machinehead

Try rubbing the punch across some beeswax.

Interesting info, Harry. Have you heard about Logwood?

Rockoboy, one of the earliest people to inspire me was a lady from Fremantle who I communicated with through the mail long before this internet thing. I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband when they visited the States. The greatest benefit of this forum IMHO is that it brings our collective knowledge, aspirations, and inspiration together in one place in almost real time. I especially enjoy your profile entry of " repurposing somebody's junk". That should serve you well.

Don Gonzales is another great one. He has this unassuming down home demeanor when he shows his techniques that makes it easy to understand. Just a quick note to you mutt.... I have seen time and time again how you encourage others on this forum. I would just like to encourage you to keep it up.

Ian and Nigel are gifted teachers for sure and certain. Their Youtube videos are a treasure trove of experience and knowledge. Nigel is a member here; but I can't recall if Ian is or not. Thank You for the input.

I second this. Thank you for a well reasoned response. I have seen some of your posts on the tools that you make and just want to say excellent work.

In another topic here on the forum about a Push knife, member Mattsbagger attributes a video by noted holster maker Sam Andrews for getting him started into leather working. Even those of us who claim to be self taught have received inspiration in the craft from others. Many members here are very generous in sharing their knowledge and encouragement. How many people have inspired you along the way as you work to make each project better than the last? Whether through personal mentoring, books, videos, conversations here on the forum, or whatever --- name some names. Living or deceased, who has contributed to your skill and knowledge?

Is this the video that you refer to?

You are entirely welcome. Give it a try and hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised at how much control you will have with a bit of practice.

Here is a You tube video for you made by a member here on the forum whose screen name is thesergeant .

Good for you Ken. Best wishes for a happy retirement and thank you for your contributions to this site. Hopefully you won't be a stranger around here.

This is a " Pilot " manufactured by British United Shoe Machinery Company ( BUSMC ). It was also manufactured in Germany if memory serves. Singermania, a member here who is a machine dealer in Australia may be along to tell you more about it. There are others on the forum who own or have owned Pilots who may see your post as well. It has been discussed before, so you may find info here on leatherworker.net.

Great " bread and butter projects". Have you purchased from Maverick's Columbia Missouri location yet?

I have both the narrow and wide versions of the knife that Lisa Sorrell sells and they hold an edge well and strop quickly back to super sharp. Lisa uses these knives herself to skive the inlay and overlay pieces for her custom cowboy boots. In case you haven't seen her video on sharpening these knives:

Maverick Leather has a website up for their new Missouri location. http://maverickleathercompany.com/product-category/maverick-columbia/

Thank You for posting this.

Have you contacted C.H. Holderby Co. there in Seattle?

This looks like a BUSMC"Pilot" stitcher.

It is called a kiss lock frame.

Abbey refers to these as Billet hook studs. They have them listed with a good description of size dimensions here: http://abbeyengland.com/Store/ProductID/68473 These are also called Bridle hook studs.

Do what Bob says and all will be well for you. When you speak of a 16 needle being dainty, you are confusing the size of the needle eye with a system ( or in older reference a class) 16 needle. To confuse you further, the 135x17 needle that Bob refers to is for textiles , artificial leather and sometimes soft garment leather, but the same needle with a leather point is 135x16. These needles come in a wide variety of eye sizes as well as different shaped leather points.

I am with shoepatcher on this, especially since some sub classes of the 144 call for the 7x23 needle. If you can get a measurement from the end of the shank to the top of the eye and the diameter of the shank of the needle that came with the machine I can compare the 7x23 and 214x1 to it. Also, if you can see the number stamped into the shank and the overall length can sometimes be useful.

Great job as usual.

Sad news indeed. Ray was a very helpful and considerate man who I am sure will be missed by many. Thank You David for sharing this with all of us who met this good man online. David