Art

TRI point will work fine for that application. Art

The Diamond or DIA point is a 4 sided diamond point somewhat elongated. The DIA is good for general harness and saddlery. The TRI point is a small 3 sided triangle point that is generally better for thinner leathers as it starts by punching and slicing, but the hole is enlarged by the shaft after the point. If you have hard, more substantial leather, use the DIA (this should be the exception with the 135x16). It is better to use the TRI if you are using small stitch length (10 or more SPI). I don't have any DIA points for my medium and small stitchers, and I likewise don't have any TRI points for my 441s. Art

Steve, Well if you wear a thong, it might help, but I can't see how. Seriously, it is a tool made to pull the hammer thong between glued pieces of the holster. You can buy one for baseball gloves for $10-$15 or get a nice one (he calls it a lace puller) from Barry King here; a BIG darning needle might work also, as will a bicycle spoke with a hook (somewhat like a darning needle but smooth) into one end and a bend in the other end for a handle. The forded tool may be something he made out of a screwdriver to maybe separate glued layers, like a big blunt awl, but I am not sure. I have never heard a bad word about the course. Art

When I first got a machine (a 441 clone), I sewed just holsters, western holsters at that and used 346/277 exclusively. Unfortunately, other interests developed and a second person used the machines, but they did wallets and things of a smaller nature. Unless you are doing biker and trucker wallets, the big thread look doesn't go too well. Switching the 441 over to sew 69 thread was a major pain in the rear, and readjusting back and forth was not practical. The 441 is just not made to take #18 needles, and big needles and small thread is just another can of worms. However, as Wiz says 138/92 is doable on the bottom end. There is a downside, and that is thread colors, until you get to about 69 going down, you are going to find slim pickins (not the actor). There is a little better range in Dacron, but not a lot. What I am saying is to keep your eye out for a medium weight machine in the 46 to 138 thread range. Look for anything like a Consew 206, Nakagima 280L, Pfaff 545, 1245 et al, there are bunches of them as upholstery and canvas shops use them a lot. Make sure what you buy is not all loose and clunky or otherwise beat to hell as there can be a lot of them out there. Once you have one of these, you will ask yourself why you waited so long. Wiz's procedure is good, but you will get tired of switching back and forth. In the mean time, you will have a greater understanding of your machine by having switched back and forth a few times. Art

I have both "styles" of blade and don't see a difference. The advantage of putting vertical hollow grind marks on a blade seems to be more culinary, where the knife blade will release the food better when it has those vertical grinds. The disadvantage of the vertical grind is that under heavy use and sharpening, the blade will wear away at the intersection of the vertical grind mark and the edge. I haven't used one that much yet, but I guess it is possible. That would not be a real problem as the swivel knife is used more on the edges and seldom all the way to the middle. Art

Perma-Loc needles, they screw on. Art

If you get a TSC-441 from Juki (or a Juki dealer) it will come set-up to sew canvas or other heavy material, dacron, sunbrella, etc. There will have to be modifications made to sew leather. The dealers like Cobra, Cowboy, and Techsew know how to do this as they do it for their own machines (even the clones come out of the box to sew fabric). So figure on the cost of the Juki, and the amount to change it over to leather production. The dependability of the Juki is not THAT much greater than the respectable clones, aka dealers at the top of the page. If you worry about that, you could buy two clones completely set-up for the price of the bare bones Juki. Art

I gave you the link to the product you wanted, it is $1.75, you want it cheaper? Ok here is the exact product you wanted (one less caribiner) for $1.50 http://www.etsy.com/listing/70840612/1pcs-1-14inch-nickel-key-organizer-key Click the link and push add to cart. Art

I did the search for you and here you go. http://www.etsy.com/listing/70978494/1pcs-1-12inch-nickel-key-organizer-key Art

Hi Chris, I don't think you can complain about this. The product at the link you provided is such a poor attempt to copy your "holster makers special" that it bears not much resemblance to yours. It appears to me that he doesn't really understand the use of the product and obviously doesn't possess the capabilities required for small turnings. While I could at best call it an interpretation of your design, execution fell way short. Art

I don't recommend buying a "complete set", as no set is complete, it might be complete for a particular task, but in leatherwork, things, interests, and styles change. Buy only the tools you need to complete a project. For the second project you again buy what you need, you may need a lot, or just a few to augment the the ones you have from project one. This will go on until you have everything you need or maybe you just need one tool. Tandy makes sets, don't waste your money. Most other tools are individual purchases. I have seen sets in stamping tools by a few makers, Bob Beard used to make sets and he has a few he has repurchased from estates that he might have around. Bob's tools are excellent and hand made and usually take a year or more for delivery. Gomph-Hackbarth have a 15 piece set of their 1018 tools for about $160, this is a very good deal. Ron's Tools makes great edgers and French Skivers in a lot of configurations. Now, you don't need to buy them all, you probably just need one to start. Bob Douglas and Barry King are newer to the game but make fine edgers too, and if you are into Bissonnette edgers, Barry has them too. Bob Douglas makes the best awls for handstitching, period. Tandy stopped carrying CS Osborne tools, but Kevin at Springfield Leather still has them at reasonable prices. Call Kevin for anything, if he doesn't have it, he can tell you where to go. Don't ask the dog, he don't know s--t. Brettuns Village also carries a good brand of tools for making holes in things and setting rivets. I am not going to get into knives here, there is plenty of info in past threads, do a search on head knives or head knife. I'll only say: Bruce Johnson, Terry Knipschield, Paul Zalesak. Bruce Johnson and Sheridan Leather Outfitters both carry older tools in very good condition. Whatever your project, ask here first and you can find out what tools you will need. Art

Big manufacturing companies tend to run their inventory low in December to keep it off their balance sheets, then have a large order for delivery in January to ramp up production. You probably got behind a few of these Big orders. I seldom order anything for January delivery for this very reason. They are pretty good folks up in Pennsylvania, but small or large, they probably service every fish in order. I can't say I have ever had a problem with that, I am deep enough in stock and small enough that I am not concerned with "just in time" supply strategy. Art

Yes they will, just like that. A little bend you can get away with, but 180 degrees is a problem for most anything exotic. Anything where you have a scale or plate structure, especially large scales like the fish skins they call dragon d--k. Shark and Ray are ok, as are most of the lizards, and it just depends with alligator, caiman, and crocodile. Decorative inlays are ok as long as you avoid bends. Elephant works ok for most wallets, but avoid razor sharp bends, the "plates" won't lift but it can crack. Some skins with looser scale structure like fish really beg for a sealer to keep them down. If you decide to inlay Ray or even some shark, sand off the denticles where you are going to stitch (which should be covered by a bordering strip and both stitched to the backing) as they are hard enough to deflect your needle. Art

We were all there once. There were more Tandy stores and there were better tools and information there back in the day. Tandy still has it's value and they are friendly and mostly knowledgeable. Art

Hi Sylvia, I know, but it is what it is. It is better than the no website they had before, and they do have contact info. Call Vandy and ask for what you need. Vandy is extremely knowledgeable and willing to help, she has an "in" at Douglas tools. Luke knows the mountain of leather they have and can help you with selection. They know what they got, they know what you need to get the job done, and they are darned fine folks. Art

You are putting way too much pressure on the awl. Awl needs to be sharper, smoother, and you need some beeswax on it. I even use a chunk of beeswax as a backer when pushing the awl through. Get a Douglas awl and Douglas makes a handle too, kind of expensive, but pretty. A CSO handle will work fine. Get the awl from Sheridan Leather Outfitters. Art

Granite and Marble are harder than steel usually, different scales and criteria, but generally harder. Tandy tools are not the greatest, I have broken a few and bent others. After inspecting the metal (generous description) inside, it is a wonder they bent at all. They are however inexpensive, and not a bad selection if you want to experiment with a tool before plopping your money down on a Beard, Gomph-Hackbarth, King, or Miller tool. Stone monument companies (grave markers), kitchen countertop places, and tool places like Grizzly and Enco are good places to look for a stamping surface. Art

Well, the pictures aren't great but it kind of looks like a 111. It should therefore have needle feed and walking foot. The Feitsew is a little worrisome. I wasn't aware anyone was cloning 111s, but it was a popular machine. The pics are blurry, but I think it says Sewing Machine Transmitter. Was the intention to plug a key into it and rip off a few lines of Morse after sewing something? You can buy a fairly good 111w for around the same price, but a lot of them are a little loose. Still the 111 is capable of medium weight leather up to 3/8 or a little less. If you are a newbie to industrial sewing machines, I don't recommend shopping the used market, there are as many bad ones as good ones, and who will fix it for you if it needs it. Art

I notice it doesn't say "Contributing Member" under your name. We're not here for the money, even when we give valuable sewing machine advice or leatherworking advice. At least she is taking the time to do research and get it right. Let her get the final product published before your critique. Art

Hi Nat, I have skiving knives that are scandi profiles, a scandi is a flat grind that only goes up the blade some distance where the sides flatten out. I have a few skiving knives that are sharpened on both sides but most are one side only. I generally skive with the bevel down. I find bevels on both sides are better for veg tan, and the singles I use for chrome. Don't ask the theory of this, it is just practice. A hollow grind is one that is obtained on a wheel, the blade will have a concave profile that matches the convex profile of the wheel. A convex edge profile is obtained on a slack belt. There are several ways to accomplish this. As I have said before, I put a secondary edge on most of these profiles. Stropping more than frequently is a necessity on any of these low angle edges as there is not a lot of metal up there on the bleeding edge and a micro-fraction of the edge is always rolling. Art

Contact cement should be applied to both sides and then you should wait UNTIL it is tacky to the touch, not until it is not tacky to the tough. Somewhere between 5 to 15 minutes is the open time for these products. If you have waited too long, then another application of cement or heat will do the trick -- nix the heat, I have not tried the new formulae they are using now a days. There is no way anything should move around after proper application. Don't even try to reposition after sticking together, once contact has been made, they rip apart. Art

Hi Nathan, The AK-20 strap cutter by Cobra is based on Randall designs of old and does a pretty good job, I have one and the only problem is it is HEAVY. As to knife grinds, a full flat is not something I would wish on a customer. They are not going to sharpen it right, and if they did, they would pretty much eat up the blade with grinding over time as you have to sharpen (grind) the full width of the blade. Assuming you use a 20 degree per side bevel, there is not much in the way of steel behind the edge, and that is not a good thing. With the scandi, that is just a flat that starts further down the blade sides and can suffer some of the same problems. I recommend secondary bevels on these types of blades. With the kind of sharpness required for leatherwork, the secondary bevel is almost a fact of life, the bevels are 15-20 degrees on a side and require a high polish that you get from fine stoning, few have the patience to work the full dimension of a head knife up to xxfine. A good skiving knife might be the exception, it is a one sided scandi of sorts, sharpened along the whole bevel. However, don't let me put off of the full flat, I recommend a large platen belt grinder like the 6x48 and a lot of belts. Art

Search out CP 206 and CP 146. These machines run in quality anywhere from very good to abyssmal. They were made popular by Sailrite, who still sell them. They are really NOT an industrial machine. They have a walking foot drop feed system, NO NEEDLE FEED. You can get maybe 1/4 inch under the foot, but it won't sew that much leather for very long. Don't expect to make handbags with this type of machine. We don't usually use zz machines for leatherwork. Art

If you buy whole sides from Weaver, they will cut it for a standard fee. This can work well cost wise as you open the box and you have product ready to roll. Eventually you end up getting a strap cutter for about $2K. After you make the first pass on it, you will kick yourself around the shop for an hour wondering why you waited. Art

No. Art