Art

I used to use Bag Kote for holsters and sheaths before I found Montana Pitchblend, and prior to that Pecard's. Bag Kote is easy to apply, spray bottle or just rub on, you can put multiple coats on. It does not give a real glossy finish, some shine on buffing, but if you want more, use Tan Kote. Tan Kote is also good for thinning antique that has dried-up a bit. Art

Usually, leather of any quality doesn't need pasting. If the flesh is all stringy, it is usually an "economy piece of leather. If the flesh side is going to be exposed and does not come up to your standards, you can paste it yourself after you have dyed it. Pasting right from the factory is ok for something you are going to use natural or dyed from the tannery. Art

Pecard's or Montana Pitchblend. Both are a paste. I use Pecard's on seats, Pitchblend on everything else. They protect from water and sun somewhat, but a cover never hurts and a custom cover is easy to make once you have patterned the seat it is just a matter of an elastic around the edges. Art

James, Buy an inexpensive set of irons from Springfield Leather, called Finesse Tools, you can watch the video here. These tools actually work very well and will get you a feel for things without raping your pocketbook. Art

I have used goodsjapan and the tools were excellent for the price. I don't order much from them but sometimes one or two tools at a time and it takes about 2 weeks. I have never had to pay any duty. Be careful, other companies make tools similar to the goodsjapan tools and the quality and execution is horrendous. In my opinion, Tandy (TLF) tools just seem to be crap in the last ten years, not all of them, but the ones that require machining, holes not drilled correctly, that kind of thing. Some tool sellers here in the US, Springfield Leather for instance, are getting tools made by machine shops and foundries here in the US, and the quality is pretty good to excellent. Other shops like Sheridan Leather Outfitters sell quality older used tools; an acceptable tool for the desired use can usually be found there, and the quality will be top notch. If you don't see what you need, call Vandy Douglas at Sheridan. There are other "not so on the radar" leather and tool sellers like Brettuns Village who have new, well made, US tools that I have and use daily. These tools are really good. Bob Douglas also has several tools made here in the US that are available at shows or through Vandy at Sheridan Leather. Bob makes the best awls in the world, and makes really great burr rivet setters. Like I have said before, Springfield Leather is starting to have tools made and sourcing US made tools from other trades that crossover into leatherwork; call or email Kevin at Springfield Leather to talk about them, the prices are great for sharp out of the box tools. I think there is a finesse tools video demo on their website. In fact, there are a bunch of demo videos on their website. Art

Springfield Leather has their finesse line of belt end cutters and pricking and slotting tools which are inexpensive and surprisingly good. If you bought them all, they would cost under $100 delivered which is dirt cheap. You need a poly mallet, knife (box cutter ok to start), rotary cutter is good for thin stuff, but a rotary mat won't stand-up to a box cutter or head knife. Buy straps pre-cut if you can. a few hole punches for belt holes and you are ready to make belts. You can even get the belts dyed from Weaver, and they are made from good leather. As you get experience, buy more tools. Watch all the videos on the Springfield Leather site and there is an ask Kevin email, you really can ask him. YouTube is also good, try videos by Leodis Leather, Ian is cool, but the Cornwall accent can really slip out if he isn't watching himself. Buy everything as you need it, plan ahead and purchase. Kevin and his staff at SLC can help if you need tool advice. And leatherworker.net is here all the time. Art

For something that thin, a rotary cutter and pad and one of the long quilting rulers will do the trick. Art

I guess you need to post some drawings, specs, materials, hardware. You are looking for a prototype or do you want it designed and built. Your timeline is short and your costs will be high. If it has to be designed for production then there is quite a lot of time that goes into that. Tell us more. Art

Let's look at this from a little different perspective. I don't sell leather unless it is made-up into something, or as a favor to some local leathercrafter. Please realize that we as leathercrafters are not a lot more than a rounding error on most of the tanneries bottom lines. Louis Vuitton can order more leather at one time from a tannery than all of our orders combined. Do the tanneries want our business?, the simple answer is yes. They want us to hold leather in our hands and be inclined to order more. It is nonetheless probably a royal pain in the ass to service individual leatherworkers. I think some tanneries genuinely enjoy working with leatherworkers and that's why they do it, maybe combined with the inability to find an acceptable conduit to leatherworkers. So, where am I going with this? I have seen price bandied about all the time on leatherworker.net. Price is important in a cost of product standpoint, but should be a secondary consideration when quality comes into the picture. Eye quality is very very important to the ultimate sale of the product. Getting the quality of leather we need for our product is more important than the price. The price can't obviously be outrageous, but it can be really high before it starts to impact our profit. Buying 10 hides at a time to get a good price is perfectly ok, as long as you can afford it, but if you can't, get together with your local leatherworkers and do a group buy. I you are the hobby leatherworker, use the secondary market. If you have local leatherworkers, get to know them and ask if you can buy leather from them until you can shoulder a full order. Now, about the secondary market. We are talking Tandy (TLF), Springfield Leather (SLC), Weaver, and all the rest. When starting out, deal with someone who will sell you a piece of leather for the project you are contemplating. I know SLC does this, not sure about the others. Learn the true meaning of "Tannery Run" grading. Used to be it was all different grades in a particular distribution, e.g. 4 As, 4 Bs, and 2 Cs per 10 hides, it has varied a lot over time, and for some dealers, it means whatever comes off the top of the pallet of hides. So assume the worst, hope for the best? Or just lower your standards? This stuff is pretty important to a saddlemaker, less so to a holster or belt maker, but important in some degree to everyone. Order by grade from the tannery, or ask for personal selection from the secondary market, and hold them to it, they won't learn to select if they don't get some hides back with the admonition to "try again". They learn that you will accept this but you won't accept that, and the last thing they want to do is pay shipping twice or on their dime. If you get any trouble with a return, don't use them anymore. Last buy not least, if you learn anything it should be "Don't run out of leather". When you are down to scraps, a rush cherrie job will come in that you just can't pass-up. Your ability to fill the order quickly will usually result in you becoming a source for this kind of thing. You will spend the rest of the day trying to source the leather that will be 3 or 4 days out. Not good for a rush job which you are charging an arm and a leg for. If you have it in stock, you are in good shape, but if you don't, you need sources. Few of us will give-up our sources, I'm no exception. You need to be OUT of price mode at this point and just pay the tariff and pass it on to the customer. Where can I get the best prices on Horween leather? That is not the question if you need it now. Art

Call the friend who owned the shop, see what he says. Check all the boxes, actually open them and look at connections etc. Corroded terminals, loose solder joints, frayed wiring all can cause various symptoms. Components can slip Q or value and cause all sorts of oscillations. You probably don't have this problem where you are, but I once had a snake in a control box and another time a squirrel (at least that's what I thought with what was left of him).

If you are bringing a product to market and you want to make and sell a gazillion of them, then they need to be professionally engineered, if not for cost (don't kid yourself), then for manufacturing. If you are making leather car seat covers or furniture then where are you going to get big expanses of leather to cut down on the labor cost of seaming smaller pieces together (like they did in my '53 Packard)? You have to resort to some technique that provides the size and consistency you need and the ability to say "leather seats". So you find "bonded" leather that contains leather hide leftovers (the worst of the hides after salvaging the good portions) that are prepared into a slurry and bonded to a polyester backing. This is cheap leather, but really fulfills it's intended purpose. It can be manufactured to be durable (well kind of), pliable, the desired thickness, the desired finish, and most of all cheap. All your bonded products will be made with "genuine leather", you can stamp it in gold right on the product. Custom and semi-custom makers usually take pride in acquiring the best quality products they can. There are a few suppliers in the US that make really quality leather. Horween, Wickett & Craig, Hermann Oak to name a few, and several very good retanners and chrome tanners who provide excellent product. These companies are not inexpensive but provide excellent quality product at reasonable (but then not inexpensive) pricing. Some companies will mark the flesh side of the leather, Horween comes to mind. However, that being absent, quality leather is usually used in quality construction. Art

Hi Gary, I think you would be in better shape if you bought something like the CB4500 because of the longer arm. Since you are in OH, Bob Kovar at Toledo Sewing Machine is probably your best bet. Sewing gunbelt bullet loops with a shorter arm machine will make you wish you had spent the few extra bucks. You can spend a little more on the bigger machine because it is a lifetime investment. I have Artisan, Cowboy, and Cobra machines, and none of them were made in the ole U.S.A.; however some of my Singers (well a few) were. It really doesn't matter much as long as they work and can be fixed if they break. Simple stuff like timing and hooks you should learn to fix yourself. If you aren't mechanically inclined, live close to your dealer, he may teach you some of the simple stuff so he doesn't have to see you so often. Have fun with your new machine, you will probably want to sew everything that's not nailed down. Art

I did it the hard way, I bought stainless Ruger New Model Vaqueros in long bbl (no longer available) and short (5.5). They have a 4.5 now but you can use a 5.5 and the 4.5 goes out to the end of the ejector rod shroud. I also have 2 sizes of Ruger Old Army BP guns in long and short BBL. All Stainless helps with wet forming (otherwise use plastic wrap). This covers most of what folks use for SASS. They are all more fun to shoot than the dummy guns. Art

You might want to look at a Cowboy CB227R from Bob Kovar at Toledo Sewing Machine. It is basically the same machine. It will be a couple hundred cheaper and the Cowboy is an excellent machine. Bob will treat you right. Art

Hi Thientran, You might want to watch this video. Excellent video although he doesn't cover the rolled edges, and the card insert you can make-up after you finish the wallet. He also sells a pattern for this on Etsy. It isn't that expensive and worth it I think. I recommend you go thin on the leather, like 2 or 3 oz; a regular sewing machine can usually handle that. Art

Tokarsky, I can almost guarantee you that the people selecting and cutting your leather at Weaver are not custom leatherworkers. They really wouldn't have a clue what you need or what you are trying to accomplish. That being said, maybe you were expecting more from a side than you are really going to get. I do remember when sides had a lot more yield, but that was some time ago. Back in the '90s, we used to make holsters out of shoulders, not so much now. We buy full sides when we can select them ourselves, and that means going to the tannery or maybe the supplier (we go to the tannery), but if I need clean straps (like you wanted) I order backs; higher price, but no shoulder and no belly left over. If you read the Weaver Catalog, most of their stuff is Tannery Run graded, which means you get the next hide off the pile. It is just business, you do what you have to, and I guess you may have learned a little more about the leather business. If you order a strap back, cut into one inch straps, the guy who selects your leather and maybe cuts it, doesn't necessarily know you need perfect 80" straps, and even if he went through the entire pallet of sides, it might be hard to find anything that will give you the yield you wanted. Art

That is the neck area, and sometimes you get a hide like that although I would have expected better from Weaver as you were cutting it into straps. There will be unusable or at least second quality in portions of any hide, I've seen plenty like yours, but I have seen many better ones. Art

Tokarsky, I just sounds like runout into the neck area of the hide. The neck area can be quite fibrous, but this effect has varying degrees, some hides a lot and some hides none. If you want long straps, you really have to tell them so that they can select a large hide with a tighter neck area. You can be picky, and most suppliers will try to accommodate you, but don't be a PIA. Art

This is, of course, a good idea. If someone would like to do something like this, one of us would be happy to pin it somewhere for you. While we have a heap of talent amongst the moderators, actual moderating (that means reading everything you post in addition to fighting fires) takes-up a lot of our time and makes doing an article like this hard to accomplish. For now, check out the vendors at the top of the page; many have done videos for their patrons, SLC comes to mind. Art Moderator

Isn't that what I said? Why don't you read what I wrote before correcting me? Art

Rowdy, Check that the needle is in correctly, groove to the left. Art

$1000 is not a lot of money in the new leather sewing machine world. If you get something used, it would need a speed reducer to slow it down and increase power. Your best bet is to talk to one of the advertisers here on leatherworker.net. They can match machine to your needs. Something that can do what you need will run at least $1595. Try to find who is the closest and pay them a visit. Art

I have been using Pecard's and Montana Pitchblend for quite awhile. I tend to use Pecard's for MC gear and Montana Pitchblend for everything else. The MP product comes in a oil and a paste, the paste has the beeswax. Pecard's is more petro based and MP is all natural, the both work. I use the MP oil where you would use saddle oil, and the paste or oil can also be used to "rejuvenate" some old or dried-out leathers, ditto Pecard's. It would be hard to qualify another product as "better" than these as I can't think of anything more I could want from them. I have used other products, even olive oil, but they don't "waterproof" as well as MP or Pecard's. Art

Hi Justin, Kevin is a pretty upright guy. As far as talking with you, he talks to his dogs, why not humans? As far as not buying your tools there, that's up to him, but why not, his prices are very good, but more important, you need to develop a business relation with someone, and Kevin is fair, honest, and most important is willing to share his 40+ years of knowledge about leather. We can also help here on Leatherworker.net, but we need specific questions and to know what you are trying to accomplish. The folks on this board run the whole spectrum of leatherworking from hobbyist to professional and most are willing to give you help if you need it. Art

Hello Justin, Only buy the tools you need for the project you are doing. You will find that as you go along to project after project you will need to buy fewer and fewer tools because you'll have most of them. Call Springfield Leather Company and ask to speak to Kevin and explain to him what you want to make, he will help you with what tools you need and can help with the leather too. He won't over sell you and is easy to work with. Don't let them put you through to the dog who knows nothing about leather; ask Kevin. Also, check out these videos. Art