Matt S

@HollyMac23 You could see if @Les No6 has or knows of any sources for your replacement part. He is a font of knowledge on the old girls and has been known to manufacture small runs of some parts before.

I've got a friend who's reshaping the seat on his WR125X, adding a couple inches' posterior padding, and he wants me to make him a fancy new cover it. We're looking at doing the top panel in a good deep black and the side panels in a blue to echo the colour of the fairings so I think a prefinished chrome tan rather than tooling leather or other veg-tan. The bike lives under cover but raining is our national sport, and he's keen for a grippy seat in all weathers. The obvious solution is to find a pebble-grain upholstery leather but I don't know if this is going to be grippy or hard-wearing enough. Is there any particular leather or specification that I should be looking for?

@hwinbermuda If you don't tell her I won't...

Price drop to £675, I need this gone!

Yamel, I know the pain of noisy wooden floors. In the past I was working from a bedroom during the evenings so noise was as real problem, let alone the difficulties of actually doing the punching. In order to get a clean hole what you need is mass under the cutting board. The traditional choice is a block of lead but that's increasingly difficult to get hold of these days and some people are wary about having the stuff lying around. What I came up with was a marble slab on my lap, with a piece of cutting board on top of that. It wasn't quite silent and it doesn't hold a candle to a proper workbench but it did the job. My slab was one of those £10 ones from Wilko in the kitchen section. It's now in 3 pieces, thanks to a blunt crew punch and a stubborn Matt. If you're near a builder's yard or DIY centre and you can stand the weight perhaps a concrete paving slab would work? They usually cost under £5, or free for the asking if you find someone tearing up an old patio. Also, do you have a concrete stairway or something in your building? There's nothing more solid than that if you don't mind dragging a few bits of kit out there each time you need to do some punching.

To illustrate my idea a little clearer, this is one of many Chinese vendors which sells standard and customised clicker dies/press knives. In this case we have the less expensive plywood -backed type rather than the sturdier welded strip knife. They can be used with many different types of press (I use a £60 hydraulic bearing press with a loose mild steel offcut as a presser plate). They can also be used even simpler with just a soft-faced hammer. The OP's purpose might suit one of the standard off-the-shelf cutters. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DIY-leather-tassels-made-Die-cut-knife-mould-hand-punch-tool-multi-size-for-option/32862265949.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.4.4e433eb7HJr9sI&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.13338.112238.000000000000000&scm_id=1007.13338.112238.000000000000000&scm-url=1007.13338.112238.000000000000000&pvid=df9fd825-c3eb-4ede-bbdd-93861da93533

Interesting idea Chris. I've had mixed results sanding leather, but the firm roller might improve matters. Are you thinking of using it as a general purpose replacement for a bell-knife skiver or for a specific skiving task? How do you envisage feeding the leather? Here's something similar for lap-skiving belts: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/70951-cheap-splitterskiver-and-sander/

Probably not big enough to go round a belt in a oner. Those bobbins are pretty small. I think that those who report using v138/tkt20 in these patchers are using it only in the needle, with a thinner thread in the bobbin. That's fine, but it limits the strength of the seam to that of the thinnest thread. It also presupposes that you can get yours to work with such a chunky thread. The tolerances on these machines is so loose that there is no guarantee that you'll be able to do so. For example not all the bobbins that came with my machine fit it.

Between you and Harry I think you've got most of your manual, inexpensive options covered. Potentially a silly question but will the heavy thread be for looks or function? That is to say, will the thickest thread your machine can use produce a sufficiently strong product? If so you could apply a decorative, thicker thread by hand much easier than sewing through the thickness of the webbing. Just sew with your machine then see the heavy thread through/around the loop s on top of your seam. What quantity of product do you want to make? Over here industrial sewing machine dealers will rent you machines per month if you can't justify buying a particular machine for a specific purpose. Or, of course, you could farm it out to another manufacturer who has a heavier machine.

At the risk of looking for a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, have you considered a cutting die/press knife? I suppose it depends on the quantity you want to make but it sounds like an ideal situation for such a thing. The leather wouldn't have a chance to move about, there would be no fiddling for each tassel and you'd get perfect accuracy and repeatability each time. You'd also not need very much press at all for a small knife -- arbor press, bearing press, even a workshop vice might well do. My first press knife I made do with a nylon hammer before I got a press and results were... acceptable. Check out the usual suspects on aliexpress, etsy etc, there's a lot of Chinese sellers who make inexpensive press knives. There might even be an "off the shelf" design that would suit you.

Phots

I am offering my Wimsew 0618-1 sewing machine for sale. Fairly standard medium-quality Chinese flat-bed upholstery weight sewing machine. Works well but not the latest model (no safety clutch). Takes 135x16/17 needles, large M bobbins and standard 111 style feet. Has reverse. Basic servo motor fitted. Will do 20+feet of sewing with tkt20 thread on a single bobbin. It's a good machine but not the same quality as an Adler/Singer/Juli etc. I've used it for literally hundreds of dog leads and collars but it's never been used "full time". I've used it most recently as a backup to my Seiko which saved my backside but need the space. Sample in the picture is 4x layers of bridle split, each about 2mm thick and seen with tkt20 thread. This is below the limit of what the machine can do but near to it, and about as much as toys want to put through it regularly. Machine can sew about 10mm (3/8") thickness maximum, with tkt13/v207 thread in the needle but only with tkt20/v138 in the bobbin. Top speed is about 1200SPM. I'm asking £725 OBO, cash or bank transfer. That's half what Tysew wants for the same machine, and £400 less than new from Wimsew. Machine is located in Harrow, middlesex. I could ship it but it wouldn't be cheap. Can fit in a small hatchback.

Did you crank down on the bolt too hard?

Well crap, I thought 45s were about bulletproof. Any idea what happened? There's a lot of threads on here about fixing cast iron. Old school method is to braze with a gas torch. More modern is a decent epoxy. Each has its advantages but better is guaranteed. Did it cost you much? Worst case you could probably part it out for enough money to buy another machine -- 45k parts are quite sought after

Unless you have a special requirement for something else bonded nylon is the de facto standard thread these days for work in leather and thick fabric. The thickest the 17 class can usually use is v69/tkt40 which is widely and readily available in a huge range of colours. Some subclasses of 17, and some individual machines, can use thicker thread on top. 16x2 is the needle system and widely available. You have a wide range of sizes and needle points to choose from, which is mostly dependent on the thread size and material into which you are sewing. Always choose a quality brand of needle (Groz Beckett, Scmetz, Organ), the small premium is always worth it. What do you want to do/make with your machine?

Could be. I've noticed differences in beeswax off one beekeeper or another, or from a hardware store. I suppose it depends what the bees were eating (heather honey anyone?) and how it's processed. The hardest stuff I've had was 10+ years old, out of a big pile of tools that belonged to a saddler. I bet most of the volatiles had evaporated off. This could be it, it's difficult for glue to stick to anything waxy. (Just see the Novichok toluene based glue I use on waxed leather!) I still find a 50p bar of glycerine soap from the grocery store works better, and lasts about forever.

I find that Renia 315 is much easier to sew if I only apply a very very thin layer. Diluting just a tad with water helps this. I also usually speed drying with a heat gun, which might reduce stickiness I dunno, I'm just in a hurry. All the beeswax I've bought has been sticky rather than slippery. Never quite understood the idea that it's a good lube for anything other than drawer runners etc. where it fills in pores in the wood. I stab into a block of glycerine soap if my awl starts to get gummy.

I tack the end of the strap to the bench and walk along with the edger. Where do I file my patent at?

I visited a traditional tannery last year, they had a grease tank the size of a station wagon basically full of tallow with a gas burner underneath it. They would dip entire sides or backs in the thing. I've been playing with pine tar on my boots lately too -- a 50-50 mix with dubbin (Fiebings Aussie). Traditional Finnish mix (though they put pine tar in everything it seems). Warm, slather on, leave to soak then rub off with a rag. Had to be my "outdoors only" boots as while the smell is pleasant the more sensitive members of the household object to such a strong scent in the hall. As I say I tried the rosin years ago, don't think it did much.

I've mixed my own dubbin before but never rendered tallow. Maybe I ought to visit my local butcher... I think the normal English mix for dubbin is equal amounts of tallow, beeswax and neetsfoot oil. It works well. I've also tried equal amounts of wax and tallow, and mixing in a little rosin too. I've been using Fiebing's Aussie for a while, which is basically dubbin. It has lanolin which supples up the leather real well and smells pretty good too (which tallow doesn't always). There's no rocket science behind it, most mixes work.

A disclaimer would be useful! That leather sounds like fun. Should be able to put anything up to 5mm in the front of it. One of the main jobs I want to do with it is taking 4mm bridle down to about 1mm for wallet pockets and 2 for wallet backs. The smoke was a reference to the idea that electrical things run on smoke. Wire them wrong and the smoke leaks out, whereupon they stop working. I'm trying very hard to keep the smoke in this machine.

I've wondered this same question a few times. I've noticed that they are fairly interchangeable but suspected that there are technical difference within certain trades. Thanks for bringing the topic up @chrisash! I'm still building the phase converter, trying very hard to stop the smoke from escaping. There'll hopefully be an update somewhen next week. I'll be happy to do some splitting for you or anyone else but I don't want to risk anybody's leather before I'm convinced that it's reliable!

As others have suggested you want something with a larger face than that tack hammer. A cobbler's hammer is ideal but I lost mine a while ago and have been using the flat face of a ball-pein ever since.

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Normally I'd agree with you, but I think there's now a severe angle change that needs severe correction. I've pulled the hook, hopefully these photos are a little clearer. I'm no photographer. As can be seen the angle of the tip now changes very abruptly at the point, which also exhibits a flat shiny spot on the very end. This makes me think that the point has gone, possibly shortening the hook. There's a slight burr on the outer edge of the hook tip now, which wasn't there before the needle strikes.