Cutting costs the UK way

[fredk]

There have been a few threads about cutting costs or getting stuff cheap but they were by and for the US cousins so I thought I'd start one for the UK-ers

I can't see anywhere else but here to run the thread

1. Granite chopping board. From Home Bargains = £4.99, exactly the same one sold by Argos is £9.99. Size is 40 x 30 x 1.3 cm. It may be thin but I've been stamping on it and it hasn't cracked yet. Certainly good enough for edge skiving if you don't want to chance the stamping on it

2. Next we visit the Poundland shop, so all these items cost.... ?? How much? anyone? Bueller?

UHU glue. Look for the solid box. There is one with a window in the box, that tube is far smaller [half the contents afair]. Its a good contact glue, Easy to apply because it is a tube - and in my case you don't waste a load cos the rest of the glue in the tin has solidified. UHU is also available at some Home Bargains for... 99p a tube. Home Bargains sells a Bostick type glue in their own brand name; its good too, at £1 a tube.

3. Stainless steel roasting tin. I use these for dip dyeing. Holds enough dye and easy clean up

4. Compartment storage box, About 20 x 20 x 4cm. Divided up into twelve 5 x 5cm and one 10 x 10cm sections. Many of the partitions are removable making the areas longer [or wider, but not both ways]. Handy for keeping and segregating small things like small rivets, Chicago screws or Sam Browne buttons

5, Black box with lid.This one is just under the size of half of a folding crate. I throw scraps into a number of these, then sort out the stuff that can be used from the real waste. I make board games so any piece from which I can punch a 6mm disc is still good for me

6. Need to see better close up? I wear reading glasses. Available in powers from 1 D to 4 D. I have several in 2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 powers for various tasks [not all leather work] They're cheap enough to have several pairs kicking around. My eye specialist [I can't spell her fancy title!] put a pair on one of her machines and she said the lenses were fine; almost as good as the ones she gets for customers.

7. A new style of reading glass on the block. With LED lights, one each side. I'm still checking these out. In low light they help but if you have bright working lights they don't seem to make much difference. These cost me £1.09 from China via ebay

8. Back home - to Home Bargains actually. A medium sized clear storage box, £1.69. I keep things that I use more frequently in these as I can see the contents better

9. At many discount stores; small spring clamps, usually about £1 to £1.50 for six or eight. Their jaws will mark leather so I use lolly sticks between the jaws and the leather, both sides. Not only does this prevent the leather from getting marked but it spreads the clamping force. And, yes occasionally the stick will leave a flat impression on the leather but it never looks bad. Normal lolly sticks at The Works; 50 for £1, or some craft stores 100 for £1, and wide sticks; 100 for about £1.50 Don't use the coloured sticks; the colour comes out and will stain the leather, it even stained some chrome tanned upholstery leather I have.

10 Another bargain. I'm currently 'remodeling' [ahem....clearing out, tidying, sorting the mess of, or as we say here 'redding it out' ] the room I do leather work in. I went to Homebase to look for another tool box and got this; £40, discounted from £160. It was a stock clearance sale. It pays just to keep yours eyes and ears open. I already had two drawer units [the top bit of this] from Halfords for my tools. Sometimes they discount the tool boxes too.

Right, that's all from me for now. Over to youse.........

Edited December 1, 2017 by Northmount
Replaced broken photo links with photos saved here

[zuludog]

Thanks for the tip about the lollipop sticks. I have been using scraps of leather under my clamps but, as you say, the lolly sticks will spread the pressure more evenly

I glue small patches of 600 grit wet & dry paper to the sticks which turns them into very small files or wands to polish the prongs on my stitching chisels

But I don't buy the sticks, I pick them up in the street; just give them a quick wash then let them dry

[LumpenDoodle2]

Fredk, you are my long lost twin, and I claim my £5.

Pound Shop, or poundland purchases are wonderful, I buy my UHU glue there all the time.  

May I reccommend the cotton pads used to remove makup.   Perfect for applying and wiping off dye or conditioner in small areas, and they don't  leave thise little cotton 'bits' behind.

A5 hardback lined page books £1 each.   Perfect for writing your orders, stock, important addresses/numbers, or instructions for making up your leather items (hate getting halfway through a project, and finding out I've missed a step out).

Visit the Poundshop garden section, where you can buy the lolly sticks cleverly disguised as plant name markers.

Cotton buds for applying dye and edgekote.   Three big boxes (100 per box?) for £1.

 

[Matt S]

3 hours ago, zuludog said:

But I don't buy the sticks, I pick them up in the street; just give them a quick wash then let them dry

How Northern! Do you peg your teabags on the line between uses? 

My UK-based money-saving tip is regarding strap cutter blades. Bloody fiddly to strop (i think that's the idea) and 50p+ each. Schick injector blades are even more, and double-edge razor blades don't snap cleanly enough to fit. But No10a scalpel blades work out 10p each and fit just fine and I buy them anyway for other leather uses. And they can be stropped more easily.

Need a quiet motor for your burnisher? Silverline bench grinder for £25 including delivery. Pull all the safety junk off and put a felt wheel on the spare end and you have a power strop too. Just remember it's the most dangerous tool in the place (except for Yours Truly). Plus you end up with two 6" abrasive wheels you can put to other uses.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Matt S

[LumpenDoodle2]

And if you time it right, you can buy the Silverline bench grinder for £18 (insert smug emoticon here).

[HENDREFORGAN]

Though Tandy has been a popular chioce for newbies to leather-working here in the UK I do feel that the absence of competition to them, together with the unattainable mouth watering offerings from North American retail/wholesale outlets, has meant that we are a resolute and inventive bunch of crafts-persons here in the UK . . I'm sure we would rate highly in any International competition for the most unlikely source of leather-working accoutrements adapted and used.

[YinTx]

21 minutes ago, HENDREFORGAN said:

Though Tandy has been a popular chioce for newbies to leather-working here in the UK I do feel that the absence of competition to them, together with the unattainable mouth watering offerings from North American retail/wholesale outlets, has meant that we are a resolute and inventive bunch of crafts-persons here in the UK . . I'm sure we would rate highly in any International competition for the most unlikely source of leather-working accoutrements adapted and used.

And here we are all ordering stuff from Abbey England....

Great pointers, and a lot of these or similar items are available here in the US - awesome lolipop or "tongue depressors" tip!

I've used the metal clips as they have more strength and wider gripping area than the small clips.

YinTx

[LumpenDoodle2]

I blame Blue Peter myself.........

[fredk]

3 hours ago, YinTx said:

Great pointers, and a lot of these or similar items are available here in the US - awesome lolipop or "tongue depressors" tip!

I've used the metal clips as they have more strength and wider gripping area than the small clips.

I use loads of the small office bulldog clips as well, with the lolly sticks. For a thinner stick is a McDonalds [not the farmer chappie - the fast 'food' place] stirring stick. I do not advocate taking a big load from them as that is stealing, but an extra one or two every time you're in and you'll soon have several hundred......

1 hour ago, LumpenDoodle2 said:

I blame Blue Peter myself.........

I thank Blue Peter. John, Peter, Val et al. They say you can age someone by who their favorite BP presenters were and their fav Dr. Who. I confusethose who want to know my dob with; fav Dr. Who is Patrick Troughton and for BP its Konnie Huq 

Sticky back plastic rules!

[LumpenDoodle2]

Valerie Singleton every time, with Tom Baker (then David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi in second joint second place).