Quieter Leatherworking Question

[Urshag]

Do a forum search for noise, quiet, etc. This has been covered a couple of times this past year.

Wood transmits sound very well, that is why it is used in so many musical instruments.

See if you can set up a small shed to use as a workshop.

Find another location, like a friend's garage, to do your work.

Go talk to your neighbor, and see if you two can work something out. Maybe make something that she can use, and give it to her to break the ice.

If she is that picky, you may not be able to get enough mass density under your slab to make her happy.

Look on Craigslist for used tools, as well as garage sales, fleamarkets, and other venues to get a better price.

Well I found a rotary hole punch I like and I dug out my black and decker workmate bench. I did see those posts you mentioned and in one of them someone mentioned using the horse stall rubber matting you can get from Tractor Supply Co. A couple of layers of that matting on top of the workmate with my granite slab on top of that seems to work out OK. It's not perfect but it's better than it was.

One thing I am still curious about are handpresses. Has anyone found a cheaper alternative than the tandy version?

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

Dennis

[Des804]

I Have my slab on a Few old Books I was going to sell cheap at a garage sale anyways... It seems to muffle the sound a lot ( I also have them underneath a Tumbler of mine as well ).

[Sarah C]

I'm new here so I don't really know you or what you use your leatherwork for. BUT! If you profit from it, you could just politely explain to her that while the noise may be annoying, you also pay rent, and in order to pay that rent you need to make money, and that is how you do it. I mean, don't be rude about it, but in my experience, just being blunt (but POLITE!) usually makes people more willing to cooperate. Unless she has some sort of medical condition, she really has no right to deny you your ability to make money. I personally don't feel any different even if you were just doing this for fun... it's your house too.

I suggest you do what you can to muffle the noise, and if she's happy, then leave it alone, but if she starts poking holes in her ceiling again, I would try to talk with her. Explain what it is you're doing, why you do it, that you need to do it, you've taken measures to be quieter but it's just not possible and not unreasonable between the hours you mentioned.

I usually really like old people, but I feel like banging on the ceiling is just a really rude way of her asking you to be quiet. She could've very well just been nice about it and politely asked. I'm probably not as nice as you- I would've just turned on some really loud rock music to cover up her banging and my tooling, lol.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Sarah C

[Urshag]

I'm new here so I don't really know you or what you use your leatherwork for. BUT! If you profit from it, you could just politely explain to her that while the noise may be annoying, you also pay rent, and in order to pay that rent you need to make money, and that is how you do it. I mean, don't be rude about it, but in my experience, just being blunt (but POLITE!) usually makes people more willing to cooperate. Unless she has some sort of medical condition, she really has no right to deny you your ability to make money. I personally don't feel any different even if you were just doing this for fun... it's your house too.

I suggest you do what you can to muffle the noise, and if she's happy, then leave it alone, but if she starts poking holes in her ceiling again, I would try to talk with her. Explain what it is you're doing, why you do it, that you need to do it, you've taken measures to be quieter but it's just not possible and not unreasonable between the hours you mentioned.

I usually really like old people, but I feel like banging on the ceiling is just a really rude way of her asking you to be quiet. She could've very well just been nice about it and politely asked. I'm probably not as nice as you- I would've just turned on some really loud rock music to cover up her banging and my tooling, lol.

Well I appreciate the advice but I was really just looking for some tips on how to do what I do a little quieter, but I'm more than happy to share (read as VENT) about my experiences with her.

I've told her over the years that I make money from doing this and her reply was to sarcastically comment "I didn't realize this residential area had been rezoned for industry."

She has asked me to be quiet in person several times but she's just decided that banging on the ceiling is now the best way to communicate with me.

I've done everything I can to reduce the noise and to make sure that WHEN I do my hammering it's during acceptable hours but there is no pleasing some people. I truly believe she thinks she has the right to expect the kind of silence and solitude of living alone in the woods while living in an old apartment complex. Sorry, it's just not going to happen.

To give you an example she once complained that my fan (I'll repeat that, my $25 Wal Mart Window #@$^@! FAN) was too LOUD!

Thanks for letting me vent. LOL

Dennis

[Jordan]

Discount tool house like harbor freight for an Arbor press that may be able to be modified to set rivets grommets and the like, would cut down on the need to pound.

[Sarah C]

I've told her over the years that I make money from doing this and her reply was to sarcastically comment "I didn't realize this residential area had been rezoned for industry."

This has been going on for YEARS?! Dear lord, I'm sorry. And I thought living with my dad was annoying (split level house- I have the apartment downstairs but that doesn't stop him from barging in whenever he pleases or interrupting my dinner so we can "talk" aka "lecture about everything," or scream for me to come up expecting that I can actually hear him through the floor, my fans, tv, and banging on leather, then get mad when he has to repeat himself and/or call me).

Well, I'm glad I could give you a chance to vent. Miserable people like that suck, there's no dealing with them. Because of that, I have a new suggestion. Making wind chimes as a hobby! REALLY LOUD WIND CHIMES. Make sure you leave your four dollar walmart fan on too, when you test them all. At the same time. The look on her face would probably be worth it. But, like I said, you're nicer than me, haha. I would've just found ways to constantly make the problem worse on purpose. So come back to me if you give up on being quiet and want some ideas for very loud revenge. I got you covered!

Also- do you have carpeting in general on your floors? If you're operating on planks held up by the grace of god only, they've certainly shrank and dried out over the years, and would make an excellent sound conductor. Even thin carpet would transmit noise. Ripped up the carpet once in our victorian house and the wood was so old you could see straight through to the basement... and immediately tell when the light was on, etc. If you get a carpet and some sort of liner underneath, it would stop the echo or something (there's science to this, I swear!) and certainly dull what she hears. If you're REALLY into it, you could put down some of that soundproofing stuff- I know a friend in college who got some and just stuck it under his drumset and nobody could hear him anymore. I think it's cheap if you can find it as remnants... I know he found his for free. That way it's less about changing your workspace and more about changing what's under it in general- it may solve more than just your tooling problem- she wouldn't be able to hear much of anything you did anymore.

[jmorton]

I think that the answer is to put as much SOLID mass under your granite slab as possible to give you a really "dead" surface to work on. Then put your sound absorption material under that. For instance, if you could have a second slab under the first with a sheet of newspaper between them, and then several sheets under the bottom slab. Use a table that is as solid and heavy as possible and then put some poundo material between the table and the bottom slab and between the table legs and the floor. This "Dagwood sandwich" approach will tend to cancel out the different frequencies of sound. If this still doesn;t end the problem, I suggest that you build a lightweight sound hood from a very large cardboard box such as a refreigerator came in and then hot glue some of the 12X12 acoustic tiles inside it.

If all this fails then I think you need Maxwell Smart's "Cone of Silence".

Hope this helps,

John Morton

[BearMan]

Good Morning Sarah,

These are all very good suggestions. They all should help a lot,,, & may solve the whole problem. It they do, that's great. If by chance, you are getting a lot of the noise coming from the type of mallet/maul you are using,,, there are a couple good options. If you mainly get the noise when driving punches,,, or setting snaps, types of operations,,, you may want to consider switching to a "Dead blow" type of mallet. You can get them at a place like Lowe's for about $13.00-$14.00, & they come in a few different weights. If you are getting the noise while tooling,,, you may need to look at getting one of Bob Beards old mauls, because of the type of material they are made out of, creates less noise while tooling. Bob Beard no longer makes his mauls. We're not talking a LOT quieter,,, but they are somewhat quieter. Mauls make with the same material, are being made today. My Son is now making them,,, also. It's just an option,,, you can also tool with "Dead Blow" mallets,,, they would just be a bit harder to use. I hope this helps.. Ed the"BearMan"

[Urshag]

Thanks to everyone who replied! I found a good solution. I got an arbor press. I found a local shop that sells used and new machine tools. I bought a used 1 ton arbor press for $50.00.

I made a post about it here at:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=32112&st=0&gopid=201797entry201797

With photos of my new tool/toy.

It works great and I couldn't be happier with it!

Thanks again everyone!

Dennis