Northmount

Veg tanned leather does not have a sealed surface. Decorative tooling is done on veg tan leather. Part of the process it to dampen the leather so it will take the stamp impressions. Too wet is mushy, dry won't take impressions. There is a pinned topic about casing the leather in preparation for tooling if you are interested in following up that part of the craft. Dampen the leather across all the surface and let it dry. Then there shouldn't be water spots after it dries. If the surface needs to be cleaned, use saddle soap. If there are stains, they can be bleached out (in most cases) using oxalic acid. There lots of threads about cleaning or bleaching leather if you want to search for them. Tanning means the skin has been preserved. There are several methods of tanning. Each has its preferred uses. If the skin is not tanned, it will go rancid, stink, and rot. There are exceptions. Tom

Great video and information! Tom

Ken's videos, see this post Tom

For clipping wallet inserts similar to these http://www.tandyleather.ca/en/product/horizontal-wallet-insert to the interior of a wallet. They are an old style dating back to at least 1960. They won't work with these inserts. Tom

OK. I decided to get one to try it out. Took about a week after shipping date to arrive, so wasn't on a slow boat from China. It comes completely disassembled. The instructions in the box are all Chinese. After assembling it, I found a download with English instructions. That would have been much more helpful! Instructions It skives soft leather fairly easily. On vegtan, it kept digging in and cutting right through, making a useless mess. The blade has too high an incline wrt the leather, so just keeps cutting deeper. I decided to try reducing the angle (actually bending the blade holder closer to 90 degrees) to about half of what it was supplied as. Now it will skive vegtan too. The instructions say to place the blade about 1 to 2 mm behind the apex of the roller. If you don't, the leather runs into the bottom of the blade holder and screw heads. The blade needs to be supported as close to the edge as possible to stop the blade from flexing. So I will be filing the bottom blade support at a much shallower angle to give the clearance needed plus the support. It uses standard disposable razor blades. Comes with 3 packages of five. If you watch the video in the OPs original post, It looks real easy to skive. You will need some practice to get it to behave that nicely. Notice that the user in the video has left a number of screws out of the blade holder and bracket. Makes it easier and quicker to change blades or skiving angle. The version I received has the blade clamping bar on the top of the blade holder, whilst the video has it under the blade holder. The "limit block" or guide is useless. The video and instructions show it assembled to pull the leather from left to right. I reassembled mine to pull from the right to the left. I can see better what is happening, and find it easier to guide with my right hand rather than my left. For any amount of skiving, I find this easier to use and more repeatable than a skiving knife, round knife, or safety skiver. It will take me a little more practice to go around corners, and to start right at the end of a strap. Once started, it goes well now (with the lower blade angle). Tom

He won't split it up. Didn't want to ship either, but had another shipment he had to put together, so decided he would for this one too. Good chance for people in the east looking for a skiver to get something reasonable price. Tom

There is a kijiji ad in Quebec offering a TAKING TK-801 skiver for $500. The owner keeps replacing the ad each month, so it has been for sale for some months now. Owner will not negotiate price. Seems to be fairly priced considering the new price. And for USA, the current exchange rate is especially favourable. http://www.kijiji.ca/v-commercial-industriel/trois-rivieres/taking-skiver-leather-vinyl-rubber/1111964822?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true If it wasn't for $350 shipping to Calgary, I probably would have bought it. Tom

Very nice! Now my son will be wanting one! Tom

I've never had to re-time mine, three years. Check loose set screws, check clutch properly set or reset. Have you had a jamb or broken needle causing a jamb? Call Ron as Colt says. Tom

746 watts = 1 hp Tom

You have a choice, raw edges, or add extra to all outside edges to allow for turned edges. Tom

Just below the box for your post, on the right, click more reply options and you'll find options for uploading pictures ..

Pictures? Tom

It is the starting winding that determines the direction the motor runs. Reversing its leads is the way to do it (as you have done). The starting winding is only powered until the motor is nearly to speed, then it cuts out. A centrifugal switch in the end of the motor switches it off. There are other types of induction motors too. If you hear a switch drop out when the motor is coasting down, you have the one using a centrifugal switch. If not, it is the other type (can't remember its type name), and since it works and doesn't lock or buzz, you still made the right choice. Tom

Try out the search function, upper right of your screen. A search for wallet in patterns and templates yields this list for you to review. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=core&module=search&section=search&do=search&fromsearch=1 Tom For making your own pattern, measure out the size of bills, cards, etc. that you want to fit. Layout on paper, cut and tape or staple together to try out size. Allow about 1/2" extra for stitching and room to open and remove bills or cards without them binding. The are also a lot of discussions of how to make card pockets, and keep the bulk down.

Is the pedal rod too short now? Tom

For western Canada look at Leighton's http://www.leightons.ca/sitemap.html Tom

Too wet. Needs to dry until it is very near the same colour as it was before you wet it. Wet leather won't hold or give good impressions. Also when you fold leather, it will lose some definition as the surface is stretched. And folded wet will do worse. Your tooling should leave nice burnished marks, nice medium to dark brown. For thin leather, glue it down to hard board, plastic or something similar to keep it from stretching. Rubber cement works well. It will peel off. If you do a search here, you'll also find that some use shelf liner with a sticky backing. Peel and press it on. Shouldn't need to hit it more than once. Sometimes the stamp bounces and doesn't stay exactly in the impression, so loses definition. Professional stamps leave a cleaner impression, but the lower cost tandy stamps should still look reasonably good, and are good for beginners ... until you decide to get really serious about leather. Tom Edit: Rather than too wet, I think it is too dry. Do some test on a piece of scrap so you can see how it behaves versus the moisture content. Test stamp it every 15 minutes. When it is getting close to the correct moisture content, try every 5 minutes. If it won't take impressions, it is too dry. If the stamp just about cuts through or does cut through, too wet and maybe too heavy a hand on the mallet.

Add a few pictures so people can see what it looks like and form some opinion of its condition. Tom

See this thread for the "The Leather Worker's Manual" by Standage. Tom

The respirator you use should have a cartridge for organic chemicals. Simple filter will take out droplets, but not the fumes themselves. If you can smell the solvent through the filter, it is not working or the charcoal (or other absorbent) is used up. Replace it. Tom

Try reducing both tensions together if the thread is being pulled into/below the surface of the leather. Tom

Help wanted is for hiring help, like classifieds in the newspaper. Moved your post to Leather Sewing Machines. Tom

Not much to skive on 1/64". You likely need 2-3 oz. Tom

Is your presser foot lifting with the leather when running with the motor? That will result in skipped stitches. Try tightening the presser foot spring down some. Tom