$$hobby

something else.... > sometimes you are your own worse critic too. Do you have any Saturday Markets, flea markets, gun shops/shows, anyplace you may see the type of work you want to do? Look at what others are doing/making and see if yours is up to snuff or if you put yours side-by-side, would you pick one over the other? could you see any difference? I did ALOT of bridle repair/mods. So what it came down to was swapping brass for stainless or the other way around. Or shortening/remaking something or a fix. But for the most part, the customer knew what they wanted so all i needed to do was to make it happen. No one i know of ever complained. also, you are sort of vague in what you are doing/want. Maybe thats on purpose or its how you think? Maybe you dont have a clear vision in what you want to do, so it comes out in your hands/projects? good luck

Free to a good home.... You pay shipping via USPS Priority Mail medium box .....$16.00 im downsizing my life and hobbies. Here are my last subs to LC&SJ. V 27, No. 3~6 V 28, No. 1~6 No. 1 has some spine/top damage. Text is readable. V 29, No. 1 ~6 V 30, No. 1~6 V 31, No. 1 If you want these, please reply stating you will take so others will know they missed out. And then PM me with your address so i can get them out. thanks for looking.

if you have AADD, Adult - Attention Deficit Disorder , not much you can do. No one comes out of the womb knowing how to do everything. Everyone starts at 0. you need to figure out what motivate/works for you. I found out that im not perfect and dont pick things up on the 1st try. So what i have learned about myself is that it takes repetition and doing again and again and again. How long you ask? Until. "Until" is up to you or someone judging your work. But it was just me and my standards. I had books to use and look at the pictures to judge/compare my work against such as the saddle stitching. Easy peasy. And with other things i have done in the past, over time and repetition, i have found i became better at what i was doing. Sometimes you have an ah-ha moment or something just clicks to where you know youve done it right. I tried the leather carving too. My leahtercarving sucks. I tried it several times but im not willing to take more time so i dont. ALso just an fyi, i was an architecture student and my sketches of people looked the same as my leather carving - sucks. Stick figure ish. Buildings and objects were great, but something wrong with my wiring someplace. So all of my leather projects are plain. But the are easier to make. I could do some stamping, but didnt want to get into that either. I still make mistakes and know i will do so till im burried. But its life and i know that. My 1st projects were in jr highschool where i was introduced into leathercraft. If you see any of the old? starter leathercraft kits you will note they had various flat leather shapes to make things. Such as keyfobs. I think there was a hair barrette and some other things... but for the most part were flat. not alot of stitching/sewing. We did make some coin purses and some wallets. All of them were "kits" so all you needed to do was to follow the path. What will happen to you is that if you dont improve your skills now, eventually something or a project will force you to. Ive made a SLR camera case with some heavy leather and using sole leather on the top/bottom. Try stitching sole leather with an awl. I tried, but eventually had to use a dremel and pre-drill the holes. Then on top of that i lined it with some closed cell phone and cordura. I made bags that were a mix of leather and cordura and a bookpack with both too. that pack lasted me through college and then some. just remember, many things are a "do over" so keep that in mind when you do something or a hobby. It may cost you some money and time, but if you are willing to learn/try, then do what you need to do and keep an open mind. If you want and if you have access to some leather shops in your area, look for some large "scrap" leather to buy and practice on. If you can, look for pieces you can use to make "prototpyes" and such. I have used some heavy poster board to make prototpyes and patterns. Again, thinking outside the box to help in your skills. If you screw up, evaluate why. Just dont toss and start over. Maybe even keep that and finish up the project to verify the end product will work as intended. On my 1st holster i made, it was for a friends Browning High power. So i made a pattern, cut the leather and started stitching. I wanted to lace it togeather too instead of saddle stitch and it was a PIA. Ive laced thin leather, but i never laced an edge ~ 1/2 inch wide, so i had to learn on the fly how to to it. I did use some scrap and build up to the thickness needed to practice on too. And to top it off i made it a left handed holster. I forgot to flip the patten over or the leather over. ever since then, when i make a holster, i will forget to flip the pattern and always end up making a left hand holster. but in my friends case, he was left handed and it worked out in the end. imo, i think its more important you keep on doing. How you will learn and improve your skills is up to you and either you will do it when you want or outside forces will make you do it. Again, its your choice.

welcome, you may want to expand your references and get some leather books. If you want to make "cases" there are some books on "cases" if you want and they have info such as nomenclature. have fun.

welcome if you have any book stores where you live, you may want to check there first. even calling/emailing/texting.... its so easy now to check before you go. you know what you want and it makes it that much easier. Also, you dont need to buy alot of books. to me, its not difficult for somethings, but im more mechanical minded and think outside the box. If you think of a bag as a sack or something similar, you maybe able to get idea of how it could be built/assembled. you dont say what type of bags you want to make, but to me its sort of moot. Once you get 1 or 2 reference material, then review them and see how its done. Again, to me extrapolating what is shown and then applying to what i want is the next step. Sort of OT. > my bucket seats upholstery on an earlier car was worn so i wanted to play and remake the seat upholstery. I wanted to use something cool like Pendleton Wool and found a local outlet store. But what did i use for a pattern? i used the passenger seat! And just flipped the pattern over for any seat adjustment controls. easy-peasy. I made all of my oops on the passenger seat and so the drivers seat was better made/assembled. > when i was sailing, i had alot of gear to move from car to boat. Got tired of making alot of trips, so i made a duffel using some cordura i had alot of. I just made a "box" type duffle. Round ends could have been done, but i decided on a big rectangular box (bag). Zippers were a horse of a different color, but i had to do some thinking/drawing/sketching of how much material to overlap on top or not between the zipper side. i didnt want exposed zippers but some covering over them when it rained. Also, what it came down to is assembling the duffle inside-out. > depending on what you want to make, if you can get your hands on one, turn it inside-out and see how its made. again, easy peasy. > a friend wanted a book backpack made after seeing my bookpack. But he wanted some nicer things like padded straps and more pockets. I had several used/broke/worn out book packs to use as "reverse engineering samples" and thats how i made my pack and my fiends. > if you can get any cheap material to use as "prototype" consider doing so. > if you can draw, try drawing out your ideas. You dont have to be 10000% details on the 1st go around, but doodle details, such as how you will do the zipper or corners. Or how you will do the sides/bottoms. > as a matter of design and thinking outside the box, i try to MINIMIZE seams. Why? because its a wear/weak point. stitching can wear and loosen overtime. you do need seams, but i try to minimize it. > for the most part, if you want to attach things like pockets, you can add the before you assemble the whole project, but that will depend on the type of "bag" you want to make. > i know this is a leather board and chances are you want to use leather. I get that. but remember leather requires CARE. so whatever you decide to make, i would consider CARE. If you dont want to maintain that leather, then i would consider some other material. I mentioned CORDURA and i like using it since its nylon. And it requires minimial/0 care. have fun

welcome, some hints.... i would look for any industrial sewing machine sellers or used machine sellers in your area. Or if you want, nearby countries. You sort of live surrounded by other places that may have what you seek too. but take a sample of the material you want to sew and if its 2 or 3 layers, bring some sample of material so you can test sew on the material you want to sew. If you have a specific thread size, you can bring some of that thread and they will have to put some on a bobbin to test. But you will be able to test using material and thread. whatever features on the machine you want, make sure you make note or however you want to remember. for what its worth, i bought several used machines over years only to find they were did not work as i wanted. I spent alot of money on them and on the total. in the end, buy what you can afford and what you think you will use now and maybe in the future. Last comment. what i noticed is that the limiting factor on a machine was....thread size, pressor foot height, and most was forward/reverse. Since you live in the EU, im not sure what is available there vs the USA. I or we could recommend a model, but if you cant get it there, its moot. As mentioned some machines are clones of other brands too. good luck

regarding conveyor belt... you may want to be careful on whats IN the belt. Some may have some steel webbing inside.

welcome, i get it that it would be cool if you could get the easy answer for things. But this will be something you need to ask the customer and some of its by experience too. consider.... > will the holster be lined? If so, what with? > some people are making dual material holsters now such as Cordura/Leather, like those Cordura/leather saddles. Im surprised it took this long. > some people WANT a holster with no body too! > i made some knife sheaths where they were more or less just suede. No body and no support. Just for show i guess. Chances are you will be making some "oops" holsters where you will screw it up and have to start over. Every time i make a new holster and pattern, i forget to mark what side up for right and left and then what side up flesh/hair side to make a right or left hand holster. Its a (re) learning experience for me. you dont have a location in your profile so i will assume you are in the USA and have some leather shops nearby. But i would go to any leather shops in your area and buy some leather of different thicknesses and do some testing. At my local shop they have barrels full of scraps of various size, shape and leather types inducing furs too. So if im willing, i can rummage through them to find various weights if i want. They also have some "bellies" that have SOME good material left on them to use. I will sometimes get them to make some prototypes/pattens or test various things. If you are going to get into this hobby then you may as well get used to having some leather of various weights on hand. Either for you or for a customer. fwiw, i have from i think 5 oz to 11 oz for various projects i have had over my time doing leather work. Iirc i have used 5 to 8/9oz for my holsters and again, it would depend on what i was making and for whom and if it was lined or not. im sure others will chime in with an answer for you, but i think in the end you will find out the hard way, you will need some various weights.

have you tried to make any X or Y changes in your page setup or scaling?

i just googled for some sewing prototype services..... here are some links. But i will let you contact them if you want and maybe they can help or direct you to what you need/want. note that i have NOT used any of them. I know you want some guarantees but sometimes you will need to test the waters yourself. Before you do anything, i would sit down and have some questions jotted down so you can ask them and be prepared. Shop rate/costs? cost for prototype(S) and how much for 1 or 100000? who provides what, such as materials? who owns the intellectual/property rights such as pattens? any Non disclosure agreement? any non compete agreement? how much up front if any and so forth. good luck... https://www.wcsewco.com/services https://www.bagproducts.com/prototypes/ http://www.protosew.com https://designlinesgear.com again, i have not done what you want or used any of the above, but ive worked for mom & pop shops that made custom automation equipment and you pickup some thing when discussing things in meetings with teh customers. Also, if i were to do what you think you want to do, this is how i would start. Eventually you will to get on that horse and ride - or not. Its just the nature of the beast. some personal comments/hints.. > KNOW WHAT YOU WANT !!!!. I mean that because no mfg wants a customer that wants to change horses mid stream. you may get away with it 1 time, but keep on doing it and watch your cost go way up. > ask (alot) of questions. If you have ANY question ask. And dont walk away until you have that question answered TO YOUR SATISFACTION! > since you will have a prototype, use that as your jump off point. make sure everyone knows its YOURs and your prototype. If you want changes on it, mark it up somehow. Maybe apply some masking tape and write on it with an "arrow - triple stitch here" for example. OR take a photo of each side and the inside and mark up the photos. Dont do the hand waving thing where someone can interpret your ideas - wrong. > if you know the specs of the material such as Cordura 1000 not 500, then i would specify it. Specify everything you can so that there is no question of what you want material wise. If you have any Velcro on your bag, you may want to note there are various grades of velcro. You can get some cheap stuff where it may only last so many cycles. Every have any velcro on something where the fuzzy gives out after so many uses? well, you may have control over that. > there are other things too, but you may have some OTJ learning. good luck and have fun.

Sorry, i dont have first hand experience. I delt with others and have people approach me to make more than 1 item. I think you will be better off looking for someone in the USA so there isnt any duties/customs issues. You will pay more for local talent (less profit for you) so that maybe an issue? I was making some custom brow bands. one off units and someone else approached me to make millions. at the time i was 1 man show with a 9 to 5 job, so making millions wasnt going to happen. Im not sure who the person when to but i mentioned CHINA anyway since alot of tack is sewed (made?) there. I believed that person was able to find someone to do the work but lost contact with that person after they got what they wanted from me. You can contact the person given in the other post and see what they say. If you want more than 1 off, then you are going to have to deal with that and all the issues, suppliers and so forth. Dont forget chances are you will not be their only customer so you will have to play by their rules and timeline/schedule. If you are gung ho, you can start your own business. Im not that driven and is why i work 9 to 5, but i also dont take my work or headaches home with me. Work to live, not live to work so to speak. You can look/find some local people that sew and if you are lucky, they will have their own machines and go from there. I think there are people out there that do things like this and have a network of people to get it from "drawing board" to "reality" but i forget the details. personally i think you are in for some fun. good luck.

welcome, CHINA. stuff like that is all in CHINA. unless you want to try to find a local mfg/assembler. What you may want to do first is to have a prototype built or modeled up so you can show someone a model or the real McCoy. if you have any fabric shops in your area, i would also go there and get some material swatches or look for "Outdoor" fabrics. there is a place up in seattle called "seattle fabrics". I will let you do your research on them. but you can order some swatches if you want. also, if you go to those local shops, look for a "for sale" board or sometimes similar. You may find people wanting to to sew or have things sewed. and then you dont say if you want 1 off units or billions. i dont have anyone that i used, but you can try googling or google for local mfg/assemblers and see what happens. last comment. you may want to look for a "Thomas Register" the last time i saw one was at my 1st job but they are books at that time with registered mfg of various things. Its sort of like a yellow pages of mfg. There was a whole series of them that took up a couple shelves. you maybe able to find them online. i would also use your google-fu and google for mfg/assemblers. fwiw, i make my own bags. But they are 1 off units and are specific for my needs at that time. something else you want to consider. Is your intellectual property rights. If you outsource, you can more or less kiss your idea goodbye and if it becomes popular (whatever that is to make $$ in someone eyes) then your idea maybe made by someone else. So just be aware of what you do and what you expect. If you want, you can also contact any bag mfg or a mfg of "tactical" gear and see what they say. You may not get anything from it other than to see your idea being sold by someone else, but it will depend on your endgame. good luck

welcome, dont be too shy.

fwiw, if you want to tool your sheaths, go for it. but there is no rule book saying so. for me and when i was doing leatherwork, i could do patterns and such, but no freestyle or carving. My carvings came out like my pencil drawings....stick figure ish.. So when i made holsters or someone asked me to make one, i always told them, no tooling, just plane jane. They were happy with that and you can be too if you want. Eventually you will ask yourself, are you a knife maker, or a leather worker. Its you choice and you can change if/when you want.

@Kskinner, thanks for the vid. Again, way cool. fwiw, when i was board, i made some elkskin gloves. IIRC, elk skin is great for repelling or keeping your hands intact from friction?. I did it on my sewing machine. But seeing how they did it by hand, made me realize its better by hand. But mine were a real B to get done. I was able to make 1 to fit my 1 hand -like a glove - LOL. but the other one is tighter. sewing it near the web of the fingers was the biggest hurdle. what i did was to get a work glove like they made with the middle piece and reverse engineer the glove, but using my hand as a pattern. it always amazes me that in this day and age, there are still people doing things like the by hand. But it would be real cool to see an automated machine... good luck on getting 1 made. If you are gong to have it made, you may want to get the drawings if they will give them to you and then get a BOM. You may see if anyone wants 1 or some made?

im not sure about "shrinking" unless it got wet. But you may notice where the straps are fastened to the frame, the leather width maybe wider or the original width. whats a little blood loss (cash outlay) for a project. You can cheap out and buy cotton webbing. Have you looked at any belt blanks? also, as mentioned look at a hide and cost. have fun.

Welcome, i googled for some horsehair inlayed bracelets and came up with the attached photos....Note they are not mine, just from google... https://i.etsystatic.com/6024747/r/il/2da5fc/2033517437/il_1140xN.2033517437_balg.jpg https://www.foreverentwined.net/leather-inlay-bracelets For what its worth, i did more or less the same with some english brow bands. But used some blingz. The shop owner did the blingz and i inset them into the broadbands i made. it was tedious work since i didnt have all the real estate (extra leather) to sew and had to handsew along a 1/8" to 3/16" wide leather. as mentioned by above, take your time to make the cuts and i would also use a scratch awl. If you practice on some scrap leather, you can make a fine mark so you wouldnt notice it if you were not looking. Something to consider is to try not to reinvent the wheel for everytime you make something. So, consider making a "template". If you are making the same cutout everytime. Or you can make multiple size templates too. If you have any craft stores/home improvement look for some flexible plastic. Clear would be good, but if you can find something flexible and easy to cut to make your temple, it would help. Or look at some thicker craft paper/press board or something like poster board. Regarding your sharp blades, get something decent to cut on so you dont dull it too soon. If they are disposable type xacto blades, consider getting a pack or multiple packs and change often. A dull blade is asking for trouble. You can buy them in bulk too, but it will depend on how much you think you will need it. If the leather you are using is too thin - whatever that is -, it may get squirrelly if you try to mark the cut lines. You can also look at a divider like this. This is from amazon. I dont work there or profit, just use the links since it fast/easy. https://rb.gy/dbzny4

All i can say is COOL. It doesnt surprise me someone way back them came up with something like that. something to consider. You have what the creator didnt. A real unit to reverse engineer. I would just 3d model it up and use modern tools/materials. The base "U" part of that could be fabbed (welded) with plate steel. Maybe some steel flat bar. Spring steel is still available and that could be used as shown to enable the clamping mechanism. IT looks like that through bolt may provide tension adjustment? If thats the case, spring steel may not be needed. You could also put various springs ( K factors) on it to provide various clamping forces.

Welcome back, I forgot to add. Im not sure how fast you want to get a machine, but also look for any Leathercraft trade shows. If you subscribe to the Leather crafters journal, they post when the next show is and location. Im not sure what is going to happen with COVID issues, but its something to keep in mind. There will be vendors there selling their wares and i bet you could test drive some of their machines. They may have some used machines there or at their shop too. Also, look for any sewing machine shops too. Chances are they wont have any that are heavy duty enough, but it doesnt hurt to ask. Another thing, there are leather craft schools too. And again, not sure about how COVID has affected them. I think there was 1 in the midwest someplace. You can check with Craigslist. But unless the owner has used it, you may end up buying a headache. last comment. At the back of the journal are Leather Guilds info. So your Guild for MN is: Headwaters Leather Guild 952.913.8270 leefamav@gmail.com Mn. Minnesota.

welcome, Something you may want to consider.... > looking for some leathercraft/sewing shops in your area. If you can move about and have to spend some time driving, consider doing so. Such as traveling to an adjacent state to find a shop. > look for a leather shop with sewing machines. manual and power as listed above. You can also ask them what they may have that will work for you - sight unseens and tested and a price or price range. But it may give you an idea if you want to make a trip or not based off the price. Since that will be the #1 reason. > consider taking some leather "scraps"/samples and make a trip of it. You can ask the shops if they are open and if you can bring some sample leather to try on their machines. If you want, you can give them the thickness & thread size and see what they may have on the floor/instock upon your arrival. > i would prepare the leather "scraps" as if you were making a sellable belt and maybe even with the hardware. If you sew after or before hardware attached? but consider your assembly process and where the sewing comes in. you may find that some part(s) may interfere with the machine. > if you have any saddlers/tack/harness repair people in your area, reach out to them and see if they may have a machine that may work for you. Its not like you will buy their machine, but to get an idea if it will work with what you have and then look for a similar machine. Again, consider if you have do a "day" trip to do this too. last comment... > if you hands are giving you issues, have you asked a doc about this or just living with it? but if you havent talked to a doc about this, its up to you. But to me, if your hands are giving you issues, not much you can do. Do the sewing if/when your hands are ok if at all, live with the issues and do the work or get a machine. good luck

Welcome, Ever consider ordering 1/2 hides of each country/type and go from there? Contact the sellers and see what they say. If they are hungry to sell you something, they maybe willing to send you a "sample". But i would make sure they send you a average/general representative sample of what you would get if you ordered more. You may want to check on any import duties you may get charged too. Even if something is less expensive outside of the USA, you may get that duty charge and then there goes any "savings" you may perceive. Its something may want to check on. Also, expect Customs to inspect any hides coming in for any invasive species or unwanted hitchhikers. last comment. You may want to consider just finding a local provider and buy some from them. Think of building a RELATIONSHIP with the provider. LEARN what to look for in any hide and so forth. They maybe willing to teach you too! If you dont know what to look for, you may get taken. Also, i found that by building a RELATIONSHIP with my provider, i was a known person and they would work with me or take more time to help when i needed. and to end this, i found that usually and bad piece of leather will have its use. So, if you get taken on any leather hides you will find a use for it. If you are learning, you can use it for that. Such as cutting/tooling/skiving..ect. good luck

you could also have a couple bars on each side on another mating part and make a "mold" too. that way you can use a press to stamp out the part.

used the Eurostar several times but always bought 6 months out. Only internal French trips was Paris <> Bayeux and Bayeux <> Caen. Not a big deal $$ wise. Did some other CROSSborder trains, but again, i buy sooner than later. But what i found out via Seat61 is that for INTRAcountry trains price can be expensive such as in the UK depending on where/when. But if you buy tickets sooner than later you can usually get some good deals. Yes, they maybe expensive and to me its relative. But considering that i hate driving and the trains over-there work for me. Even if it cost a bit more, id rather take a train anytime and any day than to drive. but for me, i would use it as an "excuse" to get out of dodge and to be in some other country for a while.

fwiw, in my cousins work clothing store she had an old singer treadle machine along with some other antiques. It was used to hem pants/jeans and Carharts. If you are not aware of Carharts, they were heavy canvas work clothes. So going over the seam most machines would stop, but the treadle could skip and continue. Some of the heavy work jeans also had alot of material on the seams. She also had another one at home that was used. I wanted that machine for some of my sewing projects, but it wasnt available back then. we are becoming more and more dependent on the internet and electricity...just wait for you to loose both and see what will happen..

Im sure alot of stuff like that is made outside of the USA. As you may know, that country can make things fast and cheap. ITs what they like to do. Make billions/millions of something and keep on making it. YOu may want to look at making some yourself. you can get like a bearing press either manual or hydraulic hand pump and see what you think. Then if you can work out the bugs, you maybe able to make some to sell youself. Also, with the world being more global now and the USA also, you may want to look outside of your area. Everyone is connected now and if you arent, you are missing out on some business. So if alot of the shops are ag focused, i would look elseware. Especially with COVID going on now, there maybe companies/shopss going under and if they are slow, they maybe willing to work with you. I know the owner of a local fab shop that was fixing an old singer cast iron sewing table frame. It was so slow and he wanted to keep his employees busy even with that small project. He wanst making $$ of it, but he was keeping his employees busy! fyi, there are some online prototypers. iirc, you can submit a 3d CAD model (or they will have their staff draw it for you), but they will make for you. They will also put it on their website for sale and you get some credit for each sold. They did jewelry and so forth. But to me, its really cool to have that capability. If you can draw it up, have someone make it and its sold by the piece to whoever wants one. no machines to invest in or materials. but depending on how many you want for your project, it maybe better to make your own.