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It appears that not many have experience working with Pirarucu. When I learn about it, I will post it here for others who might want to know about it as well.

I have some beautiful pirarucu pieces and am not sure how to use it. The scales are removed and the scale bases remain, in quadrilateral shapes. These shapes have a ridge around them. The ridges are not firm. They are almost filamentous. You can reach under them, to where the scalers were inserted - tiny pockets, as it were. The ridges can tear off easily if I make anything with the leather as it is now. I have seen pirarucu boots and the scale bases and ridges seem pretty firmly in place. If they were not, they would not last long. How do they reach that stage? I have tried Resolene but that gives too much of a shine and does not stick anything in place. Glue maybe, but sticking each scale base in place is going to be tie consuming, not to speak of the damage to the appearance of the leather. I tried that too though. I have heard suggestions of shellac but that will destroy the texture. If anyone has worked with Pirarucu and can guide me on how to use this beautiful, unusual leather, I would appreciate it. Incidentally, Arapaima is a food source in South America and increasingly, being farmed ethically.

Check this video from Elk Track Studios. It's on sale right now. https://elktracksstudio.com/products/setting-stones-in-leather?_pos=2&_sid=431e14262&_ss=r

I got a similar brown when I was first learning to dye leather and did not use the resist correctly before antiquing. The leather got dyed a uniform dark brown with the antiquing dye. You could try it on some scrap. As far as I can remember, I used Eco-Flo dark brown gel antique. I used a split for the sheath and used the antique finish as a dye precisely to get this brown.

You will probably like the look of the old Singer machine I put up a short while ago - a Vintage Singer 29-D-58 Industrial Leather Manual Sewing Machine it says in the listing.

Just saw this. Gorgeous old Singer leather sewing machine available in Central California, it appears. I put this up here, in case there is anyone on that side of the country who is interested in old sewing machines. It is a manual one and in need of some TLC. At less that $20.00 too, so probably needs quite a bit of TLC. I'm not selling it, just passing on information that I found online. It is on Shopgoodwill.com

Very true. Maybe this and similar posts could be pinned in 'Getting Started' for beginners. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing beautiful work done with a minimum number of tools! I wish I had seen all this when I first started 2 1/2 years ago. Very nice @WalterF, Thank you for showing how much can be achieved with simple tools, skill and imagination. I should have said that first.🙂

The method I described is to make 'Chicken oil' which is used as a flavoring agent in far-Eastern cuisine. There are several ways to make it but this seemed to me to be the most suitable for our purpose. Cleaned chicken skin heated in a clean pan until the fats are rendered. Only fried skin remains so I presume the oil will be pure.

Just watched a YouTube video about using just the skin, gently cooked in a pan until the fat is rendered and then straining it out. Nothing else added to it, so the final liquid is pure oil. I will probably try that.

A big witch's hat (leather, of course) and grubby black robes. Surrounded by mounds of chicken meat and feathers. Think how many I will need to slaughter to get a CAULDRON of fat! All the area cats and dogs and rats surrounding me as well. Hmm... Halloween comes to mind. What an idea.😆 I will probably try to render some chicken fat sometime soon. The next batch of dog food is nearly due. Hope it does not smell too much. The dog food is bad enough.

@dikman you're right. Plain chicken fat is not purified and has things other than fats in it. So putrefaction and the accompanying stink happens. But what about absolutely purified chicken fat? Although I have no idea how I can do that, unless I cook the fat until all the non-fat components get fried and turned to coal and I strain the oil and use that.

I wonder whether that (the smell) happens because the chicken grease is not purified? Everything else that we have used is purified with no proteins remaining. It is, after all the proteins that putrefy and cause that awful smell. I wonder if there is a way to purify chicken fat. I think I will put off that experiment until I learn more about it.

That is clear as that is what you seem to be pushing, under the guise of 'teaching'. Essentially, to purchase your machines and use them - i.e. operating your machines. Instead of pretending to 'teach' a 19 week course (So long to learn to use your machines? That puts one off right away) you would be better off advertising openly on this site instead. You did start several threads earlier talking about the same thing in different ways, only it did not talk about 'teaching'. If you truly want to 'teach' people how to use hot stamping machines, discuss your competitors' products as well, honestly at that. Teach how to use those too. Then, it might become a teaching course. Else it is just an advertisement pretending to be a course. People here are not fools, as I am sure you have realized by now.

Thank you @DieselTech I'll do that.

Would that be the needle file set or the precision needle file set?

They come in all sorts of different shapes too. Charming. And practical as well - the shape can be selected depending on the thickness of the leathers. It sucks that they are cheaper on Amazon than on Temu for us now. So corporations win while the common man loses with those tariffs.

That's interesting. The plastic will not scratch the leather either. Although they probably cost a lot more for us now, with these stupid tariffs. On an aside, @fredk I discovered that if you call and ask Temu to remove the minimum limit for purchases, they remove it for your account and you can order even individual items for less than a dollar and it arrives, free shipping et al.

Absolutely.

These items are beautiful; even more so when you consider the limited number of ordinary tools that you had at hand, It's always the talent in the hands doing the work that matters the most, is, I think, what is clear here. 🙂

I guess it is just a matter of what we were taught in school. Like 'among' and amongst' or 'smelled' and 'smelt' Anyway, do describe your experience here if you do wax some leather for a punching mat.

Your wallet looks fine to me. It is leather, after all and once was on a living creature. It cannot possibly look like factory manufactured smooth plastic. 🙂 Therein lies the charm of leather though.

3-4 mm at least. I got 2 huge sides of splits during a Black Friday sale but they are of different thicknesses. I just cut them up from one side, and make usable pieces. The current one is one of the thinner pieces, because the split has a very variable thickness all through. Without the wax, they gradually get floppy. Let's see what happens with the waxed one.

I only use wax on pieces of splits that I use as pounding boards. I do not stain or dye those pieces. But when using wax to harden leather, certainly. As @fredk has explained in another thread, 'This was one of the ways that leather armour was made, from the early Roman times up to the 19th century. see cuir bouilli' So a new use for an old technique. New to me, anyway. Isn't that nice? 🙂 😄Certainly more illustrative of the result than boring old 'smoothen'.

Oh! Nice. New use for old techniques. I have a little, flavoured with pumpkin and carrots, asafoetida and turmeric, and garlic. So I cannot use it. I forgot and added all the ingredients to the chicken when cooking it. Next time, I'll try to remember.

I'm sorry for the delayed response. I just made a batch of dog food and I do not have sufficient fat to 'sparge' it. I'll probably put it off until winter. It is hot here so I do not want to keep it indoors. Outdoors, in the heat, it will really stink. On an aside, I discovered that wax really darkens leather, even more than any of the oils. In another thread, I have explained how I dipped a piece of split that I normally use as a pounding board, into melted wax and dried it. I use this as a pounding board now - hard enough but does not damage the tips of my tools and the wax constantly lubricates it. The leather is hard and so much darker, it is now a dark medium brown. it started off the light color of veg tanned leathers.