barra

Guess I can't tell porkie pies now and say anything but 46 Barra

Thanks for the well wishes Guys and Gals. Had an extremely hectic day, in fact couple of weeks. Helped save lives but that is another story. Denise. I wish I could say I was the pissed idiot on the right side in the party hat but alas not a drop of alkihol was nor could be had all day. Last year 45 didn't sound so bad but somehow 46 sounds to much like to close to 50. Barra

Welcome to LW Roberto. I hope this helps. Barra. http://www.militaryhorse.org/studies/mcclellan/ http://www.militaryhorse.org/studies/materialculture.php

Hi John. Are you by chance from Sewing Machine City. If I have the correct John Potter, how about a slightly more formal intro with your back ground in the industry. Barra

Dmr400. You will be surprised what you can scrounge/creatively acquire amongst standard Military equipment for your leatherwork. A couple of plywood planks held together with a wing nut will do at a push for a stitching horse. If you have no edge tool, The edges can be taken off with a gentle scraping with broken glass. When you attach your liner cut it ever so slightly over size. This will allow you to trim up to the size of the top peice. To burnish your edges just dampen the edges with water and vigorously rub with coarse canvas or cordura (gotta have plenty of cordura). You can then rub the edges with beeswax and use the canvas again. Boiled bark (whatever you can get hold of) or strong tea or walnut husks with some form of glue added will make a good edge stain. Use it as mentioned before to dampen and burnish the edges. If you can't find polishing compound, you can polish your awl blade with the striker from a match box and then give it a final polish with toothpaste. Barra

There just had to be one. I've been wondering how long before someone took the bait Bob.

Well it looks like we will have to cancel Xmas in Australia (yay just quietly) as Santa is missing 2 white boomers to pull his sleigh. Xmas in Australia is in the middle of summer and hence too hot for reindeer. Santa changes over to 6 white kangaroo (boomers) for his Australian run. If you believe in all that bah humbug hoo hah Barra

I also rack all my awl blades so the blade is stuck in a cork. If anything it is a good excuse to collect corks To me the best way to keep the rust at bay on a tool is to use it frequently. Barra

I too have a range of those cheap wad punches that you can pick up at just about any hardware store. I think they are just fine for certain applications. For example I use them in my drill press. If the punch does stuff out then for a few bucks you can just get another blister pack. I also have them in my travelling tool kit. Barra

CEW. Good advice has been offered thus far. When you do contact the companies don't merely ask for a machine that will sew 1/4 to 1/2". You will need to inform them of the range of products you largely intend to make. This will give the company the info needed to steer you toward a flat bed or cylinder/free arm machine. To my mind a reputable company should be able to determine whether they are speaking to a rookie or seasoned vet and if rookie they should ask you the type of products you want to sew if you the rookie don't have the experience or knowledge to know there is a difference. Barra

I used to live in Darwin, Northern Territory which is in the tropics. Here is a number of things I have done to warn off the rust. I covered up my tool rack when not in use. Tools that were not frequently used I would keep in tool boxes with either those little dessicant packets or a toilet roll to absorb moisture. I then made canvas tool rolls for groups of tools, 1 tool roll for all my punches, another for edge tools etc. This way when not in use the tools were covered up. I would also keep my bench tools covered up with an oily cloth when not in use. A little smear of vaseline here and there worked well too. Barra

The blob of araldite on the top thread. Going to lock that one in the memory banks. Might even give that one a trial run today. Barra

Good pick up Ryano. Alas, no it was not me. Geez I'd own up to that one. OK. Sewing machine pranks. 1. Take out the bobbin on a friends machine and then get a foot or so of thread and poke it down the throat plate. Unsuspecting sewer comes along and sets up their nice sewing job. After a foot, oh oh bobbin is empty. 2. Wrap the top thread of said friends machine around and under the spool so after a wee bit the top thread snaps 3. Cut the top thread at the spool as it leaves the spool. Again after a small amount of sewing the pranked sewer runs out of top thread. 4. Be bold and just walk past your friend who is sewing with a pair of shears. As you walk past - snip and run for your life 5. Oldy but a goldy. Spray friends sewing chair with silicone spray. As they sit down, whoosh and they are on their ass. 6. Walk past and flick up friends reverse lever as they are sewing. This one is a legal defence for murder.

G'DAY Druid. Welcome to LW. Sit back and enjoy the posts. Feel free to jump in anytime. I have been involved with leather for 30 years but have still managed to learn new tricks off people who have been involved 30 days. Barra (former drum major and pipe bag maker)

Just for some light hearted grins and giggles I thought I'd list a few stuff ups and near misses I have witnessed or participated in over the years. 1. When learning to sew on an Industrial machine one of my fellow students caught his sleeve as he was sewing (the mind boggles how). Anyhoo he paniced and kinda pooped his pants. This caused him to actually put his foot down. This promptly fed his arm into the machine. Unbelievably no blood was drawn. (there is an old saying. Your not a machinists boot lace until you have drawn blood) 2. Then there is the occasion where a fellow colleague who decided he was now a gun sewing machine mechanic. He totally dismantled one of our Pfaff 545's, cleaned it and reassembled it. When you put your foot down it went in reverse and when you applied the reverse lever it sewed forward. 3. Another colleague makes a duffle type bag. Reads the technical drawing wrong and marks it out in inches (drawing was in metric). When made you could have parked a volkswagon in the bag. To this day I have no idea why it did not dawn on him during the assembly phase that something may be amiss. OK in case anyone thinks the stories about colleagues are actually me covering up my stupidity. The next two are actually mine. 4. I have a tendency to concentrate hard on intricate sewing jobs and lean in real close. When using a Singer 132K6 (which is an old machine, no reverse and no guard on the take up arm) I leaned in close as usual and was clunked in the forehead about 20 times by the take up arm going hell for leather before I came to my senses. I now wear my safety ball cap when using a 132K6 5. When stitching up another duffle type bag I stitched on the handles on one side and then got side tracked in conversation. When I returned to the task I picked up the other end of the strap for the handle on the other side. Put it in place and stitched it in place. It was only when all was stitched in place that I looked down and noticed the handle was wrapped around the leg of the machine. 2 choices, unpick or dismantle the sewing machine table. The unpicker stayed on the tool board and the spanner/wrench came off. Barra

Curbstrap. The main issue I see is most evident in pic 10. See the leather from the rigging D, up past the breast collar D. It has torn like a perforated postage stamp. A good sign of leather rot. If it is rotten in this area it is rotten elsewhere as well. Barra

http://cheetah.eb.com/mw/art/med/pelvis.htm The basic premice of a different saddle (seat) for men and women is due to the differences in the male and female pelvis. Barra

Escherblacksmith. A 306K is fine for upholstery/garment weight leathers but would struggle on tooling leathers. The foot clearence is about 5/16th ". It will "pitch" stitches (straight sew) up to about 6 SPI and throw stitches (zigzag) about 5mm. Barra

Texasjack. It's a bit hard to see what you mean without a pic but generally a seam will need to be "dressed". This means that you will need to rub them flat or if the leather is a bit thicker you can gently tap the seam with a hammer. Barra

http://nashville.craigslist.org/atq/1420659094.html

http://nashville.craigslist.org/atq/1420659094.html

Hallo Katja. Willkommen zu den leatherworkers. Netz. Ich habe einen on-line-Übersetzer benutzt, um Sie Text ins Englische umzuwandeln. Er übersetzt nicht tadellos, aber mindestens erhalten die englischen Lautsprecher die Idee Ihres Antrags. Ich hoffe, dass dieses hilft. P.S. Halten Sie bekanntzugeben. Barra Hello! I stated with joy that itself auhttp: //ch German-speaking leather workers in the forum " here; herumtreiben". The affair facilitates for me somewhat, since my English is really very bad. The following problem: I entered relatively again into this beautiful hobby (punzieren). Some things I already punziert, but ever with colors did not work. Now I am about to punzieren a briefcase in the Sheridan Style. I already saw beautiful work from other leather artists and asked me how these partially very beautiful shades on the leather get. I would like to dye the work not completely or work with strong color, but to only emphasize the individual shades and/or also the background somewhat. Which colors there do I have to use? Only with an ancient finish one works here? Perhaps would someone be so nice to give with also a short guidance for this kind colorierens!? I thank you already for your trouble and hope inständig also as imminent an answers as possible. Love of greetings Katja

Marty. I will concur with the others. Since your living on a ship something like a Boss will pack up and fit into a foot locker. When you want to use it it can be clamped to a table/bench/bulk head. Alternatively become good friends with the Boatswain's mate or depending on your ship the Aircrew Survival Equipment personnel and steal the use of their machines for some of your needs. Barra

G;day Olphaart. Welcome to LW. Where abouts in Aus are you from? Barra

Next Q Jon. How are you acheiving that gorgeous two tone effect, especially the meander stamping. Now that I really like, strikingly effective? Barra