Art

Original Poster Art

Hi, Try a size larger needle like a 20, and/or dump your thread spool into some Silicone Thread Lube and let it stay in there for 5 or 10 minutes, then pull it out and let it drip off. When it stops dripping a lot, load up a bobbin with it and use the spool for the top. You will have to adjust your tensions but things should be better. Art

AM Apparel Art

Hi Joel, In my experience, you set there for an hour or two with your thumb in your ear selling nothing and watching folks come by kicking the tires, then for the next 3 hours, you sell 20 or more belts an hour. You need to have a lot of stuff made up and ready to go and then take orders for specials. You need a board made up with the different buckles made up on belt ends and a way to switch them out of finish them quickly. A show can be tedium to terror and nothing in between. You will need someone to work the front (sales/orders) and someone to do any leatherwork. If you do leatherwork at a show, you will be constantly bombarded with questions. You get questions like where do you get the leather? By the end of the show you start telling them you keep a few head of steers behind the house and go out and carve off a strip when you need it, it grows back in 5 or 6 weeks. Art

Hi Darren, For a long time I used Rice Nylon. It had very good hand and ran through the machines smoothly. In fact, a lot of leatherworkers used it. I also used Coats DaBond poly and found it a good thread and I started leaning on it after Rice went under. Then the guy who always sold me Rice started pushing Linhanyl which was also very good. I also use Eddington poly as it has a different look for period Western gear. Basically, you use what works best for you, and you can source reliably. I use linen in the needle and awl machine, and occasionally Eddington poly as it is a little hard to get anything but a shade of white in linen. For insoles in shoes I use 130 lb. Dacron woven fishing line. I guess you are always looking for that "magic" thread, but when you need to sew, it's what is in the machine that counts. Art

Hi Bobby, I too am glad that Tandy is there, but a little more attention to quality and a lot less on hype would be appreciated. Osborne makes a knife that is made, as far as I can determine, of 1065, which is a helluva lot better steel in the hardness department than that etched Stholman stuff. I guess they stopped carrying Osborne tools because of the margins that were compromised by other sellers. It is a shame that Al's name is being associated with less than a high quality product. Tandy is however a good entry level place, and a good place to further the craft. I just have problems with serving up a tool that is ultimately a wall hanger. They would provide a better service serving up quality utility knives and blades than a head knife that is going to be a PIA forever. Art

For boot hooks try OTB P210 Catalog, page 16 top. OTB's cap rivets are the best I have found, they are Belgian. Look at their snaps too. Art

Hi Intentio, What Mike says, and parts are rarely needed for the 441's, but in the event, any sewing machine repair can order up what you need from a half dozen different parts suppliers. The distributors for the 441 clones will get you whatever parts you need too. At the speeds we run 441s for leatherwork, you seldom break things outright, and shuttle hooks and bobbins are standard fare from any of the distributors. Art

Hi Flavio, It is a lot like a Singer 153 and I think a lot of the parts interchange. However, Bill's at 301 Main Ave East, Hildebran, NC 28637, Tel: (828) 397-6941 is a big Seiko dealer and could probably help. Art

Hi Flash, Before you spend 10K on a machine, you have to consider if it will make you at least 10X ROI in a lifetime. Now, as far as the difference between post and cylinder, they can both do equal work, except for repairs, where the post will be able to do things without deconstructing the bag or garment, sometimes. Admittedly there is that one time in life when you are going to need a patcher. Gizmos are neet, but quite often unnecessary and too often a PIA. Take the trimmers for instance; with 33 or more bonded nylon or poly thread (we use 46 and 69 a lot) the trimmers won't stay sharp for very long, and that is annoying as all get out. Needle positioning motors are a great thing to have and you start to depend on them a bit, but they are handy. I have a needle feed machine from China, the spitting image of a Pfaff 491, and it performs just as well. It goes for $2300 or so and hasn't missed a stitch. There is another machine that is drop feed and has reverse that is around $1600. I have Cobra machines. The owner, Steve is an excellent technician AND customer service rep who has a great reputation for service. If Steve can't work you through even moderately serious troubles over the phone, then maybe you shouldn't have a sewing machine. Obviously, when major things break, the head needs to go back, and Steve is pretty accommodating about that too. So, I would thing twice about dropping $6k much less $10k on a machine as low tech as a post machine. You can take what you save and buy a clicker and some dies. Art

On this side of the pond, we get the quality stuff from Ohio Travel Bag. You might want to contact Ray Patel at OTB, he could give you more information. It might just be easier to buy from OTB and have it shipped. Art

Sarah, If the snap will stand up to the work, plastic should be ok. From the artistic standpoint, if you are creating a "manly" type of product, you might not want to put pink plastic snaps on it. As far as cost goes, a cheap harbor freight arbor press can be turned into a snap press using Tandy setters, just drill a hole in the ram to fit the setter part of the set and the anvil goes underneath, bingo, good working press. Drill and tap the ram for a set screw with a hand knob on it and you're in business. Art

Hi Sarah, You can get a press and dies from KAMsnaps, use their snaps too, they work well together. You might want to call and talk to them about your needs. Art

Hi Ed, Beary's maul looks nice, good workmanship. I must say that the ones you did for me look so much better in person. I just received the last of them and they are knock your socks off, drop dead gorgeous, but the pics didn't do them justice. There is so much depth in the woods that it cannot be described adequately. They also hit better than other mauls, even, IMHO, my Bob B. I hope Beary continues with it, if so, I will have a commission shortly. Art And get him to introduce himself on LW.

Hi Bobby, 15 Degrees is a good angle to shoot for and 22 is ok for utility type knives like some hunting knives. When I say 15 degrees, I mean 15 degrees on each side of the edge, that's thirty degrees, but if I said that then someone would mistake it for 30 degrees on a side, which is good for an ax not a head knife. A matchbook is a more understandable wedge to indicate the angle of a side, and you can put it down on a stone and visualize it. Darned hard to find a matchbook anymore with all the anti-smoking laws, but they are out there. The cork belt is something used by knifemakers and at one time was only made in 2x72 belts. Now with the little small sanders they seem to make belts in every configuration. So a warning about the cork belt. To the novice, a cork belt looks like it would make a really good strop, and it will if you don't put anything on it, the minute you put anything on it, it becomes an abrasive belt and will remove metal. Just so everyone knows. With a cork or leather belt, take it off the machine when not using it, they wear out just sitting under tension Also, you gents with these small narrow belt sanders, don't hang around too long in one spot, the narrow belt will cut a groove faster than a wide belt, practice with your sander/grinder before you put good metal on it. For practice, there are always crap knives in the kitchen, but you can also pick up shoe knives at auctions by the boxful for next to nothing, they usually are by United and have green handles, these are a few bucks new to give you an idea of the value. Last but not least, you can ruin a lot of steel with power tools, but you still basically need to have stones for some things and if you buy four large (as you can afford) stones, soft, medium to hard, hard, and maybe ceramic or clay, you can sharpen almost anything. Art

I am going to take a little different tack here and say, Buy your head knife, or any knife for that matter by the maker. I have made knives for a while (since the '80s) with my highest production in the '90s, maybe several hundred or so. In my experience, most really good makers know their steel quite intimately, and don't experiment with a lot of other steels. It takes time and a few mistakes to learn how to work and treat any steel and a whole bunch of different product just confuses matters. My favorite mill was Latrobe. Latrobe made bearing steel for Timken who owns them now. I was also a made in the USA freak so Latrobe and Crucible were my pets. Needless to say, most of my blades were made of 52100 or BG-42, both great steels if properly worked and heat treated. Of course 1095 and O-1 are steels that every good knifemaker learned their metallurgy heat treating. Crucible was the high tech mill of the steel world, they made, and are still making some steel with incredible technology, their particle metallurgy makes some really high tech and high performance steels that are good for knifemaking. But I digress. What I am saying is it's all about the maker. You need to have used, or trust someone that has used a maker's knife to give you a recommendation. If a maker makes a not so good knife, don't expect to hear it on any forum, it just won't happen. If you want the real skinny on a knife, your going to have to get it eyeball to eyeball. As far as edge profile, I prefer a teardrop profile. I like to leave more metal behind the edge than you get with a hollow ground profile. The disadvantage is that the teardrop (Moran, Appleseed, etc) will require some reprofile work sooner than a hollowgrind, but can still be resharpened in the field without too much effort, well at least until the thing becomes a cold chisel. I like steel behind the edge, if I wanted a thin knife, I would have ground a thin knife in the first place. But Art, how can you like Bill Buchman's knives, they are thin? Bill's knives are thin, and they were made to be thin, they were not made to be camp knives, but they work, damned well if I do say so. Nevertheless, thin knives have their problems too, you can snap off a tip in a heartbeat if you aren't careful. Another thing about edges, 15 degrees, use a matchbook to learn it and use it for your head knife, less than 15 and you are getting into fragile edge territory where it will last about 2 feet or less. You could use 18 or 20 degrees too, find what's best for you. Last but not least, learn how to sharpen, read about it, get some old knives and practice, once the mystique is gone, it is just another skill in your toolkit, hell, you can (and I have) make reasonable money going from kitchen to kitchen sharpening knives. Food service folks don't have a clue about how to sharpen cutlery, and now they use steels that actually take metal off, so you will always have work. A 10 power loupe and a dry erase marker are necessary if you really want to learn to sharpen. I have heard some folks say that you only need to strop a head knife once it has been properly sharpened. Sorry, It ain't true folks, eventually the edge will round and no amount of stropping will set the edge back, a cork belt with compound will, and stones or abrasive belts will, but just loading a strop with green rouge is not going to do it, you have to learn to sharpen. So to reiterate: Rose Gomph (Albany N.Y.) C.S.Osborne (Newark) The above are quality knives all of carbon steel, it is possible for them to be mishandled while sharpening which will cause soft spots, an experienced sharpener or knifemaker can grind these out, it takes some work and should be left to those who can. You can get lucky on eBay and sometimes not, you can buy from Bob Douglas or Bruce Johnson and get a good knife. Bill Buchman Bob Dozier Dewey Peters Gomph (Ellis Barns/Lonnie Height but I don't know who the real maker is) Leather Wranglers (Paul Zalesack) These are stainless steel knives, there are other makers, but I don't have knives by any of them yet so I can't give them a shout. The above are excellent cutting, quality knives. Art

Another good thing about these particular machines is that they use Singer 111 feet. There are a whole lot of different feet made for these machines, piping feet, piping or welting feet with cutaway back corners for going around corners; a lot of different feet for different applications and they are not really expensive either. This site has many. Art

The Sieko LCW8B is also pretty much the same machine. I have 4 Highlead machines and not a problem with any of them. I don't know what type of work you do, but the gear reduction (and torque multiplication) you get from a speed reducer or gear reduction motor is a distinct advantage with leather. Get them to swap out the servo motor for a gear reduction motor, if you have to pay and extra $50, it will be worth it. Art

It is similar to a 335, but it a really a dead ringer for the Singer 153B (the one made in Japan). Great machine, will do 207 thread with a 24 needle, but it likes 138 better. If geared down, it will handle over 3/8 inch of leather but is happier with 1/4" all day long. Like I said, needs to be geared down for leatherwork, a SewPro gear reduction motor would work great on it. Highlead is a respected company and makes top quality product. I don't know if you can find an old 153B, it would be cheaper and if in good condition would do the same job (a lot of the parts are interchangeable). Art

The first sentence told most of us old timers that it was a downhill proposition. You know why we knew? Art

Robin, You may want to contact your local shoe repair and see who they use. Then again contact Henry Veenhoven, in Toronto, at: 416-231-1870; he might know someone. Please don't post in a couple of different places, almost everyone reads using the View New Content feature, moderators quite often delete duplicate posts. Art

Hi Shooter, I have a problem with the big ol' makers marks. They make the product look like it just rolled off the assembly line. Custom is custom and the mark on custom work should be demure, in the case of some old masters, damned hard to find if it exists at all. Personally, I have several makers marks. One is a traditional "old West" makers mark oval, the one with MAKER in the center with name on top and city on bottom; this is the biggest mark I have. One is a hand tool (about the size of a #3 beveler) with my initials slightly stylized; I will hide this in a field of basketweave or anything really. Another is a 5 point star with my initials in it, very small that I put somewhere inconspicuous on LEO work. The last is my chop (initial stamp kind of) for personal stuff and for friends. So I guess what I am saying is that if you are getting asked to leave your mark off, it is probably too big or too ugly. Art

Tip to Tip 4" or 5" tops Buy from Bruce Johnson or Bob Douglas Rose nlib. Osborne (Newark) nlib. Osborne (Harrison) ok once you have a decent edge on it Gomph (New York) nlib For newer makers: Buchman decd. Dozier Zalesack Skiving knives: Robert Beard George Barnsley nlib. decd. nlib (no longer in business) decd (deceased) Art

They use them for something in the Air Force too, I bought two brand new ones in a surplus auction at Dayton. I made some money on them in Annapolis, but they were HEAVY. Art

I'm more interested in Budweiser Long Necks anyway. Art