JohnD

This has been a great thread, I'm glad I saw it. I just wanted to add my experience to the mix. I called last week, spoke with David and ordered the "Sylvia" deal. wihin 2 days I had the press, 8mm double round rivet die, ligne20 and ligne 24 ring snap dies. I passed on the rivets because I prefer solid copper or stainless steel. The press worked great for both the rivets and the ss snaps I use, until Monday morning, while setting a snap I managed to break the press in half. The bottom part where the anvil slides in snapped off. Now I dont know if maybe I pressed too hard or if the thing leaned forward as I pressed ( I didnt have it bolted down yet). Right away I started trying to figure out a way to fix it, when I thought maybe I should call Goldstar and see what my options where. Well, within 5 minutes of calling they had another press on the way, no questions asked, well, she did ask me to send a picture of the broken press. I called Monday, before noon and have my new press ( its Wednesday) sitting on my kitchen table, waiting for me to bolt it down to my workbench this time. It seems to me Goldstar Tool is a great company to deal with. Their customer service was great and they gave me no hassle at all before sending out another press. They didnt even ask me to return the broken one. I'll be ordering some more dies from them soon and will be going through their catalog to ake sure there's nothing else I need. Great company in my opinion.

thanks for the info Ill keep that in mind when I look at them.

Evo160k, Thanks for such a quick response. It looks like both machines are suitable for leather. I'm going to go take a look at them tomorrow and your links will be very helpful.

I have an opportunity to buy one or both of these machines locally and could not find any info. I tried the search here and on Google and came up empty. I was wondering if anyone here might be familiar with either of them and if they would be suitable for my intentions. would they be sufficient for bags, wallets and upholstery of, at most, maybe 3 layers of 3-4 oz leather or even heavy canvas? I have zero experience with machine sewing and thought the price was right enough to play around with these if they would do the job. I appreciate any input. Thanks.

I have these also and I will say to use them lightly. Only for marking. The tips can break very easily if used too aggressively. Actually, the tips on a couple of the tines bent slghtly and when I tried to straighten them they snapped off. I filed the rest down even and cleaned the ends and it seems to work fine again now. Other than that theyve been fine.

Another method Ive seen is to aquire some grip "blanks" in one the ways Tramps Leatherworking described and cut and stack and glue some heavyweight leather washers, chuck em up in a lathe or drill and sand smooth, then apply some sort of epoxy or sealer to seal the whole thing. kind of like a kabar knife handle. A cool option with this method is that you can dye the washers different colors and end up with some cool effects.

I have a side of calfskin from Springfield. Ive only gotten one side so I cant speak to the consistency, but it is very white and I have left it in the sun for a few hours and didnt notice any color change, but I didnt look for it either. I have noticed that when oiled or dyed, it develops spots that werent noticable before, like scarring, but very small and all over the leather. Also, with just neatsfoot oil, it turns an ugly grayish brown and gets a waxy feel that doesnt go away. The only dye ive used is vinegaroon, which seems to color it consistantly ( except for the scarring).

I have toyed with the idea of tanning my own leather, just for the experience of doing it. As far as sourcing hides, if you hunt or have friends that hunt, most folks dont use the hides. Several of my friends offered to let me have them (I myself am a terrible hunter and only see deer during turkey season and bear, moose and turkey during deer season.) If you' re set on tanning cow hides, I spoke to a guy that runs a slaughter house and he told me that right now ( May or June when I spoke to him) hides are going for top dollar, but he would sell me steer for $67/hide and calf for $15. just to give you an idea of what the cost may be for you. My thought was to maybe start small with like squirrel or rabbit or maybe even a small deer to run through the process before committing to something the size of a steer hide and seeing if its something I can do before spending any money.

I dont have any pics, but I do it the same as recovering a seat, heavier leather for the top(5/6oz, 7/8 if any tooling) and thinner leather for the sides (3/4oz). You can go heavier on the sides if you're wet molding, it just take alittle more work to get it all smooth.

My wife and I both love the smell of leather, she smells everything I make, especially when I finish it with Montana Pitch Blend. The chromexcel has been sitting for a few weeks now, so its not nearly as bad as it was, but, I took a whiff last night and it still has some odor. My sniffer barely works, from too many punches, I think, but to me Chromexcel has almost a sewage smell to it, exactly like that old tannery.... maybe it is just the piece I got, but It brought me right back to the days of my friends and I putting away the football or hockey sticks and going to watch TV til the smell went away. I did just get a side of Austin and it smells fine.

Funny... I grew up around the corner from a tannery and every day around 2:00 or so, they would vent the place or something and stink up the whole neighborhood. Recently I ordered a piece of chromexcel from Springfield, to see what the fuss was about. Before I even opened the box I could smell that same smell. It stunk up my kitchen and my wife made me bring it straight down to the shop. It's funny how opinions can differ on things like that. My wife and I both think it's horrible.

Very nice work. I like the lettering alot. As far as face mask to keep warm for riding, I prefer to grow my own.

Just got this one from amazon. Havent had the chance to fill it yet, but it seems to seal up tight. http://www.amazon.com/Big-Horn-19040-30-Ounce-Container/dp/B003NE5AMI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1410886410&sr=8-5&keywords=glue+pots

Just to throw ideas at you, Velcro maybe? either velcro tape, part on the handle and part attached the lid or velcro straps attached to the lid and strap the tools in. Or line the lid with wool felt and wrap the tool handles with the hook part of the velcro, it may not be the most comfortable, but you can just toss the tools at the lid to put them away.

I usually cut the length I need from zipper tape too and only use regular needlenose pliers to remove unnecessary teeth. I used to just stitch the ends together too, but found that using the stops holds everything a bit more stable and looks more finished, to me anyway. I use pliers and a small tack hammer to set the stops. So, I guess the answer to your question would be that the specialty tools are not needed but, I would think, may make the job easier.

I' m in NH too. I used to know a few other people here who worked with leather, but all have either moved or gave it up.

No, I figured it was a joke. Thanks for the offer, but I have a box full of wallets here already.

If your going to tool the outside, I usually wouldnt go thinner than 4/5 oz. For liners, I like to go anywhere from 1.5 to 3 oz. As for what kind, thats up to you. Use whatever you feel like or whatever is available.

I like the artwork, the sort of detail shot of a big twin and I can see that some work went into the design too. the way the edge of the wallet follows the cylinder and the inside of that corner tooled, I like. $1.99? do you take paypal?

When I order leather from W&C that I have them split, I sometimes ask them to send the splits with my order and use that for filler, like for knife sheaths and have also used for filler strips in watch straps . Haven't used it in belts or trays, but imagine it would work. If you request them, there is no extra charge for the splits because you've already paid for the side, although the weight may increase the shipping cost a little. If your looking for foam I usually order my foam for motorcycle seats from : http://www.foambymail.com/NE.html Just to add another choice for sources. They may have what youre looking for.

If you havent dyed it yet I would agree with Tom, oxalic acid works pretty well for removing stains. It will bleach the leather almost white so, you may have to wipe down the whole belt. I've read differing opinions about rinsing after using it, but I've never rinsed, just oiled after it dries. I've never used lemon juice, but have read that it works the same.

Looks like a great idea, but if you use a good contact cement it shouldnt be necessary to clamp it, it should stick as soon as you press it together. If you use an adhesive with more open time, to allow for any adjustment when putting the parts together, a clamp would be useful. Although, I think maybe neoprene would not be ideal in case any adhesive squished out, it would stick the neoprene to the belt. Maybe for clamping, use some smooth acrylic sheet that the adhesive may not stick to, or line the clamp with leather and use wax paper while clamping for glueing, remove the wax paper when using the clamp for stitching. just some thoughts.

I do both depending on what I'm making. On bigger things like motorcycle seats and such, I punch holes first. On smaller items, like wallets and stuff that will fit in my stitching clamp, I punch as I go. I do always use an awl to make my holes, I never punch holes with my pricking iron, just mark the holes with it, if only for the longevity of the tool.

Im not sure if its what youre looking for but theres some info here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=55988&hl=%2Bthread+%2Band+%2Bneedle+%2Bsize+%2Bthickness+%2Bleather#entry359603

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to follow up on the chinese/tiger thread comparison. Here's what I ordered http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leather-Sewing-Thread-Waxed-For-Leather-Hand-Stitching-120g-250M-DIY/161008161504?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24192%26meid%3D0ae5e7848204423cbeb7eec8c324f427%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D10284%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D151170709384&rt=nc Here's what arrived Here's the side by side comparison to Tiger thread(right) These are both .08 thread, but the chinese thread(left) is flatter so appears wider. It also has less wax so the color is different and it is not as stiff as the Tiger thread. I think this made it a little less forgiving when pulling the stitches, I needed to pay more attention to the consistency of the thread tension, as they would slack a little when sewing the next stitch. The Braid seemed a little looser too. The first time I tried to stitch with it, it was pretty sloppy, because the loose braiding seemed to make it difficult to get a consistent tension. Here's the two stitched This is about 7spi, with John James 002 harness needles and John James awl (smallest I could find). I stitched the Chinese stuff first, then took the picture immediately after stitching the Tiger thread, so that may account for the holes appearing larger on the Tiger(right). The biggest difference in stitching was that I needed to use pliers with the Tiger thread a few times, maybe due to the wax keeping the loop at the eye from squishing through the hole easily. My initial impression was that the Chinese stuff wasn't as uniform as the Tiger, because of the loose braid and floppiness of it took some getting used to as far as getting consistent stitches. After a few practice stitches it seems to be not so bad. It is pretty cheap and comes in lots of colors, although the shipping took a few weeks. I still think I prefer the Tiger thread, though, as I mentioned before, I think I'm going to start using Maine thread exclusively, even though their thread is not braided, it is still nice, they are close and have any color and size you can think of, plus it may give my own work the appearance of some consistency by using the same materials. Sorry to ramble, I wanted to give as much info as I could so anyone who was considering this as an alternative to Tiger thread would have some idea before spending any money.