Art

Bob Beard or Henley, none any better for me, but you really need to go to a show and try them, some come with a ton of BS so just block that out if you can. Swivel knives are very very personal, once you find your lover, nothing else will do. Some use different shafts on the blades. Blades can be personal too. Beard knives, Beard blades for me, but go with what works for you. Art

Hi Bev, I really can't help you there, all latigo is different, some bleeds more than others. You might want to try the burgundy from different suppliers, you might find one that is a little more fast. Art

Have only bought some exotic stuff from them, searching for the bestest, cheapest, baddest, best value leather does seem a bit Quixotic to me. Buy what you like where you like. Art

Hi Bev, Latigo will stop bleeding with age and use, but when new it is the nature of the beast. We used to use yellow latigo in the old days, and it probably still bled, but you didn't notice it. Get dog the same color as the latigo? Art

Nobody or Company ever fixes all their issues. I recommend SLC and Sheridan because they will actually strive to correct the problem. When SLC has messed up, a simple WTF call has gotten Kevin jumping up and down all over the problem, and to MY benefit by the way. Can't say I've had a problem with Sheridan, but they are a bit smaller operation. As far as leather and pricing, buy where you get the best hide and the best deal, or the best service (pick any two). Art

Actually, you want horse butt. It is a leftover after they take the cordovan shells off the backend of the horsehide. Hard jacking is putting the hide between two plates and pressing (or jacking) the leather. Springfield leather will know exactly what you want. Art

I think Hoffman is making a Ferdco machine, but I believe it is a Chinese clone the same as everyone else's. I'm not absolutely sure, but I don't think it is the Taiwanese Taking machine anymore. It may not have the lower needle guide (no foot) like the Taking did either. Call them and ask. Art

Hi Julia, What two pieces of leather are you trying to sew, type and thickness? Exactly what problems are you having? Art

For occasional use the KO WS is a very good option. In Heavy use, it is a little lightly built. Nonetheless, it is very portable although the 1x30 is sorta portable too, can't say that of a 2x72. If you can get good customer service from Cabela's, it's even better. Art

The KO Work Sharp will get a blade sharp. They make a five belt set for it that goes from 180 to 12000 that works fine. The belts are 1x18 I think. You should be able to get a sharp edge on the HF 1x30 that will rival the KO. If you hold edge down on the HF and grind till you have a burr, then switch sides and do that a couple of times and go to a higher grit, and run up through the belts, you will find that after the 400 the knife is essentially sharp. Going further just polishes the edge. As you get more experience, remove the platen and you will get a convex or teardrop edge. Figure the angle by doing it by halves. Hold the knife flat on the table and that's 90, halfway between the platen and the table is 45, half again is 22.5 and half of that is around 11.25, probably as acute an angle as you want to go with anywhere between 11 and 15 being optimal (that's 22-30 included - both sides). Figure 22.5 is 45 included and will still provide a really sharp camp knife and a more durable edge. Remember, as long as you are bringing up a burr on each side, the knife will be sharp. Often with the new super steels you will have to go with included angles of 30-40 degrees to get rid of micro chipping of the edge. Steels with carbon in the 1.5 or more range chip out (micro) at the least little contact with a stone or other hard surface so give them a lot more steel behind the edge (higher angle). I use the Micro-Mesh MX belts from Micro-Surface, you still need a 100 or a 120 regular belt for any profiling or serious metal removal jobs. Sometimes it is necessary to sharpen a blade two or three times to get a really good convex profile especially with the newer hard as hell steels with wear resistant additives. Art

There is also the Singer 110, which you see for sale now and again. Better stay away from it if you aren't mechanically inclined as it has gear sets for stitch length which isn't a problem unless you like to fiddle with stitch length. Both of them 31 and 110 will sew two 4 oz pieces of veg tan (or veg tan chrome tan mix, even most exoitics) all day long, which on an intricate pair of boot tops might be the case. If you want new, any of the 5550 machines (Juki or Clone) will serve just fine. If you find a deal on a used 5550, have someone check it out and sew it off before you buy. Art

Went to the Dr. last week, now on antibiotics. The way you are doing it should be ok. Art

No no no no no no NO. The 15-91 will sew up to about denim, it is home/homestead machine. You really need a medium duty leather sewing machine. I recommend the Cowboy 227R cylinder arm machine although there are other machines with quite similar capabilities like the Highlead GC 2268 which is excellent. I would also suggest a leather sewing machine dealer that is relatively close (East of the Mississippi) which means Toledo Industrial in Ohio, Keystone Industrial in Pennsylvania, and possibly Nick-O-Sew in Memphis. Some of these dealers have free shipping, so figure that into the price. Art

Can we vote on that?, I'll second it. I've been fighting a cold or something for 4-5 weeks now and maybe it is a little better, but damn, it is rough getting old. First belt I tried to put a buckle on, it cracked (tooled belt too). Now I wet everything that's going to bend past 90 or thin it down a lot on the flesh side, that seems to take care of the cracking too. Art

Since you are new to the Sewing Machine game, I will recommend a new machine. The CowBoy 227R pretty much fills your requirements. I recommend a cylinder arm because frankly, those of us who have bought a flat bed eventually end up kicking ourselves in the butt for not getting the cylinder arm. The work you do now is light to medium duty (based on thickness) and the top end is medium to just about heavy duty. Giving for overlap on each end, the medium duty will cover most to all of it. The link I gave is for Toledo Industrial as you didn't put a reasonable location in your profile. Just make sure your dealer does leather machines, there are special setups for leather machines and special extras that make using the machine easier. Art

Use your Versa Groover to start and then widen your groove with a French Edger. If you need a deeper grove, go over it with the Versa Groove again, then use the French Edger to finish up the sides. There are a couple of threads where members have modified the Tandy abomination to work just fine; if you need adjustable, pick one of the Tandys up cheap and make the mods, they are pretty simple. Also learn to sharpen. Art

Ron's Tools stitch groovers are excellent. For a wider groove, use a french edger after the stitch groover. Ron's Tools are expensive, but there are none better. Art

Glad to see someone else is a Simple Green aficionado. I've been using it for years on diamond stones and wet dry (or just dry) sandpaper. I still use K-1 Kerosene on the powered diamond wheels, but still clean them with SG. Some think I'm nuts, but others have known that for some time. As eThon says, almost all blades are warped. Look the attaching system over pretty well before you decide to grind that warp out. Then look again. A lot of machines have blade attachment systems that pretty much squash out the warp (planers are a good example of this) and if you remove the warp by grinding, then something will not be right when you attach the blade. These "warps" are usually quite small and the workholder will easily remove them. If the workholder can't remove them, a new blade is often the cheapest way to go. We have a surface grinder, but even at that, the magnetic chuck will suck the warp right out of a blade (especially when you don't want it to). I guess what I'm getting at is to apply pressure much as your machine will to eliminate any warp. Grinding a warp out is the last resort, and usually not a really good solution overall. Art

Take pics of both sides of blade and of one edge and post them. They vary quite a bit but generally don't need a lot of work to bring back an edge. Then again, it depends a lot on how they were sharpened previously. Art

There are two really important things about compounds, First, what it is made of, if it will cut what you are trying to polish, and Second, the grit size. There is some consistency in colors from the larger manufacturers, JacksonLea, Caswell, Formax, Brownell's, EnKay, and Dico. Art

I did find Herb's Yellowstone to be the most aggressive of the bunch. I have never tried the flexcut. The sprays I use on ceramic and steel laps, the work on a strop too, or on a felt wheel. Micro Fine works on a felt wheel also. If I could only have one, it would be the Formax Green Micro Fine. You can also use rubber conveyor belt for a strop. If I remember, Weaver has that. I also have a couple of tubes of Tormek Stropping Compound, and it works ok too. Art

The version of IPB we are running is a little long in the tooth and held together by chewing gum and bailing wire. Johanna will be upgrading soon and this should fix a bunch of problems. Art Moderator

Get some clean cartridges (bright and shiny) and spray them with clear lacquer. You can clean the ones you have with Brasso or something else, but clean them again with alcohol to get the Brasso off. Do not clean with WD-40 or any oil based solvent, it can deactivate the primers. Art

The blades (the one pictured has the end broken off) look like the standard injector razor blades. Should be at the drug store or food store. I'm pretty sure you can get them at Tandy or SLC. Art

Never tried one of those. Will diamond files fit. They make some pretty thin ones. Also, sanding disks on a Dremel or Foredom. Go gently (rpm wise) as those things will deconstruct if you run them too fast. Art