billymac814

Either would be fine. I've decided to switch to drum dyed for black because it'll save me a little time and I go through it fast enough. Nothing wrong with dying it though if you won't use it. Get the Fiebings pro oil dye unless you like buffing leather for a long time.

Me too. I put my feed dogs back in because I like them better, if that works out let me know and I'd be interested. Another thing that would be nice is a plate just like the one used with the feed dogs but without the grooves

I've never used the Artisan so I don't have much feedback to give. As of lately it seems the two most popular choices are the Cowboy or the Cobra, I attribute that to the two main dealers active on this site sells those two brands, when Steve sold the artisan you heard the name Toro more often. I don't think you'll go wrong with any of the choices. They all should come with the smooth feed dogs if you're buying it from a dealer who has set it up to sew leather which is any of the ones on this forum. A lot of people seem to prefer the slotted smooth needle plate as well, I tried it on mine but I prefer the smooth feed dogs. If I were in the market for another one I'd get a Cowboy, not because I think its any better but because I already am comfortable working with Bob and his son and I can arrange to pick it up.

The Cobra class 3 is about the same as well. They are all similarly priced and basically very much the same machines. Just buy one from a dealer you feel comfortable with who will provide service after the sale and/or choose one who is closest to you, it'll be cheaper in freight charges and should you need parts or anything they will arrive quicker. Also FYI its usually only a couple hundred more to go from the short arm to the long arm and once you're spending a couple thousand bucks on a machine a few hundred more isn't much and if you ever need the extra throat depth you'll be happy you have it.

I ordered the set yesterday. I could have got by with just 2 or 3 but it wasn't much more for the set. I got notified sometime in the middle of the night that it shipped. I also ordered a brass tip and I paid for expidited shipping on the punches and emailed them to see if they could throw the tip in with that and they responded pretty quickly saying that was no problem. So far their service is good, if the punches are mediocre ill be happy enough.

That is exactly what his looked like. Mine was much more refined looking and smoother but it had beveled edges in the center which funneled the needle guide down in. I don't know whether or not it came from the factory that way or not but I really think it did because I don't think the guy I bought mine from was the type to do that and he hardly used it, it was basically brand new when I got it. I should have tried his foot on mine to see if it hit with that foot but I didn't think about it at the time. The slight bevel did the trick though and instead of it hanging up on the foot it slid right down in between. I think you could use a foot from a Singer 111w on the Boss, I think you might have to drill a hole in it though but I can't remember.

Not unless you buy used but even then they usually hover in the 1800-2k range depending on what's included, shipping is another few hundred. I've picked up my last two from Bob, I had one shipped and I want to say it was around 3-400. If you can afford the difference I doubt you'd regret it. If not get something else and use it until you can afford something else. The one nice thing about the Boss is if you find a used one you can use it for a couple years and still sell it for what you paid for it and they are easy to sell and ship. I'd still recommend sending Bob a sample of your leather and have him stitch it up and you can see what it'll look like. I'm sure he'd be happy to do that. Here's a Cobra class 3 in the for sale section. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=46149#entry291104

It is a regular sewing machine. There's a big difference to a machine that can technically sew leather and a machine that is either made or setup to sew leather. You could probably sew leather on that but not too thick and not with very thick thread. Might be ok for wallets and things like that made from lighter weight leather. Some of those old Singers are made a lot better than the newer ones with plastic gears. I'm sure some others will chime in here and tell you more information on what they can and can't do and what workarounds need to be taken to use them in that way.

Could some of you other Boss users post pictures if your standard pressure foot, I'd like to see how they come from Tippmann.

To list what I did. I adjusted the bottom stop just a little. Rewound the bobbin, nothing special here but I always found with mine that if I take it slow and make sure the thread isn't stretching or anything that I get much more consistent bobbin tension. The needle guide would hit the presser foot when coming down and not go in between the foot so I beveled the edges off of the inside of the foot. This is how my foot was, I don't know whet here or not mine was done at the factory or not and I don't know whether his was a Tippmann foot or not, they were clearly very different in how they were made but mine was older than his. I'd be curious to see pictures of other people's presser feet on thier boss. Switched thread. I can't explain that really but it definitely did not like that one spool of thread for some reason. I oiled the shuttle area and cleaned it up Adjusted the presser foot pressure. Lastly I balanced out the tension. I just backed off all tension and added it until the knot was balanced and the stitches looked good. I think that was about it but it was a totally different machine than when it came which goes to show you it really doesn't take much for them not to be working right. It was nice meeting you Brian.

You just like to drag things out so you can charge more.:-). The majority of my dye gets applied with a foam brush or dipping it so its applied alot more heavily than airbrushing so penetration is not a problem, I do go through way more dye that way though.

I've been eyeballing some of their edgers from Japan, they look very nice. As someone else mentioned though the Japanese make very high quality items.

I pointed that out. They end up being 7 dollars a piece. I've made punches out of conduit and they work fine, these can't be much worse than that and its hardly a gamble at the price. Most of that cost is probably materials and shipping, the Chinese don't need paid as much, you buy an American punch and most of the charge is from labor. I do not expect these to be as nice or as good as a 50-60 dollar punch but it doesn't take much to cut a strap every now and then and that's where something like this fits in perfect, for the occasional use, for people who don't want to spend 250-350 on a few strap punches that they don't use often. I mainly use 1.5" English point and 1" and 3/4" round punch, I have those and rarely need anything else so when I need something else I use a template and cut it by hand. My biggest concern with those pointed ones is that they don't look like a perfect point, I'm not too concerned with the metal, if they are taken care of and used reasonably they will punch through leather with little difficulty.

I just had a guy kinda complain about his belt when he picked it up today because he wanted it round instead of with the English point that I always use, of course he didn't tell me he wanted a round tip when he placed the order. I don't really like rounded tips on most belts. I offered to cut it and make it round and then he decided to keep the English point. Anyway I think I'm going to order the round set of these. They are cheap, they aren't much more than the plastic templates. If I don't like them Ill just relist them as vintage punches and they'll sell for 60.00 a piece( that was a joke). I have the main sizes I use often but it would be nice to have some more options to use on occasion. Ill report back when I get them.

I never seen the video you guys are talking about, I just never considered thinning black as it seems to end up turning more blue than black. I did thin it once because I was running out and needed to stretch it but the results weren't as good. I also never airbrush black unless I'm just adding some over another color for a faded effect. Otherwise I apply it either with a foam brush or dauber or dipping it in the dye. I usually only thin dyes if I want to lighten the shade, otherwise I spray or brush it on full strength. I don't use a wide array of colors often though, I use black, mahogany and saddle tan. My two ton finish is a saddle tan applied with the brush then I airbrush mahogany full strength around the edges. I use other colors on request or for repairs but those are my standard color options.

Sounds like your on track. Many people find work arounds to the marks. I'm sure you could send him a sample of what you're sewing and he could do a test with one so you can see the results or if you're close enough go and see him, he has plenty of other cool stuff to look at too.

Reverse is nice to have, I definitely wasn't implying it is not needed for anything and I'm glad to have reverse on my machines but if all you're doing is watch straps and that's your sole business and youre on a tight budget I don't think it would be missed much. I used the Boss for years to sew belts and holsters and it never bothered me not having it. If you get into bigger stuff that can be turned around then it becomes more of a problem for sure and you'd have to back tack by using the handwheel and manually moving it back and lining up the next hole and so on. I wouldn't want to be without reverse either but if my situation was different I could live without it.

The Techsew is basically the same as the 2500 so you'll have the feed dogs to contend with. I don't think it'll be much of an issue with what you're doing though. I'm sure both machines will be fine, I wouldn't worry about the lack or reverse either, its a non issue for those straps, just start a little away from the end, stitch to the starting point then rotate the strap and go the other direction. That is how I stitched belts on the Boss when I used it. I'm sure the 2500 would come set up with a servo and reducer or a gear reduction servo plus Bobs customer service is great. A lot of people choose their brand by which dealer is closest to save on shipping, that makes sense as well.

Your gonna have to make exceptions somewhere. Either to your budget or the feed dogs. The time it takes to smooth out the marks will be nothing compared to the time saved from hand stitching. You'll have it stitched sooner than you would have threaded your needles to hand stitch it. Also depending on the leather you're using it may not mark it up too bad if its fairly hard stuff. If you can swing the cash you can get the Cowboy 3500 but at that point you may as well get the 4500 since they are so close to the same price. You wouldn't regret it if you can do it. You can either use the smooth feed dogs or slotted plate with those. If money is the issue you're pretty much back to the Boss then. Its needle fed so there's no feed dogs to worry about and if you're soles doing watch straps its really not a bad choice. I can't stress this enough though, buy a used one!! In my opinion its insane to spend 1500 bucks on a new one when for a few hundred more you can get into a 3500. I'd also recommend giving Bob a call or send him an email, he knows WAY more than I do and may know of something else suitable. He may have something used as well. There's also a "portable" 441 I just seen in Shop Talk. Its quite pricey and hardly portable, it just doesn't have a stand really, it has the motor mounted to it or something like that's I can't recall the manufacturer off of the top of my head

They aren't too big and those stands they come on are fairly small and can be wheeled around easily. I would go for the Cowboy as Bob mentioned, I didn't think of that earlier and he gives great customer service. You don't need to close the stitching by hand with the watch straps, just turn the strap around and go the other way, you won't really miss reverse unless you're stitching large things that can't be turned around. The 3500 or 4500 are definitely nice but if you're just making watch straps and nothing else there's no point in spending 2.5 times the money on something you don't need.

That's pretty much what I'd expect from them. I'm pretty sure if anyone would go into this purchase thinking they are on par with a 50-60 dollar punch they would be disappointed for sure. You can tell from the pictures they look pretty rough. I have the means to sharpen them up though and I generally have to do that even on the more expensive ones as well.

Not really in the 441 category but check out those 45k type machines. Check out the techsew 3650 HD. That should suit your needs pretty well, it'll be on the higher end of your budget but there's really not much less that'll sew with that thick of thread.

It took about 10 days to get my stamp from Hong Kong. Not the fastest reasonable I suppose. What's involved with Customs? I do very little international shipping and even less receiving but I hear things about customs fees and all that but haven't a clue how it works. I didn't have to pay anything for that stamp, it just showed up in the mail.

I agree 100%. Some of those people are fine craftsmen and can do a lot with very little. I may very well order some of those punches. I have the main ones I need but those are cheap enough to have for the odd all sizes too. I think I'd get the round version though as the pointed ones don't look like a true English point and I only use pointed for my belts and already have those. I'm thinking for straps and such for the rounded types. Also the same seller has brass tips for a soldering iron to finish edges, I may try one or two of those too.

The Boss is easy to control but so are the 441s with a servo and speed reducer. You can get right up to the edge with either with no problem. The 441s are considerably quieter than the Boss is but the Boss is still a very capable machine, or at least mine was. I know some others who've had bad experiences with them.