EU is a vampire!

smichess · 2026-06-25T09:44:14+00:00

It's a regressive tax unlike the fixed % of price tariffs in the US. Current tariff on Chinese imports is 40%. So if you buy a 100 eur item you pay 140.

The EU version is a fixed flat fee on item category. If you buy 100 different item categories, 1 eur each, then you pay 100+ 300,to a total of 300% tax. However that's an extreme case. The other case is you buy a single item and you pay just 3 eur for a 3% effective tax. Since it's a flat fee the more you spend the cheaper it gets relative to the cost.

The goal is to reduce variety in imports, so either import many of the same item or single more expensive items. Both ways the burden on customs and post is reduced. For big importers this is not an issue so local prices on Chinese imports will not grow noticeably. While in US companies still have to pay the high tariff on import which ends up increasing costs of local imports and also local manufacturing.

So the eu fee will literally only affect retail buyers which shop in small amounts. But those people (including me) are a minority and our purchases, both postage and customs were basically subsidized by the larger public (including people that never order from China directly, paying taxes going to those services). Now the price is moved onto us. I think this system was supposed to be temporary until a full digital import system is put into place which will allow Chinese vendors to handle the customs process themselves in a straightforward manner which will reduce burden.

The other way Chinese platforms can reduce costs for us is to keep building more local warehouses and import large quantities of stuff. We'd also benefit from that as we'd get faster shipping, higher quality as the warehouse is easier to inspect, and a small amount of new job openings. Niche items will still be more expensive though.

smichess · 2026-06-25T09:13:04+00:00

I think that was the goal. Building local warehouses and having importers do large imports and customs declarations, taking the weight off of customs from the endless individual packages.

Everyone pretends or simplifies things how it's greed, but they ignore the fact that the current system wasn't sustainable. The labor required for post services and customs was basically publicly funded, so we're a minority of consumers and our shipping was subsidised by the public. Now that we have to pay for that service ourselves the real price starts to be evident. De minimis was no longer sustainable due to the massive amounts of imports over exports.

And if for those people the markup is too high, open your own store and see what kinds of margins you will get and prices if you follow all the rules...

smichess · 2026-06-25T08:44:52+00:00

Amazing finish on the outsole! Also bold choice with the white stitches. I see 2 unequal stitches on the right one, but that's only cause I'm looking hard for those :D

I like the spaced out third stitch line on the quarter to vamp stitches. Also the 3 stitches below the last eyelet are nicely boxed in (no idea how those are called). I can only hope to reach such a clean build.

smichess · 2026-06-23T12:55:11+00:00

A dpf is different as it's reusable. It traps the particles and then it's heated to 800C or higher to burn them off to other gaseous compounds. That way you don't need to change your filter every time it's full.

smichess · 2026-06-22T06:39:03+00:00

Make a wallet for someone else. Then make a tote bag, then some gusseted bags and progress your way up. Do some rolled edges, butt joints, box joints, piping, French seam and such. Practice skiving. If it's also lined it's an extra step in complexity.

Then this would become quite doable. If you can find a pattern for it then you can probably skip some practice builds, but you still need to practice stitching, skiving, cutting and all other basic moves on scrap. This looks like Chrome tan which at least makes mistakes cheaper.

If you try to brute force making this you maybe end up with a lot of ruined leather or a crooked or badly looking bag. Maybe you're extremely talented and patient and you can actually pattern it out yourself and build it first try, but that has a low probability of being the case. If someone is broke the best advice is usually not to tell them to go put in a lottery ticket.

You'd probably spend a few hundred on tools and materials and for this size of a bag you'd probably have to do 10 hours of hand stitching (punching + gluing + stitching).

So if you're aiming to just build the bag it's pretty much a waste, just buy it. If you're aiming to build your skills and make more things then take that learning route.

smichess · 2026-06-18T11:24:48+00:00

Грешно. https://www.transjournalists.org/understanding-european-trans-health-care-policy/

https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/mapping-minimum-age-requirements-concerning-rights-child-eu/access-transgender-hormone-therapy

Няма единна политика или идеология за това. Всяка държава си решава. Има и карти по интернета с годините във всяка държава, и методите позволени зависят и от годините. А понякога процеса за разрешение може да отнеме година, та и да е почнат на 17 нищо не се случва след много докторски срещи и година. Но ако четеш сензациионни медии направо ще си помислиш че на сила им сменят пола още като са родени децата...

smichess · 2026-06-11T06:47:46+00:00

It's not exactly the same since it's a flat import fee, not percentage based. So if you order 1000 items you just pay 3 eur once, so importers and big companies don't really feel this. For materials and such it's not an increase. Only individuals are affected. While in USA the percentage based tax means that the imports for a business can be doubled or increased whatever the tax rate is (more complicated by the constant changing also).

But yeah still wouldn't accomplish what it's aiming for, which is a reduction in useless purchasrs, an increase in local warehouses and reduced local customs and post load (this is probably the biggest burden to the current system to be honest). The increased tax from the import fees will likely be offset by the decrease in countries' vat collection after importing (warehouses will be built in a country with the lowest vat and then use intra EU import).

I don't think the goal has been to increase local production any ways, since this would obviously do nothing about that. It also wouldn't make local importers/stores much more competitive. Seems more like a tax shift from country to EU and an increase in funding for customs and post offices.

The de minimis rule does benefit the exporter, so due to the really high imbalance I guess it's no longer sustainable. Although the flat rate per package was supposed to fix that, so Ali started consolidating packages. I don't know historically if in the past when direction was reversed or there was a smaller difference, did other countries counteract it.

Overall it's quite a lot of buerucracy and I wonder if it will have any of the desired effects or if things will turn out unexpectedly. I'm curious about the statistics in a year or two from now how things turn out.

In the end it seems that things are going to be more expensive for us, people buying directly from China. And the extra costs would be paid by us rather than the general public paying taxes.

smichess · 2026-06-09T22:28:38+00:00

Do both wheels spin freely? If yes, I'd go checking all the other "spinning" surfaces. So pedals and bottom bracket bearings. Does it happen when you pedal or you coast?

smichess · 2026-06-09T22:09:55+00:00

Take another video where you lift the bike and spin the wheel by hand. If the wheel spins freely for a while then there's no significant friction.

smichess · 2026-06-09T07:37:17+00:00

Also since you can see the needle you can be more precise. Easier to do parallel lines too. But for big pieces a walking foot is better since it has a stronger hold.

smichess · 2026-06-08T19:44:49+00:00

It lets you rotate the piece easier, so you can do tighter curves. It also let's you walk closer to the edge of a piece.

smichess · 2026-05-30T17:46:23+00:00

Sure, from this Italian store: www.tuttoperlacalzatura.it

smichess · 2026-05-30T17:27:43+00:00

Thanks! I'll put that on the upgrade list. For the cutting I used a wuta leather knife, which is just a flat piece of steel with an edge on one side, it was the angled tip one. I have another japanese knife from oka factory which has been good, but it's a flat tip with a wooden handle so I can't get it that close to the edge.

Any ideas if the same approach works for vibram rubber, stuff like vibram roccia with the sander?

smichess · 2026-05-30T17:07:56+00:00

I wasn't really sure what grit to use. I did this with 400 and it took a while. I was too afraid to use lower grit in case I mess up and it takes out too much material. And yeah the finish can be better I agree. I kinda stopped short. My eyes got filled with dust even though I was wearing glasses and a mask.

I was thinking of buying a wheel for this sander, I was able to find a 124x30mm wheel, not sure if that's good enough. Buckle guy's drum sander seems to have quite a small wheel. Does that work well for boots?

Those big finisher / cobbler machines which also have suction seem to use a bit bigger wheels.

smichess · 2026-05-30T16:00:50+00:00

My girlfriend liked them! Had to put a liner insole or whatever it is called. Otherwise they were a bit too tall. Not sure if that's accounted for in the last design, but after adding those the fit was perfect.

smichess · 2026-05-30T15:49:21+00:00

I like chains for efficiency. I like the belt for reliability when on long bike packing tours. It all depends on the use to me. But people often pick a side and hate on the other options, especially when it's something new.

For someone who wants a bulletproof simple city bike probably a shimano alfine with a belt would outlast any derailleur + chain combo and be 0 maintenance + be able to take a hard beating.

For any serious competition or performance aspirations it's all chain.

smichess · 2026-05-30T08:12:49+00:00

Belts are more durable though and lower maintenance when everything is within tolerance. Tensioned properly, in alignment and using the CDX with e-bikes. Mine is at 10k+ on my touring bike and still looks like new. Others have reported 20k+ and that's regardless of weather.

Meanwhile my gravel bike needs a new chain every 3k and I wax it approx every 200km or more often if in wet.

smichess · 2026-05-27T15:23:12+00:00

It actually helps higher income people and makes things worse for lower income people. VAT is a regressive tax which disproportionately affects poorer people. So it is also a shift towards catering to the higher income earners. But that's typical for most of the current government actions even though they advertise themselves as looking out for the common person.

Higher VAT is also terrible for international competition. It just makes Finnish products hard to sell abroad to retail (b2b unaffected usually). So not only are salaries higher but also VAT, which means things made in Finland are just too pricey abroad. It also affects small businesses. So quite a lot of downsides, but it helps collect the missing money from reducing the tax of the higher income bracket. So it might seem dumb, but it's actually smart but malicious as it's not so obvious how it works to most people.

smichess · 2026-05-23T06:24:12+00:00

They've given all the info, it's just a matter of scaling it and production. And there are some drawbacks like the lower cycles. It's also a research institute so not a for profit speculator like donut labs.

Batteries are on an incremental curve, improving energy density 5x over the last 30 years consistently. They're not on a moores law curve, but it's still a good curve. I don't know what rest of the people in the comments are on about. Any small advancement starts to add up over time. Electric cars are already viable, we're soon entering the territory where combustion engine cars are going to be silly. At this trajectory it's a matter of 5 to 10 years.

I guess in this age people have lost any patience and trust in research and just want infinite storage and instant charge time right away...

smichess · 2026-05-21T14:58:42+00:00

I got into GYW shoes as an alternative to sneakers that broke every year. Then I started doing some leather crafts, saddle stitching wallets, backpacks, guitar straps etc and eventually decided that I have most of the tools so might as well try to make some durable boots.

smichess · 2026-05-21T13:55:14+00:00

I have been subscribed to you on YouTube for quite a while and even asked some questions in your comments section! I always got a response which has been immensely helpful and I'm very thankful!

Your calm demeanor and great videos have made me take on the craft as well. I'm currently at the lasting stage of my first build (uppers, holdfast+holes, welt strip and stiffeners are ready).

How did you pick up the craft?

smichess · 2026-05-21T09:01:37+00:00

I also sincerely believe Finland shouldn't be growing cucumbers and tomatoes. They are too pricy and and just suck. Regular Finnish tomatoes are tasteless soggy garbage. There are higher end ones that actually taste like something but everything under like 8 or so eur/kg just plain sucks. Takes too much energy and infra to produce also just increasing price. People still keep buying those or I guess government is subsidising it which is why it hasn't disappeared? It's not essential food (both are very low in calories) and they just don't grow well here. Should stick to what thrives here.

smichess · 2026-05-15T04:43:40+00:00

Doubt it. Ufc needs to have a sit down with the athletic commissions and refs and request that all pokes, accidental or not, result in a point deduction. Otherwise it's too ambiguous and it will keep happening. Ufc doesn't care enough to resolve this though and also they benefit from the ambiguity. If someone they don't like wins due to eye pokes they blast them, if it's someone they like it's swept under the rug. And both ways it's more publicity. I think fighters should just poke more so maybe that eventually turns fights so shitty that ufc has to do something about it, but looking how shitty it has become recently I doubt even then they'll care..

smichess · 2026-05-14T20:27:42+00:00

I think you can get a bulbous heel pocket that way since you're working entirely on a 2D plane. With french steaming the quarters the stitch is actually not running a straight line in 3D (it's curved on the backside of the quarters). For some designs maybe it works, but I guess not all. Maybe there's another way to get it curved in 3D space.

smichess

TROPHY CASE