Art

Tandy prices get reasonable when you get down to the reseller level. They do have new smaller button studs for phone and small cases but not in 500 (or even 100) quantity. I have found some (not all) of the solid brass Chinese products to be quite good. Even the best of Chinese foundrys would send OSHA screaming into the night though. I would deal more with Chinese factories if I could get samples. I don't have any problems with minimums but don't want to pull the trigger until I see their product and see how it fits into our production. Art

There are a lot of "good" reasons to go to Vegas! As I read the law (not a lawyer) only the 4 oz sizes are restricted. Call Kevin at SLC and see if he will ship you a quart. And yes, the spirit dyes like Pro Oil Dyes are better. Air brushing applies a thinner coat that may not soak into the leather that much so I am on the dip or flood on team there as the airbrushed dye seems to be more susceptible to scratches. For edge fades you have to use the airbrush. I cut dyes at least 50% with DEA, but more when spraying. With diluted dye you can just put more on if you want it darker, you don't have to wait till it drys. Factories are the ones using water based as they have the money to develop processes for it. Art

Call your nearest store, they may have a floor model. Also wait for Black Friday, they always have great sales. Art

Go to a Harbor Freight store and measure one up. But if you wait till the sale comes around again, there may be 20% off. Art

Texas Custom Dies, talk to Heather, makes a clicker press that can also be used as a shop press. Art

Pinkers are used in the shoe and boot world to ease edges where you will be bending the leather edge along an arc. You can save time with this tool as opposed to cutting the little Vs with scissors. When you bend toward the edge you use Vs, bending away you use slits. When pinking counter covers (which are thick dense veg tan), you use a special pair of large pliers that cut the Vs. Art

Hi Will, About the only DDT I use is Adobe Illustrator. Although this produces vector output, the only thing I use it for is accurate scaling. Output goes to my clicker die maker or I use it as a pattern for hand cutting. Custom Leatherwork is just that. We usually pattern cut leather by hand or click out pattern pieces on a 10 ton press. Even an order for 20,000 advertising pieces would basically involve the same steps and spreading it around a number of shops. As said before, you really need to get to see a shop in operation. Art

Hi Amy, The 133K8 and 133K9 are pretty much identical Except that the 8 has a bigger bobbin. The 153k101 and 153k103 may be reasonable alternatives for you. The 45k had so many subclass variants it could be a flat bed or a cylinder arm; they were used a lot in harnesswork and I know saddlemakers that still use them. Most of the older machines won't have reverse and some could have parts problems, but the 153s are ok and the 45s pretty much so. These machines should be relatively inexpensive. Art

Make sure your work surface is solid without any (even the slightest) bounce. Use the floor if you have to. Also use a heavy mallet or maul. I use a 96 oz Barry King maul which may be overkill, but a two or three pounder should also work. Art

For Acrylic paint I don't use anything with an airbrush spraying at 20 lbs with a .20 or .30 nozzle as there is little overspray. For spirit dye I use an organic VOC mask with replacable cans. Anything else I use the VOC mask. Art

My punches are all over the place, but within a 1/16" tolerance. We do mostly 1" and 1 1/4" straps and cut them usually with a Weaver punch. We do cut our own straps and we can shim the machine for width, usually cutting 1/16" oversize; any "shelf" is cleaned up on the belt grinder or finisher, but usually burnishing cleans-up small differences. I'm not a real fan of Tandy tools, especially the new ones, but other than sharpening, the punches seem ok out of the box. Adjust your finishing process to compensate as straps usually come out of the machine about 1/16" oversize, and they run through buckles just fine that way. If you go an 1/8" oversize, they don't work in buckles well, but can be handled again, in finishing. Going back to the supplier with things like this is most often a waste of time (time = money). This doesn't mean you continue using the same supplier that aggravates your situation, but most times I let them know there is a problem and give them another chance to correct the problem. There is perfect leather, perfect tools, and perfect hardware, but the next alignment like that in one order will occur on December 22, 2012. Art

You might want to look at the from Weaver Leather. I have this machine and it is not for burr rivets. I set Burr rivets with a set of tools from Bob Douglas; call Vandy at Sheridan Leather.I have 2 Press-N-Snap setters from my boat canvas days loaded with everything to set Ligne 24 snaps. In the video, you will see all the adjusting going on with the Little Wonder. We sew most everything so we don't use rivets much and more often than not they are burr rivets for strength. In a production shop that uses a lot of different sizes and types of fasteners, a bunch of Little Wonders set up for the things you do the most and then a couple for the odd things would work nicely. Art

If you don't have the cash for a 441 clone, but you do have the work, buy the 441 on time and pay as you go. You can expense the payments. Art

Ok, I use Texas Custom Dies for my dies, I have a Cobra hydraulic 10 ton clicker from Leather Machine Company for clicking and a custom 20 ton bottle jack press for pressing. A hydraulic or drop clicker will not work as a press as they do a complete stroke and recovery per initiation. Call Heather at Texas Custom Dies, they make a bottle jack clicker that I have seen and is very well made. Art

I guess we need to know make of beveler, but my concern is that you are maybe using one tool when you need two. A beveler will leave a ring or aura around the part you are trying to "raise". You then need to use a matter to push the background down. Some folks go right to texturing the background, but I think it looks better if you mat the background before texturing. My Bob Beard Bevelers have pretty radical heel angles and you have to mat them (I use mostly MB 5 or 6) to get a good 3-D effect. Hope I understood your question. Art

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=139ea34c9378f478&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D4221ba9fa4%26view%3Datt%26th%3D139ea34c9378f478%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQ6Hv22n8Ln_JDHfDfSGeyerdtYuQ Art

Sorry, but the only pics are in my brain. Controls are Off/Forward/Reverse Switch and an on/off pedal. The splitter ie very much like a Landis 30 and only has a thickness control. There was a one page ad with pics, maybe it is in LC&SJ or Shop Talk. Art

I would say very very good. The castings are excellent. The rollers transport the leather evenly and effectively. The blade is easy to remove and replace and is long enough that each end fits against an alignment post. It split everything I put through including a coulpe of J.R.12 iron heel lifts, It will split 10oz veg with no trouble, in half or anything down to just splitting the grain off the flesh. It comes in two versions, the motorized on a roller stand and the head alone with handcrank, they had the crank version on a $20 Harbor Freight stand and it worked well. I ordered the motorized version. I tried full 14" width, 12" width, 3" squares, and some strips, everything worked fine, and strips put anywhere on the roller split evenly. Art

I am not sure which model it is. Is that a trimmer on the right side of the post? Pfaff made machines for any and everything. There is usually a tag on the riser that indicates model and options. Art

The Ruger logo on the holster implies it was made or commissioned by Ruger. Big No No. Another user may imply that it has safety design by Ruger. You should not do that, even for a customer, if the customer wants it, he can put it on himself. Art

The machine pictured is not a Pfaff 491, there are too many things that are different. First of all, the bobbin is on the wrong side. The stitch length adjustment is not the same. You need to do a little more research, although it could be an early variant. Art

Hi Cheryl, There's Mineral Oil at the Drug Store, Transmission or Hydraulic Fluid at Auto Zone, NAPA, etc., Soapy Water in the kitchen; they all work. Oil your tools after using water. This skill is not a hard one to learn, and there are a few videos out there. In a short time you become very good at it. Art

Texas Custom Dies. Contact Heather. Art

Will be there. Art

Once you get past 60, the heavy iron ceases to be fun. Got rid of most of mine (well except 2 Landis 12s and a chain stitch shoe machine) and started collecting Singer 221s, 222s and 20s, just a lot easier to move. Still have all the modern machines, but they are on roller casters. Then there's the Campbell in the basement...... Art