Ferg

Hammer Customs, Don't take the criticism to heart. Some folks speak before brain is in gear. Your trucker wallet looks good and with all the accessory items you have included it is worth what you can get for it. Your price of $180 sounds okay to me. ferg

I don't find my written info for doing this right now. Google "Book Binding" then "Rolled Round Corners". You will find a Web Page that has instruction on how to do this with photos. Don't get your rolled edge material too thin or it won't hold the stitch. I skive to about 1 1/2 oz. to 2 oz on anything very heavy or areas of much wear. ferg

Make sure your unit is actually a true copy of the Fortuna. Most skiving machines other than Fortuna are nearly identical but do not have the same type of presser feet or the feed wheel. My Cowboy has the serrated metal wheel. Easily cleaned. ferg

The roller stone needs to be adjusted as near perfectly aligned with the knife as possible. Less aggressive. Using these machines can be very aggravating but super rewarding when you get it all figured out. This is a post I made after I had learned to use my skiving machine. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45661&hl=%2Bskiving+%2Bmachine ferg

Three things you may wish to check: Did you use the stone on the inside of the Bell knife to remove "fuzzy edge"? Sharpen knife in very small increments. You may be feeding too slow. ferg

Jo, Just bite the bullet and buy a servo. You will pat yourself on the back every time you sew. ferg

I make a change purse for ladies. My wife places it in her purse. I made hers of Kangaroo with two snaps, she loves it. ferg

Your machine will sew 207 with 138 in the bobbin. Doesn't really do well with the 207. I have used 69 thru- 135 with no difficulties. I have done a few adjustments to mine and actually sewn nearly 3/8" but it is hard on the machine since it was intended for medium to light work. Hold at 1/4" if at all possible, machine will last longer. Keystone Sewing Machine has a great copy of the manual. URL: http://www.keysew.com/ They also have or can get for you many of the accessories for the machine. Bob Kovar at Toledo Industrial URL: http://www.tolindsewmach.com/ Has many of the accessories also. ferg

Handle the leather as you would for tempering, ready to carve. Makes the punching holes almost fun. LOL ferg

Me too!

I have several, different size blades, straight and angled, different diameters of the barrel as well as lengths. Buy the best you can afford and don't buy off e-bay. Just my .02 Oh yes, the best definitely makes a difference in your work. ferg

I won't tell my wife that she is of lower quality. Some folks just have their head in the sand. Do not mouth off about things you have no understanding of to begin with. Thank you "TomG", I couldn't have said it better. When I said a few cents that is what I meant. Where the heck did the $10.00 add on come from? We have been shipping product since 1977. I believe we know what we are doing. Also, we wholesale everything we manufacture, how long do you think we would have been in business if we were gouging our customers. Another thing, every one of our items is wrapped in bubble wrap, any vacant space is packed with excelsior. Did I forget to mention, shipping materials and boxes we have to buy, about ten thousand, are figured into the price of the item not shipping cost. Folks do tend to read what they want the written word to say and not actual print. ferg

I shouldn't even try to explain our end of this as several of you think those of us shipping a fairly high amount of product are gouging the customer. You are so wrong. FYI: The Shipper in our instance, takes any and all phone and e-mail orders or questions, double checks all incoming orders for duplicates or bad addresses, does 100% of the billing for our company. Oh Yes! Almost forgot, she packages every single order that goes out. Most of you haven't got a clue as to what it is to package 500 to 750 packages per day for about 8 months of the year. Twenty dollars an hour!!!! Good Lord folks she is worth ten times that! BTW: She is my wife and may God Bless her every day of her life because I do. ferg

My wife orders boxes from USPS several times per month, several hundred each time. Best thing ever happened to UPS for us Shippers. They are totally over priced. Sad part is, they know it but had very little competition until Post Office came up with their newest system. The system I have incorporated into our shipping gives us great rates for all First Class and Priority. We have a credit card on file and pay the balance every month. Never have had to pay fees. We are also set up with the Post Office and their internal system. We printout a sheet that has all packages we ship in one day with all info. Take the load to them, hand them the printout and leave. Can't beat it. ferg

Did you check with Bob at Toledo Industrial Machine? ferg

You may be familiar with mechanics and Hasmat shops but you are a little less informed for shipping product. We ship between 25,000 and 30,000 packages per year via USPS. To make things easy for our customers we average the shipping costs over the entire spectrum for USA only. Person packaging, checking address for mistakes, printing the label, applying label is paid $20,00 per hour. Some packages we make a few cents on, some we lose a few, it balances out. I guarantee you, we don't make thousands of dollars on the shipping. ferg

We had Collie dogs since I can remember. A few other "Hines Dogs" thrown in there once in awhile but mostly Collies. We raised Collies for several years while the kids were young. We had to have our 14 year old Collie put down in January because of many severe health issues. We took her to the vet with her crying the entire ride. When the girl came out to the truck to take her inside Bessie looked up at me, cried, and licked my face. I shall never forget those few moments. Soft old man I guess. Told my wife that I didn't know how long I could go without a dog, she agreed. We began checking out different breeds soon and I decided I wanted a Tri Color Sheltie, daughter and wife really wanted a Sable. I found a breeder in norther Ohio that would have a litter ready to go by March 15th. Just four in the litter, breeder contacted me to say she had two other folks coming to look at the puppies while they were just four weeks old to decide which they wanted. We selected one from a photo, which I never do, brought him home on the 15th of March at eight weeks old. We have had three male dogs named CHIP. Our family business is in the woodworking field so the name CHIP came up again. Breeder began calling him by name at about five weeks so he knew who he was. He weighed just under five pounds and now at twelve weeks he is at eight plus and stands ten inches at the shoulders. He will stand between fourteen and sixteen inches and weigh about twenty plus pounds when a year old. CHIP is very intelligent, has a schedule he likes to follow almost every day and night, loves to play and investigate outside, hasn't found a human he doesn't like, and he is beautiful. Thought some of you might enjoy a couple photos of "HIS HONOR the CHIP".

Kangaroo is one of the best leathers you will ever use. Strong, fine grain, and the colors, which are predominately earth tones, are gorgeous. Wears like iron and develops a fine patina. Best of the leathers are relatively expensive but cheaper in the long run since there are fewer defects. You won't be disappointed. ferg

It will require a different size needle and some tweaking on the tension when you switch thread size. If your machine is in good condition and adjusted properly you will have no problem. ferg

I have a Consew RB-5 138 Bonded nylon is best thread for leather I have used. The machine will sew 1/4" masterfully. In some leathers it will go through 3/8". You can use the smaller threads such as: 92 or 69 for some lighter work. I like the 92 in wallets. I have never tried to use waxed thread but I would guess it will "Gum Up" the needle when the wax begins to melt. ferg

corter You didn't ask for a critique but…. You have done a nice job with one caveat. The "Wrap" stitch on your corners is a high wear spot. The thread will wear through in a short time. Did you burnish the edges? Couldn't tell in your photos. ferg

My -5 was made in Japan. I think most were made in China though. ferg

I have an RB-5. If you are going to consistently sew over 3/8" thickness forget it. The machine just was not designed for heavier work. I believe you would be wise to forget the machine you are looking at. Definitely consider a cylinder arm, you can attach a table for flat work. ferg

If the belts aren't too thick, you can fold over without skiving and use two Chicago Screws. ferg

The paper towel lifts the dye kinda "Wonkie". A little practice on a piece of scrap. Keep changing the portion of paper towel you wipe with. ferg