amuckart

Sorry man, I haven't been on here for ages. I've just emailed it to you.

Gudelon is pretty much the coolest project ever, and high on my list of places I really really want to visit as a reenactor. Given what I know of the people involved, and my experiences of doing medieval reenactment for the last 13 or so years, I'd say that there are likely to be two main reasons they're using modern harness: firstly that there's almost no concrete information on what 12th-13th century harness looks/works like; and secondly that modern harness is probably far better for the animals they're using. There are also issues that you can't really find 12th-century equivalent horses any more, modern horse breeds are quite different. It's an anachronism, but it's a second-order effect for the work they're doing, i.e. it doesn't have a direct impact on the outcome of the build the way, say, using power tools instead of medieval stonemason's tools would. The only resource I'm aware of that's easily available is the Museum of London book The Medieval Horse and its Equipment.

Pfaff made a variant of their model 35 machine that has reverse. I have one, but I've never tried to put any high-shank feet on it so I don't know if they fit or not. They also made a non-reversing version with a lower wheel feed rather than a drop feed.

This is interesting to me as there are a couple of 3-phase clicking presses nearby. What sort of HP rating do the motors in them usually have? I know nothing at all about the inner workings of clicking presses.

I've seen others use small French edgers for this kind of thing.

Thank you both. So far I haven't needed binder clips, the contact adhesive I'm using is more than strong enough. The difficulty I'm having is in getting the gusse to form neatly. How much sewing allowance do you leave on the gusset, I.e. how big is the turned out lip? Thanks.

Hi all, I'm making my first gusseted bag, it's a man bag for me. I'm wondering if the leather I'm thinking of using for the gusset is too thin, it's 1mm chrome tan calf. It seems pretty strong but I don't know how it's going to wear in practice, so I'd appreciate any advice you good folks can give me. Thanks.

I'm making my first gusseted bag, and I'm wondering if anyone can share tips on getting the gusset to go around the corners neatly without wrinkling or getting bad folds that make it impossible to machine sew? I'm using chrome tanned leather for this project, so wet forming isn't an option. Thanks.

Judjung by the picture, that's not in bad shape, all I'd do to it is polish the channels if they need it and be done with it. If its dirty, just wash it in some very hot very soapy water, dry quickly, spray with WD-40 to displace the moisture in the hinge, wipe downand oil lightly.

Do you have pictures of it? What I do depends an awful lot on the state of the tool to begin with.

Hi Art, Thanks. I wasn't sure I was reading your previous post right. A while ago I asked what left foot was used for and was told it was to allow the roller guide to get right up against the side of the inner foot, which made good sense. When I was sitting staring the bits I'd pulled out of my 441 in the process of getting the @!$#%!@# thing going, I got to thinking about the lower needle guide in my #6 and the upper guides that can be had for it for using thin needles. That got me thinking about grinding a feed dog down so it would either run under the slot/stirrup/holster plates or so that it was just the same width as the inner foot and opening up the slotted plate to match. I might still have a go at that if I can find a cheaper source of bits to experiment with in NZ. Even getting them in from China is a bit pricey just to have a play with. There are a few. If you go to google patent search and search for "Ferdinand Jean Blanc" they show up[1]. The results I got from that were: US3779184 Feed dog awl assembly US5425320 Needle guide components for a sewing machine US4947773 Thread ring guide for a needle bar US5762014 Needle guide components for a sewing machine US5520127 Needle guide components for a sewing machine US4991526 Bed plate insert and presser foot, each having a guide surface for laterally supporting a sewing machine needle US3759202 Self-centering foot for sewing Mr Jean-Blanc had obviously put a lot of thought into how to make these machines sew better, and it's sad to see Ferdco closing their doors. I do hope one of the active and reputable clone makers picks the relevant ones up. [1] You also get a hit for US5538943 "Use of 1,3-undecadien-5-yne as a perfuming ingredient" but I think that might be the odd one out :D Hi Bob, Thanks for that. Did that go on in place of the feed dog, or was it a separate part? I'm guessing it went on with the slot perpendicular to the needle travel? Thanks.

Hi Art, Do you have a dog on your slot plate?

The patent expires at the end of 2015, and searching for it has told me what I wanted to know about how it works. Cheryl, who is excellently responsive, said they are negotiating with an unspecified manufacturer to take over production of the needle guides. Thank you for those, much appreciated. Pictures of the part I'm thinking of would mean taking the needle plate off, so don't worry about it, I finally found the patent documents which have pictures. Cheers.

I'm curious about how the lower needle guide on Ferdco machines works. Can anyone post a picture of it? Thanks.

Of those, I like the look of #2 best, but search the forums for 'kwokhing' and have a look at the neat drop-down guides.

I'm not sure where those are, or who dated them, but I have to say as a 15th century reenactor; if those are 15th century chairs I'll eat my hat That style of chair is an 18th century thing at the earliest, and I wouldn't be surprised if those were actually Victorian chairs that haven't aged terribly well. The last one might be late 16th century, but the aesthetic still looks wrong, and if it is I'd say the upholstery has been redone. If you want to see some pictures of medieval and renaissance chairs have a look here Larsdatter's chair page. Unfortunately leather wasn't a big feature of upholstery until the modern period.

What sort of light plastic do you use? Thanks for sharing this technique.

My guess would be that they're starting with a bit of animal that isn't flat. Those could well be - and I'm not kidding - bull scrotums or something similar.

Thank you all. Bob: It's a good machine, but it's been a hell of a learning curve for me getting it sewing right. When it arrived the hook timing was completely off and it would break the thread because the hook would be too far reversed when the takeup lever tried to pull the loop up. I'd have been completely stuffed without the 441 engineer's manual but I went through that adjustment by adjustment and eventually worked out most of how everything is interacting in terms of feed, foot lift, and needle / hook timing. It sews well now with the feed dog, and I think tonight's adjustments will get it working a lot better with the slotted plates. The only thing it's doing now is making a strange twanging clunk in the top thread as the takeup lever pulls the thread loop off the shuttle, which I'm assuming isn't normal.

Thank you Wiz, much appreciated. I think I'm close to getting my 441 clone timed and beaten into submission (it was winning for quite a while there). Do you know why it is that the reverse feed is inconsistent without the feed dogs? The other thing I've noticed with the slotted plate is that the stitch length is reduced compared to using the feed dog. Thanks.

Can anyone tell me what adjustments I should make to a 441 clone to use thicker needle plates like the stirrup and holster plates? I've backed off the presser foot tension a bunch, but I'm not sure if there's anything else I should do. Thanks.

The 2:1 recipe I use is for shoemaking where the threads aren't usually visible. The threads don't stay pristine white, because the wax isn't white, but nor do they end up dirty in the course of normal sewing. With the ratios I use the pulling definitely makes a difference. If you want white wax these days without the lead poisoning, use aluminium oxide pigment.

Rosin crystals aren't a problem, they will dissolve again as you taffy-pull the code. I've found that the mix of ingredients is far more important than the temperature of the water. That's the only way to do it. Measure your ingredients by dry weight, and record your results in writing. Don't forget to write down where you go the ingredients because each batch of beeswax and rosin is different. If your code comes out too sticky, remelt it and add more rosin. If too hard, remelt and add a tiny bit of tallow. I shave off slivers with a knife, add one, re-pour and taffy-pull, repeat as necessary.

What I'd do is clamp a bit of wood out the back of the stand with C-clamps thread holder on there. If you were feeling particularly cunning you could probably work a way to attach it with the same screws that hold the machine head onto the stand.

Hi Wiz, it sounds like you're thinking of a different type of machine. Theres no oil pan as such on this machine, and the pump is electric not mechanically driven by the motion of the machine. The Pfaff 441 is a machine specifically designed for sewing shoe amd garment weight leather.