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I use a smaller oval shaped punch . . . Never quite got the hang of it . . . minor miscues really look bad with it. Finally put it in a vise . . . made sure the punch was oriented straight away . . . Took a file and engraved a line down the middle of the top of the punch. No more problems . . . works great. May God bless, Dwight

Excuse me for laughing TomE . . . but just for the heck of it . . . I went to the page on threading . . . the Chinese actually coppied the same images and everything in my book that came with it. I could not afford even a used Singer here . . . and this one was only 335 bucks. May God bless, Dwight

I have severe peripheral neuropathy in my feet and legs . . . (starting in my hands as well . . . ugh) . . . so I have to sit while using it. Coincidentally . . . saw a Singer frame for sale . . . had to laugh when I thought of it . . . Wound up buying two frames . . . will make a table for our church out of the other one. I sit on a folding stool when using it . . . and it is really comfortable. It is a Chinese copy of a Singer 29 something . . . it is one of the two with the smaller spool . . . about the size of a quarter. I was somewhat concerned about the thread . . . turns out that good old carpet thread works great in it . . . I'm also going to remodel it some day down the road . . . in the arms (solid 2 x 4's right now) . . . I'm going to make some long drawers . . . keep all the thread, bobbins, needles, etc. in them. May God bless, Dwight

That's a beauty! I am still making friends with my patcher but find it is very handy for repairs. It seems reasonably forgiving of my lack of experience with it. Have fun. Here's the manual for the Cobra 29-18 patcher. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0631/4000/3933/files/29-18_Manual.pdf?v=1747672941

Nice re-use of the old Singer base. Keep us posted on how it works. I've been considering one of these myself.

Good tip. I prefer hard copy of references, but anymore they're harder and harder to find. Sucks being an analog man living in a digital world.

I used to mess with cars before I resumed leatherwork. I had good luck with these products for leather interiors. https://www.griotsgarage.com (couldn't embed the full link to leather care products, but you can search the site for "leather"). Now I would probably clean the seats with glycerin saddle soap and a wet sponge, rinsing the sponge often to remove dirt and excess soap. While the seats are damp I would apply a cream conditioner like Bickmore's Bick 4. If that didn't restore the seats to your satisfaction then I'd find an upholstery shop to recover them.

Thanks, PastorBob!

Thank you! I've tried to use GPT but I got approximations such as "tandy" and "weaver", which is quite unaccurate. Also, I dont remember buying on any of these 2 sites, so again, no clue where I got them :D btu have them in silver and brass version. @FrankHester Yes, it surely does look amazing tho! Want to buy more tho

That is excellent!!! Stohlmans , The Art of Embossing Leather, is a good reference if you can find it. They use leather under the embossing to raise it. I, 've never tried i but i did get the ebook off of the Tandy site. I don't know if they still have it listed.

Was able to finish up 2 portraits this week. Next one is none other than Ozzy Osbourne. Granted, labeling the portrait is a little bit of cheating lol. This is my first time doing deep embossing (around the hands) to achieve more depth to the piece. I like the effect, but find I can't get the crisp detail out of the carving if I try to add tooling to the embossed section. The filler material (Renia 3D embossing filler) has a lot of give to it. I wonder if a hard setting epoxy or similar may be a better solution? Also maybe I should tool, emboss, then retool to establish the crispness that I lose by pushing out the embossed section? Not sure. I also used the black eco flo antique which I find I prefer the dark brown of the other portraits. The black is too much of a contrast for my taste. The brown seems to marry the leather undertones better, but just my opinion.

Most of my hand sewing is using #207 bonded nylon that I wax. If fact, I always re-wax waxed thread before use because the wax is usually dry and flaky. I use a cobbler's wax that is a mix of beeswax and pine resin. After waxing I burnish the thread with a piece of heavy brown wrapping paper to even out the wax.

it also works on wood screws, tap and die sets, your awls and needles. Just about anything that needs some help against friction, weird, isn't it?

I like that wallet, utilitarian design, simple I carry one very similar, and you're a front pocket carry, A' me to for the last 58 years. I have done some airbrushing, but I will definitely try your method on my next project. Thanks again.

you may have to bend it first too, or your stitches will look loose no matter what thread you use. Once bent it's a shorter distance between each hole than when straight. so does the copper still work under leather? I hate washing my wrists three times a day lol.

Woops, thanks for letting me know. I can't edit so will drop it here: I use Canada Post for national and international shipping. Shipping cost is generally between $15 and $25 for regular parcel in north america and $25 to $35 for regular parcel to EU. You also have faster more expensive options for shipping such as xpresspost international but it is about 2-3 x the cost of regular parcel

Nice !!!!

cooool i,m droolin , I love makin tools!!!!

That seat looks super comfortable. Nice work!

Hi John, That looks like quality buckle you made. Im interest in casting too. I bought a small propane furnace and just lined it. All set to try melting some of the scrap Aluminum I have to get some practice sand casting. Regards Paul (in Germany)

Welcome from Southern Germany. Good luck with your leather pursuits. Paul

Smaller stitching holes, these keep the thread tighter. Pull each stitch real tight Have you tried the pierced-thread way of putting your needle on?

Yes. I have a large block of wax that I can push the whole die into, at the start and about every 4 or 5 cuts

Who makes that one? I see the Singer table but where do you stand to use it???

Yep, I didn't have any more of the smaller channel iron, this one was about the same length (so I didn't have to cut it) but is considerably heavier (it's been sitting in my forge for years!). I sat down for some time staring at the handle/pivot area and came to the conclusion that the design isn't very efficient when it comes to applying force and transferring it to the slide. So I'm redoing it similar to the original, shouldn't be too difficult, just some more cutting/drilling/welding. Hey kgg, don't you ever sleep?