A quick post to share a completely random idea which worked for me. One of the things I need to learn to become a better bookbinder is to work with leather. Paring leather so that it will not be too bulky on your boards is a usual task. This had me a tad nervous - what if I dig too deep, or take off too much?

Yes, I have some scrap leather that I can use, but it's often still too thick to be a true substitute. Good, but not great. Slightly better is the idea I had today - paring citrus peel. Clementines, specifically. These days clementines have fairly thin skins. At least half the width of my scrap leather! So I practiced paring on them. I felt better about it: didn't ruin any valuable leather, think it was a bit more accurate and I now have candied citrus peel for my next sweet treat! :)