Decades of woodworking, and its just a habit, if I am creating dust, the mask goes on. So today, After putting some dye on a project, i went out, fired the smoker up, and pulled the ribs out of fridge that have been waiting in their glorious marinade for the past day to go on the smoker. Back to the project. Promptly proceeded to glue up a different project, which I did. Not something really huge, but enough that it took me maybe 7 minutes to apply the contact cement to each piece, then wait a bit to dry after my glue up. Glued em up, they looked good, hammered them down and decided to go make sure the smoker had enough chips going. I walked into the kitchen and couldn't for the life of me figure our how, or why I used my HDPE cutting board to put the dye on the first project. I looked at it, and looked at it, then realized i didn't do anything in the kitchen, then it hit me. I was looking at bbq sauce on my cutting board, and I was more than a bit loopy from from the contact cement. Since i just left my work area, the only thing on my mind was leatherwork, and the fact i was dying some pieces earlier made me believe I somehow used my cutting board for my dye work. Lesson learned! Move my habits from woodworking to leather craft, if i am going to use contact cement, pull the mask out. I was high on leather work, and didn't even know it! lol I am still high on leather work, but its not the glue sniffing type of high! Have a great day everyone!

This is definitely worth your 20 minutes to watch if you havnt seen it before. Torbjorn Ahman is a master blacksmith in Sweden. He is a true master at his craft, this shows him making a set of pricking irons. Unfortunately, i cant find that he sells any of his wares, otherwise i would for sure buy a set of these as a collectable. Enjoy Blacksmithing - Making stitching irons for leather working,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iPvRZ-D55E

The wife and I are heading off to Italy for a well needed vacation. We will be in Florence for a few days before heading up to Parma. Anyone have any "must go to" leather shop suggestions in Florence?

Greeting everyone. I recently started upgrading many of my beginner tools i started out with. Initially i didnt want to spend alot until I figured out how I liked leatherwork, well, i guess you can determine whether I did or not. Alot of my initial tools were adequate for getting into the craft with no experience, but over time they have proven that I have out grown them either due to noticable deficiencies or the simple desire to upgrade some to higher qualty. My question is this, what to do with the tools i am replacing? I am not really one to hang on to low quality tools, not to just keep them around for the sake of keeping them around. I dont know anyone that I think would be interested in leatherwork to give them to. Thanks in advance for your suggestions. kurtis werkplaats

Just joined, looking forward to learing more and taking my hobby to a different level.