Art

If you are going to buy a draw gauge or a strap cutter then the wooden one (they once were metal, I have two) from Tandy will work ok. A Dixon or Blanchard Plow Gauge will be a once bought investment, and they work better too, especially on anything over an inch. If you can go the distance, get Terry to make you a knife for it. Art

Roll up to top of topic for picture. This is a microfine compound I get from toolsforwoodworking.com, works for me, bought two (just because of shipping) and have never used the second one.

Hi Lisa, Exactly which Ferdco machine do you have. The 2000 (441 clone or maybe a Juki) has a lower needle guide, maybe. What needle plate are you using and are you using lube on your thread. Include all makes and manufactures. I have never broken a needle before except for a needle strike on the needle plate. Either the work or the thread is bending the needle, if you put a lot of force on the piece being sewn, you can bend the needle to the point that it strikes something. What size needle and thread? Art

Tony Luberto may be able to help, he made a maintenance video on the 900 Bull. Do you know that the needle is striking the shuttle and not the needle plate? Check that the needle is not too close to the needle plate where a little needle torque would make it hit the plate. The plate might be ever so slightly adjustable. Art

Mike, After quite a few years as a moderator, you either started with or acquire the ability to speedread. I initially read your statement as "over the years for my strop". This seemed to me to be a unique and innovative methodology for justification of a knife purchase. Art

A business card with some chrome compound on it will work fine for awls and swivel knives. Art

Unless you want to hand sew, you can't afford not to get the proper machine for your work. If you have to save up a little longer, do it, if you need to get a loan, do it. You can lease them, you can go to the bank for a loan, or whatever you have to do. You really need to sew your collars and the machine will make it practical. Call the dealers and see what they can work out. Art

Why go that way when you can get a powered machine for a comparable price? Like I've said, call Steve or Bob Wednesday as see what they can do for you. Art

The Sailrite is not good for leather, the whole machine is too lightweight. It is a good machine, but 1/4" nylon and maybe chrome tan is about it's limit, and it won't do that for a real long time. You really need to call Steve and Bob when they get back from the Show Wednesday, and check the Marketplace area of LW. Art

I have 10 or more head knives, leaning heavily toward the or more category. Many are the traditional design, some are traditional with the head angled. All range in size and profile, some thin bladed, some thicker, some new and some old. I use the LW knives more as skiving knives. I don't use the LW knives for pattern cutting at all because I have knives by Bill Buchman that are perfect for it. I've used traditional design head knives since the camel wore sandals and I don't have to think to use them. I just look where I want to go and I cut where I want. If anything, I think the LW knives are more like my angled knives, I have used them like that and they do work well, but they do have kind of a perfect angle for skiving. If I use a standard Bill Buchman knife for some skiving tasks, I start peeling my knuckles off. If this is your first head knife, you can go either way because you have nothing to unlearn. Terry makes great knives, I have a few or more, they work exceptionally well and are almost too well finished to put in the knife drawer. There are a couple of his that I use all the time. Art

And you would be paying around $600 more than that thing would be worth in perfect condition. The link is for a Singer 153, really as Singer 111 with a cylinder arm. Nice machine, no reverse, and a really nice one goes around $400. It will sew about 3/8 inch leather or fabric. Like the 111, they really need a servo for leatherwork. Art

Going back to shoe trade practice, use superglue. If you don't know what it is, superglue usually works, so much so that a lot of shops use it exclusively. Even with the increased cost of superglue, labor cost wins the race. Contact cement is not supposed to be stretchy, are you sure it is not rubber or paper cement? With contact cement, if you leave it open past it's spec (open means painted on the product but not stuck together) you can reactivate it with heat, or you can paint another coat on. Art

C.S.Osborne Art

Yes, we know what a 255 is. My opinion is it might be able to do this kind of work occasionally. The key words are might and occasionally. You would be maxed out on the 255, and you don't run a machine maxed out all the time, you go up a class. Those collars would look butch with a bigger thread that the 255 can't handle. The needle system in the 441 is also much more robust. I have pretty much all classes of machines and when I try to push one of my medium duty machines because it has the correct thread in it and I can get the work under foot (read into this that Art is a lazy bastard), at least 75 percent of the time I end up with a broken needle. I realized it wasn't worth it a long time ago. Get the proper machine and put the cost behind you. Your collars will look more professional sewn and you will be able to finish your edges better. You can also use rivets for decoration in stead of Chicago screws, which will save money. You can also just rivet the top leather and the bottom or inside leather can be smooth. The machine will give you a lot of options both in decoration (stitch decoration instead of rivets) and construction. Art

CSO used to make trade punches marked ADCO, they were pretty good also. If you see one with a good price on it, buy it. Art P.S. You, of course, will have to sharpen it.

Cody, Look in the OTB Catalog and find the part you need. Call OTB for a customer reference in your area. Art

Well, 441 Clone or the real thing Adler Clone or the real thing No.9 or Classic Ferdnand 900 Bull Singer 97-10 If you find any of these for $1000, check them out very carefully because that price is way off what they should bring. Depending on what you get, you might have to invest in a speed reducer and a servo motor, and additionally some smooth feet or a blanket set. Since you are doing small stuff, a short 9" arm version of the 441 would be in the $1500-$1700 range. Steve at Cobra occasionally gets a trade in, Bob at Toledo might also have one. They can both give you a great price on a new one, but it would be exceeding your limit, however it would be setup to do whatever you needed. Art

The point here is that most shoe material now is made of synthetic, thermal plastic, or what I call "technical" rubber or poly. Technical just takes longer to harden up. While regular contact cement (e.g. Master Quick Drying, White can) may have an open time of 5-15 minutes, they have ones (e.g. Petronio's General Purpose, yellow can) that have much longer open times for use on the thermal plastic stuff. The Germans (Renia) have solutions such as primers,accelerators and retarders for the technical stuff and they use the same adhesive, different chemistry than Petronio. Rubber or Paper Cement (same thing really) you really don't want to hold forever and really never hardens. It is not to my knowledge widely used in the shoe trade except for linings where it does seem to work better for squeak suppression. Best-Test by Union Rubber is probably the leader in this area. Art

I own knives from both makers, both cut and hold an edge well. You will have to make the decision based on your desires. Here are some differences. One uses a more "technical" steel than the other. Is it important? Both steels have good properties for knives, you decide. One is of traditional design, one is different, you decide. One has better "fit and finish" than the other, you decide. Major differences, none a gamebreaker for me, but you have to decide if it is for you. Now, you mentioned several other knifemakers and the wait times. Some folks on LW collect knives. Why would anyone want more than one head knife, well they can and they do, and you could (if you knew what you wanted) maybe convince someone of the more than a few on LW to sell or swap something with you. Try a free ad in Marketplace. You kind of missed your opportunity for a fast buy at the Rocky Mountain Leather Trade Show in Sheridan this weekend. Usually two to five sellers are there, and they sell out fast. The next show where I know Knipper and LW will attend is Boots and Saddles in Wichita Falls in October. Art

Pretty sure he's using contact cement. Art

Syl, I have different colors of BearMan and there doesn't seem to be a difference. The Black Beard is almost indiscernibly different, only some strikes some times, might be the way I hold it. I hold the head, don't know of many others that do it that way. Barry's mauls feel a little different, but not in a bad way. The hatch pattern on the poly is a definite plus although possibly psychologically. Three lbs would not be good for tooling. With all that mass, walking a beveler would be very slow, if not impossible. Get a 1lb or so, it will work on pretty much everything except heavy striking. Art

It seems that Barge has been changing formulae, and I got hooked on Master in the beginning, so I can tell you about that, this may not and probably will not work with Barge. You have to know what type of rubber or polyurethane you have, Rubber, Crepe, Polyurethane, Thermal Plastic Rubber, or Thermal Plastic Polyurethane. You are using the correct procedure for the first three. The Thermal Plastic stuff requires a a long open time for the TP to harden, 45 minutes. The results you are getting is what typically happens when the TP doesn't harden, it peels. So, roughen both sides a little, coat both sides, and let dry for 45 minutes, then stick together. If that doesn't work, a lot of guys use superglue. Art

Syl, I have Bob Beard, Bearman, Barry King, Maul Master, and a couple of I don't knows. All mauls, I have more hammers than a museum. A mallet or two. Hard to get a good strike with a mallet, and the large flat surface doesn't transfer the energy as well as a smaller striking surface (like a maul). I use the Beard and Bearman for tooling, I have a 16oz Beard that gets used a lot, I have Bearman mauls in 12 to 28 oz. I use the Beard a lot, the 12oz Bearman for light stuff like small bevelers, and the heavier ones for baskets and different geometric designs, it is nice to have whatever size you need, but if I did everything (tooling wise) with one maul, it would be 18oz, maybe 20oz. Now for just whacking stuff, the 22oz Maul Master is my daily choice, and when the need arises, a 96oz Barry King is right there. Maker stamps can be a bear, that 96oz. King can do the job, however nowadays, I more often use the press. You can deliver an impressive stroke with the Maul Master if you desire, the 96 was just there, Barry made it and I bought it, however I use it a lot. Note that you can break body parts with that thing, but you seldom have to really whack anything with it, although sometimes the desire..... For any mallet or maul application, a solid surface will get the best results. A good 50's era steel government desk with a 4 inch surface plate is about optimal, but just devise some kind of no bounce situation. Those cheap 30lb anvils that HF sells are real handy for any whack-it situation, setting stuff comes to mind and punching BIG holes another. I have a 12lb Heritage harness anvil that works great, but it is pretty pricy and not any better. So, what was the question? Art

Cheryl, Take that darned thing back to TLF and get your money back. Tell them it is just unusable. Then call Bruce on the phone or Vandy at Sheridan and talk to them. Tell them you are a novice and get the tool you need, ready to go. CSO is a toolmaker for professionals. They seldom provide anything sharpened, even knives; they may be kind of sharp, but barely that. They expect any pro can sharpen anything he uses daily. You have to learn to sharpen, even something you get bleeding sharp will eventually get dull. Good places to buy: Bruce Johnson (vintage) Bob Douglas thru Vandy at Sheridan Outfitters (vintage) Brettuns Village Barton Churchill (in Lewiston, Maine, 557 Lincoln Street) Weaver Leather Master Series Tools These are the folks I use, so I can recommend them. There are other toolmakers in the US who also produce excellent quality stuff. While a 1 1/2 by 3/16 bag punch of good quality will run you about $95, the amount of frustration you will have to endure with the $40 POS you purchased will more than exceed the overall cost of the good tool. Art

Busted, All of the "clone" machines out there are knockoffs of something made by Singer, Brother, Juki, and a few others. They are usually knockoffs of popular machines with high production numbers. There is nothing wrong with a knockoff of the Singer 45, they were a mainstay of factory work for so many years. That being said, no production "out of the box" machine will really be good for leatherwork. These machines require some modification to do a really good job. If you have read any of my posts, I most always recommend getting a "first leather" machine from an established dealer. They know how to set these machines up to sew leather, and what parts to swap out or modify for the job. I'm not saying the 45 is the best machine for leather right now. Clones of the Juki and Adler (modified for leather) are more suited to the task, and the medium sized machines based on Pfaff, Brother, and Singer are better in the low weight world. In the harness world, the old No.6, No.9, Campbell, Randall, and Landis machines still outperform anything new today, they sew straight, fast, and tight. So, don't put the 45 down, it can still do the job with a few modifications. Feed marks are something we have to learn to correct, even on newer machines as leather comes in all grades and finishes, and a smoothing stick (bone folder or modeling tool) should be in everyone's toolkit. Art