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Manchester Minerals sell soapstone for carving - http://www.manchesterminerals.co.uk (60p/100g) I thought that Craft Supplies carried it for turning, but their site says otherwise. Might be worth giving them a ring anyway.

Tiffers over on BB has recommended using black gloss radiator paint rather than pitch in the past. Non-toxic, remains slightly flexible and doesn't dissolve at the first touch of something with a more exciting alcohol content. Added - may have misremembered things - definitely gloss...

Yeah, they need a moderate size piece. Might be worth trying an Australian strander - you work from the outside in. Failing that, send me the stuff & I'll see what lace I can get out of it for you? (Not that I'd want to act as any deterrent to tool acquisition!)

What tool are you using?

I can probably make it.

I burnish the wax in with a scrap of brown paper. When the brown paper gets saturated with wax, it goes in the tinder pouch. (And the brown paper is usually stuff I've reclaimed from packaging anyway!)

And saltpeter/saltpetre is potassium nitrate, not potassium aluminium sulphate. (Or potassium aluminum sulfate :) )

Wayne Goddard's "$50 Knife Shop" has a chunk on using granite as an anvil too.

Looks fine from here. No evidence of a hack.

It's a very good DVD - although I did fast forward some of the realtime forging aspects - heat, bash, bash, bash, back to the fire, repeat...

Edgekote (bleh) or dye very carefully applied with a brush. Alternatively, see how dark the edges burnish?

A thick cork mat?

Argh. Teach me to work from memory in random moments... Yes, if you're working with the cube of radius, you're ending up with volume. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

If you want really, really minimalist then an awl, needles, thread and a knife are all that are needed. You can do all the cutting out, skiving, bevelling etc. with the one knife if you really want to. Beveller and burnisher (or bone folder) are excellent for making edges nice & neat; a bone...

Cone layout - http://search.sheetmetalworld.com/news/articles/198.cfm http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/math/cones1.htm Commercial sw with freebie - http://www.pulserate.com/ http://www.red-bag.com/engintools/calccone.php

Formula for surface area of a sphere is (4/3 pi r^3), so a hemisphere would be half that (!). Formula for surface area of a cone is (pi r l) where l is slant height. Of course, fabrics are sold squared... :)

Stitching clamp, stitching pony or saddler's clam. Buy or make... Chuck Burrows has a good plan at http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials/_stitchpony.html I invariably mark the back face with either a crease or a groove so I can be sure where the awl is coming out, it is then a simple...

The only time I keep track of what I have in stock is when I need to do the tax return...

Washing soda will strip tea stains out of the stainless mugs if it is left to sit for a while.

I've recently switched to using pricking irons instead of stitching wheels - still reach for the wheel occasionally, but less & less. Different style & end result. Optional, but adds a nice decorative touch. Just to reinforce - do NOT hit pricking irons with metal hammers. You'll...