Cutting costs the UK way

[LumpenDoodle2]

In fact, I remember making a 'Dougle' out of 4 corks, a washing up liquid bottle, and some wool.

They were the days........

[Rockoboy]

On ‎27‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 10:18 PM, 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.

If you have a Tandy Store ... Luxury I say. LUXURY!! We have one single Tandy store in Australia, and its about 4000kms from where I live!

If we want leather, we have to go in ta field, in dead of night and catch a cow with our bare hands. Then we skin him with a broken beer bottle, and we love it! Luxury!

[LumpenDoodle2]

A broken beer bottle?   

Wouldn't it be easier to just look for the zip?

[paulw]

Hi Iam a newbie been going for about 6 months, I live in Suffolk.  If you are looking for leather try leatheronline.com, based in Italy, it took 5 days from ordering online to postman knocking on door and they do a huge range, tried some of their 3rd grade calf I was not expecting good stuff, but if their 3rd grade was like I recieved its dam good stuff, their 1st must be out of this world and the price is brill.

Look on youtube for leodis leather and Nordic badger, you will be up and running in no time

[Juttle]

For really good quality try Metropolitan Leather. Excellent veg tan and a very quick delivery. No affiliation, blah, blah...

[Matt S]

3 hours ago, paulw said:

Hi Iam a newbie been going for about 6 months, I live in Suffolk.  If you are looking for leather try leatheronline.com, based in Italy, it took 5 days from ordering online to postman knocking on door and they do a huge range, tried some of their 3rd grade calf I was not expecting good stuff, but if their 3rd grade was like I recieved its dam good stuff, their 1st must be out of this world and the price is brill.

Look on youtube for leodis leather and Nordic badger, you will be up and running in no time

What sort of veg-tan? I presume you're falling you mean russet top-grain for tooling? If so, JT Bachelor does some pretty nice buff-back russet shoulders for £3.50/foot plus VAT and they are only as far as Dalston. (They do mail order too.)

[HaloJones]

When you have a blood test, if they use disposable rubber straps on your arm for pressure: keep it as they are great for holding rolls of leather nice & tight.

i have also used them for holding wet leather on a form

[fredk]

1/12/17 update

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

This was working out ok until I gave it to one of No.1's workmen. I wanted 10 cm cut off one end for use on another table. I told him I needed that but I forgot to say I wanted the remainder too. He's Latvian with a very basic understanding of English language nuances. He cut off and kept the 10 cm bit but broke the other bit up!

10 Another bargain. I'm currently 'remodelling' [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 have two drawer units [the top bit of this] from Halfords for my tools. Sometimes they discount the tool boxes too.

I was in a local Halfords last week and saw a set like this but larger for £120, marked down from £200 for a 'Black Friday' sale

11: More storage boxes. all from Poundland/World

A. Clippy box, a nice size. Two variations of lid; this one with handle clips on, another has two captive flaps which interlock for the lid. If getting this one check the end latches actually work, I've checked out some and 7 out of 10 do not latch properly

B. Actually a two level sandwich lunch box.

C. Costing £2, this box comes free with a filling of chocolate brownies or strawberry cupcakes  or other treats. Box shapes and sizes vary

12: For thread or lacing. Have you got a load of lacing which is not on a spool and keeps getting tangled? Three options; the first two on the left are out of Poundland had garden string, the glass cost 69p in Home Bargains, using the straw is optional. Put lace or thread in one of these, draw up through the hole, lace/thread stays clean and helps keep it from tangling

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by fredk

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

I've been asked to replace the photos in the first posting here.  They suffered removal by Photobucket.

I can't edit that first posting so I'm reposting the lot with a few extra notes.

Thanks for updating this thread. I have copied these photos into your first post.

This was a prime example of what happens when using 3rd party photo hosting sites instead of uploading photos to this site.  Anytime a photo on a 3rd party site is changed, moved, deleted, permissions changed, etc. the photo disappears here and is replaced with a broken link symbol.  I recommend that all photos be uploaded to this site so they don't get lost out there in cyberspace.  If you resize photos to 800 x 600, (which is usually adequate for most viewing purposes), you can upload many photos in a single post.  It is also an assist to those people living on the fringes of the internet as they don't have to wait hours for a post loaded with large images to be downloaded before they can view them.

Tom

[mikesc]

Not in the UK..but there are not many here who are in France..so ..as like many Irish I spent many years in the UK, I'll tag along.

Lot of us with machines have a lot of cones of thread around, if they're not stored in boxes or in a cupboard they can get dusty and contaminated and they wont unwind nicely when put on the machine, and most of us "store" at least one cone permanently on a stand on each machine.
To protect from dust..get a plastic mineral water bottle ( that you've drunk the water from ) that has a diameter bigger than the cone diameter..cut the bottle around ( approximately half way up ) so that it makes a "cover" for the thread..leave the screw top on if the cone is not on the sewing machine, leave the screw top off ( and feed the thread upwards and out to the "eye" on the thread stand ) if the cone is on the thread stand behind the machine..This will keep them dust ( and other contaminants ) free.

Only use mineral water bottles..or if you do use soda bottles make certain that all the sugaryness is washed out thoroughly first.

re Blue Peter* and Dr Who..Val Singleton..and Tom Baker.
*Biddy Baxter, Val and the rest of the "team" at the time sent me a very nice letter and a "Blue Peter Badge" when I was a boy, I was the one who named their cat Jason...Didn't get to go on TV to receive it though..

Tom Baker was my favourite, but I am old enough to have seen Dr Who since the very beginning with William Hartnell..he resembled one of my teachers ( a very stern man ) a bit too much to be my favourite.

Edited December 1, 2017 by mikesc