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I bought this beautiful Randall leather sewing machine this past weekend and would love to use it but it needs a shuttle and bobbin. Does anyone have any they would be willing to part with or know where I could acquire one? Thank you!

The heaviest rawhide comes from slaughter bulls. Percentage-wise, packer bulls are a very small number versus the total number of cattle slaughtered everyday, and not done by a lot of major packing plants. The hides are big and heavy from English breed bulls and especially northern cattle. Commercially, you may run across sourcing those in a smaller plant. Denise and Rod Nikkell used to build saddle trees. They drove to a small processor when they got a call there would be bulls. They picked up the wet hides and fleshed and dehaired themselves. I'm not going to say impossible to find processed bull rawhide but harder than straight run rawhide.

Details please

I agree about the background but the actual portrait is excellent. I remember sitting in front of the TV on Sat mornings with a bowl of cereal singing along to the Spiderman theme song lol

great job !!! i agree with you on the background.

I've been spending my leather time learning to do portrait work. The Elktracks studio courses by Annie Libertini have been invaluable in that effort. My first from scratch portrait is Stan "The Man" Lee. I love comic book heroes and his voice overs from the old cartoons always carry fond memories. As an adult it was great watching the Marvel universe come to life on the big screen, especially the X-men and Spiderman. Appreciate any criticisms or notes for improvement. I already know I probably wouldn't do the background the same. It seems to busy to me and distracts the boundary between figure and background, especially around the hair.

That is why a lot of us have more then one machine as some machines are a lot better then others at certain things. There is no one size that fits all situations and sometimes you need two machines to do one item. The closest all rounder for most are the Juki LS-1341 (or clone) with a table top attachment. Is it possible for your items to skive the edges down to reduce the thickness of the leather????? Let us known what you decide on. kgg

Thank you so much, kgg, your reply was exactly the kind of breakdown I needed. You’re absolutely right about constantly running a machine near its max capacity; I hadn’t really thought about how that could affect long-term performance and wear. That 3/32" wiggle room suddenly feels a lot smaller when I imagine sewing through a welted seam or adding a midsole. I also appreciate the clarification about the Cobra Class 4. I had wrongly lumped it in with post beds, but now that you explained the weight and needle size, it definitely seems like overkill and not ideal for tight spaces like mine. The suggestion of the Juki LS1341 or its clones sounds like a solid middle ground. I’ll start digging into that direction and maybe even reach out to Toledo Industrial like you mentioned. Sending in sample material is a great idea I wouldn’t have thought of. And I really like your advice about having two machines to cover different ranges. That might end up being the smarter long-term investment rather than trying to find a one-size-fits-all setup. Thanks again for taking the time to lay all that out. Seriously helpful!

It's been a few years since I priced pricking irons. These particular irons are well made and should last a lifetime for marking, not punching, holes. An overstitch wheel will do the job as well.

Are you 100%positive it isnt Jay Pee. Jay Pee is a reputable duty gear manufacturer. They supply everything from duty gear for police to honor guard accessories. Check out this link. https://www.jaypeeusa.org/

No I can't, technically, but in the 20 odd years that I have been doing leather, I have never been visited by the cops to check if I have bullet casings in my workshop nor have i had cops looking for bullet casings in my car. HS

At church Sunday . . . a friend handed me a shoulder holster . . . was given to him by a mutual friend after an auction. It's a rather well made . . . clam shell type . . . using a metal band . . . It's only marking is "Jay Fee" Anybody know anything of the manufacturer?? Thanks . . . may God bless, Dwight

@Sheilajeanne it was be a shame that so much was thrown away. A lot of it would be of value to other crafters, i would rather give stuff away than throw it away. My Mother's sewing room is exactly how she left it , messy ,but she knew where everything was, I rarely go in there perhaps for an occasional piece of material . @chuck123wapati I'm sure you can get your creative juices going to combine leather and clay , I reckon they will go well together. I had my first bbq in almost 3 years yesterday. I have a cheapie wood fired brazier that has a bbq plate . After a good clean and re-seasoned , I cooked up few lamb chops and a few snags, cooked up really well. My ye'olde gas bbq that i bought back in the mid 90's is really looking its age now rusty af. I did think about buying a newie, heaven forbid. There's only me a Dad, not worth buying a newie just for two of us. The oldie has cast iron burners and cast iron plates,quite rare these days. Just needs TLC HS

SOLD 🙂

You can take help from the below 5 books on how to make formal shoes for men and women. Handmade Shoes for Men by Lazlo Vass & Magda Molnar The Art of Shoemaking by William H. Golding Bespoke Shoemaking: A Comprehensive Guide to Handmade Footwear by Timothy J. Skyrme Shoemaking by F. Y. Golding The Secrets of Shoemaking by Francis Classey You can also check out how to make formal sandals for office wear. The Art of Sandalmaking by Larry N. Rowe A practical guide dedicated specifically to making various types of sandals with clear instructions and illustrations. The Barefoot Book: 50 Great Reasons to Kick Off Your Shoes by Daniel Howell Includes basic sandal-making methods and minimalist sandal crafting for natural walking enthusiasts. Leatherwork Manual by Al Stohlman While it covers broader leather projects, it has detailed sections on crafting leather sandals, straps, and soles with traditional techniques.

Is that the price point to expect for stepping up from entry-level? Clearly they can go much higher, but just to know what to expect… AZR

hard soldering then drill the hole and polish it but new take up levers are available new. Should be this one but check parts list first: https://www.ebay.com/itm/196288462626 I´d buy a new one.

The thread should definitely be sitting in that “shoulder”, as in the second picture. If the thread misses that shoulder in long stitch reverse, then something is not aligned quite right. This may also happen if you stop in precisely the wrong position and the hook has a little backlash in its movement as you stop. A slow motion hand turned stitch with a close-up video snippet of that area would be of great help in debugging. (See sample video below) It may be that your needle/feed dog are adjusted too far back in the throat plate opening. Ideally, the feed dog movement should be nicely centered in that opening front-to-back. The video below shows how that basket opener and the thread pickup works on my machine (before I upgraded it to the 341N hook with a cap.) Perhaps compare timing with your machine.

We're making a small run of some antique type tooling. I find some of the rawhide pieces used are pretty thick. I may end up doubling up if I end up using 5/6. I looked over the link. I was surprised to see horse rawhide as well as goat. Up to this point I've never used a single piece of rawhide on anything, but have worked a very substantial amount of tanned leathers. So I can say I both "know" and "dont know" what I'm doing with confidence! LOL

@dragonchino, I slipped you over to a new post in the Marketplace. We also require a location, price and a picture. See the forum rules, here: https://leatherworker.net/forum/forum/70-announcements/

Good Evening, As a part of my grandfather's estate, he had a well functioning (used less the past few years) well-maintained Consew 206RB-1 from Japan. We are looking to sell in the Indianapolis Area https://imgur.com/gallery/consew-206rb-1-japan-htSlRSF

Ok. So apparently this machine has seen heavy use. The take-up lever eyelet is getting close to being cut open by the thread. Is there a way to remedy this? Other than replacing it that is.

If you go to Springfield leather's website on the toolbar select the education tab. Scroll down until you see educational videos. From there ask your question. They had a tutorial on exactly what you want to know. Good luck

Check this video from Elk Track Studios. It's on sale right now. https://elktracksstudio.com/products/setting-stones-in-leather?_pos=2&_sid=431e14262&_ss=r

how do I form the leather around a stone cabochon to hold it in place on a leather bracelet? Thanks for any help.