Matt S

Well that's a beautiful monster. ISMACS describes it as an overseaming/sigzag machine. I can't imagine many dealers/stores would know much about it, it's been out of production for 120 years. However you might have luck contacting the London Sewing Machine Museum -- run by a machine dealer in Wimbledon. Contacts: By post: London Sewing Machine Museum, 308 Balham High Road, London SW17 7AABy phone: 020 8682 7916By Fax: 020 8767 4726By e-mail: wimbledonsewingmachinecoltd@btinternet.com

Tandy sells a pack of RFID-blocking polymer. Works well, if a little crinkly.

Shirl there's about 6 or 7 industrial sewing machine dealers around Leicester. Many of these sorts of places don't advertise used machines individually but it would be worth a quick phone call to see what they have in stock. Alan Godrich stocks/imports Sunstar so might be worth a visit just to test drive one of theirs so you can see what one "should" work like.

If the link you sent to the Sunstar is the one you are considering buying, consider that you are buying it from a bloke who sells secondhand sewing machines rather than a dealer. It looks in good cosmetic nick generally speaking but what do you know about its actual condition -- and for that matter what does the seller know? Has it had a hard crash and knocked the timing out (fixable) or shattered a gear (maybe not fixable)? Has the hook been damaged by some incompetent person clearing a birdsnest with a screwdriver? Would Bradley know what to look for? Would you? And can you afford to fix the machine if it's not right or buy another if repair wasn't viable? I bought a Wimsew 246 secondhand from a saddler on eBay this year. I am not short of machines but was looking for a very specific set of features and this was the only one I could find within my budget for ages. Turns out it was in terrible shape. In order to fit on the pallet the table had been disassembled with a sledgehammer. The table, much of the head and motor were covered in rust. Once I'd fixed these issues I had the fun of timing it because, despite being advertised as "was working but not guaranteed" it was badly out. Clearly someone from the "butter knife is a universal screwdriver" school of mechanics had been inside it several times, and I suspect this is why it ended up on eBay. I eventually called a service engineer. After some doubt he got it going, and TBF it does go mostly okay. However he advised me to save up and buy a Singer, Adler or Pfaff. Then he presented his bill. I got lucky that my Wimsew machine was worth fixing -- and it only was without factoring in the cost of my own time. I don't tell you this to scare you off this machine or eBay in general. I've bought and sold machines and all sorts on that site and made some fair deals. Just passing on some experience.

Shirl is that Sunstar being sold with a guarantee, and if so how confident are you that the seller (a) knows what they are talking about and (b) has the wherewithal to backup that guarantee? Are they a dealer or someone who sells sewing machines?

A mix of waxes, resins, fats and oils used to be very common, certainly in the UK but I think other places too. Works much better than just beeswax -- I think just beeswax is a bit of a hobbyists thing. Search this forum for "coad" or "cobbler wax". Normally about 50-50 wax to rosin but that varies depending on the weather and the components you use. Some stuff ends up harder, some softer. If too much rosin is used it gets dusty and hard.

My great grandad used to run scrap with shires in the 50s... used to ride them back home. I worked with heavies a few years ago, including a stallion. Backs like dinner tables and hooves like dinner plates. Shoes from 1x1/4" steel and they wouldn't last six weeks on gravel. None of their harness was a patch on what Big Sioux puts out.

My grandparents carried their groceries in two large bags of similar construction. Each 4ft x 18in x 18in. Used 3/4" birch dowels. They lasted 20 years of weekly shopping trips until the fabric wore out.

Edward Teach carried a half-dozen and I reckon he had space to at least double that...

The Cowboy/Neel's Saddlery lap skiver can be used as a basic splitter, using careful setup and some grunting and swearing. I took 4" wide strips of firm bridle leather from 4mm to 1mm in a single pass several times. I ruined a fair bit of leather and had to keep the blade in tip-top condition to do so but it worked a lot better than I expect putting leather through a planer would. Since lucking into a well-priced vintage crank splitter I use it exclusively for its intended purpose -- lap skives -- for which it performs better. Cost is around US$150. There are two models: 800 and 806. The 806 has a depth lock, a second depth limiter and a cooler paint colour. The 800 is what I have and it has no depth lock, but I improvised with a vine eye and a few 10lb weight plates. This left me both hands free to pull -- and I needed both hands, even with the help of a wide locking pliers. If you only need to split up to 2" wide there is a small skiver which takes Stanley knife blades someone in Washington state seems to be producing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HANDY-BENCH-SPLITTER-RAWHIDE-LEATHER-BELTS-TO-LACE/172847646263?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649 For $125 I'm thinking I might try it out. ETA: Is that the DW735 planer? For that $550? There are two 6" crank splitters on eBay right now at $500 each. They'll need some work but I wonder if the extra $50 plus whatever the value of the leather you'll ruin plus the frustration of trying to make a planer-thicknesser do a splitter's job would cover that?

I don't know how you guys are sewing, but I can saddle stitch for hours and have never felt any pain (except when the awl hits my finger...). Perhaps if you let us know how and where you are hurting someone can offer some ways to reduce this. Machines are great for a lot of jobs, especially for those of us earning a crust from leather. They are especially good for long or repetitive projects. However they are heavy, bulky, expensive, frustrating things a lot of the time and there is a big learning curve.

I did, but there is an identical one on eBay UK for £350 right now. Shipping to the Continent would be expensive (50Kg) -- if they'll arrange it https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Hand-Splitting-Machine/272939511687?hash=item3f8c766f87:g:seAAAOSwb69Z15lM Bloody good machine, though like all British machinery it leaks oil like the Exxon Valdez. The big wheel is handy in that it stores a lot of energy. I've seen similar splitters come and go at less £/$/€. <quote=alexitbe">I can get the leather press for 50 Euros, so I am willing to spend another 150 on converting it... If and only if it would work well...</quote> Ironically I'm having trouble finding a leather press for a reasonable price. I'm making do with a pasta machine that I can't even find. Thing is, fine tuning my splitter has given me an appreciation of how surprisingly exacting they are. I wouldn't feel confident converting a roller press to a splitter, even with one to compare with. Mind you, I'm no toolmaker. <quote=alexitbe">I am looking to be able to skive upto 6 inch strips of leather.. .No more than that..</quote> That's a wide piece of leather. What sort?

Bonjour Sebastien! Ca va? In my experience a lap skiver and a crank skiver are somewhat different and each does well at a particular task. I have one of each now (both about 7"/175mm) but have used the lap skiver as a splitter in the past, taking a 100mm wide strip of 4mm bridle leather down to 1mm -- a case of "use what you got". It wasn't easy and I ruined a lot of leather. It needed a perfectly stropped blade, a pair of welder's locking pliers and my foot against the bench. The crank splitter I have now I can do that same job all day long turning the wheel with one finger, with very few oopsies. However I can't do lap skives for straps with the crank splitter. As with a lot of "which tool" questions I guess it boils down to "what do you intend to use it for"?

There is a lot more work there than the cost of a splitter would justify. What are you splitting? I bought my Cowboy lap skiver for £150. Clamped the handle down and used it to split 100mm wide strips of bridle leather. There's a 2" splitter for sale on eBay right now that takes utility knife blades that I'm tempted by for a similar price. If you need/want something like the crank splitter in the photo you can get Chinesium ones for under €/$1000. My vintage British one was about £250.

Those patterns were discontinued by Tandy. You can still get them directly from the author, Will Ghormley. Alternatively you can get similar patterns from Tandy pattern packs or the third Al Stohlman case making book.

Parallel to the spine in order to minimise stretch.

Wander over to your nearest fabrication/welding/machine shop. Take a pack of whatever beer is popular in your area.

I would do a dozen on the bevel, then one or two with the back of the blade dead flat against the strop to get rid of the burr. Repeat a few times then test as above.

I don't mind putting a rivet into a seam, though usually at an end. This serves to not only lock the seam but to reinforce wear points. I would make sure that the threads (all four loose ends) are well caught by the rivet as it gets set. Have you considered using a rivet like this? Such a thing would make setting easier, and you may be able to get the spike/prong between stitches, rather than necessarily cutting the seam with a hole punch which you would with a semi-tubular rivet. The lines around the edge can be done in a lot of ways. A wing divider as battlemunky suggests will work after a fashion (and if you don't have one I suggest you get one, they're very handy -- i have about a dozen somehow...). So too will an edge groover or racer, which slice out a very narrow piece of leather where you run it. However the effect I like the best (and I think how that bag was made) is with a screw crease, which has an end a bit like a butter knife with a guide that screws in and out. This is run along the leather, marking the line you see. The line is easier to make and more permanent if you heat it a little, or if using tooling leather you dampen it a tad.

I find best results with lots of pressure, but remembering to keep the angle consistent. Left right left right 12 times as soon as I notice any drag on the knife. Test it on the arm. If it doesn't pop hairs strop again. Repeat until it's hair popping sharp. Then start again as soon as the knife starts to drag.

I have found that skiving knives, needing to be razor sharp at all times in order to be effective and safe, dull very quickly. This is whether I am using a san mai kiridashi, Swann Morton scalpel, Dixon round knife or English paring knife. For a time I was using disposable scalpel blades but even buying by the hundred that got expensive quickly, especially on chrome tans. Currently I use an equal-bevel kiridashi (so I can pull and push) with amalgamating tape round the handle. It has a very hard core with softer steel sandwiching it. I have to strop very regularly to keep the edge in top form.

Hi Fraser, have you seen Harry Rogers' video on the subject? He uses two standard M pulleys, a piece of 15mm bright mild steel and a pair of 15mm pillow block bearings. All of these are available from eBay, total around £30. He found he had to drill and tap the boss of each pulley for a grub screw so they grip the shaft. If you don't want to do this you might be able to get away with hammering a wedge into each keyway slot, or maybe even glueing them in with epoxy though I think Harry's solution is the best.

@KingsCountyLeather Do you have any photos of what they have left?

I haven't used that particular press, but very similar presses can be got for a lot less money. I have one similar to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kam-Press-Machine-Press-Studs-Eyelets-Grommet-Rivets-Popper-Stud-Leather-Craft-/272041959807?epid=1360302921&hash=item3f56f6e17f:g:fzEAAOSw6dNWSoGN Many companies sell very similar ones from as little as £20 up. Most use a somewhat standard size threaded upper and lower tool size, which are available to set double or single cap rivets, punch holes, set eyelets/grommets or set snaps for about £15-20. Some of them have a hole on the lever which allows their conversion to foot or pneumatic power. I've also used mime for stamping using Tandy 3D stamps and small custom etched embossing plates, though I prefer my hydraulic press for that. You may also like to look at using a slightly modified arbor press for these jobs, they are very popular for hobbyists and low-production manufacturers.

I think it fits a lot of British engineering! My British 7" crank splitter is about 50KG for some reason and the oil pan seems to have been designed primarily to keep the apprentice busy wiping up drips. I don't have an apprentice. Land Rovers fit this pattern also -- a friend of mine advised that the leaks are a handy diagnostic feature: Is it dripping onto your new driveway? 1) No -- it's out of oil, better top it up. 2) Yes -- it has oil but it's about to run out, better top it up. Lee Enfields appear to have been designed to keep idle armourers busy, tweaking the Byzantine bedding arrangements with springs, screws, cork pads, slivers of oiled cardboard...