Trox

Hi, 2 mm off is not a problem. It has to be flat if you want to split evenly wide pieces (depended of which direction your blade was uneven). Flat or not, I do not think thats the reason it would not split. Unless it was uneven a cross the blade and not lengthwise. It would still split if it is sharp and polished, sharp alone is not enough. Unevenness a cross the blade would only create a different angle on the blade, and splitter blades comes in a variety of angles; they all split (more or less). Micro angle, hollow ground or a leather edge, all of them needs to be polished (to the best of my knowledge). I just tried to split a 1/2" soft weg tan rein on my Osborn with newly sharped up blade, it was not possible without polishing the blade first. The blade was sharp enough to cut paper (sharp enough to start the polishing of it). It would not even initiate the cut, not a change. Most people regard the pull true splitter as a bench tool, it takes about two to three minute's to take the blade off and maintain its polish. (Of course the first time polishing will take longer). Then every time its dull again, a couple of strokes on the strop will ready it up again. Just like on every other leather knife. I know Dan to be a fair man to do business with, I am sure he will take care of your requests/complains. The most important thing is that you will have your splitter up and working. Even with cheap sharpening prices, you cannot run to that shop every time your blade needs a polish. If you are about to split something you must be able to give it a polish if needed, or else you will get a days unwanted delay in your work. The sharpening might be cheap but it still takes time. And you do not want to sharpen the blade to often, after all sharpening means loss of material. I never had to resharpen any of my tools, I just polish them. The strop and the buffing wheel are maybe the most important leather tools we have. I do not know what I would do without them. Good luck Tor

Hi Dylan, I do not think its possible to bend the blade this way. If you apply a hundred kg downward pressure on it it might happen, its depended of the core of the blade (do not try that). Some knife blades are hardened on the outside and have a soft steel core so it will break (and the soft core keep the edge very sharp too). I do not know what construction this blade has, (you got to ask Dan about it) if it is made out of two steel types to get a soft core or not. It was dull and would not cut, and needed to be polished. However, if the blade was not straight I would have returned it. If it is not straight on the bottom it will give a uneven thickness on the split. I would still split, but the leather would come out with a bevel to one of the sides ( or both sides depended of where the unevenness are of course) You can still get the blade very sharp but never have a consistent split. Tor

I agree with your every word Tor

I am afraid this is cutting edge technology

Hi, I am not an expert on blades or splitters. However, I understand that the power of a micro bevel is that you do not have to polish the whole edge, only the small secondary edge. And perhaps a small edge creates less drag too (on some materials). The drawback on a leather splitter blade would be the angle of this secondary edge, it would not be perfect. I do not understand why a micro bevel will hold up longer than a conventional edge. And if you cannot maintain it yourself what use would it be in a pull true splitter (or a leather knife). Tandy blades are not the ones that keep sharp very long, will an extra edge give them better steel? This remains me about the discussion we had about hollow ground and regular ground splitter blades. I have still to see some of this new stuff beat what they made 100 years ago, not in my life time I think. Tor

Hi Dylan, sorry for the late replay, I have been indisposed for a couple of days. Very impressive pictures from that sharpening shop, I have no doubt that they do good work there. I wish they did the same when I delivered my blade to the Norwegian company TROMAS AS. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=44696&hl=%2Bsplitter+%2Bblade read my post #5. Look at the pictures and you see how my eight inch # 86 blade came home to me. TO ALL NORWEGIAN READERS OR VISITORS IN NORWAY, DO NOT DELIVER ANY WORK TO TROMAS AS. THEY ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED. I am sorry for the bold letters, I have a obligation to warn others from using this company unless they want to sharpen up a lawn cutter blade or something. I have a 75 $ band bench grinder and I managed to straiten up my blade in a couple of hours work on it. Tromas AS has equipment who's maybe worth a million $ and still do crappy work like that. I know I should been on them and complain some more, sometimes I feel to tired to do so. Let them go on and treat their customers like that, thats their Karma not mine. And like they say; whats goes around comes around. Enough about that. What I am trying to say is, splitting plastic and paper is one thing, leather a other thing. Whats real important on leather is to have a well polished blade, thats best obtained with a soft buffing wheel or a leather strop. I think you maybe have made your strop out of too thin leather, it will work on a swivel blade. It easier to accidental dull a blade with a hard surface strop than with a soft one. On a splitter blade the bottom side has to be flat and the top bevel polished. I polish them both, but underneath after the top and mostly to remove any burrs. (First I polish the top well, then some flat strokes on the bottom. I finish up with one stroke top- bottom-top) Your post # 23, I use such caliper in both my sharpening and leather work (for measurements). I am not sure I understand completely what you mean in this post. Here is how I use such tool to check for roughness. You hold it up to see if any part of the blade lets more light true that the rest. This to check for unevenness, a totally straight and even blade will let no light true at all (or a very thin even light gap). Tor

Thank you, a triple feed have bottom, top and needle feed. With a triple feed heavy stitcher with a holster or harness plate attached, the bottom feed (feed dog) is disconnected. With smooth leather feet's (top feed), the needle takes care of most of the feeding. The only marks on the bottom side will be small push outs from the needle, using a leather needle it will be minimal. Any remaining`s will disappear when you hammer the seam to set the stitches. A set up with a leather plate (a smooth plate) and a smooth feed dog will also leave minimal marks on the bottom side. Tor

Hi Jeff, Techsew 3650 HD is a bottom feed machine, the Cowboy 2500 is the same machine, sews up to 1/2 inch with heavy thread. (The bottom feed leaves teeth marks underneath wegtan leather) The 4500 is a 441 clone with triple feed, claims to sews up to 7/8 inch leather. Because of the triple feed you can attach a holster needle plate and sew in those hard to reach places without leaving teeth marks on your leather. Such attachment are not available for the 3650 HD or CB 2500 ( because of the bottom feed only) The CB 4500 (and other 441 clones) will handle heavy threads up to Tex 450 to 500 Tor

Hi Dan, My long term plan is to get rid of my existing three splitters (plus a 5-1 machine) and buy a powered splitter and one of your Keystone machine. Therefore , I hope you continue to offer your machine to the current price. Its a great price by the way, compared to the # 84, Heritage and Tandy tool. Talking about 5-1 machines, I have a couple that needs some attention. New roller knifes, maybe the support wheel too. Do you stock them?. Hi Dylan, Good luck with your new splitter, nice talking to you. Tor

We have leather dealers here and my suppliers have all kinds of the good stuff. You know, cold climate and fewer insects. Nevertheless, there are no tanneries left here so it is import leather. Italy, Sweden UK and Germany, not much from the US. Tools and part I buy allot of in the US Tor

Yes, I can imagine thats a bad leather. Why do you not contact some of our Australian member and ask them where they buy their leather, thats not that far away? (I think every thing from Tandy is a disappointment) I forgot you where living in Asia, I suppose you will get your sharpening done cheap there, I strop my every knife before and after use.

Hi, I have the same problem living in Norway, I buy most of my stuff from the US too. Sounds like you have a good strop there. You may consider a thicker leather on everything else than a swivel blade. I use plastic and cardboard on the the swivels. If you dull your blade you have the wrong angle or direction of your pull. Be careful on the flat side, do keep the blade flat at all time or else you will dull it. Follow the blade angle and at the end of your stroke, be careful not to change the angle. I cannot see why you will get a dull blade? keep the blade edge 90 degree to the strop and pull back wards (away from the edge). If you maintain the angel true out the stroke you cannot get it wrong. Its maybe when you polish underneath, its only necessary to polish that side to get rid of any burrs (It must be flat). You finish out by changing sides every stroke so you get rid of any burrs. I am used to sharpening and automatically maintain my angle working with an blade, its of importance of course.

Hi Dylan, Its nothing to it. You do have a leather strop to polish your knifes? If not make yourself a strop of a piece of plywood (size up to you, mine is about 5 x 45 cm), then glue a piece of firm wegtan leather to it (flesh side down). Cower the plywood with the leather and leave one end free for a handle (or buy one) http://www.tandyleather.eu/en-eur/search/searchresults/3325-00.aspx Like the Tandy strop above. Then buy some aggressive polishing paste ( Campbell Randall has allot of stuff like this, ask them). Cover the leather with paste and start to strop your every tool. You would wonder how you managed without it, I do too. When sharpening an edge you work against the edge, when polishing you work away from the edge. Its really very simple, drag your splitter blade over the board (away from the edge), keep on doing this until it has a mirror like surface. You will find allot of tips on on youtube and here http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bullwhips.org/how-make-bull-whip/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bullwhip_pair_4_111511.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bullwhips.org/?p%3D4901&h=599&w=799&sz=69&tbnid=Qz_HNLY82t3p6M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__oKDvpsFd1XE3NsnIZDM8FXj2xFE=&docid=3L8iqr6FGUBY0M&sa=X&ei=z1LbUYOYFOXa4ASE8oDAAw&ved=0CIIBEPUBMAk&dur=36 All your leather tool can be stopped on this board, you will see a built up of black on your board after you stroke your blade over it. Thats steel from the polishing, it will mix with the paste and help in the polishing process. Every leather workshop has a strop like this, and many also have a felt wheel on their bench grinder or drill (dremel etc.) who does the same job. When you done with the first polishing of your blade, the next time will only require a few strokes to get it up and ready again. You will soon learn this and use it on your every tool. Even needles and surely awls, this will be your most important leather tool. You will find a lot of videos of sharpening the round knife It has a more complicated edge. Nevertheless, its the same job; always strop away from the edge ( you can use a Little force, you want break anything)If you look at the steel right after a sharpening under a strong magnify glass, you will see it still has a very coarse surface. A blade is no good on leather without polishing. When you buy your polishing paste, do not buy a white color for fine honing. Buy a bit more aggressive one ( usually Gray, green or red color), then you never have to sharpen any of your blades again; polishing will be enough. Good luck Tor

Office chair with wheels, the four sewing machines I am using have all in the same height; approx 33,5 inches (center arm height). I wheel between them in the same chair. A simple padded office chair without arm rest, I prefer to keep my self awake during working hours. Tor

Hi, have you tried to polish/ strop the blade yet. I have a six inch (6,5) Heritage like yours, a eight and a ten inch Osborn # 86. I will have trouble splitting six inches in any of them. For wide splitting like that you will need a hand or motor powered splitter. If you polish the blade very well you might be able to do it. Do not send that blade away for sharpening, the edge look good to me. Sharpening means to shape an edge, to get it to split good you need to polish it well on a stropping board or a polishing wheel (with polishing paste). I have bought new leather tools from about all the todays big companies, Osborn, Dixon and Blanchard, non of them delivers the steel polished. They leave that for the customers. I try to express my impartial opinion here. The tool should not have any surface rusts, smeared or missing paint when you receive it. I really do not understand why the roller has to be polished, thought. Apart from corrosion protection, but I am not an expert. I would think a brushed roller would work better. The blade alignment is a pain in the a..... on all pull true splitters. If it has an alignment mark now that will change with sharpening, when the blade gets shorter (mark the top center of the roller with some ink on both sides and place the blade according to them) I and several others have been disappointed when we received un polished tools and it did not look like the old tools we are used to see. Now however, I prefer to do my own polishing. I was not around 100 years ago and I do not know if they came fully polished then. We can ask Joseph Dixon he is a member here 102 years old, he delivers the same tools today as his father did 170 years ago. Everybody must take of their splitting blades and polish them once in a wile. With my six in Heritage I have to do that allot, it do not hold an sharp edge very long. We judge the quality of a blade on how long it keeps sharp. Again, I understand your disappointment when you see rust and you cant get it to split right away. The company must consider packing it in grease for long over seas shipments. However, I do not think its that bad, polish the blade on your stropping board and I am sure it splits good. Good luck Tor

With one layer leather and a big needle this will happen. The needle punches the material down and you will have these puncture marks, thats normal. A smooth hammering of the backside will take care of it. With lined leather you will avoid it. Its also harder to conceal the thread knot in the middle with heavy thread, size it down and use a leather needle (LR or other point). You can of course try more thread tension, then again an upholstery class machine do not have as much tension as big stitcher has. Use a needle that cuts instead of punching like a LR and you will have a much better result. Tor

Hi, 4300 Aud equals to 3931 USD, thats an expensive 441 clone. I heard about hard Australian taxes on sewing machines, but thats about the double of an Us sold 441 clone. And its before tax too. The machine comes with a standard clutch motor and speed reducer, not a servo motor like they do in the rest of the world. I thought I was living in an expensive country, you will be able to buy an original Juki TSC 441 for that kind of money everywhere else. Tor

Hi, would you care to post a picture?, And did you complain about it yet. Tor

Hi, Here is a system my supplier in Norway offers, its a Korean system that uses laser heads from 200 up to 3000 watt. Synrad heads from 100 to 400 Watt and Rofin Sinar from 600 to 3000 Watt. http://amatec.no/assets/files/Brosjyrer/Gerber/HiCUT%20C200%20Conveyor%20laser%20cutter.pdf https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=315419618502973 This will give you something to start your searching. I never seen them in use other than online. Tor

Thank you, its a sad story. However, he still do leatherwork, but not as a professional. Norway is not a easy country for small businesses, its the same expenses to run a one man show as it is with ten employees. Tor

Thank you Tom, If anybody can do it, you can. Its a simple construction. The secret lays in the big heavy flywheels motion, that exchanges in to a short movement of the press head, true a crank that moves the big column up and down. The (bicycle) crank works as a gear/exchange arm. A small stud with a spring loaded return comes out and lock the big flywheel to the main shaft when you activates it. Its kind of an reversed bicycle mechanism. Here you see the development history of their machines, http://www.schoen-sandt.com/company/about-us/development-of-cutting-machines.html I have seen people still uses the first kind of press; the 1867 screw press. They rapidly spin the big wheel to make it more powerful, Its mostly used for embossing. You still find it in Asia and Africa, I have seen they put more weight on the wheel and extend its diameter to make it more powerful. I wonder where all these old mechanical and electro mechanical presses are today, they are maybe been turned in to nails. Its about impossible to break their sturdy construction. Its possible some hidden around in basement and barns somewhere, all you got to do is looking. I know this one works very well.

Hi all, now the machine is up and running. I have given it a clean up and a fresh layer of Hammerite paint, rebuilt the motor to a single phase. To ensure the motor got the same power as on 3 phase, it now has two big capacitors 2 times 50 µF. I have a friend who rebuild electrical motors, he brought new life in to this machine. This is not a hydraulic but a electro mechanical machine, it has a short and powerful blow. Sandt started to make hydraulic presses around 1950, this is a 53 model and probably the last of its kind (from Sandt). I have planed the wooden clicker board and supplied a 1 inch poly board on top of it. I have used it with knifes and Bunkhouse embossing plates and it works very well. I am looking for European sources for embossing plates and clicking dies, all tips will be much appreciated. Thanks Tor

Hi all, know this is an old thread. However, I did some Internet searching and found this tool on an Korean site http://beavertools.co.kr/xe/index.php?mid=marking&document_srl=1286 I do not understand the letters on this site but there is a number under it, 70.000 Korean money equals to 61 USD. Here it is on youtube And here is a video on how to convert a battery charger to a wood burner temp. control unit You can make this tool yourself and buy the creasing bits for it. For all who want to save some money and use their own time instead. Thanks Tor

Hi, change to this email format to avoid spam "brahdaa att bellsouth dot net". Good luck with the sale Tor

Hi, They all use the 328 system, size from Nm 160 to 230. (except the Adler 105-8025 who uses 794 size 180 to 300) You may be able to use one size bigger, but observe if the needle comes in contact with the hook. Any smaller size than Nm160 then the distance needle - hook will be to big and stitch error can occur (mainly skipping stitches). The 328 system is shorter than todays heavy stitcher's system the 794, but still any smaller than size 160 will be very long and thin. It can easily bend away from the hook and even break. An other issue is the bobbin tension, you need a new shuttle (bobbin house and spring) to tension thin thread. Any wear on those part and you will not be able to obtain enough tension on the bobbin thread. Adler did supply these machines with two shuttles, one for thin and one for thick thread if necessary (same shuttle but to solve this problem). You will be able to use from Tex 135 to 400 (Tkt 20 to 8) with a new shuttle (bobbin house and spring) You may be able to go bigger, but not smaller. When you use the machine with heavy thread for some time it will wear the bobbin house and not be able to tension enough for thin thread. So if you are going to use this machine with both thin and thick thread be prepared to buy a new shuttle. This way you do not have to adjust the small screws in the bobbin house and wear them out too. This is the same for any heavy lock stitcher. Most workshops have more than one machine and use these for heavy threads.