Northmount

Very nice. The amount of file space per post is limited. If you resize your pics to 800 x 600 pixels, you'll have lots of room to upload photos. Tom

Nice job! One a second note, There is a very mistaken concept about today's electronics and magnets floating around here and many other locations as well. Today's electronics don't use magnetic sensitive materials. If they did, your devices wouldn't fit your shirt pocket. They would be the size of hard drives and contain a spinning disk. Think of the size and power consumption. SDRAM cards and other micro memory are not sensitive to magnets. Even floppy disks and magnetic stripes are not as sensitive as most people think. Need alternating fields to really mess up. But I do agree with keeping your mag stripe credit cards shielded from magnets, just in case. Nice to be safe rather than sorry. Tom Edit. Many smart phones and tablets use magnetic switches. You need to know where they are and what they are for, or you could have functions activated unintentionally. Many have a switch to turn the screen on and off.

If you are using a windows based PC, right click on the file name in "windows explorer" (not in internet explorer), pick "send to", "mail recipient" and your email client will open and attach the file to the email, ready for you to send it. If you are using some other contraption, someone else will have to help. Tom

While you have the gears "out of mesh", can you turn the bobbin basket/hook? I not, there is something jamming the the basket/hook from turning. Something like a broken part of a needle, or threads jammed up tight underneath. Clear that problem up, then you can go about setting the gears in the right position and proceed with setting the timing. Any time you have a machine jam, look for something in the bobbin basket/hook area first and make sure that is clear. And put a new needle in. Tom

File size is quite limited on LW. You can setup an account with YouTube or other video hosting service and store it there, then provide the link here for people to be able to view it. Set the permissions on your hosting service to "public". Tom

Nice job. Like the molded pouches inside. Tom

Any time you dampen leather any amount that has been tooled/carved, you will lose some of the definition and crispness from your tooling. There are a number of threads about this problem. Saddle builders (and others) often tool after the leather has been molded to the shape you want it. Some saddle builders do the tooling right on the saddle. If you are making a bag or something like that, fit a block of wood or other hard object inside to give you a hard tooling surface and support. You will still need to properly case the leather before tooling. Tom

I would also taper the background matting out so you don't see a defined line, or drop the matting altogether. Tom

Good point. Many posts here over the past have suggested wax. So to be on the safe side, save punching until after the finish has been applied. Better than having to use deglazer to clean up, or try to fix messed up dye or finish. A little off topic, woodworkers use paraffin wax on machine surfaces to protect against rust and to help wood slide much more easily. They say it doesn't affect the application of finishes. But they get to sand the surface before applying stains and finishes. Can't sand that nice smooth leather surface! Tom

Most waxes will give a nice gloss on top of a finish. Don't try to build it up thick, buff it off nice. A warm surface is easier to buff. Make sure there are no abrasives in in the wax (like many auto and appliance waxes). Tom

Another method for tying off the ends of your thread is to leave them long and finish off (back stitch) as a saddle stitch after you have done the machine sewing. Looks neater in many cases. Tom

MS operating systems pay no attention to the XIF data captured with the photo. Apple and maybe others do. The XIF data indicates the camera's orientation when the picture was taken. So Apple can correct for it. The full size photo is still upside down on my MS PC. Try turning your phone up the opposite direction and see what happens. A little experimentation will get you the orientation that works the best for you. Tom

Good old fashioned anvils had a nice conical point. You could slide it over something like that and gently tap and work on the dinged area. There was another thread hear the past couple days bout sharpening drive punches, has some good ideas. Also to help with both driving the punch through the leather, and for pulling it back out, lubricate the end of the punch with paraffin or bees wax. Just press it into the block of wax. Tom

This could be done with two laces, alternating top and bottom. Sort of like saddle stitching. Just need to layout and punch your hole pattern first. Glue down the lace on the back at start and finish so you don't leave a bump like happens when you try to tie it. Can do single colour, or two colours, alternating. Tom

You need to upload the video to a video sharing site, make it public, and provide a link to it from here. Youtube is most popular. Vimeo is another. Tom

I want your shop ... and all the tools! Jealous! Tom

If you want wax or oil to be absorbed by the leather, it has to be applied before any acrylic or lacquer finish. These finishes seal the surface and pores of the leather. Resolene is an acrylic finish. Tom

Turn your item around 180 degrees and stich back over your seam. Poor mans reverse. Tom

You want to keep the inside as a straight tube so the punch outs can move through without jamming. So the inside is only dressed lightly to remove any bur from sharpening. And of course helps make the edge sharper. Tom

Also from Lee Valley Tom

Very ice! Tom

No heat, don't need to dry out the leather and cause it to shrink and crack. The balls are just beating it up to give some wear. If you want some scratches, wrap it around a few bricks in a pile of rags and drag it around the driveway. Tom

When I put magnets in wallets, purses, cases, etc., I usually fit the magnet into a piece of leather about the same thickness as the magnet. Depending on location, I would likely skive the edges of the leather to make a smooth transition. And the magnet would be covered with lining leather on the inside. Keep the thickness of leather between magnets, or magnet and keeper to a minimum since the further apart the magnets, the less pull exerted to keep the flap closed. Tom Edit And make sure the parts are strong enough, well enough made that they don't pull apart when opening them.

Put some Listerine in your casing solution. There are a number of posts about preventing mold. Do a search for them. Tom

Way too nice! Tom