All Activity

My Fortuna skiver is mounted on an old flat-bed sewing machine table. The huge cut-out of the flatbed was partially covered with an 18mm (3/4") chipboard, screwed on the original table top and with a cutout for the skived leather bits to fall down through. The Fortuna is hinge-mounted on top of this chipboard.

I bought a no name Chinese leather patching machine that’s clearly modeled after the singer 29k (and cobra class 29-18). It sews but seems to have a few issues, all of which could be related to each other. 1. The hand wheel becomes hard to turn for a section of a full rotation, from 10 o’clock to 1 o’clock, corresponding to from after the needle goes into the leather and presser foot starting to lift to presser foot comes back down. There’s a lot of resistance and some times I need 2 hands to turn the hand wheel. The foot is hard to lift in the cycle. 2. I’m trying to adjust the foot lift using that wing nut in the back but it’s not working. The position of the nut within the groove is furthest from the machine, which theoretically is the lowest lift/clearance. However, the actual foot lift is quite high. I’m not able to reduce the lift because the nut is already at the farthest end of the groove. Yet I am not able to increase the lift either - if the nut is moved closer to the machine in the groove, when the foot lifts during the cycle, at the hardest-to-turn portion mentioned in #1, the nut is forced back to the furthest position of the groove. It’s like the foot lift is already set to the max and can’t be increased, yet because the nut is already hitting the furthest position of the groove, the lift can’t be reduced either. So the end result is the machine only has 1 lift height, the max. Maybe #2 is the reason for #1? I am curious how the foot lift adjust mechanism works. What should I check to trouble shoot? I’d like to try reducing the lift and see if that makes the hand wheel cycle smoother when the foot lifts. 3. For single 29k machines, can they do darning? Meaning sewing with the foot up and using the thread pressure plates at the front of the machine for needle thread? For my knock off machine, at some point within one turn of the hand wheel, the lift lever actually automatically gets pushed down which drops the foot down. So it can’t sew with foot up, aka, can’t darn. again, I wonder if #1-3 are all related. Any ideas what’s happening? thanks!

Do you like French toast? try this, melt some vanilla ice cream and dip your bread into that fry it like French toast, sprinkle cinnamon on top and powdered sugar

Good idea!

I don't really know anything either but think it's a good looking saddle. I have an old RT Frazier but it is in a lot worse condition(think falling apart).

Below is a sreenshot from jeffreycustomleather.com of a holster they offer that rides between the belt and the pants. I'm wondering if anyone has made or used something along these lines. I'm going to see what I can engineer. For us fat guys, an OWB holster tends to tip out at the top. At least for this fat guy. I could see something like this being advantageous. Probably need to keep the mouth above the belt so the mouth doesn't crush when the gun is drawn. Galco offers one: https://www.galcogunleather.com/jak-slide-2-0-belt-holster_8_1176_1493.html A search for the phrase "Holster between the belt and pants" turns up some discussion around the net.

I subscribed to your YouTube channel. I don't post anything in comments much, and I don't use my business name at all. Just wanted you to know.

Gotta love Dorset. I dunno where I would be without his videos and guidance. One of the best sources of knowledge available on the tube. Looks nice. I'm sure they'll be proud to use them.

The red lining and zipper set it off. Nice n clean.

Thanks. I got the leg from Tandy. But next time I'll be going to maker's leather supply. Tandy doesn't give you a choice in color, only a range. I order brown and I can get any shade of brown. We were hoping for more of a golden brown. The downside to not having any leather supply within hundreds of miles. Makers at least gives choices of each color, and they're the same price or a color bucks cheaper. Does Rays have a website? Appreciate it.

You ever see a cool concho that you wish was a snap? I ground down the outer head of the concho screw to fit inside the snap head with a bench grinder and some filing. All it would need is a small drop of red locktight to make it permanent. This is going on the next knife sheath I make.

I read somewhere in the last couple of days about adding something or the other that keeps bone glue liquid. If I find it again, I will put it up here. I might have found it on a thread here but I'm not sure. Oh you've recently started getting immigrants. The world is really shrinking, is it not? I just looked up the information on bone glue. The recipe says to add isopropyl alcohol to keep it liquid. No idea whether it works. Besides in the video, they kept it uncovered and the alcohol will evaporate and the glue will thicken. More research needed.

I often go to a industrial sewing machine shop and buy an old sewing machine frame with the pedal setup. The old sewing machine table frames are so much better as they were constructed with heavier real metal. Then go to your local hardware depot and pickup two pieces of 3/4" plywood then glue / clamp them together. From there you could get fancy and put a pretty laminated top on. The standard kitchen counter typically is only is about 3/4" thick and constructed more often with press board. For the weight I would recommend going with the standard 1 1/2" thickness. kgg

I can say that the gent wearing the sandals is a fairly recent immigrant People of colour are a rarity in this country and all are recent, less than 10 years, immigrants

Any bone glue I know needs constant heat to keep it liquid

Very nice!

Very nice work. I really like red and black together.

Thank you

I think I might have enough Turtle left over. Not sure, but that's the idea for now

Wow! I did not know that! PVA glue cups. And what a coincidence seeing someone wearing the same footwear! Many men wear them in South Asian countries and bring them along when they migrate. They are very comfortable. The leather usually needs a bit of oiling to soften it but after that, they are wonderful. I grew up wearing Kolhapuri chappals, also handmade leather footwear. I refused to wear anything else. Nothing was as comfortable. I plan to try to make a pair soon. I have preserved my last pair carefully for precisely that reason - to get my size and the pattern. It will probably take me weeks.😄 About the glue, I wonder whether it is bone glue.

Why wouldn't just a piece of kitchen countertop work? A nice little backsplash might be handy.

One of the finest individuals I never met in leather work. I think I may have spoken to him on the phone once but most likely e-mails. He never declined to answer any of my many questions. I wish him and family the best. Hard when losing your mate.

Mine was a hat. $150 for a hat?!? $500 later I had a hat ... And a new skill. Welcome @TheFrood

Nice work on the inlay.Where do you source your ostrich legs from? I get mine from Rays ostrich.

Hi folks. I bought a Fortuna 801 bell skiver clone with servo motor, but without a table. Of course the problem I have now is finding a table and pedal set up that I can set it up on. I've seen industrial sewing machine tables on eBay with cut outs for various sewing machine models. But none for a bell skiver. I'd be happy with a blank tabletop sewing table that I can cut the appropriate hole in if necessary. Does anyone have any leads on where a person might get such a thing?