AEtheric991

It looks like Kevin covered the high points. I think that the reason you "gears of death" don't seem to do much is that they need to be sharpened. That little disc that exploded... Yeah, It was for sharpening the blades. It looks like the reason that you have so much stuff in the blue bucket is that you would match the width of the blades to the width of the soles to be trimmed. On your model, selest the one you want and screw it on. The naumkeg is awesome. Once you start using it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. The sanding pads should be avalible in 100 and 120 grit. On the knurled part above the sanding pad, your picture shows some holes, probably three or four. There should be a special wrench that fits into these and makes it easier to tighten things up.

The Landis thing fascinates me; It's quite large and weighs a ton. You turn it on and the motor starts turning then you press the petal which engages a sort of clutch and then the big 'engine' inside starts turning and metal shite starts moving every which way inside and out. It looks like it's meant to stitch the edges of something (there is no throat to speak of) My guess is the outer rim of shoes and even though I have not plans to make shoes (maybe a couple pairs of boots some day) I figured it would be a sheath maker's dream; just stick the 2 or 3 pieces of the sheath in there and let it do it's work. Also for bags and belts and stuff too. It looks like it sews with 2 curved needles and one seems to be broken on mine and then there's a bobbin too which means 3 feeds of threads. I'm a novice at this stuff so it makes my brain to explode thinking about it. How does that even work? And can I adapt it for the uses I have in mind? Maybe others? The Landis is a great machine.I have two that I use for shoe repair. Its designed to stitch sole on shoes with a goodyear welt, but it will also sew most other things that you can fit into it, so watch your fingers. It should have a curved needle on top, and an awl on the bottom. Once you have it set up, the awl will stab thru from the bottom, making a hole for the needle and advancing the work. The needle then shoots thru that hole, grabs the thread from the bottom, and locks it around the bobbin thread. Repeat as needed. Only two threads are involved. In spite of it's appearance of complexity it seems like it's over engineered to be solid and unbreakable even though it sounds like it's gonna break with every clankity-cla-chunk when it's going 90mph. And by they way, that's it's only speed unless you wanna idle/slip the clutch thing a bit (probably bad for it) and it's momentum keeps it going for quite a few clankities after you release the clutch. I suspect it was made before electronics dominated the world. Kind of reminds me of a steam locomotive. I'm sure I'll have to request tips for how to thread the thing when I get around to doing that cause I haven't been able to find a manual for it online or off. The Landis is designed to be idiot/cobbler proof and will stop anything up to about a .38. You can take the whole thing apart with a screwdriver and a couple of wrenches. After a little practice, you should be able to find the line between too fast and too slow. Once you figure out how many "clankities" yours will keep going after you take your foot off the gas, you can coast to a finish. One of mine stops on a dime, and the other always goes for an extra three or four stitches. I don't know why... O yeah, and heat... what the heck is that for?? It has a heat control; does the motor get really hot or something? Even so, what exactly would it do to regulate the heat? Or maybe if your in cold areas and the oil needs to be warm enough to flow? I really have no clue. About the time the earth's crust cooled a little, linen thread was used with the Landis. To make this work properly, the heat contol would warm up a pot of wax, which would help the thread to go thru things, protect the thread, and help seal up the holes as you go. I've never used this feature or seen it used. One guy I used to work for claims to have done this, but he stopped using the wax sometime in the '60s. I fill my wax pot up with Sellari's thread lube, which looks like milk, and use poly thread. The manual suggests that if you do use wax, that you be sure to clean the Landis daily with kerosene! Next is the Sutton thing. It looks to me like a stitcher of some sort... certainly an atypical one, but one none the less since it's got thread and all so what else would it do? Since it's for shoes the only thing I can think of is that you could stick your shoe over the post and stitch away in awkward freedom. Again, not caring about shoes I imagined being able to sew odd shaped things like leather helmets, elbow and knee armor sections, weird shaped bags, and overlays on already shaped leather armor. Maybe other stuff if I can think of it. Think this is possible? Any other ideas? Your sutton thing looks like a chain stitch McKay type machine. It works best for sewing the soles on loafers and things like that. The curved post is designed to be able go inside the shoe as far as the toe. I have heard of guys fabricating a table that attatches to the post so that they can do bags and tack, but never seen this in person. It may be an urban legand. I have a newer lock stitch McKay(well a DM-88) and have found it to be not so useful on my medieval projects. Its pretty akward to keep non shoe shaped things balanced on it in order to sew and I find hand sewing better fits my medieval asthetic. I want to believe that a harness stitcher is the answer, but I don't have one of those. I haven't yet convinced the wife/CFO that just because I want one, that means we need on at the shop. Let me know if you have any other questions.