Northmount

Looks like your casing is improving. Too wet and the leather is mushy. The swivel knife drags. Stamping gets sort of blob like instead of burnishing and turning a deeper brown. You need a hard surface behind your leather while you are stamping. When I started 55 years ago, I had no option of getting a piece of granite or marble. I used 1/4" Masonite hardboard on a solid table with pipe frame and legs. For up to 8/9 oz leather it worked okay. Wood itself, depending on species is not likely hard enough. Some proponents of sharpening your swivel knife will tell you that you should strop on a hard surface rather than the backside of leather, since the leather deforms and tends to round over the sharp edge you are trying for. I use a piece of 3/4" MDF. Have one for red rouge and one for white stropping compound. I use a diamond sharpening plate labeled as extra fine if I need to remove any scratches from rougher stones or whatever, then of course follow that with red, then white stropping. Whether you use paints or dyes, make sure you allow adequate time for drying between coats. Also before applying any finish or layers of finish. No less than 4 hours, some behave better at 8 hours. When using dye, I sometimes dampen the leather slightly first as it helps stop the dye from suddenly seeping beyond the brush. Tom

Needle system size 135/16 is a leather point, 135/17 is a conical point. Both are the same size/length. Leather point doesn't blow out the back of the leather as badly as a conical point. This version of leather point is like a chisel. Anyone that is somewhat mechanically inclined should be able to help you switch motors. Get a servo with the smallest pulley you can so the machine can run slower. Tom

If you drop out the music, you could add some instructions to turn it into a small tutorial. Tom

Figure carving tools/stamps are a sub-set of all the stamps. What you are looking for is the main stamps used for most floral carving to do the moon and star. A medium to small beveller, might want to get both a smooth and checkered style. Looks like you need a swivel knife, or need to get yours sharpened and make sure you are casing the leather correctly. For floral carvings, add pear shader, (checkered, smooth, and vertical lines are all nice to have). A camouflage stamp, veiner, and a couple versions of background stamps. And the list just continues to go on and on. But you can do a lot with about 5 stamps. Tom

Take a look at https://brandingirons.com/collections/custom-branding-heads Scroll down the page a bit. Bought a hand held brass stamp with a 100 watt heater a few years ago. Use it for both wood and leather. There are other similar suppliers around too. Tom

Try Rona, Home Depot, Canadian Tire. They all have various metal stock in bars, rounds, angles, aluminum, brass, steel, etc. Tom

A photo or two and the purse name and style might help us provide some more assistance. Do you have access to a photos of the finished purse from the vendor? Tom

Available 1963 and earlier for both the log letter craftaid and the wallet interior. May have been available for a few years after as well. The log letters were one of my favourites. Tom

Here is their FB page https://www.facebook.com/Oaksonauthentic/ Tom

Hidepounder's (Bob Park) booklet, western floral designs is listed in his signature line. See this page http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/74318-bob-park-workshops/#comment-488132 Tom

I have the same exact liner in my current wallet. Bought in the 60s. I may have another one or two in a bin. Been using this wallet for about 20 or more years. They are simple but good liners/interiors. Nice job, should last you another 20 or 30 years if you don't pack too many coins in it. Tom

Calf skin is thinner than cowhide in general. Both are of course leather. Which do you think would be thinner and more supple, a calf, or an old cow or bull that has spent more time in the elements? If you do a search, you can find lots of threads here about watch straps. Another search that you might find interesting results for your tennis racquets would be leather wrap on steering wheels. Bound to be some similarities here. Tom

I would at least grind the tip of the blade round to help reduce the risk of an accident. Really don't need that sharp point sticking up just waiting to get you! Do a little searching, there are easier ways of cutting lace from rounds that don't require expensive tools. Tom

Just a quick comment about posting. Please don't keep hitting the post button. Just hit it once, then wait for the internet and server to respond. That will help to avoid multiple posts. This is especially important when you are on a slow connection, or the internet traffic is high, or the server is busy with other members. I deleted the multiple posts. Tom

Please update your profile to include your location. This is a worldwide forum, so it has become even more important to identify your location so you can get help and input from people in your area, especially when looking for any one-on-one help. Tom

Wow! 7 posts! Please click the post button only once and wait patiently for a moment or two for the server to respond. If it is busy, or you are on a slow connection, it takes some time to complete the database transactions. Not nearly as instant as we would like it to be some days. Welcome to the forum. you will find lots of information here and lots of helpful members. I second Fred's comment. I like spiral wraps. Tom

And that is why you see broken links in many of the older posts here. People close accounts, move photos, delete photos from their account, etc. and we can no longer see what they had posted. Do us all a favour and post the pics here or create a gallery here and link to it. Tom

Did you make a turn during the stitching or lift the foot? If you make a turn while the loop is forming or lift the foot too high and release the top tension, strange things happen on the backside. If the loop happened at a point like this, it could be part of your problem. Tom

Smaller pulley on the motor, larger wheel on the sewing machine head, speed reduction pulley set, and a servo motor are all options to help reduce speed. The combination of the speed reduction pulley set and a servo motor will get you the best low speed and power to punch through tough leather. You can do a search here and find lots of info on all of these options. Tom

Do you have a shop I can visit here in Calgary? Tom

Keep your finger nails trimmed and watch out for any other thing like shirt cuff buttons, rings, etc. Watch where you lay your tools down too. That will reduce a lot of your marks on damp/cased leather. When lacing, make sure the leather has dried so it doesn't pick up impressions easily. Tom

If your strap cutter guide and blade are not parallel, the strap may be wedging in tight and making it hard or impossible to pull through. I recently bought a draw gauge from Tandy. It wedged the strap in so tight I couldn't pull it through at all. Took it back and ordered a good old Osborne from Bruce Johnson. Cuts the same leather like a dream. I could have done some filing and trued up the Tandy one, but figured why should I have to fix a brand new draw gauge. Tom

Take a look through this thread and watch KK's video. There are a couple other Kevin King tutorials here too if you want to search for them. http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/836-wallet-binding-tutorial/?page=2 Tom

Lots of work on this site with no tooling. Leatherwork covers a very wide spectrum. Good to here you are returning to leatherworking. Tom

I think the real problem will be getting the piece lined up so the laser pattern will exactly follow the painted/stained pattern. Maybe mark up the platen the leather is to be placed on, do a light burn, then paint/stain and then re-position exactly where it was to do the final burn. Anyway, you will need to work closely with the laser owner/operator. You will need to have the pattern in an adequate format for the laser. Tom