Northmount

The first pic is the backside or more commonly called the flesh side. It's against the muscle/meat of the animal. The top side is the second pic. Commonly called the grain or hair or finished side. The show side normally, but depends on what appearance is wanted. The smooth grain or finished side needs to be roughened up to give the cement something to stick to. Coarse sandpaper works well. For glueing almost any material together, smooth surfaces need to be roughened up. Tom

The adjustment for the middle foot is the one you were pointing to in your photo. It is vertically above middle presser foot shaft. Maybe it has the wrong spring. Could cut part of it off. Seems to me there was another thread here somewhere about different lengths of springs. You could check with Gregg from Keystone. Tom

Take it back and get a refund Tom

There are separate adjustments for the inside and outside foot. Determine which one is marking the leather first. Tom

Needs to be the same size as the leather or larger. 3/4" plywood likely has enough weight by itself. You don't want to squash your tooling. Yes it takes longer to dry, you can change the towel or paper towel every couple hours to help hurry it up, and inspect how it is drying. Tom

Was the super shene frozen, or old? All water based finishes and paints are damaged when frozen. Tom

Rubbing alcohol has some other stuff in it. It may not be a problem. If you do a search for alcohol here, you will find many threads that give lots of info on the types available, including suitable types from the local liquor store if others are hard to find. Ethanol is good, Methyl Hydrate works for me. Denatured alcohol is ethanol with junk added to it to make it un-drinkable. Ethanol is what is in booze. You can always experiment on scrap pieces and see what works best for your case. You learn more by trying and seeing the first hand results. Tom

Nice job. Would be very tempted to have you make a pair for me, but we are too far away! Tom

Too thick a first coat, so it can't dry. Try a test piece. Cut the shene 50% with water before applying. Apply in light coats, allow at least 8 hours between. You may have to use a stronger solvent in order to remove the mess. Try alcohol or acetone. Test on a small area or other piece of scrap to see how it behaves. May remove some of your dye, or spread it around. Tom

I have placed the tooled leather on a flat clean surface, face down. Then covered it with a towel, or paper towel and placed a weight on top. The surface you place it on must be smooth, else it will transfer the irregularities to the leather. People have laid it on paper towel and then wondered where the funny pattern came from. You'll have to remove your backing material first as it needs to dry from the back. Tom

Try this manual http://www.keysew.com/Webpages/DemoImages/TN-422Bowners.pdf Tom

Would be helpful to know your location/country. Tom

Reduce your top tension first, before you play with the bobbin tension. Make sure the top thread path is not getting caught or hung up on anything. Tom

Here is one http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=39103&st=0&p=243024&hl=+servo%20+manual%20+error&fromsearch=1entry243024 It may help to tell what make and model your motor is. Lots of servos out there. Tom

Looks like autocorrect gotcha! Super glue Tom

It's a great machine. My only problems have been my own making, like many users. Takes me a bit to get the correct tension when I switch threads between 60 and 138. But that's not the machine's problem. That is to be expected. Drop down edge guide is a great addition. I added mine later. Order a bunch of leather point needles with the machine. Then you won't have to re-order later and wait for them. Tom

ahimsacowgirl see above post.She hasn't been online since April 2013, so hopefully this quote will get to her email. Tom

I have built the completer binder of leather with a stiffener between the outside and the lining leather. Then added the rings taken from a new binder. Trashed the vinyl cover completely. Then you can do all your sewing without the rings getting in the way. Here is another 3 ring binder thread. Tom PS, by the way I use a Techsew 2700. Had to add a speed reducer to it to go slow enough for me around the corners and stuff like that. I think a needle positioning system would work ok because you can go 1 stitch at a time when you need to. You can also hand-wheel to place the needle where you want it for stitch length adjustments for corners or such, then go from there.

Remember if you lift the foot too high, it will release your top tension. Otherwise, yes, it is very helpful when matching up corners, tight curves, etc. Tom

73 Mercury maquis with C6 was the worst, with 3 attempts before they got it fixed. Tom

Nice video, as usual. You can strengthen French seams by adding a reinforcing strip behind the seam. Then the joining seam is not taking all the stress when subject to being pulled across the seam, and the seam won't tend to open and gape. I recommend it. Makes a much stronger and durable product. You can also use a pressing stick to help separate the join and to press it flat before doing the side stitches. Much like a burnishing stick. Really like and appreciate your videos. Tom

I learned at about 12 years old how to set copper rivets. The first one I tried was a disaster. I didn't trim the post at all. I just started hammering on the rivet and of course, it didn't behave as I expected it to. Bent over, deformed, ugly, useless, etc. So my dad showed me how later that day. It makes little difference as to whether you cut across one direction or both directions when you trim the rivet post to the correct length. I was taught using just a ball-peen hammer. Make sure you have a good solid backing to support the work and rivet. Push the washer down tight. Then gently tap the end of the post with the ball end of the hammer, going around the perimeter of the post so you deform it equally all around. It will gradually spread and tighten down on the washer. You can do quite a nice job without the doming tool. It just makes it a little easier to finish it up. So in my opinion, don't pound the heck out of the rivet. Won't get what you want as a result. Tom

An old credit card makes a good applicator/spreader to spread out the glue and make a nice thin layer, especially for larger surfaces. Tom

I just had a look at it. Assuming you are on a Windows based PC (for other types, I'm not familiar and am no help), right click on the link. Select "Save link as". Make sure that the file it is about to download has the PDF extension. My first attempt this morning, it had a PHP extension. That will not give you what you want. Cancel and go back and try again. My second and third tries resulted in getting the PDF file. PHP is some script to give the browser some instructions, and will look like a bunch of code. Definitely not what you want to download. Tom

Download to your computer first, then open the file. It's a large file so takes a long time to open in your browser, especially if you are on a slower connection. Also notice that this site is slower the last several days. Could be lots of users online, or just a lot more traffic on the web getting closer to Christmas.Tom PS download the file in post number 8 above.