During the Covid-19 lockdown I bought and assembled a vapour blaster which, for me turned out to be an epic project which turned out to be an unqualified success. Not only am I very popular among my motorcycling friends and acquaintances, I'm having a lot of fun learning a lot about how to use it and also the dry abrasive blaster I subsequently bought. I went on to buy a 30-litre ultrasonic cleaner and I'm now considering getting into zinc-nickel alloy electro-plating, but I digress...
I came across this Youtube video, while researching vapour blasting, of somebody restoring an old blowlamp and he subsequently made a leather washer for the pressure pump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZclIC5Mw0
My observation is that this is an admirable example of typical American self-reliance and ingenuity. While anti-murkins might say "what's the point because it's possible to buy leather washers for most springers for a few quid", which is indeed true, it fascinates me to see a demonstration of what seems to be historical reverse engineering at its most basic level!