Matt S

@Mocivnik, the first tool is a lap-skiver or pull-skiver. Most current production ones are only as large as 6, 7 or 8 inches (15-20 cm). Pulling a strip of leather any wider that 4" (10cm) is very difficult though -- the extra width is so that you have longer to use the machine between resharpenings. I don't really consider these to be splitters. Though they can do some splitting the leather isn't very well controlled and the depth of the split even at one particular setting is dependent on the angle that you pull the leather through. They are primarily intended for tapering the ends of straps, either for splicing or for turnbacks when putting on a buckle or ring. Price for a current production Chinese 6" pull skiver is €150-200, or €450ish for an Osborne. Used Chinese ones aren't very common but I sold one last month and it didn't reach £100. Used Dixons, Osbornes and such reach at least the price of a new Chinese. To put a 20cm wide piece through a fixed-blade splitter you'll need either a crank-splitter or a motorised one. These are fairly rare in Europe and tend to only be 7" (17cm) wide, intended for splitting shoe soles. Price is around €1000 for a hand-cranked one. The Cowboy 8020 can split up to 20" (50cm) wide but it's a big machine and the head alone cost $2000 last time I priced one. Fixed-blade splitters are really any when taking at least 1mm off a stiff leather. Any finer thinning and an floppy leathers need a moving blade, like maybe a bell-knife skiver or a band-knife splitter. Band-knife splitters are in the €3000+ region second-hand. You'll need a forklift to move it and 3-phase power to run it. The second machine, as @Aven rightly says, is known as a "3-in-1" or "5-in-1" machine in the US depending on how many functions it has. I don't know if there is really a settled word in my country but in Europe and to an extent in the UK it's known as a ranger (for ranging shoe soles). I've seen prices from as little as £10 to the triple digits, depending on whether the seller knows what it is. I tried one once and didn't get on with it, it left a lot of marks on the leather and didn't leave a clean edge. Soling leather is very tough stuff, I completely understand why there's a machine for it. 3mm veg tan is no big trouble to cut with a knife.

Old domestic worth $35 being sold as an industrial for $350. Ever seen one of those salesmen selling a "nev-r-blunt" kitchen knife on a shopping channel or in a department store? This is the sewing machine equivalent. It slices, it dices, it sews through a beer can... The coin stacking is irrelevant and not very impressive to anyone who has used a sewing machine but it's a great indicator of an overpriced machine being sold by a charlatan.

@WastelandOuterwear I don't know your mentor from Adam. He may be encouraging you to figure it out for yourself as an exercise in perseverance, lateral thinking and problem solving. That is the more generous explanation I can think of. I can think of one or two possible solutions to this puzzle but I think that I'll hold off posting them until I've tried them out and you've tried a few more approaches. Maybe post them here for specific feedback and suggestions, and to help other people trying out this technique. Out of interest, what qualifies him as a mentor/teacher? Teaching is a specific skillset and there are a lot of people who are very skilled at all sorts of things who can't teach for toffee.

You know, for ages I could only find flatbeds in my budget. I really wanted a cylinder bed, thinking it would allow me to do a lot more projects and save space in the workshop. Now, three cylinder-beds later, I use my flat-bed 90% of the time. There are some jobs that I can only do on a cylinder-bed but for the majority of leather sewing jobs, and especially upholstery type jobs, I find that a flat-bed is actually better. There's a lot more area to rest the weight of the item being sewn, which means less juggling -- and you should see how poorly I juggle as I press the reverse lever, tickle the balance wheel, support the weight of a large bag and drink beer tea at the same time. Poor support leads to wandering seams, untidy backstitching, crashing needles, skipped stitches and bad words being shouted at the dog. A flat-bed attachment on a cylinder-bed machine would alleviate some of these problems and I recently looked hard at getting rid of two flat-bed machines by doing this. However it's far from an ideal solution. Not only would it not solve the issues that arise from having a lot of 'stuff' shoehorned into a 2" tube (rather than a 7x18" flat bed) but the resulting flat area can't hold a candle to the 24x26" area I have to support my sewn item on a slightly diminutive machine table. When hunting for the ever-elusive cylinder-bed machines I wondered why they are outnumbered more than 10:1 by flat-beds (and numbered pretty closely by post-bed machines) -- industry uses flat-beds more than 10 times as often as cylinder-beds, and then only for specialised tasks. I reckon that those factories turning out sofas, jeans, wallets, shoes, belts, holsters and saddles 40 hours a week probably know what they're doing better than I do.

I use a cheap bench grinder as my burnisher. Almost all run around 2900RPM, and that's quite fast for the job -- there's a fine line between burnishing and burning. Not the safest tool in the shed but then neither am I. It's only 150w so stops if anything gets caught. 1450ish RPM would be better, but harder to find, especially in induction (brushless) form. These are quieter than brushed motors but are very difficult to adjust their speed -- if you use a dimmer switch or one of those speed controllers designed for brushed motors it burns up.

You don't have any sort of solvent on hand already? White spirit works on linseed, though I think you call it mineral spirits or something. It's a cheap petroleum-derived solvent, clear like water but oily in texture and with a very strong, unique smell. 99% of households in the UK have a bottle of it collecting dust in the kitchen, shed or garage for cleaning paintbrushes. Out of interest how did you apply the linseed? Ten years ago I bought an axe with a bone-dry handle and really slopped the raw oil on. It took a couple months to go off in a warm sunny room but it dried eventually. Nowadays I'm a little less patient. Very dry tool handles get a soaking in thinned raw oil for a day before being wiped down and put in the rack or toolbox. I rub a little raw linseed into the handles whenever I feel like procrastinating. That's the trick with linseed: if you want it to be usable in a short length of time give it a wipe and no more. You're not looking for a 1mm thick coating like it's been dipped in plastic -- in fact you should barely be able to feel it's there at all until you've put a half dozen coats on, each drying completely before putting on the next. The other factor to consider is what effect does the wood have? Perhaps it's a naturally very oily wood which won't absorb any more oil? I know it's not to everyone's taste but I don't feel like all tool handles need a finish. I have dozens of awls, edge shaves, files and knives which have never had any sort of oil, paint or varnish added to them and they all work fine. Over time they get naturally polished with use.

Sounds more like raw linseed than boiled. Perhaps it was mislabelled? As Northmount says wipe it down with a solvent. Turpentine works best for linseed but most petrochem solvents should work.

There is no one correct thickness for any particular job -- it varies depending on which part of the hide it comes from, which animal, how it was tanned and curried... I find that 1.0mm works well with firm (non-tumbled) bridle shoulder as an all-round thickness -- it does okay with backs, liners and pockets. However the same thickness in goat skiver is far too floppy to make a good wallet, and in cow rawhide would be too stiff. Knowing the correct thickness depends on the feel of a particular leather, and that comes with experience.

I can't comment on the leather but I can recommend that you don't copy the construction method of this strap. I see the "few rugged stitches" style more often and I really don't think it's wise. Those stitches have very little staying power and you'll be relying on the glue to keep the layers together.

That belt looks like it'd be handy for driving in fence posts too... except it's too pretty to contemplate doing!

Not specifically, but AIUI they're basically a short length of cartridge belt that hangs from a cord hung around the neck, no? There's plenty of designs of cartridge belt readily available, for free on the net (especially YouTube) or in inexpensive publications (such as by Al Stolhman or Will Ghormley). All you need to do is decide which style you prefer, and made a short section of it with two small holes near the top for a cord. Think of it as an opportunity to exercise your artistic side!

Depends on the leather, mainly in terms of temper (firmness) and thickness, as well as the amount your want to split off the piece. Fixed-knife splitters work best with thicker, firmer leathers. I also find they work best when you're trying to take at least 1mm off the piece, and are most reliable when removing around half the thickness of the leather. Band-knife splitters will cope with a wide range of tempers and thicknesses of leather. They can also remove large or tiny amounts of leather at a time, allowing you to walk down to the thickness you need.

Great work. I know people who work in the conservation/museum sector and understand what trouble restoration can be. I've always been fascinated by Aussie knife pouches like the old stockies used to wear. In fact those were my first real leather projects. However I've not found a great deal of information out there, outside of Ron Edwards' books and some indifferent photographs on museum websites.

Works fine, the main limitation being size. Any die bigger than my spread hand needs multiple hits across its surface. The uprights on mine are 13" apart, which is another limitation. With 1-2mm leather (like for wallets) I can make a full cut in three strokes of the handle, 1-2 more strokes needed if it's thicker leather like for a belt. I have a cheap locking pliers permanently on the release valve, which makes it much faster and less fiddly to operate and a mark on the ram to tell me when it's raised enough to clear the die. This reduces my tendency to raise it further than necessary and waste time pumping it back down. Some people fit a depth limiter made out of a bolt but I can feel when the die has cut fully through and stop before it buries itself in the cutting board. The whole thing sits in a 18" square footprint on a stand I built out of 2x3s but it would do fine on a bench or table. So it's not perfect, but for under £100, vs. £1500-odd for a Lucris of similar capacity, these limitations are quite acceptable. The same machine can also be used for pressing embossing plates, with a little care.

I've used the rubber rings for castrating and tailing sheep. The tups get over it in a few minutes, when the feeling goes away. At first I was a bit hesitant but an old boy told me they used a pocket knife and teeth in his youth. That's what the spey blade on a stockman knife is for. It's also why Aussie stockmen used to carry more than one knife -- something about cutting up their food with the same knife they used for the other purpose... @2ndskinnedGreat work on using what's probably an overlooked resource. Do Aussies still make kangaroo scrotum coin pouches for the tourists? In one of his books Ron Edwards talks about stretching untanned bull pizzles over pieces of rattan for army officers' swagger sticks. That'll make ya wince.

I use a benchtop press intended to motor mechanics to press wheel bearings in/out. It presses up to 6 tons and cost me £55, plus about £15 for a heavy steel bottom plate, a 6mm plate to spread the pressure across the die, and a heavy duty plastic cutting board. It doesn't take up much space and, being handraulic, is easy on the electric bill ;-)

There are times when I just can't get a backtack to sit neatly, whether I use the reverse lever or turn the piece round. Other times the thread is so tight in the holes that putting the needle through a second time just cuts the thread. Some alternative ways of locking off a row of stitching: - Lifting the presser foot, pulling the piece forwards and restitching the last few stitches (ugly but quite strong, best where the end won't be visible) - Tying off the threads on the back side of the piece with a reef or surgeon knot (neat front side, ugly back side) - Melting synthetic threads with a lighter (not very strong on its own but great after tying off) - Trapping the ends of the threads under a rivet or Chicago screw - Threading the threads onto a pair of needles and back tacking by hand - Threading the threads onto a pair of needles and saddle stitching the last couple inches

I'd be more critical of the W246 if I paid anywhere near the retail price for it. I can't imagine many parts going wonky unless you drop the thing. Like many machines these days, clone or premium, it uses very common feet (in this case, '111' style) which are available in many styles for flat stitching, zip feet, edge guide feet, piping... There is a distinct lack of availability of different design needle plates though -- a more common model of machine would have more available. There is one that's slightly knurled for binding, and the tapped holes for binding attachments are on the bed cover plate. FWIW the 246 has two major advantages over the Adler 69-373: it takes a larger M size bobbin and it has a 4-motion as opposed to 2-motion feed-dog. The pointy end of the cylinder bed is only 2mm larger, which is an impressive act of shoehorngineering. That said if there were an Adler 69 available for a similar price as my W246 when I bought it I'd have taken the Adler. I think there's a used genuine Juki 246 for sale on eBay at the moment for about a £grand. If you're looking for another opinion on the W246 I think has or had one. There's only so many Chinese factories making industrial sewing machines of this type. Many dealers import and set them up. It's the same for a lot of machine tools. Difference is how each dealer sets them up, what deals/bundles they offer, after-sales support and such. The chap who runs Wimsew has his own sewing machine museum, I'm going to guess he knows what he's talking about. Does that £1500 for the Adler include VAT? If not that would bring the total to £1800, unless you are VAT registered. I figure "which sewing machine" is a bit like "which drill/car/gun/computer/rucksack" -- we often overthink it and I'm very guilty of it. So long as you find one that can do what you want, above a minimal manufacturing quality, it'll work. So long as they're sold by proper sewing machine dealers any Chinese clone will last for many years of use by a serious hobbyist or small professional, as most of us on this forum are.

Hi Gav! Wimsew is indeed under the "Chinese clone" umbrella. I have one of their W246, which is a clone of the now defunct Juki 246. It's not terrible quality and I can't comment too much because I got mine second-hand (ridden hard, put away wet and petted with a sledgehammer) but it won't last forever. I find tension fiddly to set compared with other machines I've had though I'm not sure if that's a result of the machine design (there's a lot of stuff stuffed into the cylinder bed on one of these), the quality of this particular unit's manufacture or some quirk of its setup. It's a triple/compound feed machine that uses 111-type feet, 135x16/17 needles and M-type bobbins. I've used TKT13 (V207) thread in it but mainly use TKT20/V138. I have stitched 8mm of bridle leather with it but that's right at the top end of what it'll cope with and I mostly don't put anything thicker than 6mm through it. Typical upholstery-weight cylinder-bed compound-feed machine really. As to clone vs. premium it's a tricky one. If you buy second hand a premium often won't depreciate much, which is handy. You also tend to have far fewer problems than a clone, all other things being roughly equal. I've had an Adler 67 (flat-bed version of the 69) and it was an absolute dream. When I couldn't get my current Wimsew to chooch good I called a technician who breathed some life into it. He is a man of few words, and most of them he said to me were "buy an Adler, Singer or Pfaff." I've found that short of orange rust or obvious signs of abuse/neglect cosmetic condition means little for industrial machines. They are designed to work flat-out 8 hours a day, 5 days a week by dedicated operators -- probably more stitches in a day than I do in half a year. I don't know where in London you are but maybe visit some dealers in used machines. Tysew in Southall isn't bad, depending on who you speak with. I have heard good of Maury Sewing in Bethnel Green but not got out there yet. I'm sure there's others. Tysew will sell you a used premium (Singer, Adler, Seiko, Juki) cylinder-arm compound-feed machine for £1k. If you're willing to compromise to some less sexy features the price drops.

Depends mainly on what you want to make -- car upholstery, belts, motorbike saddlebags, jackets, holsters, suitcases, wallets... I don't rate Tandy very highly. The staff at the two we have in the UK are lovely people who work hard but are limited by the parent company's pricing structure. In my experience their tools are the same as the Ivan brand which you can get at much better prices from various shops such as Le Prevo and JT Bachelor. Ebay and Amazon can both be great or terrible depending on the item -- and that really depends on experience and a bit of luck. Are there any independent leather shops that cater to hobbyists near you? If you let us know your location perhaps we can suggest one to you. The other thing to consider is what tools do you have or can borrow that will work for leather? For example a round knife is great and much better than a Stanley knife once you've learned its use, but a Stanley knife will cut leather just fine, and you probably already have one in your toolbox. You can make belts with just a big ruler, a stanley knife, the cutting board from your kitchen, and a brad-point drill bit. Doing it neatly, beautifully or quickly however is another matter.

I use edge paint on one product which has fabric lining and leather outer. I find that several coats are needed, so that when sanding back the fabric fibres aren't exposed. I've also found that putting a folded edge on the fabric helps to keep it neat, rather than a cut edge.

You can thin it with a little water, and that helps a lot with the thickness, which I agree is a bit excessive. But at least that means we're paying for glue not water! ;-) Renia recommends to speed drying times with an oven. I don't have one so I speed things up with gentle application of a heat gun. I use 315 on everything except wet or oily leather. BTW 315 is neoprene based, not latex. I don't know what effect that has on the leather but I know people with a latex allergy. I have tried Copydex before (a latex glue). It smells funny wet and wants to grab your needle for dear life when dry.

Anyone tried gearbox oil? 80W90 is £5/litre from Wilkos... That's pretty sticky.

I wonder about the effect of the loss of mass/inertia on the function of the machine. Would a servo motor be able to cope with the uneven resistance on the belt through the stitch cycle?

I dunno mate, saw some velcro gloves in the Swanndri shop the other day...