Eldorado

Hmmm, does it crack on things like belts and straps that flex. To be clear, the saddle lac didn't scrape off on the gold acrylic antiquing, just in the open flat bits of un-tooled black. The antiquing looks like this.

Need some help from the experts. I've been having trouble with Saddlelac literally peeling off my work. It's happened on a couple of sporran flaps and it recently failed completely on a high dollar tooled pirate baldric. Anywhere the leather flexed it just came up like plastic wrap. I finished scraping the rest with my fingernail, polished-in some saddle soap, and then put on a very light coat of Fiebings Leathersheen. It didnt come off in the areas of the tooling, just the open spaces. The baldric is vegtan, fiebings USMC black alcohol dye, light coat of neetsfoot oil), coat of saddle lac as a resist, thinned gold acrylic paint as antiquing - wiped off, let dry, and then one more coat of saddle lac. I initially thought it was the neetsfoot oil fighting the saddlelac, but it happened even on spots where I didnt oil it. I've used Leathersheen for years and it failed like this on something about a year ago, so I switched to saddlelac. Makes me think something else is going on with the leather, the dye, or something. I'm just spraying it on out of the can. The saddlelac failed on both the attached pouches. I'm wondering if it might have to do with the Fiebings black. I buff it before spraying and didnt used to have this kind of trouble. Did they change the formula? I could use some insight as to why its happening and also perhaps some suggestions as to another sealer. I use resolene painted on the inside of the leather, but attempts at using it on the top (admittedly full strength) have resulted in quick flaking. I like a fairly shiny product since they seem to sell in the shop more quickly than flat simply-buffed finishes. Any help is appreciated. P. Coleman Tudor Rose Leather Workshop

So frequently in movies you see a kind of brown leather used for things like shoulder baldrics, belts, and straps. It looks like its about 8-9oz, which would lead me to think its veg tan. But, it appears to be an oily, because it seems fairy supple. Do you think they are using Vegtan, dying it, and then heavily neetsfooting it? Or, is there a specific leather that can be gotten that behaves this way? Maybe its brown latigo, but I dont think I've ever seen that dark a brown available. I could probably mimic it by sewing two layers of 3oz oily together, but these don't seem sewn. An example of what I'm talking about is attached. I'd like to figure out to reproduce this effect, since it is so common. Any help would be appreciated. Prescott Tudor Rose Leather Workshop www.Tudorroseleather,com

Many thanks folks. Turns out it was simply a burr on the needle tip. You've reminded me to change my needles more often. When they are as big as the ones on the Artisan, they seldom break, so you dont get the automatic prompting to change them that a common sewing machine would. I did clean out some gunk in the cylinder mechanism, which might also have been contributing. Prescott Tudor Rose Leather Workshop www.tudorroseleather.com

Thanks for these thoughts. I'll give it a look with these in mind. It occurs to me that I mistyped. Its an Artisan 3000. I may start by refilling the bobbin with new thread and change out the needle and see what happens. I'd upload a video but I can't see anything happening when it occurs. Maybe I'll get my wife to sew something while I get very close. Thanks again.

I've got an Artisan 4000 cylinder arm that has developed a loud click down in the cylinder during each stitch. It does it 8 out of 10 stitches. The stitches where it occurs it over pulls the top thread through. On those where it doesnt, the stitch is even. I cant see anything that would be making that sound and that behavior, except the bobbin itself. Any advice?

Thanks Sewmum and SkookumTack, I got home and plugged it in and the caution light had stopped blinking. But it also started sewing on its own, very slowly. Would only stop when it was unplugged. This suggested to my buddy and me that the issue might be in the throttle lever arm that the foot pedal chain pulls down. My first test was to remove the rubber stop that keeps the throttle lever arm from going up too high when you let off the gas. When the throttle lever arm could go higher, the sewing stopped and the motor went dormant again. This told me the arm must be out of adjustment. So I popped the housing on the electronics box (which sits under the motor and into which the lever arm fits). Wasnt easy to get it off, but I got it happen. Apparently the "throttle" lever arm (when pulled down) slides a simple metal fin in between a thick black U-shaped piece of metal. The closer to the deepest point of the U, the faster the machine runs. I assume the U-shaped piece of metal is a magnet, but I dont really know. It looked like somehow the fin (which is just held in place by the tightness of a screw) had pivoted forward by about 1/8". So when I let off the gas, it was never fully coming out of radius of the U-shaped magnet and so it wasnt shutting off. This makes sense since the machine had to be on a trailer for a couple of hours (probably on some dirt roads) on its way to me a couple of weeks ago. I tightened the screw and shifted the fin back a bit. I suspect I over-adjusted it because the machine won't run at full speed right now. Probably, the fin doesnt go deep enough into the U-shaped magnet now, but tweaking that is for another day. I think there is something still wrong with the electronics. Apparently, the power switch had been replaced by the previous owner and either it was the wrong one or is incorrectly installed; or there was something else wrong that he was trying to fix. Right now, the power switch doesnt do anything. Its always on and pushing it doesnt start or stop anything. Thanks to everyone, we're still working the electronics angle, but I'm able to sew again (even if its slower than before).

Thanks for the thought. We'll see when I get home tonight, should be enough time. I tried to take the housing off last night and see what was going on (which is on the bottom), but it wouldnt budge. Undid the screws that would appear to be important and couldnt get it off. Looks like the previous owner did the same thing since there are some bent bits where a screw driver was used to pry. Not sure if they got it off successfully. The other strange thing about this is that from the time I got it delivered (not new) the power button has never turned anything on or off. Its always lit and nothing changes when I push it. its a toggle switch, so it just springs back to where it was after pushing it. The only way to shut the machine down was to unplug it. Its a Servo that is dead quiet, and I assume dormant, unless you are running it, so you can't tell what's going on with it. Not like my Singer 153 with the clutch, where powering up the motor almost dims the lights and it stays growling along until I shut it off. I knew to unplug it because I'd come down to the workshop in the morning and find it very slowly sewing on its own. I assumed it was the chain slack, but now I wonder if it was related to the issue I mention above.

I have exactly the same problem happen last night. SkookumTack, (or anyone) did you ever get this resolved?

Thanks for the info. In the mean time, I did order from them and generally like what I got. The process was not easy, but I'll chalk it up to cultural and language differences. In the end, I felt a bit "tolerated" as a customer, but I suspect I'll order again. Though I've made some stuff that uses their conchos, I've not actually set their rivets yet. I like the look of them. But they do look a tiny bit different, so I'll be crossing my fingers when I give them a whack to set them.

Oh, quite nice. Very period-connected feel to whole piece. Strangely enough I'm drawn to how you connected the belt straps. That's a nice detail. Where did you get the concho ?

Thanks for the info. It would be very helpful to get a photo of the back.

DarkVault, I wonder if you'd answer a question or two. I'm guessing you like the quality of Antik, since you are using them. But, I'm wondering whether there is any trick to their rivet backed conchos? For example, do you need a special rivet setter? are they burr rivets? and do you need to buy rivet heads from Antik of any specific size? I can't see the back of any of their examples, so I'm not sure how they work and if they are different than what we'd see here in the States. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks for this, can't understand a word of it, but the pictures are quite nice. Am I correct that you are getting some of your fittings and conchos from Antik?

I suppose so. Not my first choice, but I'm sure much of what I think I buy from the US is actually made there. I don't need piles of them, just a source for a dozen or so. Maybe more later. The shipping from the Czech source for that many was going to be $78.50.