Northmount

On your home page, the info on the banner is repeated below it. Many websites place the menu bar below the banner. That's where I tend to look for it, so took a moment to find where I could check out your other pages. Looking pretty good, interesting. Tom

If the leather is tooled, and you get it wet, you will lose some of the crispness of the tooling. If you wash your hands frequently or at least keep wiping frequently with a clean cloth, that will help a lot. Cheap grades of leather, you may need to clean before working with it, so could use liquid saddle soap, or possibly oxalic acid to clean it. Then allow to dry somewhat, and place in a plastic bag for casing. If you do get some oil or waxy stuff on the leather while working with it, use deglazer to clean it off. Dye thinners (alcohol) will work some too if you don't have or like the deglazer. For gluing, depends a lot on the type of glue you are using. Clamping or weights help with slow setting glues. With contact cement, roll it with a roller so you get lots of pressure to squeeze it together. Doesn't need to be clamped or weighted down. Tom

Should have taken it back or refused delivery to start with. If the cushion can be unzipped, you could try gluing a layer of upholstery leather inside to help reinforced the weak spot. Use a big piece that will fit just inside the stitch lines so you don't get the edges of the patch showing through. Would be a good idea to skive the edges of the patch thin. Best idea is take it back and have the seller fix or replace it. Tom

Your photo shows the surface of the leather actually cracked, not just the finish. So cure is like mentioned above, skive the leather thinner, and dampen the leather so the surface can stretch without cracking. If your leather is really dry, maybe even old, so really dried out, you need to add some natural oils to help condition the leather, but don't get carried away with it. More is not better! Tom

Some malls will let you set up a table for a few days for a relatively minimal fee. Some malls may limit it to fit with a craft fair or some other promotional activity they are running. If they will let you do that for an average week, you should be able to test the waters and see what the customer response is like. We did this while when we were getting a computer biz up and running years ago when Compaq and HP were high priced and the little guy could build better computers and not be drastically under priced by the big guys. Once a month for 3 days at a time really helped with the exposure. Tom

Heavier thread does take a lot more top tension to pull the thread back up tight and pull the knot into the middle of the leather. I was surprised too! I'm not familiar with the adjustments for your machine, but you may be able to open up the latch clearance a little so it doesn't snag your thread. Sometimes it could nick and weaken your thread. Tom

It may help to dampen the leather slightly, so it doesn't tend to wick the dye as easily, since it is already moist. Experiment! Tom Edit: Another thing you can do is put a light finish on, then dye with an alcohol based dye. It won't wick, but also doesn't really penetrate the leather, so is not good for items subject to any amount of wear. You will get different response than normal for the colour. Also, be careful putting the finish on over the dye. It will smear easily, so air brush is best. You need to test this first before you try it on a final product.

Are you matching needle and thread size? Here is a chart http://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html Is the needle in the right direction, and threaded from the correct side? Thread should enter on the side of the needle with the long groove. Tom

Paint it now in order to save your previous work. Tom

Have you tried pressing with a hot iron and wet cloth to form nice creases you can then sew overtop of? You probably need to trim material out of the corners to get the corners to lie smooth without a bunch of bulk. Tom

Machine sewing formed pouches, boxes can be fun too. Really need to watch the layout and have adequate leather for the machine foot. Cylinder machines need more space inside too. Might be easier to utilize the nail hole line as part of the sewing line when doing hand sewn articles. Tom

Iron or steel nails will leave black marks due to reacting with the tannin in the leather. Brass or stainless steel nails (or screws) shouldn't react with the tannin. So if you are going to hide the holes in a line of stitches, be careful what metals you use. Wet forming often leaves irregular edges, so generally need to be trimmed to fit nicely. I prefer to cut oversize and trim to fit and tidy up during assembly. Tom

Here are a number of links to Woodcarving Gouges http://woodcarvers.com/Flexpalm.htm, http://woodcarvers.com/drakegouges.htm, http://www.chippingaway.com/WoodCarving/TwoCherriesCarvingTools/TwoCherries-PalmSizeStraight.htm, http://www.sugarpinewoodcarving.com/index.php/cPath/1929?osCsid=3686b34d59fb606cce739b0716391800, http://www.mdiwoodcarvers.com/productslist.aspx?categoryID=15 There are lots of suppliers, you can do a google search for more. Tom

Start by cutting your pieces oversize, do your forming, cut of the oversize parts containing the nail holes, and throw them away. Tom

Thanks. Good ideas Tom

If it works with your leather interiors now with the treadle, it will work with a servo too. Just need the servo, mounting bolts (if not supplied with the servo) and a belt to fit. So first thing I would do is see if you are happy with the stitching job it does now. If it is doing a good job, then go for the servo. Or do like my mom did. When she wasn't well, I ran the treadle while she did the sewing. Find a neighbor kid willing to work for cookies. Tom

A combination of possibilities. 1. Too thin leather 2. Leather too wet 3. Too much force (too much pounding) On thin leather you may not be able to get some of the detail to show before you have cut the main outline. Thicker leather will let you see any detail that may be inside the main outline of the letters. Tom

Thanks Chancey Tom

I see a number of negative comments on some very good videos. There are some people out there that have nothing better to do than pull others down and make negative comments. Don't let them get to you. There are a lot of people that appreciate your instruction and comments. I hope you keep helping everyone. I appreciate your work and comments. Tom

Hey Chief, where did the videos go? Tom

Try a google search for leather book binding conservation. A number of libraries have posted their procedures for fixing bindings. Tom

You will nearly always get some marks with soft leather. Try reducing the presser foot pressure some more. If the needle lifts the leather as it is being pulled out, and lifts the presser foot, add a little pressure back. Dyeing before assembly lets you work with flat surfaces and is easier. You can touch up a little after assembly if needed and if careful. After assembly, you can trim edges to match, dye and burnish. Tom

Great looking saddlebags. Tough, durable, looks like they will serve you a long time. Tom

Reduce the presser foot pressure, but not so much that the foot lifts when the needle is pulling out. Lower pressure, less marking. Don't use wet leather. Use a spoon to smooth out the tracks, or a flat faced hammer to tap them flat. Tom

Don't lift the presser foot too high else you lose the top tension, but you know that I'm sure. The other thing is to not turn the leather while the loop is forming for the hook to pick it up. I saw another thread a while ago and it told at what point in the needle stroke to make the turn. And I see that Eric has just given the detail I was missing while I was typing this. Good luck Tom