Ferg

i am including in this post information Wiz gave me when I first obtained my Consew. I am sure he won't mind my inclusion. Quote: When you get your new Consew 206RB set-up, rotate the hand wheel towards you (CCW direction) from the top and watch the action of the pressor feet very closely. If the machine has been properly adjusted by the shipper or seller, you will notice that as the inside foot and needle come down, just as the needle reaches the plane of the feed dog, the inside foot makes intimate contact with the top center of the feeder. As you continue to rotate the wheel (slowly), the feeder will move backwards, as will the inside foot and needle. When the feeder reaches the end of its travel, as determined by the stitch length setting, the needle and inside foot will begin to lift up. At this moment, the feed dog moves under the throat plate surface and is brought forward, to begin the next cycle. If the feed dog is lowered to avoid marking the bottom of the leather, the inside foot will push the leather down into the now basically evacuated, rectangular slot in the throat plate. The leather will tend to stick down into this gap and will fight the action of the needle and inside foot. This will either result in broken needles, or stitches that vary in length. You will immediately lose a good portion of the preset stitch length, due to drag. Further, since the leather will give at the bottom, when the inside foot comes down under pressure, the timing of the lifting will be thrown off. The inside foot may not lift when it reaches the back of the preset stitch length; it may in fact lift late, and less than normal. You see, the inside foot depends on the solid bottom provided by the steel feed dog to perform its lift and move action. If the inside foot stays on the material too long, the outside foot will also stay down too long. This will further reduce your available stitch length, due to pronounced drag of the double sprung pressor feet. Lastly, you will lose any semblance of an equal reverse stitching action, as the timing of the lifting and lowering of the alternating pressor feet are tied to the feed dog being at the correct height, at the necessary time in the cycle. If the teeth on the feed dog present a problem for critical jobs, I would recommend purchasing another dog and have the top milled or ground flat, then polished. Then, raise the height of the feeder to match the original setting above the throat plate. This will give you the bottom feed and support needed to both move the material and actuate the alternating pressor feet. This assumes that there is enough material inside the feed dog to grind off the teeth and not cut through to the underside of the oblong hole, enlarging it to a ludicrous size. End Quote: ferg

I think from your video the feed dogs are too high in relationship to the presser feet. I definitely would not continue to force the rotation of the the machine until this is properly adjusted. BTW: The man telling you this is normal is full of it. You can actually adjust the dogs until they are not above the throat plate at all without doing any harm. Do this adjustment then test until it is correct for your material. You can easily return adjustment to original position. There are several other things to try. I feel more info is needed to keep you from doing something to the machine. ferg

Agree with the LED lights. I need lots of light on my subject when sewing. I have two of these on one of my machines. Tip: Aim the lights toward the path of the needle on your work. ferg

From your description, you probably need to do some adjusting in the height of feet on the "full" down motion. You should not be tight on the feed dogs. When you have the head "UP" from the table so you can see the underneath works, there is a set screw toward the left side making it possible to adjust the fed dogs. You can loosen the screw and see the dogs move up and down. Only move a slight bit to see if that helps your situation. With that problem you need to do a little experimenting to get the proper adjustment. Wiz may step in here for you, he knows this machine forward and backwards. I have a 206 RB5. ferg

Gosh! Did I say parts for it may be costly? LOL ferg

A really good machine man would find all the little faults. May have been a quick "do-over". Still a great machine. ferg

JoAnn Fabics has a great selection most of the time. I have quite a few with changeable partitions inside. I get the ones with latches. ferg

Shaft may be worn or bearings could be going bad. This is the biggest problem with the older machines of any kind. Expect a number of things to fix/repair, quite often worth every bit of work but parts for the Fortuna may be costly. ferg

If the skiving machine is a Fortuna I am interested. ferg

If you or someone else, wishes to have a stamp made "Laser Gift Creations" is one way to go. Access this web page: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tractor+rubber+stamp&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=31564919477&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3560352234195011412&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_1hs7o5sg05_b There are tractor rubber stamps. This would give you the black line drawing for the tractor to send to LGC. I think you are looking at $50 for the leather stamp. ferg

I don't like storing much of anything except trash in plastic bags. Sunlight has a wide spectrum and can penetrate many types of material including brown paper. If I receive hides in rolled corrugated and brown paper I definitely leave both covers on. Again, my leather is all stored in a dark closet. I have two walls of my work area with lots of glass. I haven't tried Oxalic Acid but don't bet on it. You could cut the piece you need with the sunburn plus some not burned and expose to the sun for a day to see how different the patch looks. I am betting the already sunburned spot will simply get darker, just as our skin does. Just thought of another trick. This won't work too well if you want to carve your leather. Use Neatsfoot or Olive oil application on the "Un-Suntanned area of piece. Don't oil the already sunburned piece. Place that in the sun for a day and see what the effect is. If you find this is okay you could carve the piece and then do the suntanning in the same manner with oil. ferg

You do have lights in your shop don't you? LOL Some types of artificial light will have some effect on the leather as does humidity of course. Before making a decision to hang leather in the "open" I would do some technical research. This info is available on the Web. You can hang the hides if you like. If you can put sufficiently strong anchors into rafters or such. Many types of clamps available. Google that. Remember, you will have some damaged leather where the clamps are placed. ferg

You do not want to store the hides in daylight/sunlight, they will be sunburned where the light hits them. I keep mine rolled and inside a closet, dark cool, and dry. Also keep most of my hides wrapped in brown packaging paper. ferg

First pic is a skiving machine. Could be a Fortuna, cannot tell from photo. Pretty bad shape. Would need to be dismantled, cleaned, serviced and checked out. I would give you $50 to $100 for it. One hundred if it is a Fortuna. ferg

I can see where you are going with this. When I feed thin leather chrome mostly, I want the feed and the knife to turn slowly in comparison to other leathers. Easy to control. If the knife is as sharp as it should be there is no problem with the cut. I have simply gotten used to the way the machine is set up to begin with and have no problem with it. Different strokes for different folks! LOL ferg

I don't have a Fortuna but have one very similar with both top and bottom feed. My machine feeds from one motor. Bell knife, feed for top and bottom are synchronized so you can vary the speed of feed while everything else responds to that speed. I would not want different speeds for each operation. ferg

That is classic! I have seven grandkids. Youngest is 8th grade ????? Oldest is 30. Oh My! ferg

Pleating is one method, my method is another. If using the pleating method and covering with another layer that may also be rolled, the thickness is a little extreme for me. When done properly, which I didn't necessarily do on the piece in the photo, the cuts blend so well there is no bunching. Many book binders use both ways. I think there is a place for almost every method of work. ferg

bryanleenheerYou are getting some bad info here so I will show you a photo of how this is done. Please bear with me, photo is of the first rolled edge, round corner I ever done in leather. The wide portion of wedges must take into account the thickness of whatever you are wrapping at the corner. Each of the triangular pieces/cuts must be equal. Wedge next to the straight/square portion of your rolled edge must be square with the long straight edge with the other edge being an angle one third of the corner or 30 degrees. Note in my photo that I allowed the edge of straight piece to get stuck to glue before it was where it belonged. Doing these is a little tricky. With practice this becomes a very beautiful piece of work. Remains quite stable and strong when stitched. I don't convey instructions real well but I think you can get the idea from written word and photo. ferg

Do you have a photo of this machine? 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