Northmount

Great to see you are back at it again. We'll be watching your work closely. I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress. Tom

Moved to "Marketplace > Items For Sale > Machinery -- Sewing and Stitching > Used" Tom

Pages 13 and 14 of Al Stohlman's Pictorial Carving has some examples. Bark is done with a modeling tool. You can purchase a download this booklet from Tandy. Page 46 of Al Stohlman's How to Carve Leather has a similar illustration. Also available from Tandy. Both of these booklets are good reference material and have lots of western figure carving patterns. Tom

Bruce Grants Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding, page 273. Tom

A photo might help us understand what you are seeing. Tom

Wooden mallet also sheds fibres that drop onto your work and may get stamped into the leather if you don't notice in time. So I stay away from wood. You can cut a thin layer off the face of wood or rawhide to square up the face after it has become all beat up. Tom

Welcome from another Calgarian. What are your main interests? Carving and tooling, bags, saddles, ... Looking forward to hearing more from you soon. Tom

Steel rule dies are not suitable for use as mallet dies. But you can use an arbor press with a couple pieces of 3/8" or thicker steel plate to spread the force. The larger the die, the stronger press you need to use. (and maybe more bites to be able to cut longer or wider pieces) Standard index card size die is easy to use with a 1 ton arbor press as an example of force required for size. Tom

Doug - Took me a while to find it! Sorry, that thread was locked. Here is a pic. Tom

If you do a search for "mallet die" (including the quotes) you'll find a few threads with a little information including a supplier. Tom

Same sort of thing happened to me. Have to keep the object you are sewing flat, perpendicular to the needle. If you lift the left edge, stitching on the back moves closer to the edge. I built a flat table adapter, problem gone. Tom

You can add a flat bed adapter to a cylinder arm machine to use it as a flat bed. But you can't convert a flatbed to a cylinder arm. Nice to be able to reach inside to do purses, bags, etc. Domestics are just that. For leather, get an industrial machine that has been setup for leather. Tom

Motors lose torque at low speeds. So if you are trying to punch through thick or hard temper leather a stitch at a time going around a tight curve, the motor is going too slow to produce the torque needed. The addition of a speed reduce set of pulleys gets the motor speed back up, and increases the torque available to your machine. If a speed reduce is 4:1 speed reduction, it will give you a 4x torque amplification besides the increased available motor torque due to its higher speed. Tom

In addition to the comments above, servo motors normally have a brake. When the pedal is completely released, the servo motor's brake is on, so yes it is even harder to turn against the brake. Press the pedal slightly to release the brake. There is another thread of posts about disconnecting or removing the brake if it is not needed. Typically for most of us, we go slow so don't really need the brake. Tom

Great stuff! Tom

Have you tried changing the needle? Tom

I try to always stitch the ends down instead of using the end stops. But it depends on your project. I have also found that when making a zippered folder, measure and start attaching the zipper in the middle on both covers, and working both directions to avoid having a twisted folder when finished. Use double sided tape or lots of clips to keep it all in place while doing the final assembly and stitching. Tom

I tested three different types of contact cement. Tanners came out the best, and even developed greater strength as it cured over several more days. I have 2 BB playbook cases with Kydex clips I fabricated that have been in use for about a year now. No indication of anything coming apart yet. Don't forget to rough up the plastic and the grain side of the leather it is being attached to. Tom

I've made clips out of Kydex and glued them in place. So that is another option. Tom

Rough up the back of the hard shell plastic case, glue it to the leather using a high quality contact cement like Tanners Bond. Tom

The way the thread is finished off around the outside edge of the strap, I would say the example you posted is hand sewen. Tom

Beautiful! Nothing more I can say. Tom

If think it is too smooth and shiny, just add more rouge to roughen up the surface slightly. That nice smooth shinny look still does the job, but maybe a little slower. Does more polishing, less cutting. Tom

Depends somewhat on the type of dye (solvent) you use. Slightly dampening the leather seems to help with both spirit and water based dyes. Since the leather is slightly damp, there is less wicking action. Another alternative is to apply a finish ... Like an acrylic and use a spirit based dye that will penetrate into the finish, but not bleed into the leather. It is a little harder to get a nice even colour, but if you build it up slowly with diluted dye, you can even it out fairly well. If you are going to do it this way, you need to practice on scrap to get the colour and feel that you want. Tom

Yes, larger patterns are easier to work with. When they are small, it's harder to fit into the tiny spaces, sometimes need smaller stamps to fit the scale. Tom