Northmount

Clean with saddle soap and wipe it down with the yellow coloured Listerine. For those that are having trouble with leather going moldy or mildew while tooling and taking a break for a couple days with the leather bagged to preserve the moisture content (casing), add some Listerine to the casing water. Tom

Take a piece of veg tanned leather, dip it in some water for a moment, then lay it out to dry. Every 10 minutes, stamp it with a good sized stamp that has some detail in it. Mark the time. Watch to see the difference as it starts to dry. When it is close to returning to its normal colour, switch to 5 minute intervals. Continue until the leather is dry. This will show you what too wet and too dry does to how the impressions look after the leather has completely dried. If you use the same thickness of leather, and treat is the same way, you can literally time at what point to start tooling, and the point at which you need to add a small amount of moisture to keep the leather at the condition you want while tooling. Tom

@niles Moved to leather sewing machines. "help wanted" posts require approvals before they can be seen by the membership. All subsequent posts by members to that thread also require approvals. You'll find more help here as well. Tom

@SeanC moved your post to the forum leather sewing machines. Have you read through this thread? https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/25239-the-type-of-sewing-machine-you-need-to-sew-leather/ Tom

You should identify the make/manufacture of the machine. Singer has their own thread sizes. Tom

@NewfoundlandLaw moved your post to leather sewing machines Tom

Moved your post to braiding. Hopefully you'll get the answer you want here. Tom

Edit is only available for a short window of time, maybe 2 hours. If you need things edited after that window closes, ask a moderator to do it for you. Tom

Added the photos in for Pete and deleted a couple posts that would no longer make sense. Tom

Look for the same stamp numbers on eBay and see what they seem to be selling for. Some are of course worth a little more depending on how rare they are now. Tom

Thicker seams tends to grab the needle and lift the presser foot on the up-stroke, collapsing the loop so the hook can't grab it. Try increasing the spring compression on the presser foot. Tom

Did you check with Silverback above your post? Tom

@leather671 Moved your post to show off Tom

Really nice and great work, as always! Tom

@toxo Moved your post to leather sewing machines. More likely to get answers here. Tom

Before actually punching the hole, just press the punch down tight to leave a mark, but not cut. Lift the punch away to see if the mark left by the punch is centered on your markings. Tom

Possibly your cutting surface is not perfectly flat as well. How do you keep your jacks in sync so they come down evenly and parallel to the cutting surface? You make have to release and cut multiple times to make up for the added tonnage needed. Tom

@Ferryman Moved your post to Leatherwork Conversation as I think this is a better place for it and will get more exposure and more answers or info. Tom

@MT Flyrod You appear to be in Missoula Montana area according to your IP address. It is a good idea to add your approximate location to your profile so you can get answers that are more appropriate for your area of the Solar System. Tom

Looks really great. I have a couple roses I started a while ago but have been distracted by other things that had to be finished. I'd be interested in seeing how you have attached the stem and leaves. Also what material are you using for the stem? I picked up some florists tape and wire for the stems, but from what I can see, yours looks better than that would. Your comments and illustrations would be very helpful. Tom

Nice job! Tom

Interesting story. Thanks for posting. Tom

Do a google search like this "site:leatherworker.net how much length to add for thicker belt" without the quotes. site:leatherworker.net restricts the search to this site. You can change the search string (words) to refine your search. If a term you don't like keeps popping up in your search, add it to the search string with a dash in front of it (-lazy). One of the posts the above search string found is A refinement to the search string could be remove thicker and add lined. Try different words if necessary to find or narrow the search. Tom

Take the handle off and make sure it is well supported. Cast Iron doesn't do well when dropped! Tom

This topic has been posted about a number of times. Have you tried a search? Mathematically speaking, the increase in outer circumference would be 2 x added thickness x pi (3.14). (back to basic math) Tom