Miett

I have a Chandler 406RB that mostly works great, but I'm having some trouble with thickness changes while sewing. I make wallets, and when I'm sewing from the thinner section along the top to slightly thicker to down the edge where the pocket assembly starts, often I get this long loose stitch on the bottom where the thickness changes. Sometimes it's literally a loop a half inch or more long. Everything else looks good though, tension-wise, so I'm not sure what to do about it. Any suggestions for keeping this from happening?

Hello all! I have a friend who bought a camel hide bag. He was told it was cow hide, but it was actually that urine-tanned camel leather that vendors in India and such soak in salt water to tone down the smell for a couple days until you get it home. I told him to return it, but the vendor is gone now (surprise!) and my friend really loves the bag. Does anyone know any product or trick that will help remove or at least tone down the stench? Here are the things he says he's tried: Filling it with fishtank charcoal for a few days. dousing it in baking soda and sealing it in a bag for three weeks putting fabric softener sheets in it It apparently still smells like pee so badly he has to leave it on the balcony. I'd love to help him out if I can. I'm at a loss, but I figured this would be the perfect place to find expert help!

Update: Bob from Toledo Industrial was actually able to diagnose and walk me through fixing the problem over the phone. Many thanks to him for his patience and knowledge! Everything's been running smoothly since then. Whew!

Thanks - I actually just wrote them, and will probably take the machine up there as soon as I can afford the trip. I appreciate the help anyway!

The scarfed area is the dip on one side of the needle, right? If so, yes. The dip is positioned so the hook passes over it on that side, and the side of the needle with the long groove is facing away from the body of the machine. I believe that's right? I've managed to get it to stitch with the needle positioned like that in the past... Well, I tried fixing the timing, and succeeded in screwing it up so badly it won't pick up a single stitch now, and snaps or frays the upper thread within a couple inches. I'm really not sure what I've done wrong. I'm following everything I've been told, but I have to be missing something crucial. I'm hand winding the wheel toward myself, letting the needle drop to its lowest point, then just as it starts to rise, the hook passes through the dip on that side of the needle, so close to the needle itself it practically touches it. Can anyone see anything obvious that I've missed?

Thank you both! I'm using 207 thread, so I'll bump that down to 138 just in case. I wanted to try ordering some Schmetz needles anyway, so I'll just lower the size by one step and get some thread to go with it. I'm also going to take off the throat plate and check the timing with the shuttle driver, like Wizcrafts suggested. Thanks for the tip - timing has been a bit of a mystery to me! Fingers crossed that one of those fix the problem! It's getting really old having to stop several times to pick out stitches and restart on every single wallet I make. *sigh*

Hello, I wonder if someone might have a suggestion for a problem I'm having with my Chandler 406RB - 1 (which I've been told is also a lot like one of the Consew models?). I'm pretty new to leather sewing machines, so if I'm making a stupid mistake, please let me know! I'm always glad for constructive criticism! I think I know what the problem is... just not how to fix it. When I take off the throat plate (?) I can see the hook interacting with the upper thread. Most often, the point of the hook snags part of the thread, causing it to fray. Sometimes it misses the thread altogether, and now it's started occasionally just snapping it cleanly in half. It just seems like the needle is not making a big enough loop for the hook to catch it without issues. What I've done so far: I've checked the timing, and according to everything I've read, it should be good. The hook is extremely close to the needle, too. I seem to have the tension balanced properly, everything has been rethreaded multiple times to make certain it's right, the thread has been pulled so it's snug in between the two plates at the tension knob (which I know can be an issue. I've run my finger over the end of the hook, and though it's sharp, I can't feel any burrs. I'd like to take it off to make sure, but I'm not sure how to go about that. Does anyone have any suggestions? In general, is there a way to cause the needle to make bigger loops? Thanks in advance for the advice! I really appreciate it!

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful replies - I really appreciate getting more experienced perspectives on this! I'll try to get my hands on some of the right size Schmetz needles to have on standby for when I run out of Organ ones. Wizcrafts, I'd be very interested to see what you mean, if you have the time to post a picture. I'm trying to learn all I can!

Hello all! Please bear with me - I'm totally new to using an industrial leather sewing machine, so this might be a dumb question: I'm using Organ brand needles in my Chandler machine, but have heard people mention in a couple places that there are better brands - though no one was specific. I'm sewing wallets, so the thickness of what I'm sewing is about 5-6 oz veg tan plus a couple layers of liner leather. Does anyone have a favorite brand to recommend, or is Organ the best for what I'm doing? Thanks in advance!

Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to try to return the bottle of Eco-flo. I got some Fiebings, which so far has been just perfect!

Well, I tried it on several different leathers that I'd cleaned, and there is absolutely no way to predict whether what will come out is going to come out blackish green, or deep brown. I can literally see it going onto the applicator in varying shades. Shaking the bottle does nothing. I assume it's a defective bottle. The lesson? Don't use Eco-flo antiques, I guess! I'll try the Fiebings you recommended. Thank you!

Thank you--I'll give that a try!

I'm relatively new to leatherworking, and I've run into a kind of weird situation. I was wondering if anyone with more experience might have an answer... I recently bought a bottle of Eco-Flo Gel Antique in Medium Brown. However, when I brought it home and tried it on a piece of veg tanned leather, it was a muddy greenish color rather than the rich, deep brown on the sample chart. I would have passed it off as a bad bottle, except I gave it one more try on a belt blank and some slightly heavier leather, and the color was lovely--exactly what it should be. I've tried it a couple more times, and the 3-4 oz veg tanned always gets that weird greenish blah color. Why on earth would the color be so drastically different? Is there something special done to heavier leather that would make it take the color differently? I shook the bottle each time Each of the pieces of leather were dry I applied exactly the same way All the pieces were veg tanned Help!

Wow! What a great look! Thanks very much for posting instructions---I would love to try this one once I have some experience under my belt.

Wow... You do absolutely beautiful work! Also, where did you get the brass closures? I have been looking for something like that.

That looks great!! I like the colors you chose, too. I'm never sure about trying bright colors, so I end up with more subdued stuff. You've inspired me to just jump in with the colors, though!

Thank you thank you for posting this. I'm just starting out, and it explains why some of my tooling looks kind of ...mushy. The edges aren't as crisp as I'd like. I've just been re-wetting over and over. Now I know better! I've been using the diluted casing solution from Tandy, but I'll give plain water a try since that's what you use.

Excellent--Thanks very much for posting! Once I have the experience necessary, I'll definitely try making this pretty little thing!

That's just beautiful! What kind of leather did you use for the bag? I'm just starting out, and I'm still trying to get a handle on what weights and types should be used for what, project-wise.

I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to say that this is amazing! I hope someday I have a fraction of your skill!