billymac814

Those things look tiny. I'd need 100s of them or at least a lot. I'd prefer to have something that makes the whole shop bright and not just where I need it.

That's pretty much what I figured. I have the large 8ft lights up high and the shorter 4ft ones at each work station, the problem is I have so many areas I need light that I didn't know what was the most efficient. I seen someone's picture here recently of their shop and it seemed so bright. I have about 12 fixtures and my shop is roughly 1000sq ft. I'd like it to be bright everywhere and do it efficiently. Painting everything white would probably help quite a bit but that would be a huge project, everything is supposed to be white now but Its old and looking pretty ding. I could probably get by just doing the ceiling without too much difficulty, that would probably help reflect some light around. What halogen lights are you thinking? Seems like halogens create a lot of heat and uses a lot of energy, but that might depend on the type, of course it may not be an issue if they are up high enough.

This is a great thread, I recall reading this a few years ago after I joined LW.net. It was discouraging at the time seeing that only 1-3% are able to make a living doing this but that wasn't my intentions at the time. What I've learned since starting. NEVER comprimise quality because its the only way to get real money. People can get mediocre stuff cheaper than you can buy the materials for so you can't sell half good stuff for a profit. The name of my business is McCabes Custom Leather although I rarely do really custom stuff anymore, why? Because all the time that goes into designing the item is very hard to get back, the average joe isn't willing to spend 80-90 dollars an hour for something that takes 20-30 hours or more. However I can design one item and make it a hundred times, sell it for a reasonable cost for me and the customer, they get a custom quality product and I'm able to average the 80-90/hr it takes to stay in business, i can get by with a little less but i have overhead that needs paid too. For me it was easier to get 100.00 dollars from 10 people than it is to get 1000.00 from one. Find a niche market, especially in the beginning. This allowed me to get my name out there and word spread very quickly. Don't be the undercutter. Even before I had overhead I charged the same price even though I could have got by with a lot less. I did that out of respect for those that do have overhead and people then thought of me as a legit business and a lot of people equate dollars to quality anyway and I wasn't trying to build up clientele of cheap people. I wanted good customers who wanted to spend good money and get good products and good service. Try to avoid debt. I bought everything with cash and got by with less than I needed for a long time, I made tools when possible and when I had money I prioritized and got what was most important. I did have to get a loan when I went full time to buy my shop and I have accounts with suppliers but those get paid in full every month. When I opened my shop we decided to do repairs and this has been probably the number one reason that I have a profitable business. My local customers are mainly repair customers and my holsters are almost all online sales but they do mix a bit. Repairs do require more machines to do different things but a lot of it is quick easy money and the people are thrilled to have somewhere to go and it gives me insight to how other things are made. Sometimes its just setting a rivet, shortening a belt or a purse strap stitching a seam on a shoe or purse etc. it all puts money in the drawer. Repairs in a slow to bad economy are good, people are looking to save money where they can and if times are good they'll spend money on new stuff, hopefully from me since they know what I make after being in here for repairs. You must be knowledgeable in what you're doing. I crammed and crammed for several years, if I wasn't working on something I was reading about something else. I'm still far from an expert in many areas but I know enough not to make myself look too dumb, sometimes I need to research things after the fact to learn about it and at times I even admit to not knowing something. The last and most important part is you have to love what you're doing. I'm the obsessive type and tend to go way overboard on things. When I first got into leatherwork it really took over my life and I'd spend every free minute working on something or reading about how to do it and its still that way today. I put in a ridiculous amount of hours and it doesn't even phase me because I love it. I always heard the saying" find something you love doing and you'll never have to work a day in your life" that always sounded like a pipe dream to me, especially when I was punching a clock doing something I didn't like but its reality now. I suppose my parting words will be Take a chance! I made the decision to open my shop in a matter of about a two week span, we had a brand new baby and my wife was very supportive. She actually quit her job first to run the shop during the day with a brand new baby, I'd go to work 9-5 come right to the shop and stay till 1:00 or 2:00 am. That lasted about 2 months and work kept piling up and I decided it was time to quit my job. That was a big decision and luckily it has worked out. Ok one last thing, talk with an accountant first, you'd be surprised at how many people will get a slice of your pie, there's things that will get overlooked and its important to know them ahead of time. There's all kinds of taxes and fees and maintenance and insurance and more taxes and fees and fire extinguisher certifications, phones, internets, domain names, web hostings, healthcare, workmans comp and the list goes on and on and suddenly the 80-90/ hr makes more sense. I read a lot on this forum where people would be happy for 10.00/ hour and most get much less and that's simply not near enough to run a business and make money. I know my plan is not feasible for everyone, nor should it be. That was simply my account of how I got from A to B. I'm not stopping at B either, I'd like to get to at least G or maybe K before I'm done. I'm realizing now that I can only do so much, I've slimmed down production times with newer better machines, got dies made and refined my workflow but I'm about maxed out, the next phase is employees, I'm currently attempting to train someone but that's a whole other discussion. Sorry for the long post, this is why I don't have twitter.

It's sounds simple enough to wear a dust mask but how many of us will wear one all day long? It is a serious issue and one I've been trying to solve but I'm guilty of not taking safety precautions. I do have a vacuum system attached to my sander so that helps although its very old and not as effecient as newer models and I recently bought a bench top spray booth for air brushing and spraying chemicals but I still have the glue to deal with. I've looked at fume busters but they are very expensive, 3-4k. I will likely be building my own soon, it will be similar to a downdraft sanding table that will suck the fumes down and then outside, Im going to build it right into a section of my work bench where i do most of my glueing and it should be comparable to the commercially available fumebusters, you can see examples of them on Shoe Systems Plus website if anyone wants to see, they are pretty simple in design. I did use a respirator while spraying before I got the booth but not for glueing. My family spends a lot of time near my shop which is the main reason why I'm trying to improve the safety of the shop space. My customers always come in and say "I love the smell in here" and its not leather, they are smelling glue fumes more than the leather.

I'm sure someone here knows about lighting. I recently moved some stuff around in my shop and 2 of my sewing machines ended up in a spot that is rather dark. I'd like to add some more lighting and/or rearrange some fixtures I have now. I have really high ceilings, 12-14ft, is it best to drop the lights down lower or have them closer to the ceiling. Right now I have some up high and over work stations I have lower ones right above the work area, I'm not sure if this is the best route though. It gives nice bright lighting on that area but outside of it its not as bright, I'm wondering if they were higher if it would cover more area?? It's also starting to look terrible with chains and wires hanging down for the lights although that's not my main concern.

I'd second the masters for leather. I use Masters Max bond(made by renia) and Renia colle de cologne(same as Masters Multi purpose) is what I primarily use but I bond a lot of synthetics as well so I don't want to keep another glue just for leather. If leather is all you need to glue the masters all purpose works great. I'd recommend a good glue pot, the plastic ones that you lay on the side when not in use do the best at not drying out the glue, I never have to thin my glue now that I switched to those pots. I was constantly thinning when using the Teflon pots and the plastic jar with the brush in the lid. I do a lot of repair work as well and if you use a little thinner you can almost always separate the glue.

I use a modified shop press. I have two 1/2" thick steel plates one mounted to the top so it lifts with the press. It works pretty good, not as good as a real clicker but it does the job. I put an air over hydraulic bottle jack in it to speed things up a bit but you can do the same with a manual jack. I have about 300 bucks invested in it so it wasn't a huge expense. I use the same press to do the initial forming of my holsters and that was the initial reason I bought it so it didn't take much to convert it for clicking. Surely you can get one of those in Australia.

It would be nice to have someone that really knows their machines like wizcraft (because he also writes and explains things well) to do a side by side review of the different clones. Everyone that gets one or the other likes it so I hardly think it matters which one anyone gets but I've never heard anyone that uses or used both. I'm happy with my service from Bob and on top of that I live in PA and have inlaws in Chicago that we visit several times a year so I'm able to pick mine up and save several hundred bucks which is pretty significant. Especially on machines less expensive. In the end location is probably the biggest reason on who to go with. The closer the cheaper and the quicker you can get parts if need be. They are both great machines and the service is great with either.

I have thousands of these things that came with my shop, they work great for belt loops and I use them on occasion as a bottom stop for zippers. I'd imagine there's a machine that installs them but I poke two holes and bend them with needle nose.

Which dies are included?

I do a finish similar to that, I first dye the piece with Fiebings pro oil saddle tan, I either dip it or brush that on then use the pro mahogany and airbrush the edges, you can control the amount of color pretty easy that way and gradually go from dark to light. The dry blocking or dry /brushing method works well too but be advised that takes much more skill and practice than an airbrush, I've messed around with it a few times and was successful but it took me a lot longer with not too much benefit over the airbrush so I don't nether too much anymore. I use a two stage airbrush for that, I have much more control with that than I do with a single stage although it can easily be done with one of those as well. I use harbor freight versions and its held up well and I really don't take good care of it. I use the single stage to apply finish sometimes and that you have to clean out better than the dyes or it'll gum up. After looking at it again that looks a bit more Brown than mahogany, mine turn out a little different shade wise but about the same effect. I usually go with a little more subtle transition but you can do it however you'd like with the airbrush or other methods.

Here's my experience with this subject. I once said " I'll never use a machine to stitch my work) I felt that hand stitching was superior, and to some degree it is but I got to the point you're at where I could no longer keep up and really didn't want to try so I had to get a machine or quit taking orders(quit making money) . I now have about a dozen machines for all different purposes and about 98% of my work gets stitched on a machine. I've had no stitch failures since switching to a machine and no customers ever mentioned that they were able to tell the difference. I simply stopped mentioning that they were hand stitched, easy peasy. That all being said I'm a traditionalist and when I do handsew something I do it with two needles and an awl ,after all if I were to take a shortcut if just use a machine and be done with it. I would say a diamond needle in a press of sorts would produce the same outcome as hand stitching and would be ok but I always tried not to be tempted to take shortcuts that's going to look like a shortcut was taken, the chisels and punches always leave too big of a hole IMO and I don't like the looks of drilled holes or any other method that leaves a round hole. I would seriously consider a machine, if its financial reasons that is understandable but if you're busy enough to need one you should be able to swing something, if not you need to raise your prices! Many people on here produce some very high quality items and many stitch on some type of machine and I wouldn't even think about saying they make an inferior product because it was machine stitched. Find someone local to you who has a machine and go spend some time with them and see what they can do, they open far more doors than they close. I would not be where I'm at if I didn't buy my first machine. Good luck.

I stitch a fair amount of adhesive backed Velcro as well as patches that first get stuck on with very sticky carpet tape and what I do is put a drop of wd40 on the needle. It lasts a while, I'm not doing large production runs like that though, if that were the case some type of oiler may be better but it doesn't take long to put a bit of wd40 on the needle.

I'd say that's pretty typical, it always takes me a little while to get accustomed to a new machine and learn its quirks, the worst part on new ones is you always assume its operator error but it could need a slight adjustment as well. When I got my Consew it seemed to push the material towards me before pulling it back and I lived with it for a long time thinking it was supposed to be that way and I need to get used to it but finally I decided to email Bob and check and he instructed me to lower the feed dogs a bit and all was well 5 minutes later. Is this your first machine?

This is a slightly older thread but Ill give my experience as well. I was originally planning on getting a Cobra class 4 because I heard more of them on this forum. I already had the Boss though and it worked good enough as a heavy stitcher that I prioritized a bit and figured I'd first get a flat bed walking foot that way I'd have the Boss for heavy stuff and a flat bed for thinner flatter work. I did a little research and decided on the Consew 206rb and gave Bob a call and he had me squared up and a week later I was putting it together. I've had a few questions and all were answered very quickly. Then a few months back I wanted to motorized my Adler patcher so I talked to Bob again and discussed possible options, I chose to go with an industrial stand and servo motor, shipping was going to be a lot but I was going to Chicago for a weekend, and he offered to meet me at his shop on a Sunday night to pick it up, I was able to rearrange my schedule so he didn't have to but not many people would offer to do that. While I was there I got to use the Cowboy 4500 and seeing one in action sealed the deal on that and I realized that its finally time. I also believe ( but I'm not 100% sure so don't take this as fact) that the Cowboy has a larger balance wheel. If this is the case I do prefer a bigger one, it makes hand wheeling it easier and I'm used to the big ones as my Adler has a large one and I have an old landis with a huge one. Either way I've always got great service from Bob and he's helped me out a bit on machines I haven't got from him as well. Next on my priority list is a smaller cylinder arm machine and I know who I'll be buying it from. From the sounds of it you can't go wrong either way but I have no reason to change, as someone else said in another thread that the relationship you have with your dealer ends up being a long term relationship.

Another thing that is very important is to make sure your bobbin is wound evenly. If it isn't the thread can get tight and create a lot of tension on the bobbin and the end result is a a knot on the backside of your work instead of being pulled in. There's nothing wrong with a Boss, once you get the hang of it it is a great machine for its intended use. It's not the end all be all but it will make you lots of money and you'll eventually be able to get something better.

I would also make sure you practice a lot on scraps of the same material, make sure you can get the stitch to look like how you want it to. The foot shouldn't mark up the ostrich skin so you should be good in that respect as well. If you can't get the stitch looking nice for whatever reason I would feel pretty confident that glue alone will be more than sufficient as long as you use good glue and hammer it down with a smooth faced hammer. There's a lot of shoes out there today that just have glued on soles and they stay perfectly fine and they take much more abuse than an overlay will. You'll need to stitch the holster together obviously. I recently used my Long arm Adler to stitch on an alligator overlay and it was fine but I can use 138 thread with it and the stitch length is longer than it is on either of my short arm singers. Some of that may be due to machine wear though, I'm not sure about that.

I should add the caveat and mention I am no sewing machine expert. I'm pretty familiar with what I have though and can usually get my problems resolved with a manual or the Help of Bob. I'm simply sharing my personal experience on how I got from where I was to where I am and the machines that got me there.

I at one point said I would always hand sew my holsters too but things got to the point where I could no longer keep up with orders handsewing. Of course at that point I was making them in my living room. Now I have about 12 machines and a 1500 sq ft shop with a retail area. I do a lot of repairs as well and other work that all requires different machines though and I have backups for some. My advice is to continue to handsew and put away money, when you NEED a machine you should be able to afford one ( if you take payment up front, which you should). A used Boss will probably be the cheapest route and it'll do just about anything you ask it to for holsters and they also give you experience on how to adjust a machine. Anything else suitable and you'll probably be over 2k unless you really get lucky. The Cowboy 4500 is just under 3k and the Cobra about the same. I think you could technically sew a holster with your 29-4 so they weren't exactly lying I easily could with either of my patchers, however it would mark up your work and the thread would be too thin so your holsters would look like crap and you wouldn't sell any and you'd never be able to afford a better machine. Do it right and the rest will fall into place. If you're ever in the area let me know you're coming, I'm open Monday - friday 9-5 and Saturdays 9-12:00 although I'm here late everyday so if I know you're coming I can let you in, you could bring a few pieces and stitch them and see what you like. You may never want to pick up an awl after that. FWIW, I've heard of all different handsewing methods, drilling holes, punching holes, drill presses etc but I always did it the way I perceived to be the correct way, two needles and an awl, I'd taper the threads and punch one hole at a time and never set the awl down( the Al Stohlman way). That's still the way I do it but that's few and far between these days. Oh and if it makes you feel any better you could probably easily turn a profit on your machine! Do that a few more times and you'll have a better one.

Does your name mean you live in PA? If so and you're close to Altoona let me know and if you want to stop by my shop Ill show you what machines I have and you can get a feel for what you need or don't need.

There seems to be a lot of people buying patchers for jobs they aren't meant to do, probably the sellers fault but the buyer has to do their homework too. Don't count out the Tippmann Boss if you can find a used one for under 1k. If it wasn't for my Boss I wouldn't have been able to make any money to buy other machines. It worked so well I kept using it for years and bought other machines to do other jobs, Consew 206 for flat lightweight stuff, 2 patchers for repair work(patching!!) a singer post machine and a few smaller machines. Now that I have pretty much all my bases covered I'm going back and finally replacing the Boss with a Cowboy 4500 like Wiz posted. I'm picking it up next Friday from Bob at Toledo Industrial. I would recommend him to anyone, he sold me the Consew and a powered base for my Adler and he always answers my questions promptly and even offered to meet me on a Sunday night to pick up the base because I was passing through. Moral of my story is.... Who knows. Buy a bunch of machines cuz one never cuts it. I also have a 29-4 but its in the front of my shop in the window as decoration, I have a 29k-58 and an Adler 30-1, I would suggest getting a patcher that is at least 29k-58 or newer, from what I understand the older ones with the fully cast arm you can't replace the parts inside so if they are worn they become a parts machine. Maybe not a big deal for some people but I rely on my machines to feed my family so I need to be able to repair them quickly. Sorry your purchase didn't work out, do your research and buy what will exceed your needs, if you can't afford that then use an awl and two needles until you can, you'll sell many more holsters that are sewn correctly and you'll have your machine soon enough that's what worked for me anyway.

Ohio travel bag has them, they are a little different(shorter) but you should be able to make it work, I have several and some of them are broken like yours and the others are starting to crack so Ill be needing one too. They are more expensive than you'd think they should be. I've seen them other places too but can't recall where, probably a finder that supplies the shoe repair trade as well as shoe systems plus should have them.

I still occasionally make seats here and there but I honestly have a hard time making any money on them, I charge quite a bit for them but by the time I break it down to the per hour rate its not that good compared to what I could make doing holsters. I sold my bobber about two years ago, I didn't really want to but I wanted a sport touring bike that I could enjoy riding a bit more, I did the iron butt ride on the bobber and realized I liked long distance riding and that wasn't the bike for that. I would have liked to keep both but I needed the money to buy my Concours. The color can rub off over time even with the sealant. I don't have much experience with the Eco-flow stuff as I never used it, I've tried 5 different versions of Angelus black dyes, Fiebings Spirit and Fiebings Pro Oil dye which is still a spirit. The pro oil dye is far superior and much easier to use, it is more expensive but I save a lot of time using it and get very little to no rub off, I would highly recommend anyone not using it to try a bottle and compare it to what they are using, even the color looks better in my opinion and it doesn't seem to be as harsh to the leather as the regular spirit dyes. Also with belts I've found that you may not notice the dye bleeding right away but but as they get worn they are rubbing up against the pants for hours and hours at a time and occasionally may get wet or damp which doesn't help, browns aren't near as noticeable as black is too. The Eco stuff may be different as I haven't tried them. It has never been an issue for me though and I haven't ever had any complaints so I wouldn't worry too much unless your making a dark dress belt that'll get worn with really light pants.

I would agree with that although if I was being asked to leave my mark off an item on any type of regular basis I would take a long look at why, is it too big, in the wrong spot, not attractive etc.. Or is it possible they are trying to re-brand it. I wouldn't sell anything without my stamp but that has never been an issue, I've only had one person ask me if I could leave it off and his reason was because he thought it would leave an imprint in his skin(it was an IWB holster). I assured him that would not happen and told him I would make sure it wasn't on a part that would come in contact with his skin and he was fine with that. I will admit that the stamp I was using at the time was much bigger than the one I use now and right around this time is when I had a smaller one made. This brings up the fact that if you're making a lot of different sized items you really need several stamps so you can use one that's appropriate to the piece. I would also like to get one of the branding types for some items that can't be stamped.

Hey Dave, how's it going? Business is good, I've been full timing it for about a year and have a shop with a retail space in front. On single layer belts I do dye the front and back together, on my double later gun belts I only dye the front piece and leave the back natural, it is smooth on both sides, I like the look and it prevents any dye rubbing off onto pants. I use Fiebings professional oil dye and get very little to no dye rubbing off but its still a nice looking touch. I also keep in stock some premade belts from weavers that are already dyed with the edges finished, all I do is cut the belt to size, install the buckle and touch up the edge. I would have been very against this at one point but I'm able to have a lot on hand with little to no wait time for the customer and they have been selling great in the shop and I still offer the custom ones to the less impatient people who don't mind spending money on a high quality belt. If I didn't have a long backlog I'd make them myself but doing it this way helps that all around and I sell way more belts than I did before. The edges aren't as nice as I would do myself but they are acceptable and my local customers never seem to appreciate the time spent on the edges anyway, the guy who owned my shop prior just cut straps and didn't even bevel the edges let along burnish and polish them so even these are much better than what they were getting and I'm able to price them similarly. Anyway good luck.