I Have No Way To Work. Tooling Is Too Loud.

[SmokeCigars]

Hmm that log is a brilliant idea. I've got plenty of hardwood at my cabin that I could do that with.

[hornm]

Blake. The yoga mat was probably the best solution for what you have available at the moment. I put a piece of 1/4" washing machine anti-vibration mat under the 1.5" chunk of marble I got from the local (less than 100yds from my front door) marble countertop place and haven't had any issues with the neighbors.

Horn

[oltoot]

Back to the maul. I found rawhide refills for mauls on ebay very inexpensive! It would make finishing one cheap and easy

[Northmount]

Back to the maul. I found rawhide refills for mauls on ebay very inexpensive! It would make finishing one cheap and easy

Somebody here used rawhide dog chews as a source for rawhide for a maul he was making. Soak and pull, stretch out, nail down and dry flat. You might be able to find his post if you do some searching here.

Tom

[Leela Valley Leather]

Yes I'm joking but hey... Try everything.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/270762679662?hlp=false

[Sicksteene]

Have you considered one of the swivel knife bevelers? They are available at Springfield Leather for less than four dollars, it wouldn't totally eliminate the tapping but would offer your family some relief, lol. Some of the members here have had success mastering this tool and might be able to offer tips.

[Widget]

If you have a hard time finding a granite slab (I tried my local counter place, but apparently someone uses them for something around here and they sell the cutouts for $300 apiece...yikes), I got a tip from a thread on here (sorry I can't find it to link it) to build a tooling slab on the cheap...so this is NOT my idea, I got it from someone else on the forum (don't want to steal someone's idea).

Go to Home Depot and buy two concrete pavers 12x12 and one 12x12 granite floor tile. Then use a strong adhesive to glue them all together... I put one together for about $12, including the glue (which was the most expensive part...). It has helped a ton, both with noise, and with the cleanness of my tooling. Hope it helps!

[Jimbob]

Go to a headstone company they give u a small old one for free....

Then take a THICK towel and wet it real good....wring out and fold several times, put under ur slab and u gud to go!

Use a leather mallet, lesser noise then brass or Nylon!

Hope that helps...

Ohhhh and got to Tandys and buy every one of ur family a leather craft starti g kit....ya all have fun together in no time.....then u might have to deal wth the people living beside ur place....hahaha.....

James

[Skald]

Been in the same situation. I got a more solid table, a 2 inch granite slab ("stolen" from scrap bits where they make tombstones) and a rubber mat beneath it. It makes almost no noise at all, at least not so that it's being heard very well outside the room where I work.

I got another tip, which till make it almost dead silent. Get a massive tree trunk (yes), which is wide enough to work on top of. Get it properly plain and straight on top, and just put a slab (and maybe a rubber mat) beneath it. It's probably as silent as it will ever get. I tried that in my father's garage when there's was no proper table around.

[Glendon]

This is an older thread, but I have quite a bit of experence with leatherworking in an apartment setting, so I wanted to put in my experence. My work area is set up like this. Everything is set on top of one of those interlocking foam mats that has a rubber top coat. Sitting on that is a solid wood work desk. A wood workbench would work just fine. Just make sure it is all wood so that it obsorbs noise rather then amplifying it. Then I have a rubber mat between the desk and my granate. I have not had a single noise complaint since setting that up.