Digit

At 42 I'm still pretty unscathed, apart from the occasional flesh wound (scratches, punctures, cuts, mildly crushed limbs, broken nails) but I've never been seriously wounded. I cracked a shoulder blade once by driving my bike straight while the road curved and I hit a crash barrier at about 80km/h (50 mph) and I also dislocated a shoulder once when falling during a hike. Lucky for me, neither of those accidents had any lasting damage. The only lasting damage I have is caused by spending an evening next to a thickness planer without hearing protection. I spent a few weeks going crazy with tinnitus, after which it slowly died away, together with the ability to hear certain frequencies. I'm still lucky the tinnitus didn't last (it does come back when I'm tired though) and I only have have around 12dB hearing loss. Since then I always wear hearing protection when working with machines or driving my bike. During my bike crash I was lucky to wear leather and since then I've ditched my textile bike gear.

I have absolutely no experience with this kind of cutting board, but LDPE has a pretty low melting point, so could you smooth down those ridges using an iron? Possibly using some baking paper to protect it?

Yeah, for cutting wheels the guard is best left on; those blades can be very thin and one wrong movement can make them explode. I only remove the guard on fiddly jobs when I need to reach a difficult spot for grinding with a flap disc or a bristle wheel, and even then I wear goggles (those bristles tend to fly around too).

When you're responsible for anyone other than yourself, then yes you need to follow laws and regulations, including those around safety and liability. I'm on my own, so naturally I remove obstacles such as a finger guard on my sewing machine, or the safety guards on my drill press or angle grinder when it suits my needs

I bought aftermarket feet for my Adler; they came with finger guards and I removed all of them. They just get in the way imo. I already live in nanny state Belgium; I can do without a nanny-sewing machine

During my woodworking period I learned that MDF is made from scrap wood and scrap wood can contain scrap of any kind (bits of nails and screws, bits of paint, sometimes even bits of lead from bullets or grape shot that ended up in trees). The large bits are mostly sieved out, but smaller bits can remain, especially on the inside of the panel: MDF is unlike fibreboard or chipboard in that MDF panels use smaller wood fibres on the oudside and coarser fibers (and potential scrap) on the inside. It's mixed nicely with glues and resins, making it more plasticky than real wood and if those additives contain formaldehyde, spending long periods of time near that MDF could be bad for your health. If you want to use wood for a cutting board, I suggest using end grain as cutting surface, that way you don't have a grain that could force your knife in directions you don't want or dull it down by cutting across the grain.

That's a wonderful jacket. I hope I'll be able to make something like that some day. Does it only have snaps for closing or is there a zipper underneath as well?

Ah yes indeed. My cursory glance failed to notice the white lever on white background

I don't see a reverse lever on that machine. It might be a button inside that dial, I'm not sure. Make sure that the machine you buy has a reverse (you can work without, but it's way more easier if your machine can reverse stitch).

I never used this kind of tool, but the way I'd use it would probably be approaching the bell from the top with the pin of the tool downwards, just to the left of the cutting edge. It would require a certain amount of precision to get the angle just right. It's the amount of precicion an experienced user would have, but not me, so I'll rely on the built-in sharpening wheel, which is always at the right angle. The built-in wheel has allowed me to sharpen the the bell knife so that I could skive down 0.8mm (2 oz) super-supple nappa leather to half thickness. That's all the sharpness I need. If your skiver stops spinning when the sharpening stone hits it, I suggest checking the belt tensions in the machine; they might be worn and slipping.

That Typical TW3-P335 looks exactly like the Global WF1335. Probably from the same OEM factory but differently branded. It's a good basic machine to get started on. Be sure to have it on a removable table so that you have room to manipulate larger work underneath the arm. Depending on which leather you'd want to stitch, have some spare feet at the ready without knurls/teeth that might leave patterns on your leather (or simply put some tape over the knurls, that's what I do). I never mentioned ideal. You need some starting point and it's best you learn to work with what's available in your market and what's affordable to you. Experience will guide you to a better machine (or not if the machine you buy does cover your needs in the end). I learned a lot about cars by buying five cheap ones over the past 15 years and working on them to keep them running, while I could have borrowed money to buy a single shiny 'ideal' car and just drive it and never learn anything...

In the period I signed up to this forum there was talk of some hack or something and everything needing to be set up from scratch and a backup restored. That might have done something to the permissions. I noticed that I had access to the NSFW area without needing to ask for it. Although that section isn't as active anymore as it used to be in the past (have people become more prudish in recent years?), it still contains a wealth of inspiration and tips for those interested. There have been half a dozen NSFW posts in the past few years or so. Compared to the endless stream of gun holsters, knife sheaths, and people with sewing machine problems I don't think the forum is at risk of degenerating into an obscenity pit just yet. Also: obscenity is in the eye (and mind) of the beholder. To relativize the mentioned post: I believe most people wear underwear. Some is made from plants (cotton), other is made from prehistoric micro-organisms (synthetics). So what could be the problem with someone showing underwear made from current macro-organisms (animal skin)? I hope Johanna can get that permission issue resolved so that those not interested in certain aspects of leatherwork can live peacefully ever after.

There's a huge reduction ratio on that left-right adjustment of the bell and the first dozen turns or so just absorb the slack when you switch from adjusting in one direction to the other.

That's exactly what we're doing at school and for that you need a cylinder arm triple transport machine. We use Global WF1335 machines at school and I bought a second hand Adler 69. Both have a pretty basic triple transport system (bottom transport is just a back-and-forth moving plate) but they're up to the job so far.

What I usually do when stuff gets spread over pages or when software doesn't want to spread over pages is to print everything to a huge, single-page PDF and then print that PDF; either scaling it down to one physical page or poster-print to multiple pages. Depending on how Inkscape prints, you may even keep the PDF vectorized so you can scale as much as you want afterwards without losing precision.

I use a metal satay skewer for applying edge paint and some people from my class use bits of TIG welding rod. Both are around 1-2mm in diameter. It's slow work, but by applying paint this way (drip-by-drip basically) gives you a fine control over the amount of paint you apply and prevents excess from going over the edge and smearing the grain side. Glue I have never yet applied in such a way that it could get on the wrong side of the leather I'm working with. I think it's mostly a matter of keeping your work patch and your hands clean when dealing with glue. For contact cement I use a plastic spatula to apply small amounts (CA is for setting pieces before stitching imo, so you only need small amounts) and for PVA I usually use a large spatula (an old credit card) or a brush to apply it.

If you're referring to the abovementioned Serafil 7766, I order my Serafil from https://www.emezzuhandbaghardware.com/en/Serafil-sewing-thread-No.40-7766?Product=442060891 They're based in the Netherlands though, so prepare for import duties (unless you can find a local supplier).

Thank you. I did the handbag entirely on the school's Globals and some parts of the belt on my Adler. Both machines are pretty similar; I guess I could have done the gussets equally well on the Adler. Thanks. The pattern is one from school as this was a mandatory project. Leather is all chrome tan, cow outer and pigskin suede liner, reinforcement with salpa. Hardware is two D-rings, two carabiners, three rivets and a buckle.

Given the title of the item and the overall build quality observed from the photos (off-the-shelf components and threaded rods put together) this looks like a Chinese build that you can find on Ali for less than a hundred, including shipping: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003790489160.html Always beware of drop-shippers with fancy websites that charge a margin of 100% or more. I'm not saying that this website is one; I have no experience with them. But I do suggest you look around a bit and compare prices.

Thank you This is all machine stitched on the Global 1335's at school and a few bits on my own Adler 69 at home.

You do indeed get a longer opening that way. The downside is that the bag doesn't fully close and the tickness of the leather might push away the zipper puller, potentially making the opening even bigger. Maybe it's a workaround for not having the correct zipper length to match the bag dimension (or vice-versa: miscalculated bag size based on the zipper at hand).

1-2 oz corresponds with 0.4-0.8mm if I'm correct. Last week I've skived down 0.7-0.9mm nappa to about half, so it's definitely doable with a bell skiver. I's very thin though; the leather will get stretchy and if you need to thin down a wide strip, you'll need multiple passes through the skiver and you risk making holes. Make sure you work with a properly sharpened blade.

My first go-to is usually https://www.lederhuis.com/ in Germany, they have a large assortment of hardware and tools.

Yesterday I finished my first handbag. It was the last assignment at school this year and I look forward to next year's projects. It's made from black chrome tan cowhide and blue pigskin suede liner. Reinforcement of the body and closing flap with 0.4mm salpa; the leather carrying strap is reinforced with a textile anti-stretch tape.

Europe is a big place and there are lots of suppliers. Do you have a favourite country? Most of the shops I order with I found by googling though.