Art

Hi Popper, I don't case before dying, I do deglaze with isopropyl alcohol then apply dye with a sponge rolled in a tee shirt. Not a "dip" dye but actually apply great heaping spongefulls to the leather rubbing it on till even. Then I wipe it off with a dry cloth and if I don't like it goes back in. I'll even dunk it in the dye, but I use the sponge applicator the most. I also cut my dye about 50% with DEA, the Fiebing's stuff is always way too strong for that method, you can always do it again if you don't get it dark enough, kinda hard to go the other way. Art

Hi Josh, Adler makes great machines as Bob testifies. I could never afford one, so I kinda went the 441 route. The Germans had the philosophy of small frame, big motor, go like hell. In manufacturing, go fast is the rule. The 205s for a big machine were and are rather small, but they have been making them bigger now. Most of the Adler of today is Chinese, you can get a real Adler from Weaver (you'll need a wholesale account) but there are some respectable clones too. Cowboy makes them in even the longarm style and you can get those from Ryan Neel. http://www.neelsaddlery.com/ You need to get to a show and see these machines. Artisan, LMC, Ferdco, Weaver, Neels, and sometimes Luberto's are at the major shows, but call ahead to see who will be there. Some companies like Campbell Bosworth only come to Big shows like Sheridan, Boot and Saddlemakers Roundup, and the Denver Market. http://www.artisansew.com http://www.cobrastitch.com http://www.ferdco.com/ http://www.leathermachineco.com http://www.leatherstitchers.com/classic.htm http://www.campbell-bosworth.com/ I know the above list will generate more questions than it will answer, and still doesn't cover everything or everyone, but it is a start. Art

Hi Mary, Nice to see you here, newcomers are always welcome. Since you are so new here, you probably haven't read much of the board. We definitely encourage folks to let us know what they are doing. Please post all about yourself and your business, what machines you have, what you make, etc. If you want to sell something specific to someone, do it in a PM, that's all. You will find links to many suppliers in the previous posts if you take the time to read them, this being your first post after joining yesterday, I know it takes some time to read them all. You will find links to Artisan, Cowboy, Ferdco, and LMC and many others. Our mission here is to inform folks about everything going on in the Leather Sewing Machine business. We care about everyone and everything in the business and you will find announcements of births, deaths, illness, business ventures, and who knows what else here. Since we get a lot of folks looking for their first sewing machine here, discussions do run to all the vendors out there, folks here have different experiences with different brands and opinions will be expressed about them, that's not advertising, that's information. Let me get something straight here. I do not own the Leather Machine Company, period. I don't even own a piece of it, period. Someone has been spreading the rumor that I do and he is terribly ill-informed, and as everyone knows, a legend in his own mind. I promote leather sewing machines, and believe EVERYONE should have at least one, preferably more. I promote the vendors of these machines at absolutely no advantage to me, only to the vendor and the buyer, I have paid full price (or show price) for every sewing machine I have, except obviously, the used ones. We need these machines to do leatherwork, and this industry needs to succeed, I will continue to promote it, and ultimately the sewing machine user. Now Mary in Colorado, lets hear about your sewing machine related business, in Ohio. Art

Hi Josh, Bite the bullet now and get the 9" 441 like the LMC Cobra Class 3, 1/2" is more than I would want to put a 618 through regularly. Visit one of the shows and look them over. Art

Hi Josh, Will it be your first machine and do you need a cylinder arm. What's the money situation. Art

Hi All, Sorry to be late addressing this, but in a parapharasal of the words of Pink Floyd, Students, Leave Them Rings Alone! Needle manufacturers only make one size within a system of needle and grind it to make the smaller sizes. The process is a little different for needles for different uses, but they pretty much follow the same practice. There is a reason for this other than economic. They always grind off the groove side of the needle to make a smaller size, never the scarf side, SO THAT THE HOOK NEEDLE RELATIONSHIP STAYS THE SAME. This way the needle/hook relationship stays the same as the groove and needle diameter get smaller. Now, this needle can get only so small before running out of groove or impinging on the scarf so that it compromises the integrity and strength of the basic design. So the practical range of the 794 is 27/250 -- 23/160 that I know of, somebody said they got some 18/110 needles from Artisan for the 3000, so given that, maybe that is the new lower limit. The above goes for 441 clones, for the Adler clones, they provide a bunch of different spacers and I don't know why. Remember with spacers or rings, the bevel goes inside. If you have to mess around with spacers, you could have a problem with runout on the bobbin shaft or some other nefarious problem and you should give Steve from LMC Cobra a call or PM him here, his username is stevetayrien. Art

Hi Ray, Are you talking about a Bookbinder's press? The little press from Weaver, will be at the Wickenburg show in the LMC Cobra booth, I'll play with it there and let you know how it does. Art

Hi Bree, Well, Steve AND Tony both left Artisan. Not to worry though, you can still talk to Steve at LMC. http://cobrastitch.com or http://www.leathermachineco.com and call him. The website is still under construction, but it will get better over time, and the Phone number is there. Needless to say he is right busy with his new job, and if you are having a hard time getting through, PM me and I can give you his cell. Art

Hi Fred, You sure that's not a 206-RB1? It may have just been over oiled when put up, clean it up and run a bunch of leather through it, check for looseness in the needle bar, main shaft bearings and bobbin shaft, $200-$600 depending on condition. Art

We need a little perspective here. Art

Hi Ron, Being a benefactor life member of the NRA, I doubt I need much instruction on ammo. I was getting to the fact that the customer (when buying custom) may want to specify the head stampings wanted on an item like this. They might want them the same or all different. Don't know how it is with saddles, but with gunbelts, the customer can get very particular as the rig can also be a fashion statement. With gunbelts they usually want Winchester or Remington and in "their" caliber. If they use .45LC they want .45 Colt and not .44 even though the loops are identical. With everyone reloading and using Starline and Top Brass cases, it can make it a little hard to find a Winchester round. Art

Hi Ron, It says .38 SPL on the case heads, some are +P, none are .357 MAG. I guess you would know if it was yours though. The ones on the stirrup are .44 Mag. Art

Hi Pat, I guess it will take a day or so for it to propogate around the DNS servers, or maybe Johanna fell asleep at the keyboard. Art

I've been teasing you all for the last couple of weeks about the Cobra Machines. Well I can finally spill more of the beans. Steve Tayrien, you all know Steve, he formerly worked for Artisan, and sold many of you your machines, has left Artisan to work for The Leather Machine Company, I call them LMC for short. Why Jerry let Steve leave is totally beyond me. Tony (the Artisan mechanic) left to work for LMC too. If you need to talk to Steve about anything sewing machine, you can contact him at the listing below. Just give him a call and wish him good luck. The machines are great, and the feet and needle plates are a cut above others, they are simply gorgeous. These machines will be available at the Wickenburg, Sheridan, Wichita Falls, Indianapolis, and Denver shows with some really special show pricing. I hope to see you there. The Leather Machine Company, Inc. 3545 Highland Avenue "C" Highland, CA 92346 1-866-962-9880 http://leathermachineco.com cobra@leathermachineco.com If you need more info, you can PM me or call me (I'll send numbers in a PM) and I can give you models, prices, or whatever info I have Art

PM me with your email, I'll forward the last Friday Special, it's on there. Art

Hi Buster, 867 is about $3200 and with the needle positioning motor about $4,000. Nice machine. Yes, best flat bed medium weight machine. The 618 machines are very good and you can knock a thousand or more off the 867 price. Art

If you can afford it, buy a basic 15 piece Ellis Barnes tool set either direct from Ellis or from http://www.siegelofca.com This set costs $145 or about $10/tool. It is an excellent value and will get you started with tooling. Fill in with Robert Beard, Barry King, or Ellis Barnes tools as needed, or buy Tandy tools to try them out (especially ones you don't use that often). You'll need a good maul and Barry King can provide that, start with 16oz. You'll also need a big stone on a no bounce table to stamp on, and a grave stone that a stone cutter messed-up or a cheap surface plate from Harbor Freight or Grizzly will work. Granite is very good, marble can break sooner. Art

Hi Chuck, That motor manufacturer makes both a 400 and 500 watt motors. I can't imagine them mislabeling a motor, and if they did, they would mislabel a whole run of them which would cause a recall. The 400s are cheaper than the 500s. If it says 400w on the motor, it is 400. Art

Nothing in this world is necessary except for something similar to a stick and a rock. That being said, a cylinder arm machine will make it much easier to sew close to pockets or bulges in your work, like the bulge caused by something (firearm maybe) occupying the aforementioned holster or pocket. Also, the 441 based machines (which are cylinder arm) have various needle plates and feet available for sewing different things like holsters and bags and things. Not all cylinder arm machines have the variety of plates available that the 441 and it's clones do. Art

Hi Mike, The Viking (Husqvarna) is a good machine, just don't try and make it do too much, it isn't built to be doing anything but light leathers. I've seen big 441s that will sew anything from a 3/4" stack to a dollar bill, and with a little adjustment they really can, wait a minute, that's impossible, so here's the catch. It can sew all those different thicknesses WITH THE SAME NEEDLE AND THREAD. I've seen it at shows, they sew a piece or three or four of heavy skirting, then pull out a piece of 4oz and run that around, then go back to the stack, neat trick. Now look at the the sew-offs, on the thin piece, the bobbin thread is laying on the top, but it impresses folks buying their first machine who don't notice this; they don't realize they won't be using 346 thread and a 230/26 needle to sew wallets. So when they switch to 69 thread and a 100/16 needle, they are more than a little surprised that they are skipping a bunch of stitches and even worse things start happening. The above being said, a good mechanic who is remotely familiar with a 441, can set the machine up to sew with 46 thread and a 80/12 or 90/14 needle (if indeed the needle bar will hold it) in a half hour or so, but a smaller machine might do a better job overall. The shuttle and hook is really too large for that kind of thing, and 10 or 12 spi might actually be out of the 441 range a little bit. So, this is why folks end up with 2 or 3, or 4, or more machines. Most folks don't need a post machine or a patcher, but try to run a repair business without one and you end up doing a lot of hand stitching. Your first machine needs to be sized for the majority of your work, the next machine has to be matched to your next largest quantity of work, and so on. The 441 machines can be setup to sew about a three needle size range reliably, they are always setup to sew the largest needle in the range where the hook just barely touches the needle, and I mean barely. So, set it up to sew a 230/26 and it will sew a 180/24 ok. YMMV. The thread has to match the needle, so you can't get away with running 69 thread and a 180 needle, the stitching won't be tight. I hope I am answering the questions here, sometimes I digress. On your Viking, when the bobbin thread "lays flat" on the bottom, you need more top tension to pull up the bobbin thread a little. I don't think I would want to use over a 46 thread in the Viking, maybe smaller. With thread sizes 46 and down, the color selection available goes up dramatically. You see these color charts from the thread manufacturers, but try and find anything more than white, brown, and black in the bigger sizes. Yes, you do want compound feed or at the very least a walking foot on a leather machine. Compound feeds like needle feed/walking foot or needle feed/jump foot are optimal. Drop feed (feed dogs) can be a little problem sometimes when combined with the needle feed/walking foot and edge sewing. Art

I've seen ones that stop when the bobbin runs out. Never seen a leather machine rigged that way, but for the right price.... Art

Hi Buster, Now you are into medium weight, like under 1/2". There are a lot of machines in this category. My druthers if you have the money is: Dürkopp Adler 867 and I'd go the whole boat and get it with positioning servo motor. A more reasonable alternative in no particular order would be the 797 frame or the 618-1 frame from Highlead (Huigong No.3 in Shanghai), you can get this from Artisan or Cobra and Cowboy and a lot of others. Get it with a Safety Clutch and a speed reducer if available. Ferdco makes a Chinese version of the Famous Pfaff 1245, which is a good machine also. Of course a lightly used Pfaff 1245 or 545 is a great machine also. That's just some of them. Art

Doesn't that seem a little drastic? Art

Hi Buster, Well, for a minute there you were right on track for a 797 or 618 class machine that comes from the Highlead (Huigong No.3) factory in Shanghai. Then you said saddles and maybe you were also thinking holsters. This puts you into the heavy duty class of machine based on the Juki 441 or the Dürkopp Adler based machines. There are also short arm machines based on the 441 that many like a lot. So currently available: Cowboy 205-370 (like the Dürkopp Adler and is also available in 16.5" and 24" models) Cowboy 441 (like the Juki and also comes in 9", 16.5", 30", and 37") Cobra Class 3 (like Juki 441 but short 9" arm and no winder on machine, but on stand) Cobra Class 4 (like the 16.5" Juki 441, winder on machine) Artisan 3000 (like Cobra Class 3 Above) Artisan 4000 (like Cobra Class 4 Above) Ferdco 2020 (like Cobra Class 3 Above) Ferdco 2000 (like Juki 441, 16.5") Sewmo 441 (like Juki 441, 16.5") Sewmo 205-370 (like the Dürkopp Adler) These are the companies currently selling machines in the US. I say all of these are like the 441 or Adler, but each company slightly modifies the machines and changes some of the sewing parts for working with leather. Some I like better than others. If you call or PM me, I can tell you those opinions and why. Art

Hi Pat, With the 545, you may be able to get away with no speed reducer. I do think you should get a 550 or 500 watt motor instead of the 300. Definitely get the small pulley if you can, although they are readily available at the hardware store. Now, the important part here is to get your motor from one of the sewing machine suppliers here, I can give you my personal preferences if you ask in a PM or email. The service will be there if you have questions, not necessarily so with Allbrands, they never really see the merchandise, although, if you know what you are doing, there are some good prices there. I have one of their 550 servos that works fine. It is all Chinese, so one will occasionally be DOA or Dead after 5 min, so here again a supplier is a handy interface. Art