Ferg

Nice work, you should be proud. Did you put any finish on that top? Some nice satin Poly would look good and keep it "pretty". ferg

You need to make a faint registration mark/line on the leather to begin the basket stamp. Hold the other tools firmly in your hand, tap with mallet, reset the tool to exactly the same place and hit a good whack. Practice, practice, the basket stamps are not the easiest to use but they look great. ferg

Beautiful carving and stitching. I would have to pass on the Ostrich Seat. ferg

The weight of leather they are suggesting is pretty thin for wallets. Other small items would be okay. The price is more than double the cost of the leather if you were buying a whole side for instance. Plus you will have shipping which could really drive the price upward. If I were you I would check for some leather companies in Germany or the UK, they may be a better buy for you. There are suppliers in the USA who sell Internationally. Check in the directory on this site. ferg

The reverse is so easy and quick, I would definitely bite the bullet and get it. ferg

With my research into sewing with a machine I would say there are a multitude of feet for your machine that will fold that little ditty just right. May I say, "There's a Foot For That." ferg

Sorry, I will never in my lifetime slam Tandy. They have been good to me for many years. Sure they have some tools etc. that aren't as good as they were 50 years ago when I bought most of mine. I fail to see all the crying about the quality of their leather. Oh BTW: I have never paid $11.00 a foot for any leather from them. I have bought some leather not so good and lots of it that has been top notch. I have done the same thing when I bought HO. It must be that it is Halloween. LOL ferg

The bolt to adjust to the leather is going to get a little tiring. You need to search on the forum site for stitching horse/pony to see the mechanism most use to tighten the jaws onto the leather. You done a nice job on the woodwork. ferg

Great job!! If you have Baltic Birch Plywood available to you, might consider making your top of it. ferg

I don't have your make of machine and am just a beginner but,,,,, I thread my needle from left to right. ferg

First of all I think I am going to love this little machine. Won't have my Speed Reducer maybe, until Monday, I did change the pulley size to 2" on the Consew 550 Servo. #14 needle with 68 thread on top, 46 in the bobbin. Servo set about halfway on the speed dial. Sewed single layer of 8 oz. Cowhide Veg tanned. Stitches set at "6" on the dial, If I can remove the dial plate, turn enough to make it read in reverse, put it back on. Seems to me the dial is backwards in reference to the stitches. Slowest sewing speed I could get was about 6" in about 3 seconds. Had no problems at that speed. Increasing speed "fudged up" the thread in the needle. Changed needle to a #16 same thread. Speed did not make any difference but I didn't try to make it "fly". Nice stitch. Put #138 thread on top with #92 in the bobbin. Increased needle size to a #20. Two thicknesses of 8 oz. veg tanned cow hide. Adjusted tension on top, haven't touched tension on the bobbin yet. Timing seems to be perfect. Had to increase the speed dial on servo about 10%, moved faster than I wanted but was not hard to hold a steady straight line, reverse worked like a charm. One layer of 4/5 oz. horse hide, two layers of veg tanned 6/8 oz. cowhide. Same set up as above. Had to bump the speed dial just a tad so it could penetrate that much leather, especially with Horse Hide. Sewed fine but I didn't like the looks of the back side. Needle holes were not cut clean, speed may have something to do with that, don't know. One layer of 6/8 oz. Veg Tanned Cowhide with one layer of 4/5 oz. Oiled cowhide. Beautiful stitch both sides. Obviously this type of sewing is this machines "Long Suit". I didn't attempt to ease the foot pressure. Obvious marks on the leather, some people may not care or notice but I don't want it that way. Seems ridiculous to have to smooth the marks after sewing. Working on that:) Keystone is sending me a speed reducer with three pulley sizes, 3", 6", & 9". For anyone that does not know, the nine inch is belted to the small servo pulley with the other two being available for connection to the machine. They also have a Needle Plate that replaces the serrated Dogs that come with the machine so there is a smooth surface next to leather you are sewing that may have finish sides top and bottom, this being on the bottom surface of course. Keystone is also sending Walking Feet that are smooth with left and one with right side removed so you can sew close against a vertical side. I have #207 thread but do not have any needles larger than the #22. They definitely are not large enough for this thread. Can only go to #24 or maybe #25 needles on this machine. May give some folks a little edge if buying a new Consew or any of a number of other similar machines. I am a machinery addict, just ask my wife. I love this new Toy!!! ferg

Just an up-date for October 26, 2010 My Consew 206RB-5 was made in Japan, was packaged in a "Phaf" (spelling) carton, may not mean too much but all the packing fit the machine. I am definitely going to need a Speed Reducer. Put the smaller pulley on the motor with only a little difference. With speed dial about 50% it had no problem with 8 oz leather and had no marks from the presser feet. Used #68 thread with a #14, #16, and a #22 needle, #46 thread in the bobbin. I have # 92,#138, and #207 thread coming tomorrow. Another interesting note: The instruction manuel says their is a needle plate available for this machine as an added accessory, that enables the use of two finish sided leather without making marks. Obviously has no serrations. Would the fact the machine was made in Japan have anything to do with the different needle plate being available? I'm never going to get any sleep with this machine in my shop. ferg

Wiz, Did you know the Consew 206RB-5 comes with smooth presser/walking feet? The video I watched from someone, not you, the feet were definitely grooved. I got my machine to the ready this evening. Wife left me play a little. I had the machine shipped via UPS (Free) so the table was not assembled. I am going to try different sized thread to see what happens. Threaded according to specs, worked perfectly. I have bought a so-called 2" pulley for the motor, it is actually 2 5/8" outside and 1 1/2" inside measurements. I did not get a speed reducer but may very well need one. Wanted to play with the tension on the belt also. Thanks again, ferg

Wiz, As always, I value your expertise with the machines. I am naturally inquisitive and usually do a "tear down" on machinery we own. The purpose is not to see what they are made of but to understand how they work. It is much cheaper and easier to fix your own equipment. My wife almost passed out when she seen parts of our $100,000 CNC Router laying on various workbenches just a short while after we bought it. We have never had a service call on any of our equipment in almost 35 years owning our manufacturing business. If anyone has a handle on where to get a smooth feed dog for the Consew 206RB-5, please let me know. Even if it needs some TLC to fit and work properly. Again, thank you very much for your information, I will probably be asking more questions. BTW: The machine was delivered just before lunch today. ferg PS: I understand that grinding/filing the teeth off the dogs could change the timing. That said: You don't need to file/grind them off, you just fill the voids between the "teeth". Experiment with how much filling would need to be done so you could still enable the dogs to do their thing. Seems to me this same procedure could be done to the walking feet/presser feet in lieu of ginding their teeth also. Any comments? ferg

I have some more thoughts. My machine is coming tomorrow and I will not have time to play for another 7 or 8 weeks, may not even get it set up. The Walking Feet: I have watched a video of them moving/working but ...... When the needle goes down through the leather the right foot is down, correct? At this time is the left foot up? Then as the needle is raised from the stitch/leather the left foot is down to hold the leather in place, the right foot is up? Or are both feet down at this time? The dogs would need to be able to move the leather when one or both feet are down? The impression from the presser feet is a design flaw as far as I am concerned. What if the presser feet were larger, as in longer with left foot, in one instance, also wider. I seem to understand the impression is made by the left foot? Or do both of them make marks. Hasn't anyone ever tried to engineer the feet so they do not make impressions? I aim that to some folks across the pond. Sorry for so many questions. ferg

Looks real nice. I hope the dog doesn't learn how to use the "trim" against a neighbor. LOL ferg

Wiz, I was aware of the capabilities of the machine I have coming tomorrow you managed to get me informed on that. I know that I will need to have the capability of sewing close to a raised/formed part of an item. There must be an answer to the impressions left on the top side of the leather piece. I think this is going to be a research/engineering project for after Christmas. Are the bottom "Dogs" going to be a problem when you have a finished leather on the back side? I understand that the sharp tips may need a little "softening". Trial an error perhaps? I can see you wouldn't want to take much off or there wouldn't be any feed of the leather. The dogs are adjustable up and down, right? Does adjusting them help any with the marks on the underside? ferg

Source for Consew 206RB-5 Needle plates, left toe and right toe and narrow harness foot. ferg

Anyone had any recent dealings with Westchester Sewing Machine Company? I ordered a 2 inch pulley from them, got 2 5/8". That was for starters. Charged me $11.18 Shipping/handling. Sent in a USPS Priority Mail Box, they have commercial base pricing, Told me the package weighed 2 pounds, in fact it weighed 1 pound. Retail rate would be $4.95 so their cost is better than that. This crap really ticks me off. We ship 15,000 packages between September and Christmas. Our shipping charge is figured so close that if we are shipping to California from Ohio we eat part of the cost, it levels out since we don't send more than 10 or 20 percent west of the Big Muddy. If these companies cannot figure out what their product costs them they shouldn't be in business. OKAY, I know they make up their short fall with the shipping. You can bet money on the pulleys being made in China so they may have cost a buck. I am so sick of being told we need to "SPREAD THE WEALTH". If the politicians would get off their dead rear ends and do something constructive for a change maybe we wouldn't have to put up with all this mess. I'm sorry for the rant. It is Saturday, the day everything turns to crap. ferg

AMEN, HONEY!!!! ferg

I looked on Bob's site, this is what he has "made up". I would prefer the blade be 1/8" wide and angled. Some I have seen are straight. ferg