Northmount

Yellow woodworking glue dries hard, not flexible. So when you bend the leather items glued with it, you will hear the glue cracking. White glue dries flexible. So will hold better where you expect flexing to take place. Woodworkers don't normally need their items to flex. Tom

Fantastic job. I can only wish to do that someday. For the photo #4, to get the whole photo in focus, you need to increase the depth of field by using smaller lens opening near f16 and longer exposure. The the horn and cantle can both be in focus. Tom

I assume you are pulling on the bottom thread and it pulls out easily. That would mean that the top tension needs to be increased to pull the bottom thread halfway up into the leather. The "knot" should be half way through the leather. Generally leave the bobbin tension alone. There are numerous threads here about adjusting tension, and if needed, how to adjust the bobbin tension. Do a search for these threads. You can pick up a lot of good info. Most sewing machine manuals (even domestic home machines) show what a lock-stitch is supposed to look like and how to adjust the tension. Make sure the top thread is threaded correctly for your machine. It seems to be a very common problem when people get a new machine, especially if they have little machine experience. Tom

Fantastic. Truly great work. Something many of us can only aspire to. And to a great cause. Tom

Great dye job! Tom

Very good job overall. Great dye work too! Truck looks just like it should. Tom

Very nice job. Quite challenging. Do you have a pattern and willing to share it? Or do up a tutorial? I'm sure there are a number of people here that would be up to the challenge. I had a look around and there are a few YouTube videos out there. Will have to watch a couple closely to see what I can pick up. Tom

Great start. Can't wait to see it finished. Tom

Also depends on the maximum size thread your bobbin will take. Tom

If sharpening in a drill press, keep the file moving, else you are likely to damage the file teeth. Wears out the couple teeth you are using when you hold it in one spot. Use a light touch. Tom

For the forums you like to visit frequently, depending on your browser, save each forum as a favourite or bookmark. Then you can hop from one to the other simply by clicking on the favourite or bookmark for that forum. If you want to see all the new content each day, click on "view new content" near the top right of the topic/thread you are reading. Settings for the time period are on the left side of the page when you pick new content. You can bookmark it too. Tom

I'm not a saddle maker so take this with a grain or two of salt. To be hurting your knees, you must be sitting in such a way to be twisting your knees. I assume the 4 hour rides are at a walk for the majority of the time. So that would say something about position and length of stirrup. Also should get a medic to check your knees for any deterioration. I know it doesn't take much twist to really hurt my knees now. I rarely rode with a saddle. Couldn't afford one when I was a kid. So it was bareback for several years. Haven't ridden for many years now. After riding bareback for so long, rode with a saddle one day and just about fell off at a full gallop. Had forgotten how! I was trying to ride like bareback and kicked my feet out of the stirrups, then they flopped all over and beat the heck out of my ankles. Didn't take long to realize what I had forgotten! Maybe it helps to be bow legged too! Tom

I think people will need to know where the pain is and what your fit is to be able to help with an answer or suggestion. Back, hips, knees, etc. Is there actual bruising? Have you been in an accident and have damaged joints, bones, ligaments? Are you short, tall, long body, short legs, heavy, slim, etc. It's so tempting to say something about a "pain in the ...". But I'll leave that for someone else. Tom

Plain belts, carved and tooled belts, embossed belts? Tell us the type of stuff you want to do. Providing the right details gets to the answer with information that is useful to you sooner. Tom

These guys are also answering many of your questions, even though you may not have bought a single thing from them. They also know what works best with real "leather" sewing machines and stand behind their equipment and provide the support you need. They are also very busy, so if you don't get an answer immediately, don't give up and wander off somewhere else. Phone calls help too. Tom

I replaced the servo on my 2700 with the SewSlow gear reduction unit from Bob. It helped a lot, but still wasn't slow enough for me. At the slowest speed, it couldn't punch through hard 8 - 10 oz leather. Added pulley speed reducer as well. Now I can go as slow as 3 seconds per stitch and still have the torque needed to punch through the same leather. Flat out is now a little slow with the servo pot turned up as fast as it will go, but it's fine for me. No trouble going around the point of a belt, just have to be a little patient going down the side. Tom

Takes moisture. Other chemicals and contaminants will hasten the process. If it is kept dry, no green! Tom

My dad taught me how to set copper rivets about 50 years ago. I was trying to set them in just a few swats. After setting the burr, and trimming to less than 1/8", tap gently with the ball end of the hammer in a circular motion as noted above by RavenAus. It's the heavy hammering that does the damage. With a little care, you can make a real nice rivet job. Tom

Likely yes, especially if the motor pulley is the same size. Bolt pattern for mounting to the table is fairly standard. If the pulley is smaller, and there isn't enough adjustment available, you might need a shorter belt. Tom

For buying a few items at a time, small orders, or for no account, go to HardwareElf.com They sell Ohio Travel Bag items in smaller quantities and list the prices so you can order online. I see Ferg just answered while I was composing this. HardwareElf is $19.29 and $20.49, so cost is $10 higher than wholesale. For your bag frames, go to http://www.hardwareelf.com/elf/PurseFrames.jsp Tom

Yup, about 53 years off and on depending on how busy full time work, studying, and family kept me. Made and learned from lots of mistakes in the first couple years, but turned out some pretty good work during the third year. Had no mentor or access to anything but one book I bought from a hobby store and a few Tandy patterns. Used to use an opaque projector to blow up pictures of templates in the Tandy catalog! Used the earnings from wallets and stuff to pay for more leather and tools, and a few dates in 12th grade. Tom

I think I get it now, standing in the rug so the pile hides the bottom! I was trying to figure out if there was a problem with how the picture was processed or posted. Makes an interesting effect! Several years ago, my son left his new wallet laying somewhere a dog could reach it at his friends house. The dog chewed a corner out of it. Managed to skive off most of the damage, layer a new piece in, refinish it and re-lace around the corner. It still has a couple bite marks, but not very obvious. This picture brought back the memory, was a very sad boy when he came home that day, nearly 30 years ago. Tom

Interesting, looks nice. Looks like someone chewed off the bottom! Tom

Pretty interesting, looks nice I notice some fuzzies on the edges of the bag. They need to be slicked down and burnished. Tom

The speeds listed above are for 50 Hz line frequency. In North America, line frequency is 60 Hz. So 4 pole motor speed, loaded, is approximately 1725 to 1750 rpm. No load speed moves closer to synchronous speed of 1800 rpm. 2 pole is 3450 rpm when loaded and moves towards 3600 rpm with no load. I would suggest that since this problem appeared after the head was worked on, and since it can hardly skive anything without bogging down, that something in the head is either seizing up, or severely misaligned. So remove the belt and turn the pulley by hand. Should spin fairly easily with no leather in the machine. Since it used to work, increasing the motor size to solve a seized up machine is just going to further destroy it. Solve the root problem first. If the pulley turns easily with the belt off, then look at the motor and clutch/brake mechanism. Is the bell knife sharp? Jamming leather into a dull knife will slow the machine down cause it has to wear away the leather instead of cutting it. Tom