to charge upto £50 for taking your money off you!! That said as we are talking small items I'll risk it so US,Canadian, anywhere cheers Mike

I plan to go there either this year or next, this to me is real history, the belongings of the ordinary people like us, the cheap crap that normally wouldn't survive I like living history places, where you can see how and why things were done like they were, in the forces there are always people who will do the jobs people hate, or things they have a talent for like sewing on insignia. The bottle looks like a repair to me, someone who was too mean to pay someone else to do it properly, I bet it leaked all the time, but just not enough to bother replacing it Mike

this is the second time I've posted this it might have disapeared when the servers were playing up, or might have been removed by a mod because it's a bit revolting! glove tanned leather used to be tanned using dog sh*t, it was collected by the poor and sold to the tanneries by the bucket full. It was known as "pure" and it was a well organised business. The very best gloves were made using the white dog sh*t that you sometimes see this was kept seperate and sold at a premium price. water was added to the stuff, and it was made into a slurry that the skins were soaked in for a period. The reason the leather produced this way is so soft and flexible is because enzymes in the slurry digested various elements in the skin. leather is still made this way in North Africa, but they use bird droppings instead as there aren't as many dogs there, I dare say that in the west some form of synthetic chemical is now used to get the same result! Thinking about it this is no more revolting than brain tanning, have a nice day!

Must have upset someone, posted 3 posts yesterday, all disappeared! what I said was yes I did re-thread, and I used the top thread to pull up the bottom thread, but both threads are getting chewed up by the channel knife. I then posted you to say that I'd been onto your blog and that if you are still experimenting with pegging, (blog from 2009) an Austrian company called "Blau Ring" still makes pegs and that I thought that beech was a bit hard for pegs, perhaps you could try birch, willow or popler(aspen) which are stringier, and less likely to snap, I then posted you to say that I'd put up some pictures of a saddlers sewing machine that I have that I recon will sew about an inch of leather it works clamped to a bench either vertically, or horizontally I took the photos today, but can't find the cable to connect it to the computer, so that will have to wait. also didn't get the URL for the handbook, can you send it again please cheers Mike

thats probably 2 a year !

It didn't look like this when I got it, I took it down to a local garage, soaked it in de-greaser, then pressure washed it top and bottom followed by a tin of WD40, and oiling the oilpoints, which were helpfully painted red, the nickel is blown in places, and little things like the tiny screws that hold the plate protecting the needle have been lost, and it has been roughly riveted in place with what looks like copper wire! I've got needles, paid £5 each for them, It just needs a bit of TLC and setting up, it keeps snapping the thread, but that might be me threading it wrong. Would love a copy of the handbook. The old leatherwork machine section is the first place I come to when I enter the site, thats why its here, I did put a question in the sewing machine section, but I miss titled the thread so got no answers Cheers mike It didn't look like this when I got it, I took it down to a local garage, soaked it in de-greaser, then pressure washed it top and bottom followed by a tin of WD40, and oiling the oilpoints, which were helpfully painted red, the nickel is blown in places, and little things like the tiny screws that hold the plate protecting the needle have been lost, and it has been roughly riveted in place with what looks like copper wire! I've got needles, paid £5 each for them, It just needs a bit of TLC and setting up, it keeps snapping the thread, but that might be me threading it wrong. Would love a copy of the handbook. The old leatherwork machine section is the first place I come to when I enter the site, thats why its here, I did put a question in the sewing machine section, but I miss titled the thread so got no answers Cheers mike

You could try (using an over sized piece of soaking wet veg tan leather) folding the leather over the gun (use either a dummy or one well wrapped in cling film) put it on a flat surface and weigh it down with a sand bag and a few cement block on top and leave it for a day or two. trim it to shape and sew it when it has set in its new shape

Hope you got the machine home ok, if you are interested in the history of the company, you might want to read this http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66568 its about the boot and saddle making industry in the UK in Victorian times, but there are some interesting things about how the BUSMC became the dominant company, and some of the sharp practices it used

attached are some pictures of a frobana outsole stitcher, I'm trying to get this working, but I'm having problems setting it up, a copy of the instructions handbook would be useful, can anyone help? it's not in very good condition, is it worth the effort?

after looking round it it is a "frobana" machine, "planets" was obviously just the dealer, or agent a couple more photos

I need help setting this machine up, I'll post some pictures of the machine tomorrow, if someone has instructions for one of these, or something similar, I would appreciate a copy

Hi ray, just remember, your mold must be bone dry before you pour molten metal into it, or you'll have hot metal flying in all directions, a friend makes badges out of old battered "pewter" beer tankards that he buys off car boot sales they look quite impressive cheers Mike

doesn't that make it sticky

perhaps I've only ever come across cheap Chicago screws but I wouldn't use them anywhere there was likely to be any serious stress as a belt and braces man, I would stitch or rivet and stitch, if something fails, you buy better hardware next time 'cos it won't be the stitching that failed cheers Mike

You wouldn't need to use vinegar, just dampen the leather and put a sand bag or something heavy on it for a day or so, even if it doesn't stain the leather, the sticker has thickness, it will leave an impression you might be able to highlight it with antiquer cheers mike

perhaps gluing a strip of card or leather on the contact faces would stop them marking cheers Mike

I have a random assortment of metric and imperial rules and straight edges and use both, if I start a job in metric, I stick with metric to the end, if imperial, ditto. one of the stories I remember was that British Waterways, a government agency that manages the canal system ordered as a rush job a pair of lock gates, from two of their workshops (one gate each) one gate was made in imperial, the other workshop only worked in metric, so all the dimensions were converted into both systems, I don't know which way round! surprise , surprise the gates didn't fit!