freedom13

G'day all, It has been a while since I visited the forum as I have relocated with all the associated dramas. I have come accross a Bellow branded sewing machine and wondered if anyone knows anything about it. It is not a brand that I have come accross before and there is very little that I can find on the net about it. See the attached picture which is all the info that I have about it at the moment. Thanks, Richard

Here are the test results using plain water, baby shampoo and woolwash. 1-1/2 cups of warm water, 2 table spoon of baby shampoo Checked 1 hour later and sample still as hard as ever and was still floating. Checked again after a total of 4 hours some improvement but still pretty hard. Checked again after a total of 8-1/2 hours the sample seemed to have taken the water and was becoming reasonably supple. Put sample into a plastic bag and into the fridge. 1-1/2 cups of warm water, 1 table spoon of Wool Wash. This wool wash had as an additive some Eucalyptus oil. I figured that it would work the same as Listerine, maybe better. Checked after 1 hour still firm but not as hard as the sample above. the sample was no longer floating Checked again after a total of 4 hours. Sample was supple and appeared to be thoroughly wet. Put sample in plastic bag and into fridge. Need to try this with just a little Eucalyptus oil in plain water because it may be the Eucalyptus not the wool wash that improved the absorption. Plain warm water. Sample was still quite firm after 8-1/2 hours but decided to put into plastic bag and into the fridge with other samples Samples taken from fridge after 12 hours and set on the tomb stone to dry out. After 36 hours the samples had returned to normal colour. The plain water sample seems to have dried out the most and is the hardest. The shampoo and the wool wash samples are about the same as far as flexibility. I tried the swivel knife, beveller, back grounder and a large flower centre on each sample. I tried to use the same pressure on the knife and the same force on the mallet blows. Attached are my results. 1 means bad and 5 means good. So this all means that the Shampoo and the wool wash are pretty even except that it takes way less time to get the water into the leather with wool wash than anything else I have tried so far and it seem to be a little better to work with. I will try a sample with just Eucalyptus oil next to see how that goes. Richard

Hi all, It looks like not many people leave their hides stored away for a long time so it looks like I will have to do a little experimenting on my own. The hides are clean and very dry, no sign of mould or mildew so that is not a problem. My first experiment was to put some wool wash into the water. No measurements just a good quarter cup I guess into about 4 cups of water. In went the sample piece with the intention of leaving it for about 24 hours to see what happened. Well I don't know what happened after 24 hours but I can tell you that after 48 hours the water had been absorbed and my sample was soft and supple although completely water logged. I have it sitting on my tomb stone at the moment and will let it dry out until it looks ready to carve and I will give it a whirl. I will try this again with a little more attention to detail and timing. I will also try a test with Baby shampoo as I have some of that now. I have got some alcohol coming so will try that as well. I might try some Dish liquid as well. I will keep you posted Richard

Hi Bob, I have searched through the posts on this and other forums but cannot find any reference to my particular problem. I have some 3 great looking hides about 6mm thick that have been put away for about 30 years in a closet that I thought was pretty light proof but it seem that some light has effected parts of the hides. I should be able to work around that while building a saddle so no problem there. I cut some sample pieces from the hides and dropped them into some plain water to case them so I could get a little practice with the swivel knife after so long but they did not seem to absorb water very well at all. Hardly any bubbles and the light effected part of the hide seemed to remain very hard. I soaked the pieces for about 2 hours then into a plastic bag to overnight in the fridge. When I pulled them out they were still as stiff as a board. I guess that it has something to do with the age of the hide. Will I just have to soak them longer or do you have any suggestions. I havn't tried any of the formulas listed on the forums as yet as I don't want to preempt any solutions. Hope you can help. Richard

Thanks for the replies. I thought that it would be the case but just had to ask in case more info had been delivered under a different name or publisher. Richard

Hi all, Maybe it is a late midlife crisis at 64 but I have bought a horse and am getting back to riding but all the gear is passed it. I have been refreshing my old brain before starting to build a new saddle after 30 years not doing any leather work at all. The range of books etc that is available now is amazing. When I started out the only book that I could find in Australia was Bruce Grant's book 'How to Make Cowboy Horse Gear'. I have purchased among other books the Stohlman Encyclopedia of Saddle Making Vol 1, 2 and 3. There are references throughout the books of a Volume 4. Does anyone know if this was ever published or has this valuable information been lost after the passing of Al and Ann? Cheers, Richard