Matt S

Yes, especially places geared towards trade sales rather than hobbyists. Annoying for sure, especially when they told you the reverse. To be fair it's not unusual -- Homebase (retail) will advertise all their prices including, ABC Builders Yard (trade) will advertise exclusive and Screwfix (both) will advertise both.

Hi Scott, I usually use a brush (either a flux brush for precise applications or the the ones that come with my glue pots) but have used old credit type cards for spreading over large areas, or just scraps of leather. I tried a silicone pastry brush once but it was too floppy. Those glue spreaders that kids use in school didn't work for me. You can get something that looks a bit like one of those old oil cans that's made of metal and has a pump on the side. They normally have a brush on the tip but one of our members modded his for a needle applicator. If you're intending to make clean-up easier the TS boy glue pots are pretty good, cos you keep the brush in the glue so it doesn't dry out. I have a mayonnaise jar full of thinners that I keep brushes in. When the one in the glue pot gets a bit too claggy for neat work, or at the end of the day, I swap it with one in the pot. This also puts a little bit of solvent in the glue pot which compensates for the angel's share if I've not refilled the pot that day. These are the pots I use. They're pretty universal in the leather trades, including shoemakers and cobblers. I use the smallest size. If I'm doing a full production day (about 25SQFT of leather back-to-back, single coat) I'll have to fill it 2-3 times. Solvent glue will keep usable in one of these for about a half week before you need to add thinners and leave it overnight. https://www.abbeyengland.com/glue-pot-d160

Now *that* is a neat rig.

I'm no expert on skivers but Brian makes a great point -- that vacuum extractor would be very handy. It's something my skiver lacks, and while it's not a problem doing lap skiving strap turnbacks (my main use for the thing at the moment) on long skives it can get rather tangly. I concur -- looks like the vacuum fan/pump is air powered. Not having oodles of compressed air laid-on in my shack I think I'd pull that off and put in something electric.

I've used what was described as "the cheapest Chinese skiver on the market" once. It was definitely not as well made as my 60-ish-year-old Fortuna, but it did the job.

I would definitely recommend locking the needle onto the thread in that way too if you can, with 1-3 passes though. However if you pinch both bits of thread (the "live end" and the bit between the needle and the leather) right behind the eye it's pretty much impossible for the thread to slip out the eye, locked on or not. You also retain full control of the needle.

Ebay mostly, though some were from UK leather dealers. They're pretty generic and probably all come off the same 1 or 2 production lines. I doubt that they're CNC machined, it's a pretty simple series of wood machining operations that's ideally suited to a few dedicated manual machines. Wouldn't take a lot for whatever tiny sawblade they use to cut the blade slot to be off for a batch -- bad setup, damaged/blunt blade, inattentive operator, whatever. As to screws there's a world of difference between "works good" and "absolute cheapest we can get that looks pretty much the same in a low res photo".

Something I learned from somewhere (probably Nigel Artimage) is not to pull the thread all the way through by the needle. Once you've got about an inch of thread "out the other side" let go of the needle and pinch both threads between your thumb and forefinger, *then* pull. This reduces wear and tear on the thread where it goes through the eye (which with linen can wear out before you run out of thread ), it gives you finer control over thread tension, and it reduces the tendency for the thread to slip out the eye of the needle.

Several of mine ;-)

Mate I'd love to go, it looks lush but I've already got one obligatory trip abroad next year and getting hitched so the holiday time and budget's already spoken for!

My experience with the cheaper ones is that the blade slot may be cut off-square, the hardware strips or doesn't turn smoothly, the scales can be "off", the parallel bars slip and the short grain next to the blade slot is prone to snapping.

Nigel may be referring to the ones produced in Stockton, California. 5 years ago they were double the price of the generic Far Eastern-made ones, and many times better. Unfortunately they seem to have been out of production for some time.

Nice work @Hags! Maybe I should build such a thing and look a little less disreputable with dye and glue over all my clothes. Do you not feel exposed with those pointy ends hanging out of the tool loops? I see you're in Sequim. The racing cutter Tally Ho was being rebuilt there until her owner had to move to Port Townsend this summer. Don't suppose you visited?

Great work @UncleSam, a quality made thingapurpose. Hope your lad heals quickly. I'm quite ignorant of horse stuff (except how to deal with what goes in one end and out t'other) but is there any way to fashion something to provide an anchor for the hernia appliance while avoiding the sore areas? Maybe a device like a pair of English saddle panels or more like a Western tree shaped to fit his back but avoid the injured bits? Please forgive me jumping in here, but I wonder why that is? My impression/assumption is that racing saddles are essentially very stripped down/small GP type saddles. Do they perhaps have minimal panelling/flocking and basically bear the entire jockey's weight on the points of the tree?

Hi Scott, I don't recall ever buying buffalo leather, but have heard that it indeed has the characteristic grain pattern that JCUK mentions. In fact this is sometimes emulated on cowhides by plating. I also have a memory of it being generally quite a suppler handle/looser grain compared with a typical cow hide of similar thickness and tannage but I'm not sure where to go to confirm or deny it. As I said before I'm no shoemaker but believe that uppers are almost universally chrome tanned, due to the reduced impact had on it by water (whether from the environment or the feet). I have a pair of boots (French rangers, a copy of the US WW2 para boot) that appears to have veg-tanned uppers. Great fit, but no matter how much dubbin I stuff them with they get very stiff after each use. Don't know if it's just cos the leather's very dry or because they're rough-out or what, but I really suspect it's because they're veg tanned. Obviously there are certain types of footwear that have veg tanned uppers (western/cowboy boots and anything in traditional Russian calf or shell cordovan spring to mind). Almost all uppers must have been veg-tanned prior to the invention of chrome tanning, but I suspect that shoes had a shorter maintenance/repair/life cycle than we expect today, and huge efforts were made at making them impermeable (such as jacking) or avoiding getting them wet (such as the use of pattens and later galoshes). After your PM I looked on Abbey's website but could only find a few buffalo leathers listed, all chrome tanned. Do you have a link to the one you're considering? Incidentally I can't remember where but once heard that importing bison (American buffalo) leather to the UK was rather difficult, so all "buffalo" leather over here is indeed water buffalo. I suppose they're big beasts and you gotta do something with the outside layer when their ploughing days are done and the inside bits have been cooked! I agree with FGBR, it might be worth your time speaking with AA Crack or J Woods or another dealer that sells to the shoe trade. Abbey is mostly oriented to the equestrian trades and more general leather crafts. Their product range and institutional knowledge may not be the most useful to you.

My pleasure! Parts-wise my go-to is College Sewing. They're in the UK but they ship abroad if you can't find anything more locally. Their database will often throw compatible parts at you if you put the OEM's part number into the search bar (e.g. from a parts list). They're also very helpful and honest with advice if you contact them.

Hi Luke. Congrats on the purchase, they're great machines. Could be a few issues, but tricky to diagnose without a few more details. Assuming that your needle is correctly installed, undamaged, and matches your thread size(s), does this occur the same run "empty" as with some leather in it? Under some combinations of setting and thread the loops collapse before the shuttle nose can pick them up. With some leather in the machine the loop has a little more resistance. If this is your first lock-stitch machine remember that stitches only really "lock" when they're in material -- they unravel immediately when the machine is run empty and that is normal. Like all sewing machines the thread type and treatment affects how the machine behaves. Try a variety of what you have on-hand and see what happens. Also, take a look in the manual and adjust your thread staple to near its mid-point. The #6 has a weird and wonderful thread take-up system, and that thing essentially adjusts how "high" the locked stitch gets pulled up into the leather, which may affect how long the loop is open for before it collapses. Bobbins were intended to be filled with the dedicated winder, which was always separate from the machine and so many have become permanently separated. A small drill (cordless or eggbeater) will work with some care. To fill you put the end of the thread through the hole and turn the bobbin, guiding the thread by hand to form even, neat layers. Stop before the thread goes proud of the flanges. Then trim off the stub, load your shuttle (giving each end a very slight oiling) and get cranking. Wax pot content is something I'd like to learn more about. I've tried linseed oil, silicone oil, solution wax (paraffin in white spirit), liquid furniture wax, and even machine oil. Most of them just made a mess and some damaged the thread. Now I mostly run synthetic thread so the pot stays empty.

Scarily I've had that thing for half a decade now... I've put a lot of leather through her over the years but not as much as I thought. Compared with modern machines it's slow to run and slow to adjust, but it's a thing of such beauty and controllability that I don't think I'll ever willingly let it go.

What a fine beast you have acquired @Garyak! Not done it on a 145, but with a 112 or similar you remove the unwanted needle and shift the relevant shuttle assembly sideways so its bevel gear no longer meshes with the drive shaft. Similar procedure to changing a gauge set. If you want to use it single-needle temporarily I guess you could just take out the unwanted needle and not put its bobbin in. Or for convenience you may be able to get a compatible flip-up needle clamp, where each needle can be lifted out or dropped into use at will.

There are many factors which affect the "hand" (suppleness/drape) of a piece of leather of any given thickness and animal. Only one of those is tannage. Off the top of my head there is compression (which can come from rolling, slicking or plating); the degree and with what the hide was fatliquored (greased); staking, milling and tumbling; and any coatings or through-treatments which may have been applied. Some hides are probably just stiffer or softer because the beast decided to grow that way. I've had both vegetable and chrome tanned cowhides that run the full range between hardboard and Kleenex. You may find that it softens with use -- traditional English bridle for instance can be nearly woodlike when it's new but supples up in a short time.

So sarcasm aside how long does it take you to sew a seam, say 6" long in a single thickness of 3mm/8oz tooling leather, from start to finish? Well thinking back to the many times I've done it with various machines (including the Chinese patcher I used to own). Holes laid out with dividers, with pricking irons, with stitching chisels, and with sewing machines (where I had to unpick the stitches due to balance issues). If you don't have the stitch length dialled exactly right you have to lift the foot and adjust the piece every few inches, otherwise the inevitable miniscule difference between the machine's set stitch length and the hole distance compounds to a noticeable amount. This can also cause issues with inconsistent tension. Alternatively you can set the stitch length at zero and manually position the piece with the marked or punched holes. Not difficult, but slow and frustrating, especially without a foot/knee lift. So that photo is a different technique from where you posted last week that you punch all your holes before sewing? Will your patcher reliably penetrate and tension 207 thread top and bottom through one or more thicknesses of tooling leather? Like I said up the page, if you're happy with those seams and your workflow, great.

It's a top-feed-only, like most (all?) patchers -- only the foot drags the material along, since the foot is steerable in any direction. The foot that comes as standard is rather aggressive (since the machine is designed for sewing cloth rather than leather). Many people wrap it in rubber tape to reduce the marks that would be left on leather. Regards stitch spacing, if the item is pre-punched the procedure would be to adjust the stitch regulator to as close as possible to the punched length. The machine would never exactly match the holes so there would have to either be a bit of jiggery-pokery making sure the needle lines up with the hole each time, or maybe the foot grippage is so light and needle is stiff enough to guide the piece a little once the tip enters the top of the hole. Either way, this approach is still prone to stitch length/spacing errors and must be about as slow as needle-and-awl saddle stitch.

And yet the one I had wouldn't pass TKT20/V138 in the needle with TKT40/V69 in the bobbin, which in the very least highlights the poor consistency and QC in these things. How long a seam do you get with those aspirin-sized bobbins in 207? What needles are you using? And... who are these "lots of folks producing top notch leather work" with a Chinese patcher? If you're happy with those seams, more power to your elbow my friend. They aren't what I'm looking for. Are you pre-punching your stitch holes before sewing?

I had one, I bought it when I had a particular need for a transverse-feed machine. I was hoping that I could modify and dedicate it to this task. While waiting for it to arrive I found a real transverse-feed machine. I wasn't impressed with the patcher, though it did sew within certain limits. To give you an idea of the quality only half the supplied bobbins fitted the shuttlehook. Two bobbins still had the lathe swarf wrapped around them. When I turned over the machine sand from the mould fell out. The thread tension nuts were just plain steel hexnuts with no provision to stop them vibrating loose so the tension changed as the machine sewed. Their coarse pitch made it difficult to get the tension "just so" when working with less-forgiving combinations of thread and leather. I can't remember if the stitch length regulator (a plain steel set screw) had a jam nut or not, but that would self-adjust too. IIRC there was no way to adjust foot pressure or slip the presser bar to adjust its height. Why do some people think these machines are fine and others junk? Well see my above comments of inconsistency -- Person A gets a lemon and Person B gets one that works out the box. What are going to be their conclusions? Person C has the skills, tools and willingness to mend and modify the machine to do what they want, Person D wants/needs it to work out the box. Also different people have different thresholds for "good" vs "junk", especially if they've never used a real industrial machine before. Some people seem to be happy with extravagant workarounds and limitations to use these machines. I'd rather saddle stitch everything. Is the finished stitch good? Let's just say I wasn't happy enough with the consistency and appearance of the stitch that my machine produced to put my name on it. I've not yet seen any examples of work that have disabused me of that impression. I used mine for a few repairs where I had no other option (you know, being a patcher machine) and sold it on. I haven't mourned its absence.

Hi @KathrynHD, Please forgive me if you've mentioned it somewhere and I've missed it, but exactly what sort of leathers are you intending to split/skive, and in what sizes? The sorts of fixed-blade machines you're looking at are a useful tool but certainly not universally useful. In my experience (which admittedly is mostly in cheap ones) they are best used on stiffer leathers like bridle where the leather is resistant to stretching. Like all skiving tools and machines the condition of the blade is absolutely crucial in addition to technique, or else you will get uneven, inaccurate or just plain cut-through splits. Pull-through splitters also tend to need a lot of upper body strength when splitting everything over 2"/5cm wide, irrespective of the blade width. Crankers are a little better, but the ones I've used tend to designed for splitting shoe soling and are rather... cranky when dealing with thinner and softer leathers.