Vivaldi

Thanks Art. Your info makes perfect sense and I find if very helpful.

I came across this older thread while researching ways to sharpen my round knife and I found many extremely useful references and tips. I have decided to try the slack belt sharpening system as referenced by Bruce Johnson earlier in this thread. However, if I use the belt system for sharpening and I create the convex (Moran) edge on my knife, can anyone tell me if I also need to do my stroping with a leather belt on the belt sander, or can I strop with leather on a wooden board? Or does it matter? I am thinking if I strop with leather on a wooden board after using the belt system, the stroping will tend to flatten out the convex edge. Any information from experienced round knife sharpeners would be greatly appreciated.

I recently used some 4 year old vinegaroon on veg tan leather and it did not produce the same rich black that it did 4 years ago. I am not sure if this is because of some difference in the leather or because the vinegaroon is too old. So does anyone know if old vinegaroon produces less black color than new vinegaroon?

Please help! I am trying to sew 2-3 ounce chrome tan leather with my wife's Singer Merritt 4530 sewing machine, and the machine makes holes in the leather just fine but does not make any stitiches into the leather. I purchased the universal leather needles and upholstry thread from Handcock Fabrics, and the machine makes perfect stitches with the same needles and thread on regular fabrics. But when I try to sew the leather, the needle goes through the leather just fine but does not make any stitiches. Is it that this machine cannot handle the leather, or is it something about a wrong needle or thread, or something to do with tension? Any ideas are greatly welcomed? I am very new to leatherworking and know very little about sewing machines. Thanks, Vivaldi

Hi everyone, Does anyone sew chrome tan leather by hand? I have been trying to follow the recommendations from AL Stohlman in his book on The Art of Hand Sewing Leather, but it seems to be rather difficult or impossible to achieve a good result with the 2-3 ounce chrome tan leather I recently purchased. For example, the leather is so soft that it makes it difficult to use the stitching groover, the overstitch wheel doesn't seem to make indentations that last very long, and the leather moves about when I place it into the stitching pony and use the awl to make holes for the double needle saddle stitch as outlined in the book. I recently tried to make a small sunglasses case for my wife by taking two pieces of the chrome tan leather and placing one on top of the other. Then I took a one inch strip of the chrome tan leather and folded it over the edges and tried to sew the edges together. I found it next to impossible to keep a straight stitch line because the leather was so soft and flimsy in the pony. So my question is whether or not anyone out there might be doing this by hand, or does everyone use a maching when sewing chrome tan leather? Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Vivaldi

Thanks Hilly, Yes, I bought my waxed nylon thread from Tandy, and I just went to the website and I see that Tandy also sells waxed linen thread. I didn't realize that until you pointed it out. There is no mention of cord size in either of these threads on the Tandy website, so it is hard to tell if one is thicker than the other. I agree with you that the problem in my stitching sample shown in the photo above is that the awl is too large, so I am ordering the Osborne awl as you suggested. What I also decided to do was order various sizes of 3, 5, and 7 cord wnwaxed linen thread from a different supplier and I plan to start experimenting with different needles, awls, and threads so as to try and get the thread size appropriate for the awl stab holes. Many thanks and merry christmas, Vivaldi

Hilly, Thanks so much for your reply. I did not realize that a Barbour 5 cord is roughly 1/2 the diameter of the Tandy waxed nylon thread. I am definitely going to check out the Osborne awls and the linen thread references you listed. Your information is greatly helpful to me and thank you again. Vivaldi

Hi Everyone, I'm am new at leatherworking and I'm trying to follow Al Stolhman's book on Hand Sewing, but I've generated a few questions I hope some of you out there might be able to help me answer. I've attached a photo of some of my first stitching with a Tandy (4 in 1) awl using the diamond tip along with some of the Tandy black nylon thread. My question is whether or not I am doing this properly. Does it look correct in the photo? The thread seems a little too small for the holes. I would welcome any feedback from the photo. This brings to mind another question. I have seen various references to 5 cord linen thread, 7 cord linen thread, etc.... Can anyone tell me which cord linen thread would be comparable to the Tandy Nylon thread I am using in this photo (i.e. 3 cord or 5 cord)? I am also wondering which needles go with which cord linen threads. Does anyone have a reference. I think I want to go with a linen thread that is heavier than the Tandy nylon thread, but I don't know which cord linen thread to try, what size needle to get, or for that matter, what awl to use. I am open to any suggestions. Any feedback would be greatly appreciatd Vivaldi