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In medieval times leatherworkers who traveled about had rails to hang belts, scabbards, gloves and pouches and other items from. A clothes rail will work too but one made of wood suits leather better. I'm not a wood worker by any means but I made myself a wood one which could be knocked down into its parts for carrying in my car. Mine was an A frame spanned with two 4ft pieces each side, at different levels, between the end A's Have you got camp chairs? a couple spare for weary customers. A flask of hot water, to make coffee? This may be very different but you'll get some ideas; when I published a few magazines we bought an old caravan and converted it to a hospitality caravan. At shows we were after subscriptions and selling odd car related items. (like books) We had seats in the caravan and a kettle for tea & coffee on all the time. We always came away with plenty of paid up subs and far fewer books and such. You need to push yourselves to the front, far beyond your competitors. Then people will remember you; maybe not your name exactly but 'those nice people who had candy/coffee/a seat for us' Actually thats how most of the car enthusiast ppl remember me; 'didn't you have that blue caravan with tea and a seat?'. And it was 30 years ago!

Thank you so much!!!. If anybody has it and would like to share pictures of the proper position of needle and hook for the timing would be of tremendous help. I have seen several videos of cylinder machines...but none that I have come across are close. I more of a visual kind of person ti get things done. Thank you in advance!

I replaced it, thanks!!

@AlZilla here is a smaller version of the above video if you are able to replace it hemiyota-01_small.mp4

For me, the key was learning to get the knives really sharp with a ~15 deg bevel. I am mainly skiving veg tanned leathers. I place the leather on plate glass with a bit of beeswax rubbed on the glass to grip the leather because I am working on small pieces that are difficult to grip while skiving an edge. That cheap Chinese knife from Amazon does a reasonable job when kept sharp. I've been meaning to learn how to use a safety skiver and this Don Gonzales video has some tips. He also notes (in another video?) that the blade should move diagonally along the edge when skiving, not straight down the beveled edge.

Toxo: We’re in the American SW, in Arizona. Monsoon season is already petering out, and it should be sunny and perhaps a bit cool (by our standards at least). We will be set up in our 3m x 3m popup tent (good quality), and we do have enough tables to set however desired. Great idea for the vertical displays, and hey, it’ll give me another creative puzzle to solve with all of the random bits of salvaged wood and scrap in my yard! Thank you for the note to work with the promoter for table position, it honestly had skipped my mind. Thanks, AZR

Here's a video from last night. Surprisingly it didn't jam, but probably would have if I had sewn some more. The rats nest on the vinyl pieces were from when I was playing with the thread tension. I thought that it might be too tight and that was why it was pulling the top thread from the table. Not the problem. I'll post another video, like someone suggested, of hand sewing and having the bobbin rotate very slowly...... hemiyota-01_small.mp4.fccfab5cb49dca5dcbd57ba3f09f1fc3.mp4

I acquired a large carboy and a few demi-johns as well as the rest of the paraphernalia needed for this journey. I now have three mash bins full of de-stemmed grapes and water and yeast that was put in two days ago and the must is almost at the top of the bins. I haven't adhered strictly to the recipe due to lack of equipment at the right time. I'm told online that I shouldn't have added water despite the recipe calling for it. Time will tell. This post is about the large carboy. I bought it from my new French friend who brought it from France years ago. To say the basket is very fragile is a huge understatement. I know I don't really need the basket but I'd like to know you guys thoughts on how easy it would be to restore it. I will make a leather bottom and lace it to something around the top but I will oil it and look for some wicker? I think it's worth saving. Your thoughts guys?

I’ll start with the easy one first… Bladegrinder: yes, we are set to accept credit, Zelle, CashApp, and Apple. Fred: thank you for the idea of the candy bowl. It’ll also be just a couple weeks after Halloween, so maybe I won’t eat all my.. ahem… my daughter’s candy… I think it will indeed draw people and keep them closer to strike up conversation, especially because I’m not the best “people person” and I’ll need to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I definitely need to talk leather and find what the local demographic is actually looking for. Thanks! AZR

I had a size 26 needle installed when checking the timing, and I haven't previously noticed any problems with switching needle sizes. To my knowledge, there is no shimming of the shuttle on this 441 clone. I set the hook timing 3 years ago following the same procedure and it's been working fine for leather. I rechecked it yesterday and made some minor changes. Sews fine with leather and one layer of Biothane. The missed stitches occur erratically so I am thinking it's friction and/or how I am feeding material through the machine. Thank you, Wiz. Lots of good information. I am using black thread from LMC and it is considerably stiffer than other colors. I will test out white thread and fiddle with the foot pressure and check spring tension. Guess I will order a lube pot and lube to find out what that's all about. We mostly use Biothane halters in our barns. They used to affordably priced with stainless hardware, but the prices have risen considerably so I decided to make some for us and friends. Not interested in large scale production of this item and competing on price with bigger vendors. I definitely like sewing leather better than Biothane but this is a good learning experience for me.

I used to sew Biothane and heavy webbing in a previous location. I found that I had to move up one needle size, and use a diamond or round point needle. Additionally, I had to double the foot pressure to keep it from lifting with the ascending needle. Running the top thread thru liquid silicon will help the knots move up with less friction. It might help if you adjust your check spring to give more slack top thread as it goes around the hook. Try it on a test strip. Thread color also plays a part in all heavy sewing jobs. Black thread is often double-dipped to get total color penetration. This process stiffens the thread more than lighter colors. You can usually feel the difference when you handle the thread to feed it through the guides on thread stand. Straw color is usually much softer than black. That translates into tighter knots being formed. Tighter knots are easier to pull up in dense materials, like Biothane and thick webbing.

I’ve seen those too — they’re really handy. You can sometimes find ready-made patterns on Etsy or Pinterest if you search for ‘leather stylist tool holster pattern’ or ‘DIY barber pouch.’ If you or your daughter like sewing/crafting, some leatherworking supply shops sell downloadable templates that you can print and trace right onto the leather. Another option is to look at simple leather apron or tool belt patterns and scale them down - the construction is similar, just smaller pockets for scissors and combs. A basic kit from Tandy Leather or Weaver Leather might be a good starting point.

What size needle did you use for your initial timing? Does your machine require the shuttle to be shimmed when changing needle size in order to maintain the same hook-to-needle distance?

I'm trying to figure out what skiving knife to buy. I have pull skiver, one that looks like a potato peeler, and a little flat blade knife from amazon. None of these work very well for me. I'm looking for one I can buy that's going to provide better results. I don't really want to make a skiving knife myself.

Good morning everybody! I’m working on a small bag about 8”x12” and need to learn how to figure how long the gusset has to be. I tried laying a waxed thread all the way around the side piece like the video showed but it came out way too long, like 2”. Sooo…..I’d like to get it closer the first time. The sew line will be 3 /16” from the edge so does that mean the dimensions are now 7-5/8”x11-5/8” ? That makes sense to me…. Any sound reliable advice will be greatly appreciated! HELP! Dano P.S. Thought I should say the panel will overlap the gusset, panel on top.

I don't have a clear plate to view the hook, and it seems to only happen with the holster plate. I'm going to reconfirm that leather sews without skipping stitches using the holster plate. I am guessing that the skipping is caused by friction on the upward stroke through biothane, causing flagging even though I'm not feeling it. With a size 25 needle and #207/#138 thread the knots were on top, even after considerable decrease in top tension, so I installed a size 24 needle and that buried the knots. I guess I could switch back to the larger needle and try increasing the bobbin tension. If I can't find the right needle and thread combination then I guess lubricating the thread is the next step.

I'm using a product I believe is similar to Alcantara: https://www.onlinefabricstore.com/wine-microsuede-fabric-.htm I don't know how the quality compares, but this stuff it pretty nice. Years ago I looked over a Louis Vuitton bag that was lined with something similar...I believe the LV material was superior to this stuff. Alcantara is over $135 per yard...maybe it's worth it, but that seems pretty expensive to me. I can see now that rolling pressure is not the way to go with gluing this to the raw side of the leather. I want to make sure I have good adhesion without soaking through the microsuede. I guess I'll just lay it as flat as possible on the glued leather and pressure with heavy book to make sure it bonds well. I think I'll take your advice and glue the edges of the fabric. I don't want to have trouble later and wish I had done a simple step like this. I'll think about which side of the holes I want to terminate the lining. I don't know how well I'll be able to paint the edges if there's a layer of liner mixed in with the edges.

So when I measured my pattern for my fender I guess I made a mistake as I made it too wide and so now that im at the installation step I can not get it to lay flat, as it extends out over the edges and creates waves when I try. I think I have to trim this down on both sides to the inside of the stitching(aka good by all that hard work); but before I do that I was wondering if anyone had any better ideas? I also was going to use 3m tape to adhere it to the fender and not the pinion hole in the back Images are of the fender bib and of my bike fender. Thank you for the ideas/help!

I moved your post to Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.

Is there any visibility into that machine, for instance removing a cover so you can see the skipped stitch with a flashlight as it's happening?

Is this the thread, on the bottom of the punch? It is from their website, but no thread data.

I'm old school . . . one pencil . . . 2 or 3 erasers (lol) . . . ruler(s) . . . compass . . . blank paper . . . and masking tape to use for making a pattern bigger than an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I then take a picture of it with my phone . . . turn that into a *.jpg with Adobe Photoshop elements 2.0 . . . and go to work from there. I've done it so much that it has almost become intuitive . . . AI programs are not as fast as I am . . . because most of the time my pattern hits production run with the first iteration . . . AI isn't smart enough to outthink the directions . . . usually needs a half dozen corrections . . . and by that time the other one is done and I'm off having coffee and pie. But that's just my way. PLUS: Some folks make a separate pattern for each holster or change purse or whatever. If for example I'm doing something different on a pancake holster for a 1911 . . . I basically make the one for the full size . . . and use it for all sizes. There is a bit of waste . . . but it keeps my pattern storage down and I can easily trim a full size to the officer's size in 2 minutes . . . May God bless, Dwight

I like this! The inner toe on my Singer 144W103 has a (factory?) relief right there too.

If by microsuede you mean something like Alcantara, then it's a woven fabric. Woven things always fray eventually. You can limit fraying by stitching in addition to glueing: if you stitch parallel to the warp, you secure the weft so that only warp threads on the 'free' side of the stitch line can come loose (if they're not glued). You should never apply rolling pressure when glueing something non-stretchy to something spongy: by pressing it down you make the spongy bit expand. When you remove the pressure it contracts again and the surfaces of both materials won't match anymore. This can result in wrinkling or warping depending on either materials' strength.

I'm currently working on a duffle bag I plan to line with microsuede. I didn't realize it at the time of purchase, but the chrome tanned leather I'm working with is very soft, floppy, and spongy. I did a test and glued the microsuede to a section of the leather. I used a bakers rolling pin to join the two surfaces. I was surprised by the results. The leather stiffened up on the lining/glue side and tends to wrinkle when I flex it that direction. Flexing it the other direction, it remains soft and spongy. I think the rolling pin stretched the leather out as it pressed onto the liner...this caused the wrinkling. I think if I glue the microsuede to the leather without using the rolling pin, this might not happen. I'll do another test before I start applying the liner to the bag leather sections. I also noticed the edges of the microsuede are showing some fraying after I cut it to a uniform size. I'm not sure how much of an issue this will become after the duffle bag is put together. I think the glue on the surface might hold it all together after a little fraying. If that's not the case, I want to deal with it now before the bag is stitched together. Any thoughts about this?