Art

The Duck fat gives it a little different flavor and the whole thing is quite moist which makes it pretty good, the chicken gets more from the duck than the Turkey does. The dark meat is the best part of it all. Art

I Lippy, Ellis sent me a laser print of a Sheridan carving piece that was done with just the 15 tools in the set. You can do quite a bit. The tools are excellent and leave crisp deep impressions (if they are supposed to), the only thing I worry about is rusting, so I use a little Ballistol® on them now and again. I guess you could take them to a gunsmith and have them hot blued if you wanted a little more protection, but then it would eventually wear off the working end. Art

HI Tony, We do that here, called Turducken; First you bone (debone actually) all three then stuff the Chicken in to the Duck and then stuff that into the Turkey. The boning is the hard part. Art

Hi HS, I use a big Highlead to sew fabric all the time. There is not a problem with the blanket foot/needle plate setup. The machine is perfectly capable of being adjusted to do that work. Call your supplier and work through it with him on the phone, you will learn a lot and be able to make the adjustments yourself. Art

I PMed you with the info. Art

Hi Ray, Nothing wrong with the English breakfast although it seems to have morphed a bit from what I had in the late '60s. I don't know if it is regional, but I was around a small town, Northallerton I think that is up North, but not quite to Scotland. The breakfast I had was quite porkcentric, thick sliced bacon that was maybe draped over the radiator for 15 minutes, sausages, two great big ones at least 1/2 pound, something that you could call scrapple but was much better, three eggs and fried potatoes (fried in pork fat of course), not sure if I got tomatoes though. Anyway, I needed the Marmite (rum would have been better) to help digest the pork. I thought they might be putting me on or something, but they served the same thing to my RAF escort who dove in like he wasn't going to eat for the rest of the day. A great place, have no idea what it is like now, but they don't speak anything like the King's English there, the locals are practically unintelligible if they speak fast and mumble, but even loud and slow was a little difficult. Art

I take umbrage at that. We are very good at metric. Three metric feet equal one metric yard; 16 metric ounces equal one metric pound, and of course 5280 metric feet equal one metric mile. Ok, lets get to the important stuff. What's with you Brits and Aussies and the Marmite/Vegamite thing. That stuff is horrid (either one), even in small quantities, although I can understand how it might help with digestion of an English Breakfast; but so would a shot or two of rum. Art

Hi Bruce, #100 is a Singer 16 and #120 is a Singer 19. Art

Ray, Grits are a Southern thing much like corn meal just coarser. There are white grits and yellow grits, white being from hulled kernels and yellow being from whole kernels. We boil them until they are the thickness we like and usually add butter. The only place you can't get grits down South is McDonalds, and they're workin' on it. There is also hominy grits which is a different animal, but still corn. Art

Aaaaaahhh, A Spaghetti Western. Great work Jordan. Art

Hi Bruce, Uninstall any and all of that evil Java crap from your machine. Then delete anything JAVA related from the program files directory on your C: drive. It would then be a good idea to delete anything in the temp directory and you may as well blitz the trash while you are there. The idea here is to eliminate that evil Sun crud from any Microsoft Operating System as it really doesn't belong there. You should instead install Versions 1.1, 2, 3, and 3.5 of the .Net Framework and all of the corresponding Service Packs and start marching to the Microsoft drum. This will keep the nastys from running insidious JavaScripts on your machine and keep you from imminent disaster (but, you'll be able to run nefarious little VB Scripts if you still want to flirt with danger). If you want to run the evil Java, go get a Unix box. Bill Gates Of course, if you want to get any work done, you should follow Dan's advice, then reboot and go up to the Sun Microsystems Java Site and download and install the latest Java Runtime Engine (also called the Java Virtual Machine). http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp I myself am not a particularly lover of Java (we call it by another name, C#) but in today's world it is a necessary evil. Art

Hi Schno, I don't like to turn anyone onto a used machine who is clueless because there are all kinds of pitfalls. However, within your constraints, No 4 ???? which is a Singer 153 would be a good choice if it is in good condition and the right model, like a 153W103, and the price is right, $300 or so. The cylinder arm is always a plus. The one pictured is a oooolder model. For your money, Artisan makes a little machine that is very economical, can't think of the number right now, but it is the same basic machine that Sailrite and others use, but Artisan service comes with it, which is great, and it is more or less fitted for leatherwork, which the others are not. The machine is very portable yet can sew substantial thickness pretty well. Call them about it. Art

Hi Rick, With most of the manufacturers they make so much of it that quality will vary from time to time. From one user to another you can you can find love or hate relationships with any brand. For instance, A&E truly annoys me, however, a buddy of mine will only use A&E. I used to use a lot of Eddington poly in stuff like Western gear because it is not laid as tight and gives a little more period look. On the other hand Coats poly is laid pretty tight and I like that look in modern holsters and belts, you can actually see the lay of the cords in finished goods which appeals to me for that application so I use it in the larger sizes. Here again, Coats is wrapped tight and sometimes causes others fits in getting it to feed without the occasional kink. Linhanyl is a good nylon thread and it is my primary in sizes 138 and down. However Linhanyl is one of those "mega" thread suppliers that can run off the tracks occasionally, so there's good Linhanyl and bad Linhanyl. The supplier is important here to send the crap back before it gets to you, Artisan seems to do the best job of that so far. Of course Barbour's is Barbour's and is the only linen I use. Now this all has to do with machine sewing, if you are talking about hand sewing, disregard. Art

Hi Rick, If I want the stitching to stand out (usually Western and SASS work), I use 346/277 poly. I use 277/207 for more subtle presentations. I usually go for 6spi. For other work, 207/207 or even 207/138 will give sufficient strength, and with smaller needles, 7 or 8 spi will look very good. On late 19th century period work, I use 5/4cord on the Campbell at 6spi. Art

Hi Joy, As a lover of old iron, a 7 class is a nice machine. However, for you and your type of work, the Artisan is a better selection. Reverse, servo motor, new, great support, but most importantly, the cylinder arm, and the availability of specialized needle plates and feet. This just makes it a nobrainer; Get the Artisan 3000. Art

Daniel, Bob Loveless used to use a chain stitch machine back in the day, but he switched to the Artisan 3000 a few years ago. The chain stitch just runs on like a serger and if you don't cross the stitch, it will unravel unless you tie some form of knot in the end. Some folks used to cross back over their stitch line. Art

Ladies and Gents, The deal Regis is offering is great. That machine is scheduled for a price increase to something like $2399 on October 15. Even if you have to buy a new one, buy it now as the price increase would cover the shipping. Art

Hi Brad, You have to get the heat quite high to "burn off" the chrome, high enough that any temper will be gone. Wire brushing after that is pretty much out of the question. I really don't know much about which metal is used in them, I suspect it has changed quite a bit over time, and not necessarily for the better. I have no problem at all sacrificing a tool to the fire gods, especially a craftool, but without a little of the underlying chemistry it is simply a sacrifice. The chrome may be the only way they accomplish a little hardness with some inferior metal. The body of the tool may have reasonable utility, even with inferior metals, but the thinner sections that make the impressions may not be long for this world. Don't be hesitant to buy craftools, they are cheap and of reasonable quality. However, one by one as you find yourself using a particular tool a lot (whatever beveler you seem to use all the time), switch over to a Bob Beard, Barry King, or an Ellis Barnes tool of the same or similar purpose and see what a difference they make. Art

Hi Andy, How Much? Art

I can't help with Zack White. I get my Linhanyl nylon from Artisan, Linhanyl works very well in the smaller (138 and under) size threads. I understand Linhanyl occasionally goes wonky, but I don't get any of that from Jerry, they sort out and send the crap back to Linhanyl. I get Coats poly (I use it for 207 and up) from Ferdco, again no problems there either. I get Barbour's Linen from Campbell (also some Eddington) and again not a problem. I like Schmetz needles and get them from Campbell or Artisan. In the garment industry where they run machines FAST, they throw one lb spools in silicone oil for 10 minutes or more before mounting it on the machine, never seen it come pretreated though. Art

Hi Mike, They get a bit bigger than a rat up here in MD, but they are a swamp rat of sorts. We are not lucky enough to have a bounty on them though. Art

Hi Holly, Emu is pretty good, doesn't taste anything like a bird, more like beef. Nutria is pretty good pot meat; a couple of those, couple of squirrel, and an emu leg make the start of a pretty good stew. Throw some bacon or fatback in there as none of those are very fat meats. Art

No, never needed belt dressing, even for the machine I run full speed. Art

Hi Ed, Gates #6822 but anyones will work. MSC will have it, DoItBest has it, Grainger will have it, most truck supply places. Shouldn't be over 12 bucks. Art

Hi Ed, I do not use mallets, I was turned off to them eons ago by that stupid little rawhide hammer Tandy sells. For setting stuff, I used to use the 22oz and bigger Maul Master thing that John Bianchi designed, it is great for general stuff wacking. However for setting difficult stuff like large stamps, makers marks, and cutting, I find the Barry King 96oz maul to be quite effective. I have always liked the Maul over the Mallet, and for me, I feel that Mallet needs more attention to the business end of the Mallet and the Maul allows more attention to the business end of the tool. It is all a matter of what you like. With hammers and mallets, you need to look at the end of the thing you hit, with the maul I can look at the tool tip. Art