Matt S

Larger thread is often desired for aesthetic as well as practical reasons. I have a strong dislike for commercial leathergoods sewn with skinny thread. Look at wallets (of any price) in the local department store and you'll see TKT40/V69 thread at the most, and probably a size or two smaller. I suspect that it's done for speed and cheapness -- thin thread allows the use of more commonly available garment weight machines, costs less per yard, and allows more items to be sewn between bobbin changes. I've had plenty of commercial wallets break threads in a short amount of use, which really doesn't impress. Rightly or wrongly thin thread looks cheap to me, and I believe that this goes some way to implying the quality of my products. I put time and care into the design and manufacture of my goods, and use nothing smaller than TKT20/V138, except where technical reasons require me to use TKT40/V69.

I have an original manual (1919 edition I think), which isn't leatherbound. I could scan it if you're curious but Amuckarts PDF is excellent. The only area for improvement is the illustrations, which aren't very clear.

Now then Sam! Welcome to the forum. What sort of things do you want to make, just passport holders or maybe some other items too? I can suggest a bunch of places you can get leather, at various prices, but will need to know what sort of things you want to make.

Some of the the chrome tanned leathers I use burnish, or at least seal. I use diluted glue to damp the edge and a little wax on the wheel, reapplied as often as needed to keep the edge lubricated. Multiple cycles are needed to get a decent result The wheel I use is pretty fast, which I think is a key part of the puzzle. 2950RPM and has a 2"diameter. Takes a long dwell time to get a burnish, and not all chrome tannages will do it. TBH I'm not entirely sure if it's a true burnish rather than just a seal, could be I'm building up a layer of highly polished glue on the edge but if so it penetrates the edge of the leather quite deep and doesn't build up like edge paint.

Not having laid hands on any of those exact machines, in a word yes. What you're looking at are upholstery-weight machines -- by which I mean the common, relatively inexpensive industrial machines that can comfortably sew 5/16" (8mm) thickness of leather with TKT20/V138 synthetic thread all day long -- hopefully using a triple-compound feed (feed-dog, needle-feed and powered walking-foot). Most of this class of machine will be able to sew thicker leather and/or thicker thread, though perhaps not for ever (it's rarely a good idea to run any machine at or near one if its maximums for very long.) Such machines are great at sewing dress belts, wallets, watch straps, bags, purses, small knife sheaths, tool rolls, aprons, heavy duty clothing, upholstery, whatever fits within the above limits. Exactly what features you need/want on your machine are up to you to decide -- flat or cylinder bed, reverse, large bobbins, rectangular needle motion, synchonised needle positioning, whatever. Those are decisions that you need to make based on your work and your budget. I have a locally badged Highlead 0618, which I use almost every single day. (For comparison's sake it's very similar to the Consew P1206 but please don't take this as a recommendation for or against that particular machine.) It's a flat-bed triple-feed upholstery-weight machine which I have setup with a cheap needle-positioning servo motor and £9 Ikea worklight. I've sewn somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 metres of seam through this machine this summer on dog leads alone, using TKT20/V138 nylon thread into 4mm of medium-temper leather, often faster than 1,000 SPM. It takes the 1" M bobbin, which means I can sew two 5' dog leads (about 20 feet of sewing) per bobbin and save for cleaning and oiling I don't think I've had to do any maintenance to it for months . This is pretty small potatoes as far as manufacturing goes but what impresses me is that this is a pretty low-end machine which is imperfectly setup. I went a different route but you can buy packages of machines like this, on a table, with a servo motor and set up, for £/$/€1,000 -- which is under a month's minimum wage. There are other ways that a beginner to machine sewing leather can go, but this isn't a bad one.

I think it may be hazardous substances shipping regulations that's the issue here. Not specifically a UK law but the Royal Mail doesn't really "do" hazardous freight, which is how they keep their prices only slightly exorbitant. They leave the more difficult jobs to their freight arm, Parcel Farce, which is far more expensive. Fiebings Pro (used to be called Oil, confusingly) has a high VOC solvent base, which means that the shipping company has to take special precautions. Have you tried Abbey? They do the big bottles of Fiebing, though they say that it can't be shipped to "some" countries, presumably for the same reasons. It's worth a ring or email to find if they'll ship to Ireland. They have accounts with several big couriers so there's a good chance that they can.

I haven't used that particular design but I use a hydraulic press for clicking, like this: I wouldn't be without it, but I find the enclosed frame to be the main limitation. I have 13" of daylight, slightly more than the press you show, and find that I have to cut a hide into strips to fit between the uprights, which eats into the time savings the machine gives. Further, I don't know how much pressure you, as the operator, will be able to bear on that press. My one uses a 6 ton lorry jack and even though most of my dies don't need this much pressure the design allows me much greater mechanical advantage. In English that means it's easy to apply lots of pressure, but it takes multiple pumps of the handle. The little press you show, however, needs all the input power to be pressed or pulled down on the lever at once, and I think that the upper limit of what the press can press will be rather low.

Yes like that, but you don't need a electric iron. Can use a spoon warmed over a small flame if you want simple, just make sure the wife doesn't get the wrong idea. Soldering irons normally get too hot, I use about 80C with the paint I use. The white machine is an edge painter but they're not very useful unless you're painting lots. I use an awl or pencil dipped in the paint. But as always with painting it's 90% preparation, 10% application. Too bloody right.

These machines are indeed great for upholstery but to be honest 90%ish of general leather items can be made on a flat-bed machine. The flat space is really helpful for the larger projects like bags, plus the extra room available in the machine means that it's easier for the manufacturer to fit things like larger hooks/bobbins and beefier, better spaced or more featured feed mechanisms. Where a cylinder-bed machine really shines is when you have an operation that you just can't reach with a flat-bed machine. Standard machine tables are roughly 20x40" so not enormous. From what you want to make, I can only see the sheaths and holsters being an issue for a flat-bed machine, depending on how/if you sew on a leather belt loop.

Interesting, I'll try a lamp dimmer. I'll look for one rated for inductive loads. I have a motor that I don't mind risking for the sake of an experiment. I agree, a VFD is overkill for a burnishing machine but it's what an electronics engineer advised me was the only electrical option for slowing an induction motor (other than modifying the coils or adding a physical brake!).

Yeah, practice is a con and experience is... somehow undesirable? That's a new one on me. In my shooting career there's been those who practice and those who always have an excuse. "Bad ammo." "Barrel worn." "Bad manufacturing." "Wrong glasses." "Too much coffee." "Not enough coffee." "Damaged sights." "Wet fingers." "Wind changed." I've seen every one of these be genuine factors in poor performance but when the same characters keep thinking ever-more-inventive excuses why they can't hit a barn door from the inside you start to wonder. The ones who have a shelf of silverware, fill the freezer with venison, or clear the rats out the barn are the ones who practice, and practice properly. Those who tell themselves they know everything are the ones who do nothing more than make a lot of noise. That includes those beginners who think they'll just pick up a gun and succeed. Show me two inexperienced shooters -- one who practices what they're advised by more experienced shots and one who only trains sporadically --and, ceteris paribus, I can tell you who in six months is going to be making hits and who's going to be making excuses. Proper paint and hardware are bloody useful but the key is technique, which is borne from experience. You get experience by trying things but you can see further by standing on the shoulders of giants by learning from others' experiences. You tried two different paints this week. That's good. Neither worked as you wanted, which is a shame, but you now have that experience, which is very valuable. What are you going to try now? Is there a similar but different paint available in Paraguay? Can you get some proper edge paint shipped to you? Are you going to try the "hot iron" method of edge painting? Have you tried burnishing using a different technique or materials, as you were advised by several people in your thread on burnishing?

What dimmer do you use for an inductive load? My bench grinder has a brushless/induction motor, which I have read is very difficult to control the speed without powering it through a variable-frequency drive. I have bought and built inexpensive Dremel burnishers. I don't like them because it doesn't take much of an imbalance in the wheel to cause a lot of vibration. With a bench-mounted burnisher a small amount of imbalance is counteracted by the mass of the bench it's bolted to. Further, with the cheap Dremel clones I have the speed is way too fast, and because of the simple circuitry you lose all power when turning the speed down.

I use a standard 2950RPM bench grinder motor on my Nigel Armitage/Just wood burnisher. Working diameter is about 2"/50mm. Yeah it's fast, maybe just on the high end of acceptable", but it works just fine and the price was right.

Chris is correct, it's the reset button for the safety clutch. All right there in the manual... https://www.manualslib.com/manual/917750/Juki-Ls-341n.html?page=11#manual

I have one. It's... simple. Had it since Christmas but rarely get time to fiddle with it. The bobbins are like aspirins and the finish is rough as a badger's bum. Doesn't like anything bigger than TKT40. All this aside it works and it's not very heavy. Not something I'm likely to recommend unless somebody really needed a portable patcher, but should be fine for repairs, which is what it's intended for. Should be good for grubby stuff you wouldn't want to put in your "good" sewing machine and where the function of the repair is more important than the appearance. Horse rugs would be about right. A chap or chapess could probably make a good living making doing the rounds of the horse yards within a half day's drive of their home. Chuck this machine in the back of a small car with a box of buckles, canvas patches and webbing with a roll of TKT40 thread and you'd have a portable rug repair shop. Horses are always damaging their rugs and yard managers are usually keen to save money.

Three times I've rocked up to collect a machine in my little VW Polo and the guy's told me it'll never fit. Even my 310lb harness stitcher fit just fine with the head unbolted. Sure beats hiring a truck. Last week I got a bargain on a Seiko from a warehouse an hour's drive away. Had the head in the passenger footwell and the full size table (with clutch motor) on its side into the back in five minutes then went to look for the man. "Need a hand?" he asked. "Nah just wondered where you wanted the pallet truck left." "Cocky bugger!"

That would greatly simplify the height-adjustable table I'm scheming on. Shame there's not many motors with that function that I can find. Industrial footswitch and a DC chassis supply ought to do the job I reckon.

Domestics don't really float my boat but that's a lot of machines. Something to show Her Indoors next time a suspicious piece of vintage iron follows me home: "Yes, it's another machine but look at this, it could be much worse!"

Acrylic paint as in you might use to paint a picture with. You can get a tube for $1 in whatever colour you want. Edge paints last just fine if properly applied, I've got items in daily use over 1 year old that are just fine. I haven't tried the stuff from the art shop for that long (just the proper stuff). What have you tried? As to making a mess, there's lot of us manage not to. Maybe ask people how they do it? No painter's tape here, or streaks across the leather. Have you tried burnishing an edge by hand using a piece of wood, bone or plastic? What happened? Did it turn out as you wanted? If not how did you try to improve it? Have you looked into making or having made a wooden burnisher attachment like people have suggested, or buying one of the specific burnishers people have suggested? If you can't do the basics a sewing machine isn't going to magically make you good or fast at leatherwork. That requires proper practice and experience. I find your use of the "flogging a dead horse" animation ironic. Maybe it's not so much a bandwagon as a popular movement.

I'd guess you bought that sewing machine for sewing thick leather. If you wanted a machine with cheap off-the-shelf binding attachments maybe you should have bought something else. Most users of 441-type machines don't use them for binding but a lack of a binding attachment for your machine doesn't mean you can't bind leather with it. Binding attachments are essentially one-trick ponies -- one type of fold, one type of tape, one size of material per binder. As you've found the more specialist the binder the more expensive so most small workshops simply don't have an attachment for every job. In fact the setup time involved in using a binder means that for short runs it's often quicker and easier to bind manually and then sew it with the machine. I'm curious, how are you going to layout, cut, punch, glue, polish, set rivets with a sewing machine if you don't want to do anything by hand? You can use normal cheap art-shop acrylic paint for edges. Normally you need to thin it with a little water to get it to soak in. You have been advised by several people (including myself) sources of good quality off-the-shelf burnishing attachments, and how to make one yourself or have one made by a local craftsman. Why are you ignoring valuable advice you're being given for free? If you're having trouble with a burnishing machine why don't you burnish by hand until you can get the machine burnishing sorted? It really doesn't take very long.

I can smell bridle leather much easier than the various others I use. There's a fair bit of dubbin in bridle (wax, oil and tallow), which has a scent of its own that I associate with leather, but is not necessarily the leather itself. I think it's the oils oxidising. Smells like the better shoe shops did when I was a kid. I agree with some of the other posters above; unless I put my nose right up against the leather, or I've just opened a new package, I can barely smell it any more. Russian calf (treated with birch oil) has a scent of its own -- just ask Coco Chanel ;-) ! When people come into the workshop the "leather smell" they go doolally over is primarily glue solvent, alcohol dye and scorched dust from the belt sander. And the coffee machine. Don't know about new cars (full-time leatherworker), my car smells... distinctive. Don't think anyone's going to want to bottle that particular scent.

Wimsew W246. It's a locally badged Chinese clone by Protex.

As it happens last week I bought a Seiko LCW-8BL (large bobbin WF cylinder bed) that had been converted to a synchronised binder machine, I think equivalent to the 8BLV. To convert it back required the following parts: (1) Moving bed plate (with attached binder shell) removed and bobbin cover plate reinstalled (2) Feed dog replaced with original (3) Both presser feet replaced with normal 111 style (4) Needle plate replaced with original (5) Feed-dog raising eccentric reinstalled (had been replaced with a non-raising sleeve) Most of these parts were simple jobs that anyone who can operate a screwdriver can do. However the feed-dog raising eccentric needed about a half dozen parts removed and replaced and the eccentric retimed. Just to confuse things (my special skill in life) I have a clone of the Juki 246. They have the small-end cylinder bed but somehow manage to fit in a 4-motion feed-dog and a M-style bobbin, which I think is quite unusual. Size 138/20 thread is just fine and 207/13 will often work in the needle. The needle motion is still elliptical/pivoting unfortunately (my Pearson/BUSM #6 has spoiled me for rectangular feed so I'm lusting after a Juki 1341 or 1342...).

Le Prevo do a nice line in through-dyed veg goat. It's available in black and mid brown, a medium-soft temper that I think would roll fine, maybe with a slight skive. Being goat it's about 1mm thick and not very large skins buuuut they're out of stock at the moment. If you only want a couple SQFT you'll not have much to choose from. Look on eBay, there's usually a few sellers who sell small quantities. There's a lot more to choose from if you allow yourself to use chrome tan.

I hesitate to admit it but I think I'm in the low triple digits of bobbins. I use a lot of different thread sizes and colours and it's cheaper to just keep a handful of bobbins in my most commonly used threads than keep two cones of each. Here's 5 of the different types I keep on hand. L-R we have the infamous Craptactular Chinese portable patcher, class 15, G-style, M-style and U-style. Not pictured: 45K and class 66, but I don't use them often.