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harnessman

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Everything posted by harnessman

  1. Hi Bob, Art Yep, you guys were right! That is one of the things I like the most about this forum, the tremendous amount of information that is freely shared makes it a phenominal asset! Anyway, the name plate has the numbers 144WSV33. The Clutch motor is a old Singer 1/2 horse 3500rpm 6amp unit. Regardless, it is still one big brute of a machine that will easily stitch through two pieces of 1/4" sole leather so If anyone is interested it is a very good, well maintained heavy duty machine and the owner is open to offers, and knows he will probably not come close to the 5k he was hopping for. Thanks Jim
  2. Hi Bob How can I tell for sure what it is? Obviously I know very little about this vintage Iron except that it is huge, and what I was told by the owner. Where do I need to look and for what to tell exactly what it is. Thanks Jim
  3. Hi All, Ok, It is officially for sale! I have posted pictures and more information in the Sewing Machines for sale section. Here is a tickler
  4. Hi All Ok, it is official! One of the guys I work with approached me wondering if I know how he could sell a class 7 Singer flat bed machine. He is closing down and selling off the old family shoe repair business and all the equipment in it. I went and looked at it today and it is a beast! Mounted on a huge very solid table and all the old cast iron foot pedals. It is motor driven and runs and stitches like the fine machine it is. It is current and in excellent condition, he just recently replaced the entire bobbin carrier to the tune of over $300 and had it all tuned up by one of the best sewing machine mechanics in the area. Strong 120v single phase clutch motor and heavy duty work table with extension included. This thing is primo! If I had the room, and the use, I would snap it up but I haven't got the room and the wife would shoot me! If anyone is interested I can relay the info. He is asking $5k but would consider all reasonable offers. Shipping might be an option, but it probably will not be cheep. NO, he will not sell just the head, comes complete as shown in pictures. Pick up would be highly desireable. Please PM me with any offers as the owner does not have computer access. Located in Sheboygan Wisconsin, about 45 miles north of Milwaukee. Thanks Jim
  5. Hi All One of the guys I work with approached me wondering if I know how he could sell a class 7 Singer flat bed machine. He is closing down and selling off the old family shoe repair business and all the equipment in it. I went and looked at it today and it is a beast! It has at least a 24 inch throat. Mounted on a huge very solid table and all the old cast iron foot pedals. It is motor driven and runs and stitches like the fine machine it is. It is current and in excellent condition, he just recently replaced the entire bobbin carrier to the tune of over $300 and had it all tuned up by one of the best sewing machine mechanics in the area. This think if primo! If I had the room, and the use, I would snap it up but I haven't got the room. The table is a good 6 foot long and 3 foot wide with a folding 3 foot extension. He is going to take a picture and I will post it as soon as I get it. If anyone is interested I can relay the info. He is thinking it should be worth somewhere around $5k might be a bargain, I don't know as I have never seen one like it. Any comments would be appreciated and passed along. Thanks Jim
  6. Hi Ryan I would be intrested in a copy as well. Thanks JIm
  7. Hi There is a reason that no one has sewn this stuff by hand! It is evil nasty stuff to work with, hard to push an awl through and the holes close up immediatly an make it hard to push the needle through. Even with a heavy stitcher you will find that it tends to dull needles frequently and it takes slow speeds or you will heat your needle up hot enough to melt thread in a short time. If you do stitch it be sure to get your stitches in far enough from the edge to catch the nylon core, otherwise they will just pull through the urethane coating. Good Luck Jim
  8. Hi Philip I built my cutting/layout table plain and simple out of 2/4's for legs and frame and a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2 inch chip board for the top. After about 5 years the side that gets the most use got to looking a little tatty so I just spun it 180 degrees and it should be good for another 5. No, it is no good for pounding on but that was not the intent. It is purely for cutting and putting stuff on. I had been cutting on a table with a 2 x6 top and found that pretty quick it started shedding long pointy slivers of pine that had a tendency to get stuck in things, like my hand! FWIIW Jim
  9. Yea, me to! I want one of those easy to sharpen and stay sharp forever round knives as well! And I want it cheap to! Maybe Santa will bring me one! Sorry, just could not resist! I have had a "Tandy" threw the sucker away years ago. Osbornes do not seem to get particularly sharp and certainly do not stay that way in my humble oppinion. I have a old, very old, unknown maker carbon knife that is a dream, once you get it sharp, and that ain't easy! The thing pegs 62 Rc and yes, a file just skitters across its surface, don't ask, I think some "ethanol fumes" were involved in that experiment somewhere. My currently daily user is one of the Weaver Master whatever and it seems to be a pretty good knife for a stainless steel blade. It came pretty sharp, enough to shave the hair off my arm, and with a little stropping got sharp enough to be usefull and seems to hold an edge for a good while. I am not a real big fan of round knives so it really does not get used much. Upside is I do not have to sharpen it very often either. I wonder if anyone on the list has considered doing a real honest to goodness side by side test of a bunch of knives to see what they really can do, not just "oh so and so is supposed to be a good knife" or "I paid $$$ for my supper damascuscutenything knife so it must be the best?" (Usually followed by " I can't sharpen the bloddy thing but it really cut good when it was fresh out of the box!" I think it is early cabin feaver setting in! Jim
  10. Hi All I am considering one of the Bluegrass EZ Edgers that trim all four edges of straps at one time. Has anyone used one of these and could you give me some pro's and con's and wheather they re worth the money, or is there something better out there. Edging long straps with a hand edger is really getting tedious. Thanks Jim
  11. Hi All I am looking for some recomendations on the best bell skiver. I see that there are several available, most look like the same Oriental knockoff with differnt "name" brands pasted on their side. Any recomendations from people who have used them as to what they like, or dislike about the unit they have. Recomendations, pros, cons, new, old or odballs, all would be helpfull! Thanks Jim
  12. Hi All Ok, this is going to be one for the pro's with power single needle stitchers. Does anyone have any tips on eliminating, or at least minimising the foot marks left by the sewing machine foot on the top side of the leather? I am primarily stiching English Bridle Leather on a large Neel cylinder arm machine. I have adjusted the foot pressure, to the point that it hadly holds the leather down. I have polished both feet till they are like mirror smooth. Yes, all corners of the foot are radiused and polished - I still get tracks. I do not mind the center foot tracks as I have cut that down to leave a "groove" in the leather and press the top thread down into the leather and it leaves a nice even impression on both sides of the thread, looks "finished", but that evil outside walking fool keeps leaving nasty footprints in my lovely leather! The large, highly modified quilters foot if better than the double toe harness foot but still far from good. What am I missing here! Help Jim
  13. Nope, I use the flower head Chicago screws quite successfully. However the heads on those are to large for what I need, they would look clunky. The head on a standard tube rivet would be perfect, which is what I use now, I am just looking for somethings a little more decorative than the plain flat brass head of a tube rivet. Thanks Jim
  14. Hi Charlie Thanks, but I have already tried those and they tend to pop the heads off to easily.. Jim
  15. HI I have used the Weaver SS hardware on several heavy duty halters with doubled and trippled 1" nylon web and they will pretty much hold up to anything a four legged beast can dish out! The brass hardware will bend and deform and break long before the SS will. I have used these on a 1200 pound horse who had a reputation for breaking halters, he could not break this one though he certainly tried, darn near hung himself in the process, but that is another story.
  16. Hi All Some time back I saw some rivets that had a flower pattern head on them. I am pretty sure they were tubular rivets but I can not locate a source. Anyone out there know where these are available? I am using standard brass tube rivets to hold keepers on and the flower heads would sure dress them up a lot. Thanks Jim
  17. Hi Ray I have some customers who have requested reproductions/replacement straps for antique sleigh bell sets that originally came with straps with pinked edges. I have tried hand tools for this but it is very slow and difficult to keep the edge of a 72 inch long strap straight and even looking with hand tools. Thanks Jim
  18. Hi All I am looking for a tool to put a "pinked" sawtooth edge on 8 to 10 oz harness leather straps. Does anyone out there know of a reasonably priced machine to do this? Powered by armstrong is just fine. Thanks Jim
  19. Hi I am not going to be any help at all on the value of your pinkers, but I do have a question that maybe you can help me on. How heavy a leather can you run through the little Singer Pinker? Thanks Jim
  20. harnessman

    Knives

    Hi Bob I come to leather work from a woodworker background. A lot of the processes, at least for cutting and finishing are remarkably similar. Sharp tools are also a "MUST" for wood as well as leather. Some of the old carbon steel woodworking tools are amazing in their ability to take a edge. I use a old chisel that is about 2 inches wide and it is honed way past a shaving edge. I can shave a near transparent slice of white oak off a board with that puppy! It slices though the toughest skirting or sole leather like it was butter. It is sharpened to about a 20 degree primary angle with a micro bevel edge. The back side of the blade is polished to the point that you could use it as a mirror before I actually sharpen the edge. This is a step that is missed in most sharpening procedures. Most of the strap work I do is under 2 inches in width so it is not much problem with the edges. When I do skive wider pieces I have not encountered any problems as long as you do not try to take to much off at one time. I usually start at the edge and work my way back until I have the skive length and angle that I need. Because of the sharpness of the edge and the large working surface it is very easy to match angles on mating pieces. Works for me anyway. Jim
  21. harnessman

    Knives

    Hi All Ok, I am the odd man out here 'cause I am not all that fond of the traditional leather cutter half round knife. Yes, like any other tool it has it's uses, but it is definitely not a do everything leather cutter that some would have you believe, at least that is my opinion. Yes, I have one, and yes it is razor sharp and yes for some things it is very handy, like edge skiving or truing long mating surface on a trace. Unfortunately the learning curve on using one of those unwieldy blades is huge. Yes, a pro who uses one every day can do some pretty nifty cutting with one, but for the average amature leather worker there are better and more user friendly tools. Personally I have found that a plain old box cutter is the tool that I turn to the most for cutting leather. Now before you all hang me hear me out. They are thin, but stiff enough to follow a straight line. I do not mind buggering up the edge on a cutting board, something I would never do with my head knife. You can get the pointy edge into places you would never get a round knife into without a lot of fussing around! I like the big heavy cast aluminum handles that grip the blade firmly so it does not wobble around. Also, it doesn't hurt near as much when you drop it and chip the edge of a box cutter! First time I did that with my round knife the air in the shop was blue for quite a while! Just pull out the old blade and put a bright shiny new sharp one in its place for about 25c! Oh, and just like a good head knife Ya gots ta sharpen them! They are sharp out of the box but no where near sharp enough for real cutting, other than maybe on cardboard. By the way those cheep blades are made out of some pretty good steel and take an amazingly sharp edge. About 5 seconds on a hard paper wheel loaded with white rouge and it will slide thorugh the toughest skirting like it was warm butter! I also use a good old 2 inch wide wood chisel for lap skiving. Beats a head knife every time for truly level flat skives. I can shave a whisker of leather of a high spot real quick with that big wide sharp blade! Real hard to get a truly flat skive with a round knife, think about it. I also use a neat little luthiers plane for truing up edges on belts an traces. Faster than sanding and leaves a clean, not fuzzy edge, if your blade is sharp! That is the key with any cutting tool, it got to be sharp! Yes, I own a half round knife, a good one, and frankly I bought it because, like many people, I thought you had to have one and know how to use it if you were a "real" harness maker. It graces the same spot, front and center, on my tool board as my traditional draw knife, and gets used about as much, but it gives customers warm fuzzy feelings when you pull out 5 inches of shinny curved steel to lop of a hunk of leather like it was butter! Yep, worth every penny! JMHO Jim
  22. I looked up the previous post. Great Picture! Was the Bob Douglas blade the slender one or his heavy one? I would love it if you could put a caliper to your blades and post the sizes! Thanks Jim
  23. Thanks! exactly the kind of information I need. I looked at the web site and noticed that you only carry the larger blades. Most of my stitching is 6, 8, & 10 to the inch and I like a tight hole to the thread so I like to use a finer blade. My current Awl measures 0.065 x0.120 x 1-3/4 long and is about right for most of what I do, if I can keep the point headed in the right direction that is! I don't suppose you have any measurements on the JJ blades other than the length? As to sharpening, I would agree with both Rawhide and CambellRandall, you can never have an awl to sharp and the Osbornes are dull as hoes out of the box but relatively easy to sharpen, but don't stay sharp, and bend easily. I am looking forward to trying a John James in the near future. Again, Thanks Jim
  24. Hi All I have a customer who wants me to provide him with a three or four inch wide belt, and buckle, for his santa outfit. The belt is no problem but I am having absolutely no luck finding a traditional rectangular quality cast brass buckle that will fit a 3 or 4 inch wide belt. I do not want to use the cheap flimsy stamped buckle and the only high quality buckle I can find is a custom made item that is way to fancy. Thanks! Jim
  25. Hi All I am a newbie to the list and have spent many hours engrossed in the knowledge base that this forum represents! I have a question, and my first post, Which Awl blade is better? John James or Osborne, if either? I have used the Osborne and have always had to modify them, make them thinnner and sharpen them in order to use them. They do work, but they are a bit "flexible" and I have a devil of a time keeping the point straight so I can pierce a true hole. Yes, I know about the Bob Douglas Blades but I have a hard time spending $25 on a such a itty bitty piece of steel! Are there any less pricy alternatives? Thanks in advance
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