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BigJake

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About BigJake

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  1. I have to chime in here and admit to being a user of RJF leather. In the beginning I only ordered veg tan and was satisfied with the product. Later I order some drum dyed black and was satisfied with that as well. My last order included an order for a medium brown drum dyed double back. When it arrived I was surprised to see that the flesh side had little or no dye at all and the penetration on the hair side was very minimal......like it had been sprayed. I called Roger and he stated it was in fact "Drum dyed" but not all the way thru. I'm still trying to figure out how that could be managed. Reqardless, I though I could still use it. I tried some scrap pieces using an arcylic sealer and it turned out OK. I'm thinking this would save some time in the holster making, so cut out a pair of holsters and a belt which would be a matching set. I ocassionally use a product sold by Weaver called Leather Firmer which is used in place of water during the wet forming. Never had a problem before with this product. So I dip the holsters in the leather firmer and some of the dye leached out in the chemical. Put the holsters out to dry with the pistols inside. The next day after partial drying they were almost chocolate brown, much darker than before diping. Again, no issues with this product when using natural veg tan leather. Now I had to try to match the belt to the holster color or use the leather firmer on the belt. I was able to match the color using a spray gun. The customer likes the rig even though it was darker than what he originally ordered. My take on this and must be taken as my opinion only is RJF is dying the veg tan himself using a sprayer. He did mention to me in an earlier conversation that he had spent many hours in a spray booth dying leather........in his past. This was months before my issue with the med brown back. I think he still gets his product from Throughbred and their quality may have slipped a bit, even with the veg tanned. The opinion I now have is I will buy drum dyed black only from RJF and the browns from another source. As a side note, the black is dyed thru and thru and the Leather Firmer has no effect and the dye does not leach out.
  2. Somehow I thought the 3200 was the larger machine. After checking the website I see it's not. My comments were more towards the 3500 machine or the Juki 441 clones. I have the Cobra 4-P which came with the three plates, and roller edge guide. Good luck with your new machine.
  3. Chief, Did you get the several plates, feed dogs, and edge guide with your machine? Does yours have the servo motor? I bought the Cobra Deluxe machine around the end of last year and it came with the three plates, feed dogs and edge quide and I never use the edge guide. I do use the holster plate most of the time and the standard plate for really thick stitching. Most of my work is cowboy gun leather, in fact all of it. I have found the holster plate works best for general stitching except for the main seam, which is too thick to fit under the pressor foot. I always use a guide for belts but the roller guide which came with the machine does not work well for that. I fabricated a guide which fits in the roller guide bracket and lets me run the guide right up to the edge of the pressor foot, which means less than 1/4 inch from the edge, stitch line. I also use 277 lubricated nylon thread top and bottom because I like the look of the larger thread. When I go from a single layer of 6/7 veg tan to 1/2" or more thickness I adjust the top tension knob about two turns for the thinner stuff and no adjustments to the bobbin tension ever. I also ground off the bottom of the needle foot to get rid of the ridge which is suposed to bury the stitch below the surface of the leather. This is supposed to make the stitch look better, I suppose, but created more problems than it was worth. I just increased the bobbin tension a bit and the top tension to pull the thread a bit tighter in the stitch. You may have a short learning curve coming from a Boss but you at least have the concept of stitch tension understood. My transition to a Cobra was relatively short as I came from an upholstery background using a Consew 206RB5. Good luck and if I can help in any way please let me know.
  4. Mungo, Mine are 4x and that's about right for me for carving, gunstock checkering. etc. Mine came from Enco about 20 years ago so I don't know if they still carry them.
  5. The Angelus Satin Sheen holds up as well as Resolene as both are water resistant and not water proof. Having said that, keep in mind that my leatherwork efforts are confined to cowboy gun leather and as such are not generally exposed to inclement weather. Saddle bags, motorcycle bags, and items that would be exposed to rain and such.......I have no knowledge of. As for the gloss, the Angelus Satin Sheen is just that within limits and the number of coats applied. Spraying versus sponge application will result in a higher gloss as a general rule in my experience. Most of my cowboy holsters have a flap over the top of the belt and extends down to the bottom of the holster. The back-side of this flap gets three coats of spray applied Satin Sheen for added protection from sweat from the leg of the wearer. Satin Sheen also makes a fine resist when using antique paste. Let me add that when applying acrylic products using spray equipment, proper cleaning is essential. By that I mean, dis-assemble the gun and clean all the parts in the fluid path otherwise clogging will soon become an issue for you. The vinegar and household cleaner mixture will disolve the hardened acrylic if your gun does become clogged and I have not found that denatured alcohol will do that. In my experience, denatured alcohol works about as well as tap water. I have a supply of automotive paint strainers used for automotive paint, not the kind you might get from Home Depot. All my acrylic topcoats are strained when it goes my paint gun cup, for the simple reason that any clumps or contaniments in the acrylic will clog the gun tip. I mix my Satin Sheen and keep the 50/50 mixture in a large jar so it's ready for use. Sometimes, clumps will occur in the mix or some of the dried material from the mouth of the jar will somehow get in the mix. As I said, I strain it everytime. Then there is the subject of spray guns which is a long discussion in itself, best left for another time.
  6. In my experience, Resolene or any of the acrylic top coats don't work well when applied with a dauber or sponge. If my project is a small strap where I can apply the acrylic in a single pass and cover the entire piece, then it works OK. Larger projects, not so well. The acrylic seems to disolve the Fiebings Oil dye to a degree and the streaks are caused by that. While I must admit I don't use Resolene much anymore, I use other acrylic products like Angelus Satin Sheen, Mop & Glo, to name a few. These are all acrylic products and will have the same issues when applying with anything that touches the surface of the leather. In my opinion, the only predictable and satisfactory way to apply this type of top coat is by spraying. Most of my work is gun leather, holsters and gun belts, and these are what I would call small items as compared to saddle bags, brief cases, and such. For my projects an airbrush fills the bill perfectly for acrylic top coats as well as dying with Pro Oil dye and streaks are never an issue. When using spray guns with acrylic, special cleaning is required otherwise the build-up of dryed acrylic will clog the tip. While the product is mostly water soluable, water only will not do a satisfactory job, even with detailed cleaning. There always seems to be a residual of dryed acrylic left in the gun unless one uses a mixture of vinegar, water and a general purpose household cleaner. This will cut the acrylic and leave your gun ready for use the next time you need it. I mix about 1/2 cup vinegar to 1/2 hag of tap water, and about 1/4 cup of Spic & Span liquid household cleaner. I use the Spic & Span because that what the Wife buys. Disassemble the gun and soak the parts for a few minutes in this solution, clean with a small brush, rinse well with tap water, blow dry and re-assemble. I use the same spray guns when dying with Pro Oil and Denatured Alcohol cleans up everything nicely when I'm done. I hope this helps.
  7. Pretty good image in post #1 of this thread. Click on the link and zoom the image. Also a video.
  8. When one is considering an edge and how sharp one over the other may be look at a straight razor and how the blade is cut and the long angle. Sharp is a long angle. Now the edge on an axe for example is very thick and the angle is short because the axe is used for chopping and not cutting and must be strong to withstand the forces of chopping. One cannot make the blade of an axe suitable for shaving because of the steep angle of the typical axe blade. Compare the blade of your round knife, is it thick? Is it 1/8" thick, no.... not any I have seen or own, more like 1/16" Sharp is the important factor and you cannot get that with a steep angle of the edge. Look at the edge of a wood plane, is it a steep angle? no it's not. A steep angle is for heavy abuse and heavy force. In my opinion a steep angle means more effort to pull the leather thru. I have a general purpose leather knife made by Osborne with about a 3/4" wide blade with the angle front to back of the blade. It cuts very well. Osborne made it that way. A shallow angle cuts better than a steep angle pure and simple but your mileage may vary.
  9. I have been doing research on which of the several splitters and skivers that were available would fill my needs. First I want to distinguish between a splitter and a skiver by my definition. A machine with no means to lock the blade adjustment without actually holding it in place with one hand is a skiver. A machine that allows one to lock the blade for a given thickness and then allow both hands to pull the leather thru is a splitter. I wanted a machine that would do both. The blade on a splitter is of such critical importance that became my focus. The Heritage machine sold by Weaver caught my eye mainly because of the angle of the cutting edge which covered the entire width of the blade. The others machines I considered only had an angle of about half the width of the blade. I'll also add the blade is 1/2" thich at the rear and 1 7/8" in width. The bottom of the blade is flat. I removerd the blade thinking I could improve on it since I am very anal when it comes to a sharp tool. In fact my sharpening routine includes examining the edge with a 10x jewelers loupe. Close examination of the edge appeared to me to be buffed with a polishing wheel and/or stroped. I concluded I could not improve on the edge and reinstalled the blade. My machinist background and with the measuring instruments I have I made a few checks for blade alignment and found it to be "Spot On" centered over the roller. I am fairly certain this machine is made in China although nothing indicates that on the machine or the packaging. It certainly appears to be a clone of the Osborne 84. This tool must be bolted down to a substancial table or work bench and I only have veg tanned leather to test but I could pull 3" wide 12 oz thru the machine with one hand and no strain. I am in no way connected to Weaver Leather other than a wholesale customer and I can honestly say, this machine does everything I needed and would most likely outlast me. I can recommend this 8" skiver without hesitation. Here is more info: http://weaverleathersupply.com/Catalog/ItemContent.aspx?ItemNumber=9ADD887DAEE73A1D04140C6721E47EA25A661627496C86A738D031B7BCCC4DA8E43F699FF683B1549E8FB1B3FC21C73C3320BC2D8C2A0D8F51E9090B86C6CC2E387EBDE18D7F1D1FC14D7D5A6DFB3C6FD751B4FA1371D2A742F38410410A078D66BC86778EEFBD6C644A0810351F8B88515258141AD5CCD592DBDC190ADBAC5A
  10. Chief, You can get a wider pattern with the Paasche airbrush with more air pressure. I use a #3 tip and 40 PSI when spraying oil dye of 50/50 acrylic top coat. This setup works well for dye but is lacking using Resolene or some of the other acrylic top coats. The issues I've experienced have become apparent on the second coat of acrylic top coat and any additional topcoats. The design of the Paasche does a poor job of atomizing. I use the #3 tip on the Paasche and those with a smaller tip may have a different experience. It's definitly workable but I recently purchased an Iwata airbrush and the atomization of the sprayed product is night and day different. Superior in every way because the design is totatly different than the Passche. The Iwata airbrush is a professional tool, no question and the only issue is the cost. You decide, but if I'm lying you can send some of your homeboys to pistol whip me.
  11. It seems some are buying their edge finishing products at the Adults Only Store or the drug store. I ordered the real deal from Sheridan and just so you know, it says right on the bottle, "Quik Slik." So far in my testing, it looks like this may be my "Go To" edge dressing. I have a homemade power edge machine patterned after the Weaver machine. I have a wool felt drum and a wood drum that fits the machine and the Quik Slik seems to work best on the wood burnisher. The Quik Slik also accepts dye and Neat-Lac as a top coat and seems to keep everything slicked down during the process.
  12. RS, This is the finish I use the most on my cowboy rigs. A 50/50 mix with water is just about right on Oil dyes or drum dyed rigs. If you can justify the cost I suggest using an airbrush to apply it. The Pasche is the most economical and works reasonable well with a #3 tip. The Cadilac air brush, in my opinion is the Iwata, but more bucks than the Pasche. Most of my rigs are custom dyed and I use the airbrush 100% of the time for that task.
  13. I ordered a bundle of ten and could'nt be happier with the quality. I expect to order more in the future.
  14. I have been researching skiver/splitters for awhile and educating myself in the process. There are several out there and since I wanted one that would both skive and split, which allowed me to narrow the field some what. My next consideration was a comparison of the blades of the several models which I could only do by careful examination of the photos available on the web. The Osborne 84 design and knock-off's of the same narrowed my search down to one. Used splitters were not considered due to the potential of blade damage from improper sharpening. The Campbell-Randall unit looked very good but was not in stock for at least six weeks. I finally settled on the Heritage skiver sold by Weaver Leather and ordered one yesterday. What separated the Osborne 84 and clones from the others was simple the blade and the angle of the edge. The angle runs the entire width of the blade as opposed to half the width like the other tools. In my view this allows for a sharper and better cutting blade much like comparing the edge of an axe to a chefs knife. The proof, of course, will be in the testing once the tool arrives.
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