billymac814

In addition to the previous post, it looks like your bobbin tension is very high. I'd back it off some. Also I've found with mine I had to be very careful when winding the bobbin. If you're using a power drill or something its possible its pulling the thread way too tight on the bobbin. I got a hand powered drill and used that being very careful to wind it perfectly and not too tight. This will also cause the inconsistent stitch length because if the thread is really tight it'll pull the material back and make short stitches. It took me a while to get all my kinks worked out before I was comfortable using it but it was a good learning experience on how to adjust the tension and once I figured it out I didn't have to mess with it much at all. . Another thing I did was replace the shuttle, mine was an old one that didn't have the set screw for the bobbin tension, it worked much better with the newer one.

I have a few groovers that are for grooving shoe soles for stitching, they are wider than your standard groovers normally found at Tandy. I can get new ones from one of my suppliers if you have trouble finding one, its Frankford Leather but I'm pretty sure you need an account set up to order from them so if you need one ordered let me know. I also have a powered one that makes a pretty wide groove but that isn't really feasible for your situation.

It would take quite a bit of work and lace but the Mexican basket weave makes a strong seam. It covers the edge though and I like the look of it.

Now here's the steps for my English bridle belts. I sell these in my store and they have become a good money maker. These are a pretty standard belt, if someone wants something tooled or stamped I use the previous method but most people that come to my shop want a belt and they want it today and price is often a concern to some extent. 1. Call Weavers and order pre cut, pre punched and edged English bridle belt blanks and premade keepers. 2. Take measurement, punch holes and end. Finish up the end where cut off. 3. Install buckle and I'm done. Total time spent 5 minutes. When I was making them all myself I was lucky to be able to have one belt on my rack for people to look at, I usually have an 2-3 month wait list for my holsters and other custom items so I couldn't spend time making a bunch of belts that aren't sold yet. Most people would walk out as they didn't want to wait a few weeks for a belt. My sales increased dramatically when I started buying these. I now carry 3 colors in 3 widths and people are very happy with them as they are far better than anything else you can find in a store. I mainly sell these locally in my store and I sell my more expensive ones online more. My profit margins are way better on these ones though as I have about 10.00 in each and sell them for 35.00 so I make 25.00 for 5 minutes of labor which equates to 300/hr, my double layer gun belts that I make sell for 90.00 but it takes me about an hour so I'm at about 80/ hr. when I was cutting my own single layer English bridle belts Id have between 30-40 minutes in each and sell them for 40.00 so I'm in the 60/hr range.

You should have no problems finishing this up in an hour once you get the hang of it. Here is my method of making a belt if using Veg tan, I do sell a lot of English bridle belts too and they are easier as there's less steps. 1. Cut and dye strap, let dry. 2 Skive and punch buckle end, then mark the length and cut punch billet end. 3. Bevel the edges with an edge beveler. 4. Burnish the edges. Ill copy a link to how I do them. Certain projects get more detail in the sanding area, others get slightly less but both have very good results. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45386&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1 5. Apply light cost of Neatsfoot oil, you could substitute with Lexol. 6. Apply my finish, I use 50/50 water and resolene applied with a foam brush. Ill apply it to the backside first. Normally the backside of Wickett and Craig leather is super smooth anyway but if it were very fibrous I'd slick it down with a bone folder using the same finish or gum trag. The finish gets applied to front back and edges. 7. Install buckle.

I would airbrush the finish on, you should not get any bleeding doing it that way.

Haha, I like that idea. Here is the first of the ones ill just give away with some orders. My son made it this morning. I don't know what I was thinking earlier when I thought it wouldn't lay with the keys as it clearly will be in the same direction as the keys. I did order a bunch of jump rings from OTB though so ill see if it seems better if I use the small jump ring to go through the hole and then the key ring through the jump ring. I really like the idea of a small keychain as the normal sized key chains are too big for guys and probably too big for a lot of girls too. I'd never use a big one but I would use a small one. I may have him make some other ones up with some letter stamps and I have the free masons stamp and a few others and then some with maybe some small coin conchos and skull conchos. It won't put him through college or anything but he normally makes a few bucks here and there. He does a little better in the summer when he's in the shop all day and people see him. Its like buying school fundraiser stuff where the people buy it to be nice, not really because they need or want it. Ill post a picture of his little rack, he doesn't have much on it now as he's been a little to busy with basket ball, bowling and now baseball.

Ahh. That's simple enough, I feel dumb for not thinking of that. Also to clear things up, and this doesn't come as a big surprise but Bruce was right, you do have to pretty much hold the handle to do a flat split. When you put the handle the other way it does in fact stay without holding it but it does not allow the roller to roll and while it is possible to split something that way it doesn't pull through near as easy when the roller isn't rolling. That's not much of a concern for me as I wasn't really planning on doing many splits with it as the crank splitter works good enough for that.

Not entirely. He said you have to hold the handle down and pull through one handed. I'm saying I don't know how to start it even with two hands unless i start back sbout an inch. Once its started I'm able to pull it through.

Looking at it again, it looks like if I push the handle away from me that the cam pushes up on the roller to do lap skives but if I pull it towards me the cam pushes against the base and in turn still pushes the roller up and against the set screw and basically locks in place for level splitting. Does that sound correct? There wasn't any instructions or anything so I can't say for sure what the proper operation is.

Bruce, I could be wrong as this is my first splitter of this type but it appears if I push the handle down the opposite way that it locks in place for fixed thicknesses. It seems to work doing it that way. The one thing I can't figure out is if I want an entire piece split how I would start it, it would seem you'd have to have it a little long to get some extra sticking out to have something to pull on.

I was pursuing eBay the other day and noticed Cowboy makes a pretty inexpensive splitter, similar to the Heritage type sold by Weavers. I sent Bob Kovar a message to find out if he sold these as well and he did and it was even 30.00 cheaper than the one on eBay. I bought one and it arrived today. So far it seems pretty decent for the price( about 170.00). I did spend a little time polishing the blade up on it. I don't recall ever seeing anyone mention these so I figured I'd post it. I haven't used it much as I've only had it an hour but it seems to work good. It should be a good alternative to those who are thinking of getting the cheap Tandy one. I have a crank splitter so this one will primarily be used for lap skives.

No not at all, I was just making sure that my pictures weren't like that. I'm always on here in the mobile version so I have no idea what size they show up on a regular screen. I know if I send a picture from my phone the size of the file is pretty big too.

Looks great, that pretty much looks like a big brother to mine. I really regret not getting the 20 ton as yours is considerably wider but I originally got it for holster molding and the 12 was more than enough for that. Some day I may just get the 20 ton, ill leave the 12 ton pneumatic jack in it as that should provide more than enough power.

Jeremy, I did check with them and somehow missed the long one. Your timing on this was terrible, I just placed an order with OTB today so ill have to spend another 30 bucks to get 4 eyelets. Those should work perfect though, I may have to cut them down a bit but that's no problem. The hole looks small in the picture but it says 3/16", if that's the case it'll be fine. Thank you.

I made it a point to not touch a 441 until I could afford one. You don't know what your missing if you don't know what ones like. I loved my Boss until I used the Cowboy. I also made the mistake of using the Claes patcher at the SSIA show and instantly made me want one and made me think less of my Adler. I would highly recommend the Cowboy but if you can't swing the cash the Boss is a viable option. Also depending on what you're doing you could afford a Boss and a flatbed machine for other projects which would cover more of your bases than just a 441 alone. Here's a good deal just posted but its 700 more than your budget but its about 700 cheaper than new. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45738#entry287815

I'd just glue it on. It'll last a long time, when its time to replace it just heat it up with a heat gun and it'll pull right off. I use contact cement. This is what I do with my anvil that I use for punching. You can also use thinner to remove it.

I second Weavers, they will edge and punch them too. I know its not as good as doing it myself but there's only so many hours in the day. My belt sales have increased by about 500% since I started using them as compared to when I was cutting my own. The reason is because I now stock a bunch that are ready to go, I just have to cut them to size. Before I was lucky to have one or two on display. I get the English bridle ones and some veg tan ones that I can dye. I do still cut my own for my double layer belts and "special" belts. The Weavers deal may not be necessary for everyone but for me it brings in extra income with very little extra labor involved. I get the matching keepers as well.

Looks great, putting a small tooling on the billet is a very unique idea, as is the rope down the center.

The 441 was originally made by Juki but usually now if you hear of a 441 most of us are referring to it as a type of machine as many other manufacturers now clone these. The closest dealer to you would probably be Bob Kovar at Toledo Industrial Sewing machine co the machine he sells is the Cowboy 3500(short arm) and 4500 with the long arm and 5500 really long arm. There's also the Cobra brand, Toro, Highlead and probably others. They are great machines and if you can swing it now I don't thing you'll be disappointed but I very highly doubt you'll be within budget unless you get a really killer deal on one. You'll probably be somewhere closer to 1800.00 on a used one plus if you can't find one local to you shipping will be freight and another few hundred. I think there's one in the for sale section right now, I believe its a Toro. It may be handy that you live by Tippmann if you ever need a part or advice but even though I think a Tippmann would be a good choice I would not buy a new one as the price is getting too close to a used 441 clone. You could get a used one between 900-1100 depending on what it comes with and for the most part it has the same capacity as the 441 but it does have a narrow throat but this is almost never an issue with holsters. I hand stitched everything until I had enough orders that I HAD to get a machine. The Boss was what I chose and I loved it, compared to hand sewing I could stitch a holster in less time than it would have taken me to thread my needles and I could do belts fairly easily, I used that machine for several years even when I was making 50 and 60 holsters at a time. Then I made the mistake of trying a Cowboy as I was picking up another machine and I had to have one. As far as holsters go its not much better or quicker but it is nicer to use. The Boss is a great stepping stone though and ill say it again, you won't lose any money on it, you can buy one and use it while you're saving up for a brand new Cowboy, when you have another grand or so put the Boss up for sale, it'll be gone in less than a week and go get your Cowboy. If you can swing the money for a new Cowboy from the get go then that's fine too but not all of us could go out and drop that kind of cash when were just starting out and then it seems most of us forget that and tell everyone they should go right out and buy a 2500.00 machine.

Maybe try running longer pieces through before you cut them to size that way you can cut the little bit off that got marked. It might be easier to run belt length straps through and then cut them to size. Ive never used that edger so I can't really offer any better advice.

Bill, Those buttons are really nice looking. As far as the keychains go I don't plan to sell them, I'm gonna stamp them and send them along with orders. Free stuff sells well around here. Ill probably have my son do a few with other random stamps and he can sell them, he makes the larger key fobs and some bracelets now and sells them on the counter. Some people buy them just because they are cheap and a kid made them. He could sell these even cheaper and I still think the smaller ones would attract more people, I'd never use the larger key fobs but is use one this small. The game boards are a good idea but I don't have time for projects that I want to do so I don't see myself dedicating the kind of time for that. I don't mind stamping my logo on something and finishing the edge quick and attatching a ring but that's about as far as I'm going to go and that'll probably only be for the occasional customer. I got enough ill probably be using them for all kinds of stuff. I nailed one to the leg of my stool to level it up the other day. No more rocking stool. I did think of using them as attached washer handles but I wasn't sure if the English bridle would work as well for that.

Ok my bad, I just re-read it and it doesn't sound like you were asking for critiques, I should stop skimming. I could edit it all out but there might be something I said that'll help you out. Just research this site and learn how to sew and finish edges and it'll improve your product greatly. Also in my opinion a stamping machine should be waaaaay down the list on priorities, your a young dude you can use a mallet and save the money for edgers and awls and other very important tools.

I would start off with making things for family and friends. Get enough money to pay for materials and maybe a little extra to reinvest in tools. You dont need expensive tools to turn out a quality product but you do need some tools do be able to, I made a lot of my own tools at first when money was tight and i needed a lot and couldnt afford it all. Once you get to the point where you can make a quality product you will have work lining up at your door. But if you put out a few bad items it could take you a long time to rebuild your reputation. I didn't start selling my stuff until I was confident I was making a good product and I would say most people here didn't just jump right into selling the first few things we made. Also practice the tooling and painting on scraps before putting it on projects, ecspecially projects you intend to sell. An untooled project looks better than a poorly tooled project ecspecially if its done nicely with good edges and lines. I'm not criticizing. Ok I am criticizing but that's what you wanted right? Just spend more time on the details and it'll pay off in spades in the long run.

I think I used it once to lube my sewing machine shuttle in a pinch. Have you ever tried putting a finish on an item after its already been loaded down with the wax type stuff? I wonder if it would take it well. I'd probably try to clean it up as best as possible first.