Matt S

Those numbers mean basically three things: the class of needle, the size of needle and the type of point those needles have. The reason why there's so many numbers is that they say the same thing in lots of different 'languages'. This is the manufacturer's CAtalogue NUmber. I don't understand it and I don't feel the need. Every time I learn something new it pushes some old information out. I once went on a wine-tasting course and forgot how to drive. This is the size of needle, which determines the size of thread it can work with. NM is metric, in hundredths of a millimetre -- NM120 is 1.20mm diameter. The other size is what Singer used to call that size, and is commonly used still in the United States. These are the needle class, expressed in the way that different manufacturers call it. There is some logic to them but it's easier just to learn what works with your machine(s). Here also is the needle point information. In this case they are R, meaning round (normal fabric) needles. Again different manufacturers use different designations but usually with leather LR ("leather") points are used, which cut a small slit in the leather twisted slightly to the right of the direction of travel. There is some limited cross-compatibility with different classes, especially if you re-time but so long as you can find the correct needles I don't really see the point. If your machine is setup for 134-35, buy 134-35 not 135x5. I don't know about Continental suppliers but College Sewing in the UK stocks a wide range: https://www.college-sewing.co.uk/schmetz-industrial-needles/3210-134-35-schmetz-needles/ I have dealt with them many times .Their prices are reasonable, they have a wide range of goods and they dispatch quickly.

Was that one his wife?

It's from a Scotland of the past -- when the men were men and the sheep ran scared.

It exists, but isn't common. After tanning a hide is various thicknesses at different locations, some cows as much as 10mm. These days the whole hide is leveled with a big shaving machine before currying, but before these were in common use I believe that this was left to the craftsman to do with a spokeshave. Thus different parts were up to 10mm thick -- and probably plenty big enough for a tawse.

Chrome tannages seem to dull knives faster. I tend to get about 10-12" of skiving until I need to strop when using chrome, and nearly double that on veg.

Thanks Mike, my grandad had one of these on his wall when I was being dragged up. He told me how it was made and in my 7-year-old wisdom didn't believe him, but I never knew what to call it!

Leprevo in Newcastle, England offer a mail-order plate service, which I have used before: http://www.leprevo.co.uk/embossing.htm Priced per area -- minimum size is 20 SQIN, which will make you a plate 100x125mm for around £50+postage+VAT -- this fits a lot of little logos and the plate can easily be sawn apart. I used a normal coping saw. Even with plastic stamps, gently heating the leather rather than the stamp may work. Have a play on some scrap.

Not sure about the upper stamp (tannery logo perhaps?) but the digits indicate that it's been measured at 14.3SQFT.

What material are you stitching? For leather you want a sharp, cutting point. There are several different point styles, each giving a different aesthetic and functional effect, but not all are available in any given needle class. I usually use LR/RTW (right twist) points which give a slanted stitch in most thicknesses of leather. This style is available from every manufacturer, size and needle class I use, from tiny 15 class nm100 for TKT40 up to the framing nail 331 nm 250 for TKT7 in my heavy harness machine. This means that seams of different thread sizes have a consistent look, both where I use different thread sizes in one product and between different products I produce.

I like that -- very simple but striking and memorable. I don't know about cookie stamps (my biscuits come with "custard cream" written on em) -- what are they made from? My stamps and embossing plates are various metal alloys so they can usually be heated. Even just a little will help make a deep, strong impression, but I guess that's no use if your stamps are plastic. Some of my plates bolt to a purpose-built embossing/foiling press with an electrically heated pressure plate. Others I MacGyver under my £50 shop press with a heat gun and IR thermometer. Something you might try is to warm the leather directly with a hair dryer or heat gun before stamping -- I saw this technique used to deep sculpt car interiors around cast plastic shapes in a video once but I've never got around to trying it out. The temperature would probably have to be kept reasonably low to avoid discolouring the area around the stamp. At some point you should consider having an embossing plate made. There are several options available, the traditional choices are brass or magnesium and they aren't usually very expensive -- a lot of Chinese suppliers will make a custom stamp 20 x 20mm (3/4 x 3/4") for around £20 (US$35).

TKT 20? I typically use a metric 140 but having the closest sizes up and down on hand is useful if a particular combination of thread, material and seam thickness behaves unusually.

My experience echos Mike's -- small surface area is key to getting a good impression on a pull-up leather. I use 2mm oily cow pullup for several of my products and I find it needs a firm pressing and a fair bit of heat (more than bridle or "tooling" veg) to get a good mark. I have a couple of 5x1.25" embossing plates with around a 30% fill, which is right at the limit of the pressure my cheap Chinese embossing press can do -- I have to brace one hand against the back pillar, the other applying pressure to the handle and about a 5 second dwell. In comparison I can put something the size of a Tandy 3D stamp into bridle leather cold -- though I cheat, using my 6 ton shop press.

Did it come from a certain Birmingham-based factory that advertises on eBay? I had a small sample off them last year, I think it's an embossed cow split.

This. I use Swann Morton no10A scalpel blades for a lot of fiddly jobs. I buy em by the hundred and they work out very reasonable. The wispy bits can be removed by careful and quick application of a lighter -- but practice on a scrap piece first and don't do it in your living room if you live with other people ;-) Oh and don't set fire to your shirt...

I wonder if anyone knows why Singer decided to produce the 18? AFAIK it's about the only 'left handed' industrial machine produced. I presume that it's got something to do with vamping shoes as that is the main purpose listed, not only for the 18 but also the 17. Proved popular since it's been in production for so long -- clearly a case of "works fine" but the bobbins are so tiny I'm perplexed why it's not been completely replaced with something more production-efficient. As a further thread divergence, I wonder if the 17/18/TE/TF family is the longest continuous production industrial sewing machines by premium manufacturers? Singer launched the 17 in 1905...

Seiko still makes their version of the 17 and 18, the TE and TF class, but these are the only ones I have come across. I used to have a Singer 17U141, which was a 1980s Singer-badged Seiko TE. Very nice machine, well made and had a reverse pedal, which was handy. Bobbins were small but readily available -- you could tell it was a legacy design considering the ratio of cylinder diameter to bobbin size. Never could get it to be happy with anything bigger than TKT40 thread so I sold it on.

My main workbench is 8' long by 2' deep. It's big enough for general assembly and cutting out from butts or backs -- but it's not deep enough for laying out an entire shoulder or side. It's perfect for strap work. Got most of my tools along the wall behind it and it's not too deep that I can't grab a tool without reaching. Height is the same as my kitchen worktop, 90cm. These dimensions work fine for both me at 5'11" and my girlfriend at 5'2". I'd really love a 4x8' layout table but I can't justify the space in my workshop. I looked at several different sources of pre-made and flat-pack benches. I wasn't going to get any change out of £200. Then I went down the DIY store and bought ten 2x3s, a pack of attic flooring and a bucket of screws for under £60. An afternoon later I had a very solid bench and I'm no carpenter. I used a £20 cordless drill, a £10 saw and a T-square, all of which I had already.

I dunno about no secrets. I see cut-and-painted edges, rolled handles, a zip, a (probably hanging) fabric lining... all textbook techniques, but executed well and with care. Decent looking materials and some investment in machines and tooling. Oh and design. Then there's the marketing... now there's the secret...

Are you lap skiving (tapering the end of a strap so it folds round a buckle or loop, or joins another piece of leather neatly) or skiving the entire length of a strap, or skiving the edges of a strap (to created a turned edge)? Each of these could be done freehand with a skiving knife. I have a symmetrical kiridashi, which I only use for this purpose. For lap skiving I also like a French edger, though TBH I use by benchtop lap-skiver most of the time. Reducing the entire length of a strap I have a crank splitter but a lap-skiver can work if you have a way of locking it off.

That's great Shirl. That's a versatile machine that can do a lot of jobs!

The 341 uses a top-loading, vertical axis rotary hook M bobbin, whereas the 3200 is an end-loading 45K-style barrel bobbin on a horizontal-axis reciprocating hook. A top-loader is considered to be higher-quality, less likely to snag and easier to reload -- especially with a flat table attached. Also, I'm not sure but I suspect that an M-style bobbin holds more thread than a barrel bobbin so with the 341 you'd have to change the bobbins less frequently than with the 3200. Probably not something you'd have to worry about if sewing a few holsters and belts but all important considerations when making a batch of, say, duffle bags. Even without the ability to take size 207 thread I think this makes the 341 a much better prospect than the 3200 for items that involve a lot of finer stitching like wallets, bags and pouches.

I use a pencil.

Stevie, which/what proofer did you use on the boots? I like to use something like a liquid wax or oil on leather hiking boots, which not only makes them resistant against water but also keeps the leather supple. As Matt above, I like Aussie Leather Food, it's a dubbin which is a compound of oils, waxes and lanolin for treating smooth leathers like your boots. You can get small tins of similar dubbin from shoe repairers and places like Wilko -- usually with the shoe polishes. What does the manufacturer recommend?

Water is wicking up into the leather from the sole/upper interface.

What thickness leather are you sewing? With pendulum-drive (As opposed to square-drive) needle-feed machines the stitch length reduces with increasing work thickness, even without adjusting the stitch length regulator. Just a fact of geometry.