Art

Well maybe so, but the TSH-411 moniker was by used by Juki on a machine that had the same frame as the TSC-441 but was drop feed only. I suspect you were referring to the 441, which may very well be "the same as" a Cowboy 4500, but then may very well not be. Cowboy uses different feet most probably (Cowboy makes their own feet) and is made in a good factory, not as sure about the Sieck, although I have heard good things about them. As with all "House" brands, they are pretty much going to be clones, but most house brands are usually pretty good machines. From reading the Sieck website the Sieck with the Needle Positioner motor might be a good buy at 2500 euros, especially if you can drive down and pick it up. They don't seem to have a plain servo available. I don't see where it comes with any special feet or needle plates, but you can buy them here in the states if needed. Art

You should get the brown (Fiebing's) and thin it down. I have had success at 20% dye and 80% DEA. Fiebing's, in my experience, puts a lot more dyestuffs than necessary in their dyes, and cutting them uses some of this up. It also makes it a lot easier to dip dye, and a lot more consistent. The nice thing about the lighter concentration is that you can always run it through the dye again if it is not dark enough; going the other way don't work. Art

Harness gets sweated, pissed, and crapped on a lot in addition to getting dragged through the mud and over gravel and who knows what; oh, and don't forget the rain and the water to wash all that gunk off when you put it up, if you do. Harness tends to have a harder hand as opposed to bridle which is easier to work, but still stands up to sweat and water pretty well. Bridle also sounds more upscale than Harness. Art

No not really. It never made the leather appreciably stiffer on the one or two hides I had done. After those, I didn't bother. If you want it stiffer back it with whatever does the job. Some hides are stiffer than others, I have some roo that would stiffen a piece up nicely AND give it an incredible backside finish and add the plus of getting it in a variety of colors. Paste is just paste, it makes the backside a little glossy. You seem to be wanting us to tell you to get the pasted back, so hell, GET THE PASTED BACK on one hide and see for yourself. 75 cents a foot is the going rate for that service. W&C has the best finishing (or Custom) shop out there and they can help where you need it. Art

Hi Kerryanne, Youtube is really pretty good. Ian Atkinson has quite a few good videos which I have used with the Boy Scouts. He also has about 4 pattern packs that are reasonably priced on his etsy page, although if he doesn't watch himself, a bunch of Cornwall comes through. Nigel Armitage has some very good instructional videos that show a lot of hand stitching among other things. There are some basic leathercraft books that Al Stohlman and a few others did for Tandy back in the day. They are good and you should be able to find them on eBay. Art

Kerryanne, Back in the days of yesteryear (1st Qtr 20th Century and before), leatherworkers were either in the harness business (you can lump saddles in here) or the shoe business. Tools were made for those trades, and a lot of tools crossed over. Bevelers were made in 0 to 8, but the 3 to 5 were the most common, and they were BIG, I have one #8 as a curiosity and it could be actively used as a router. Tandy and the few others tend to keep with the old standard, and they run BIG. They say (who the hell are they?), for 6 oz (2.4mm) leather you need to use a #3. Not so today except for harness or saddlework. For decorative and daily use objects, the #0 or #1 (old school) is usually better. New makers like Ron's or Barry King (US makers) tend to be a bit more realistic in sizing and even make edgers for 1 oz or 2 oz leather. Get a round bottom edger if you can, they are harder to sharpen but give a nicer edge. Also, Dixon edgers and C.S. Osborne edgers do not come sharp. but you have to learn to sharpen anyway (at least that's the way they see it, and what have apprentices got to do anyway?). Art

Negligible difference, even on 2 oz. But there shouldn't be a need for pasting with W&C leather, I'am looking at 5 or so pieces in a roll right now and the backs are beautiful. Art

CG, You might want to try some of the Sellari's products. They make a Liquid Wax and also the Traditional Hard Wax. They also make a Cleaner that works great for getting all the crap out of my 12s, just be careful that that crap might be holding the whole thing together. Then there is the Thread Lube that I use in the Lube Pot on my Campbell, Sellari's Lube also works. These lube/wax are white and water soluble (at least the Campbell is), and are quite different from the clear lube we use for nylon/poly threads in the threaded needle machines. The white liquid waxes just don't require heat to melt them. Good luck with your ASN, and welcome to Iron Brigade. Art

Montana Pitchblend Paste works well also. It is all natural if that means anything to anybody. Pecard's while not a beeswax concoction is also pretty good in this department. Montana Pitchblend Oil (it is the paste without the beeswax) is really a great saddle oil too. Art

Have the seller set it up for whichever or whatever you sew the most. You can use a #22 (140Nm) needle and 92 or 138 thread, even 69 thread can work. I've seen it sew 8 oz and 6 oz all day at shows and then double and quadruple that. Art

The 2700 is more versatile, however at 20 oz you are pushing the top of the envelope for that machine and the 206RB. Better to bite the bullet now and get a 441 machine like the Cowboy CB 4500 or the Techsew 5100. Later, you might want to get a 2700 and set it up for lite work. However, if you only do lite work under say 3/8", the Techsew 2700 will work out fine. No guarantees, but no matter what you buy, 441 or 2700, you probably will be able to sell it for more in Sweden than you paid for it. Art

When I did a lot of knifemaking back in the '80s and '90s, I came up with a formula for a oil/wax concoction for knife sheaths. I'm sure this was from discussions with other knifemakers, so I can't say it is "mine". I found an old electric turkey roaster that came down from my parents, back in the '50s everyone had one and this one is from that era. It must have been a good design as I still see new ones today. Anyway, I filled it about 50% with oil (neatsfoot, the real stuff back in those days) heated it to about 150°F or so and added beeswax until it kind of filled the roaster. Mind you I got the beeswax from a friend who kept bees and it came in 40 lb blocks for a hundred bucks or so, still have one or two. I would dip a sheath in this mixture for 15 seconds or so and it was pretty much done. I didn't have Carnauba as there wasn't much of an internet back in those days. The mix worked well with the outdoors types, it stood up to everything especially water. It worked well in the Sandbox, took a lot of wear but held-up, not pretty but it survived. Like I said, this finish was more prevalent in the '80s and '90s, I haven't seen it around much today. Keep in mind also that we had a lot better leather than is being produced today, if you try this now, check how a test piece is affected by the heat. Art

Tom, Talk about speed of light. Your hack to use the google search on leatherworker.net is slicker than frog snot. It is WOW fast and finds just about everything matching the search criteria. I won't have to use the leatherworker.net search here again. Again, thanks. Art

Well yes it will give a second line of defense against failure, but I glue and stitch (most everyone does) and that doesn't come apart in normal use. I can maybe see double stitching a knife sheath, one that fits tight along the edge, but here again, a welt will take abuse better than a second row of stitching. If it is a design element, then do it. Art

As Tom said about the online order system, it is how should we say, uncomfortable. It is a lot easier on big orders to just email them and have them confirm, it keeps the data from being entered two or three times. You should really give them a call. Product knowledge is extremely high, and if you have really technical questions there are folks there who have forgotten more than most companies in the business know. Quality and service are really #1 at OTB. At one time, they made their own luggage handles and leather parts; I don't know if they still do, but they do know leatherwork and are not just a parts house. Art

Well, not on a big walking foot machine, but there might be something available for a drop feed machine. The problem is that the big machine and it's feet are made to handle big heavy material, and the wheel machine has a very very small area where the rubber hits the road so to speak. So that might not be a commonly asked for modification. The industrial guys like Toledo and Keystone would know though. Art

Pfaff is German. They build sewing machines much like they build cars. Industrial Pfaff machines are the race cars of the sewing machine world. Vie build it to do von ting und to do it werry vell, danke. Vertical shaft bobbins (horizontal or drop in bobbins) are not made for a wide variety of thread. The Pfaff 335 seems to like 92 or 138 and not much else, in fact I have found they like a #19 needle and 92 thread best although a #21 or #22 and 138 works too. I'm sure I could set one up to run 207 or 69 thread, but seldom both without adjustment. I am pretty sure 277 and that hook ain't a gonna work though, and you think they might just be telling you something with the size of the hole in the needle plate. Art

It seems like all of these forum systems use search algos from the dark ages (that is the 1980s for PCs). I've even had DECLARED keywords fail to return results. I'm sure it is just a matter of horsepower. A good powerful search engine would require an index that for a site this size at the very least a separate server. The boss ain't going to go for that anytime soon. Art

If you are thinking about it, change it. Check where the needle comes through the leather in the bottom of the stitch, it it looks nasty, change the needle. If the needle gets really hot (not just hot, but REALLY HOT), it is not cutting cleanly and should be changed. Go to the gun store and examine the Safariland and Bianchi production holsters. They use union locks without any reverse and they can be quite imaginative and decorative in the way they lock stitches. For double stitching, the manufacturers would use a double needle machine, but if they didn't, the general rule is you start, you stop, you're done. I haven't seen them using servo motors yet either. Art

I bought out a Tandy in 1999, I have all those books and they are collectors items. They are worth exactly what you can get for them. I wouldn't say there is a big active market for the things. I would say to put all of them up on leatherworker.net for 1/2 to 1/4 of their cover price and sell them out over time. The site is free. You might want to research what the books are going for, but at 1/2 to 1/4 of cover price you can't go too wrong. When I bought the Tandy, I had big multiples of everything. I kept one of each and gave the others away to guilds and libraries, and took the writeoff up to the value of what I paid for the store. Worked for me and the IILG was happy to get all that stuff. Don't forget the local Boy Scout Troop, Girl Scouts, and 4-H. After what you have listed is cherry picked, just put one price on the rest of it and blow it out. Art

In a hammer style mallet (as opposed to a maul) Barry makes a 24 oz 28 oz and a 32 oz in a 2.5 inch face mallet in either straight or taper. You might find the 32 oz to your liking for geometric although a 24 oz or 28 oz works for me except for one of Bob Beard's stamps that I have that a 32 oz or so would be nice; it's a really big stamp. Be careful of early mauls and Chinese mauls as some of them tend to flake off bits of the striking surface which gets all up into the work. Barry King, Bear Man, Berry (son of Bear Man), and the Maul Master series of mauls haven't given me any trouble so far. Art

Ok, This seems like Deja Vu all over again. Didn't you or someone ask this a couple of weeks back? Sooooo, here we go again. In the used department: Singer 31-15 with a roller foot. Singer 110 with roller foot but you have to be cognizant of the gearset thing for stitch length In the New Department:. Cobra 5550 BB BB stands for Big Bobbin (not the Big Bopper who some of us may fondly remember), comes with roller foot Juki 5550 with a roller foot Techsew 5550 RF comes with the roller foot A Roller Foot for most of the above costs around $30 Don't forget to check with Bob at Toledo Industrial or Gregg at Keystone Industrial as they both will know what you need and may have it in stock (new and used) at a good price. Art

First I would clean it. Almost anything will work, but I use Murphy's Oil Soap. Rinse and let dry for a day in a dry place. Apply one of the following: Pecard's Paste Montana Pitchblend Paste Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator Fiebing's Aussie Conditioner I prefer the first two, but the others work ok too. The Montana Pitchblend is all natural, the rest have petroleum products. Apply one coat of conditioner, if it is absorbed in 2 to 4 hours then put on another coat. Two coats are a lot of these products which should take 12 hours to a day to be absorbed. Wait a day or so and check the result. I don't condition more than once a year and once every two years if it spends most of the time in the tack room. The Hame Tugs and Traces take the most abuse and should be inspected first. Maybe the breeching next as it gets wet too, and then the other parts. You can use the old parts as templates to create new parts. Load bearing parts should come out of the back of the hide as high as you can get running from butt forward. It's fun, hope you have a sewing machine! Art

OTB also carries a good selection of tools for setting most any snap or fastener. Some of their tools may be Old World or Old School, but they all work. One very good reason to buy from OTB is that their products work. I always used to wonder why they went all the way to Belgium to get Jiffy Rivets, it is because they work. When you order from OTB or any of our advertisers, let them know you have seen their ad on leatherworker.net. Those ads at the top of the forums are what keeps leatherworker.net alive 24/7. The ads help offset the costs of the rack full of servers and dedicated infrastructure that keeps this site up and running (thank you backup generators and uninterruptable power supplies). Thank you advertisers! Art

John, I have the map case. I haven't had the time to draw up a pattern. The case is a little complicated as construction and design techniques are 1st 1/4 20th Century, Rock Island Arsenal 1914 H.E.K. There is a gusseted enclosure (pouch) on the back that runs the full length of the case, and the whole thing is in beautiful hair cell veg tan (not impressed hair cell, but the real thing). There are two wet formed pencil holders sewn to the gusseted pouch. There is a fold down and button stud cover for the front and back that covers the tri fold map case on the front and the pouch on the rear. D rings attach to straps that go through the top of the cover. They obviously did high quality leatherwork at Rock Island. The tri fold part is held together by two button stud enclosed straps attached along the edge of the pouch on the back The replica that is for sale is not nearly this detailed and is different in significant ways. There is also a covered magnetic compass attached inside the tri fold which is not there in the replica models I have seen. I am trying to decide whether to deconstruct this item or to do the best to recreate it without deconstruction. The third option is to restore this one. I am leaning toward options two. I have always thought that Rock Island did a fantastic job of turning out the many quality leather items that they did. Just like the other arsenals, they obviously took pride in the work they did. I'll get plans as soon as I can, maybe on a flow as I do them. Good luck trying to find that hair cell veg tan. Art