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Forgot to mention something on this part...There is very little leather I buy locally anymore. There are simply too many better options via retailers online that I can get it from and usually for less. Springfield Leather, SavMor Leather and a number of others likely have something more to what you're looking for and most have great staff people that will talk at length to figure out what it is you need. It may take a trial & error for a piece or two (which is one thing that makes Springfield great, they'll cut hides to fill particial orders) to figure out exactly what you want but in the end it's worth trying a few places.

Sounds like it may be an preparation issue rather than simply low quality. Reading up on it, Vachetta simply is veg-tan cowhide from the Colombian Andes. The difference between other cowhides and Vachetta has more to do with visual quality (the lack of insect bites due to the higher altitude) than it's working properties. Any veg-tan that hasn't been cased, skived or conditioned properly (or a combination thereof) prior to bending/folding will wrinkle. It doesn't have a sealer finish on a completed piece but all the references do discuss using a good quality leather conditioner/dressing to keep it from degrading & wrinkling/creasing permanently. A veg-tan with a softer hand/temper might help as well. Tanneries differ in temper, Hermann Oak is stiffer than Wickett & Craig and Chahin is inbetween the two. Calf & Goat are avilable in veg-tan as well and I believe you can find lamb although I have never tried. Are you trying to tool or dye the watch bands which would require veg-tan? If not, a different tannage might work better as well. Check out some of the gusseted cases on here Bob Park (Hidepounder) has shown some great examples where he has used thicker veg-tan than you'd use on a watch band with some compound direction bends & stitching in the gussets without wrinkling. He and others may chime in with tips. Hope that helps.

Thanks for giving me something to look up today. Don't know if there is a US supplier of small quantities but will be interested to find out too. By the way, Vachetta also goes by Vaqueta (the literal translation from Spanish & Portuguese is "Cowhide"). The funny thing is, it's basically just veg-tan cowhide but it's specific to a particular region of Columbia. You've got a ton of competition for it, Coach, Louis Vitton, Andrew Phillips and a number of others all use it for their handles and trimmings.

Thanks Ray. To Bob and everyone else that is waiting to order, I am still making the burnishers but as timing would have it, this is my busy season for leatherwork - motorcycle gear - the riding season is only a few weeks/months away for most folks so everyone is placing orders now to get their new leathers for the first ride/show/event which makes turning a bit difficult but not impossible. I'll put this out to my LW.net friends, if you need a burnisher(s) drop me an email or PM and we'll work it out so you don't have to wait for order taking to officially resume. Cheers, Chris

Hey Ed, Thanks, I do have to say though, after seeing yours & Beary's handles you'd be a likely candidate for being able to turn them correctly. In fact, if I do throw in the towel (once my leather business gets too busy) I'll drop you a line so we can talk shop and continue providing quality burnishers to the community.

Something else i was told by my CPA relative on tracking large inventory items like leather is to figure out how many of your products you can get out of it. For me, I know I can get 5 tank bibs and 3 fender bibs max out of a single hide due to their odd shapes (works out to 80% of most 24-25 sq.ft hides) and that's being creative/generous due to quality/grain/imperfections. Any area of the hide you can't use for business purposes is considered waste and thus written off. Yeah, I could probably get a few key fobs, etc. out of it but i don't make those on a normal basis so the scraps go into bins & bags for my nephew, the local scout troop or friends who can use them.

I have to chime in here since I have a great recent story about Steve. I researched a number of machines back in November, called every dealer and asked a ton of questions. They were all pretty helpful and in the end I bought a Techsew . Ron's been great with service, definitely no complaints there. What struck me about Steve though is not only was he helpful when I was looking at machines, but after I bought one from a different company he went out of his way to check on my progress with it and to see if I could use any help/answers as he remembered I was a novice machine operator. If you decide to get a Cobra, you'll be in good hands.

The Angelus leather acrylic paints in all colors, including the metallics work great. Silver, Gold, Pewter, Copper and I believe a few others. I use them quite often when I tool service pins/medals for military folks.

I posted these in another thread but figured I'd get "official" and share here too. 1) cutting & leather storage area 2) sewing & tooling areas 3) exotics & supply storage & wood/metal area 4) motorcycle area

This one line is the single most important tip I can think of Sixer...I got my first big machine in December and thought I knew how to make the adjustments...took a ton of questions and 2 weeks of playing with it in my spare time to fix what I had "adjusted".

If you want a great example of how to make Etsy work, check out Tom Banwell's shop. Aside from having popular products, he also has very nice photos and the description & title are complete & to the point. Someone doesn't get 26,000+ admirers and 6000+ sales without doing something very right. http://www.etsy.com/shop/TomBanwell No Paypal or credit card acceptance are going to be huge lost sales points though. Not many folks go for the order online & send me a check thing these days.

That's probably the case, happens to everyone at least once I'm sure. Try to get a roll of butcher paper or a box of packing paper and lay it down on the bench before putting a finished piece on it to ensure a clean surface. I started doing this after tooling and hand painting a piece only to place it on the bench to lace and it found a cut-off that had undry edge dye on it I missed when cleaning up.

Come on guys, no need to jump to conclusions or jump on the poor guy for simply using a word that has multiple definitions. I realize this is the internet and folks like to interpret what they read how they want but it might be more beneficial to everyone to think that the intentions are fair until shown otherwise, instead of simply misinterpreted on your part. Not saying I'm innocent, just being more conscience of it as I get older.

Is your laser string enough to cut aluminum or copper? Just curious for a future project.

Worked out just fine. Turns out it is simply a Blackhawk (if I recall correctly, don't have it in front of me) molded in a different color. The manufacturer's stamp is on the green gun and it wasn't Viridian. Good value for the price.

Yep, diluting is generally a good idea with resolene. Aside from helping it to not streak as much it will be less harsh on your colors. It will still pull some color though. As Marine MP suggested, dying right after oiling can help the dye penetrate. Buffing the color pre-finish definitely helps take off any residual color that would normally be pulled by the finish. Airbrushing Resolene on would eliminate the problem completely as you wouldn't have to rub it on but the tips above should help. Keep in mind though, you will still get some rub off so plan accordingly. It's just the nature of applying a finish by hand. One thing to note, Oil dyes tend to have a lot less rub off if you have access to them.

This is very sad to hear Clay, sorry to all affected for the loss. Never met Jan, but based on your stories and the tutorials I sure would have liked to. On the positive side, he made his mark on the world and left a legacy of information for leatherworkers around the world to learn from and enjoy. Not many people put forth that kind of effort anymore and you had the honor of documenting it first hand. R.I.P. Jan.

Hey Red, First, a couple of questions. What kind of dye are you using? How long did you let it dry? Did you oil the piece after dying or before? Did you let that dry/soak in? All of these will affect how much color resolene takes off. From your post I see that you didn't dilute it. Some folks do, some don't. I do dilute to 50/50 with water and that does help some but the other factors play a part as well. Chris

Thanks Cheryl! Scary part is the wood/metal "department' is 1/2 the size it used to be. Hey Ferg, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, it's been a great machine so far. Have fun! Thanks Ron, will do!

I finally got my shop space filly unpacked and organized, an endeavor sparked by the receipt of my new sewing machine. I got the new machine in December, a Techsew 2700 from Ron at Raphael Sewing. Before that, I was doing light sewing with a Husqavarna Emerald 116 and hand stitching so it's been a great upgrade. The learning curve has been interesting but I have most of it figured out now. The Techsew 2700 happily punches through 3/8" thickness which is more than I need so far and I've run a 207/138 thread combo through it without a problem. For the most part though I usually use 138 t/b or 92 t/b with about 10-12oz of leather between the various parts. Ron's been great with customer service as well, answering a ton of questions via phone and email. There was a small mix-up with some of the accessories with the order and he was lightning quick to get it corrected and even threw in an extra pair of nippers with the package. It's touches like that that are a nice & memorable surprise. Only issue I've had (aside from User Errors/lack of knowledge) was with the zipper foot, there was a small burr on the foot that was making marks but once I figured out that was the root of the problem and not foot pressure, a quick trip to my metal buffer/polisher fixed it right up. (It could have been fixed with sandpaper & a strop but I'm a little OCD when it comes to tools). The servo motor is a dream as well, in fact I'm getting spoiled with it and am reminded each time I go to the Emerald for small/quick stitching (I keep it loaded with 69 thread for things that don't need to be precise or for pattern testing). Overall, I highly recommend the Techsew 2700 and Ron to anyone looking for a medium weight sewing machine. For those wanting a few specs, the 2700 uses 135x17 needles, G style bobbins, 46-207 thread capable and 3/8" sewing capacity with 5/8" presser foot lift with the foot pedal. Pics of the 2700 and a couple of bibs I've since used it on: As for the shop re-arrangement, I had to move some things around while retaining all of my storage, if not adding more. My wife was kind enough to get me a new 4' x 2' x 8' double door cabinet for Christmas so that helped quite a bit. Here's what I came up with. I still need to build a proper bench for the tooling station but this works for now. The nice thing is to go from the tooling bench to the sewing machine is simply a roll of the chair. The cutting table has a swing up leaf at the open end that makes the table 3 feet longer (8ft long when fully opened) for when I'm planning out full sides. The L-shape made it so the wood/metal area is now fully separated from the leather area and each has it's own dedicated cabinet which is nice (and safer for materials). Cheers, Chris

Thanks dirtclod, I actually do that for my colored threads as I don't use them as often but I use a ton of black so having a box wouldn't be an issue for me. I think I found the answer yesterday though, looks like it takes a style G bobbin, same as the Singer 153W.

What's all that white stuff?

Hey Folks, just curious about buying bobbins for my machine. I have the Techsew 2700 and am looking at getting pre-wound bobbins to have on hand for those times when I get busy and can't build up some extras. I've tried searching a few places for the answer and near as I can tell they are size G, similar to the Singer 153W but wanted to confirm before buying them. Most references here on LW.net state "standard industrial size" but most thread places look at you sideways when you ask for that size. Also, is there any particular reason to buy sideless vs. paper sides? I notice the ones that came with the machine are metal and have metal sides... Thanks, Chris

Thanks Cody, best of luck to you as well! One thing I forgot to highlight in my analysis of the spreadsheet can be very important in regards to fees. I have noticed recently since using Square that about 10% of my clients use Discover or American Express for payment. For those folks using a bank for processing, be sure to ask about the additional fees for those cards. Mastercard and Visa transactions may have lower fees but banks generally charge a premium to accept Discover & AMEX. In the case of Wells Fargo, notice that the fee jumps from $0.25 + 2.1% up to $0.56 + 3.5%. And then to top it off, if the card presented (any of the 4 types) is a rewards card (airline miles, cashback, etc.) they tack on up to an additional 1.5%! This means that an AMEX or Discover Rewards card would have a fee of $0.56 + 5% and a Visa or MC Rewards card has a fee of $0.25 + 3.6%! How many people do you know that don't have some type of rewards program on their credit cards? Now take a look at the fee schedule again and you'll realize that on most transactions, you're likely paying more in transaction fees as well as account fees by going with a bank than any of the other options. Now for those that may think this is just a big subversive rant against big banking, think again. My day job is working for a major bank/brokerage firm so it behooves me to let people pay their fees. I also believe that folks should be educated about what they are paying and why, especially my friends and craft compadres. Cheers, Chris

Awesome work Tom, your masks are always fun to look at.