NewYorkerInSydney

Hi all, My preferred choice of thread, like many of you, is Irish Linen. I usually buy the Crawford Thread brand or get them from Royalwood. I some times buy the tan irish linen from Coats Barbour, but it seems they only have about three different colors or so. Are there any other linen threads out there I may not know about. As much as I like the crawford threads, the colors are limited and a bit Easter-Like for me. I love various shades of browns, tans and greys. I recently bought a bunch of nice NYLON thread in the colors I love, but holy cow, I find this stuff really hard to hand sew with. The thread keeps coming out of the needle hole and I keep having to rethread every couple of stitches or so. Makes me insane! But I find much nice colors in nylon, but just hard to sew with. Is it just me or do you all have the same problem with handsewing with nylon thread? Got any solutions to making it easier so the thread wont keep coming out of the needle? Thanks for your help folks Cheers, Nyis

Does anyone have something like this?

Hi everyone, I would like to have a clicker die made for my belt ends where it makes a few holes plus cuts the tip. Can dies be made with some kind of alignment guide so that when I position the die over the belt and stamp down on it that it is all aligned and not a little bit off. I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers, Nyis

Thank you all for your assistance. It has been most helpful! I like the idea of print press or fly presses. Cheers

Hi everyone, Can anyone tell me where I can buy a good quality clicker in Australia? Nothing powered by electricity. Something manual that will cut through at least 5mm thick leather, good quality, under 2k, that will last me a long time. I already know about Lucris. Are there any others? Thanks for your help. Nyis

Hi guys, Thanks so much for your responses. I'm pretty fast at making holes with the awl it's just that I'm getting tired. My volume of work is increasing and when you've poked thousands of holes one by one in a day wth an awl my arms and hands want to fall off. I just don't like the idea of machine sewing but I have no idea what else to do. But I'm hurting these days. I hope someone will chime in here with a solution that will solve this problem. )) Nyis Hi guys, Thanks so much for your responses. I'm pretty fast at making holes with the awl it's just that I'm getting tired. My volume of work is increasing and when you've poked thousands of holes one by one in a day wth an awl my arms and hands want to fall off. I just don't like the idea of machine sewing but I have no idea what else to do. But I'm hurting these days. I hope someone will chime in here with a solution that will solve this problem. )) Nyis

Hello good people, I hand sew everything and really like the look of it vs machine sewing. However, the volume of my work is increasing and my hands are getting REALLY really tired of making every single hole by hand with an awl. I often punch through two glued layers of leather and thats even tougher to do. I have tried using a large number of diamond hole punches, chisel punches, you name it. Almost every kind of multiple hole punch tools and find that some of those holes too big for my liking especially when I sew through things like fine narrow watch straps. I know machine sewing would be the answer but I dont want to go there. Does anyone know of any other way to make the holes faster than one by one with an awl? I wondered a few times if using a sewing machine WITHOUT thread for the purpose of making holes, would work, but I dont have an industrial machine. Any ideas anyone? Id really appreciate it. Regards, NYIS

Hi everyone, I really would like to find something that works for me. Sounds like the weaver one is good, but its expensive, plus you have to be a dealer and Im not so access to one isn't an option for me. They make this really cool looking self centering punch. Would like to know if there are any others like there on the market. I know lots of you make belts, can someone give me a good lead on where I can find the tool I seek as mentioned in my first email which started this thread? Thanks so much folks. NYIS

Hi guys, Thanks for your replies. I looked into that weaver one and you need a business license or need to be a dealer. I don't have a licence nor am a dealer so that's out. What a shame as they have so many great things in that catalog that I would like to buy but can't because of that. I never understand why some businesses make it so hard to buy from them. I'm still looking. Anyone else have any ideas? I'd tired of punching holes one at a time. I've searched online but only keep finding the regular handheld punches. I can't think of any keywords that would help me find hat I need. I'm ready to buy something that works that is reasonably priced. It doesn't have to be cheap. Please Leo me find something. Thank you, Nyis

Hello good people, I make lots and lots of belts and my hands are really getting tired of punching holes lately with my handheld rotary punch tool. Do any of you know of any manual types of tool/machine that makes holes without electricity. Something that can self center perhaps and in which I don't have to squeeze one at a time or hammer punch one at a time. Something faster and more efficient? I appreciate any suggestions. Thank you. Nyis

Hi good people, Does anyone know the largest die size I would be able to use with a 12 ton press using 4-6 oz leather? I couldnt find the answer on the previous link a poster provided. Thanks for your help all! Nyis

Holy cow! I just ordered stuff from him back in April or May or something. I emailed him again about a month later and never heard back. Now I see why. How sad. How very very sad. Im sitting here looking at the little burnishers he made me. They are very nice. May he be resting in peace.

So an Osbourne 86 would skive a strap end well then too? Being able to skive ends of a strap is my main priority. I can deal with splitting at another time, but my main concern is being able to skive ends so they are very thin and can glue them together when I make a strap. Finding something that would do this well would make me soooo happy. IM tired of doing it by hand with a hand skiver tool. THANK YOU!!

Can someone please tell me what would be the largest size die cutter I could use with a 12 ton shop press? Thank you!

Anyone? Thanks in advance for any help. Cheers.

Hello good people, I've grown tired of using the disposable razor looking metal skiver I purchased a few years ago. I use it all the time, I always skive two ends of a strap and glue them over/under each other so I like the skived end to be very very thin. Doing this as often as I do is making my wrists hurt lately and am wondering if any of you can recommend a good combination leather strap end skiver and splitter. Some times a strip of eather I have is a bit thick and I need to split it an ounce or two and I currently do not have a way to do this. So having said all this, please tell me the best way to approach this. I always work with leather that is 4-6oz in both veg tan and chrome tan. My maximum budget is $1k but would LOVE LOVE LOVE to keep it WELL under that if possible. I looked into those tandy splitter/skivers but they dont seem to get reviews. Anything else? THank you kindly! Nyis

Hello friends, Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer my question and providing such interesting links and information. At this point I think I may go with a 12 ton shop press. Not 100 percent sure, but that is where Im leaning. Do any of you know the maximum size dies for cutting out 5oz leather that I can use with a 12 ton shop press? Thank you so much again! Cheers, Nyis

Hello folks, I get tired of cutting the same old stuff over and over and would like to have some dies made that I could put onto some kind of manual die cutter that will cut out the pieces I need out of my leather. I make wallets and ipad cases etc. out of 4-5 oz leather. My workshop is home, so I cant have a huge machine in here, but its ok if it takes up a small amount of space, thats fine. I just want something quality and strong that will cut out my pieces. Anyone have any suggestions where I can find something like this? I prefer if it wasnt powered, but can look into it if it is economical and small enough to have at my home workshop. I really look forward to your ideas and suggestions. Kind regards, NYIS

Geez. So sorry. Here is the photo! THANK YOU!!!

Can someone PLEASE tell me what this loop is called. It is attached to the front inside part of this leather and the front has a slit where that metal loop protrudes where you can then slide a piece of leather through as a closure. Its not a footman anchor because that search is only bringing up stuff in hardware stores and nothing related to leather. Its not just a loop because it is attached to the back side somehow. Anyone know what it is called and where I can get some of these kinds of loops for a bag closure??? Thanks so much!!! Nyis

Hello folks, Can someone tell me what the metal loop in this photo is called? Its somehow attached to the inside flap and then pokes out through the front flap which allows the strap to slide through and secure the bag. Im looking for this type of closure and can't figure out how to find it. I searched for metal loops but that just brings up loads of plain rectangular metal loops. I can't imagine how those get attached to a bag like this. Any help would be really appreciated. THanks so much. Nyis

Hello good people, I am hoping you can give me some advice. For some time now I have made some little items here and there but I am not happy with one part of it in particular. I use a very thin and narrow aw that makes a diamond shape or so, to make holes in my leather items which can sometimes be up to 10mm thick. Regardless of the thickness the front of the leather pierces neatly, but at the back the leather always tears. Im fed up with it as it doesn't look very nice especially since I dye many things. The tears look bad enough as it is, but on hand dyed veg tanned leather it looks worse because the tear then exposes the pink leather inside and even with the stitching you can still see this. I would really really really love to know how you fix this problem. I look forward to your replies. Very appreciative, Lilly

Hello everyone, I wanted to thank you all greatly for your help. I ended up buying this airbrush compressor with a tank by the name of ArtLogic. I think it is an australian brand. I purchased the AC1418 with a tank. Next I will buy an airbrush. I notice that some of them have different nozzle sizes. I will get a siphon bottom feed dual airbrush, but now what nozzle size do I need? As I said before I will be dyeing small leather pieces like wallets, purses, bracelets. Can someone kindly tell me please what size nozzle I need? I appreciate it! Best, Nyis

Hello everyone, Thanks to you all for your great suggestions. I did trial versions of a few, but decided I love Inkscape the most, so I am trying to learn it now. So exciting. I appreciate your help greatly. Regards, NYIS

Thanks for your reply. So I should look at something with 100psi and good water trap? How would I know if one has a good water trap by reading an items description? How about horsepower? How powerful do I need? Cheers! NYIS