[ Nicholas Simons writes in 090601 MMDigest:

> My own policy is to seal leather only if it needs sealing.  Not as
> daft as it sounds!

I'm with Nicholas on this.  It appears that quite often the original
manufacturers used top quality pouch skin without sealing it.  If you
seal replacement skin you may well have to enlarge all the bleeds!

We generally find that a pouch skin has to be _very_ carefully selected,
as many of today's skins are full of pinholes.  We do not buy it mail
order, but always visit the leather supplier and select the best skins.
We very seldom have a problem when re-building stacks, and do not
usually have to alter bleeds.

When we do have to seal skins we use egg white.  It works beautifully,
doesn't go hard with age, doesn't affect hot glue or wood, and it has
been used for centuries for that purpose!

Best,
David Evans - Revelstoke Nickelodeon Museum
Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada