When I visit my old harness maker friend, now 80 years old, and retired from Williamsburg now, He didn't do the 40 years like I did! I am always impressed with the collection of leather working tools he has acquired over the years, and still uses. He has a bunch of multi toothed stitching punches. Some are nearly 2" wide, and with the finest teeth! Some have the broad arrow head English government mark stamped on them. All the little chisel edged teeth cut perfectly spaced slits for the stitches, on 45 degree angles. He is the real deal, having served a proper apprenticeship in England, starting when he was in his early teens. He is very Cockney, and a great, very helpful and generous person. He still takes care of the harnesses the horses use, pulling coaches and wagons about town. They can't find seem to find anyone else who knows how to make the harnesses. And, it is pretty involved stuff. And, not like modern harness. They will probably wait until he is dead, then run around like chickens with their heads cut off, in a huge quandary to find a replacement! This is standard practice.
He repaired all the damaged leather goods(aviator's hats, boots, etc. used in the movie " The Battle of Britain". He has many stories. One is how they had to install Jaguar car engines in planes cobbled together, but missing the engines. They were used in shots where they were JUST leaving the ground. And, just leaving the ground is all they could do with the Jaguar engines at, what? 275 H.P.,compared to the minimum 1000 H.P. Merlin engines on the earliest Mk.1 Spitfires. That figure soon doubled as the British kept up with the German advances on their 109's. They had gathered every WWII British and German plane they could find from all over Europe. The Heinkel 111 was still made in Spain, but with Merlin Engines. Used to haul freight and passengers (I guess).
These days, they can make any plane they want with the computer.
When he was a kid, he and 2 friends were walking along an isolated country road, having been fishing. A Rolls Royce stopped and the driver got out. He said" Miss Andrews would like to know if you would like a lift". It turned out to be Julie Andrews!!! So, there they were, sitting in the limousine, facing the lovely Miss Andrews, and wondering what to say!!
He also worked on holsters and other items for the early James Bond movies with the original(and ONLY SUITABLE James Bond, in My opinion,Sean Connery. Sean Connery did not trust banks. He kept his money in a large drawer in a chest of drawers in his bedroom. His wife used to think it was so funny, she would take dinner guests to the bedroom, and show them his drawer full of money!!
Eventually, Mr. Conners BOUGHT himself a bank, where he could trust to keep his money!!! You just never know the little quirks that people can have! Maybe it was a Scottish thing!!
When Sean Connery first got into acting, he had a very thick Scottish accent, which some actress, I can't recall who, thought was so terrible. She thought he sounded like a rough Scottish truck driver!! He had to attend many classes to get rid of that accent (which still comes through some times!) He knew that he would not be able to have a real career on his looks alone. He finally became "Brittified".