Art

Hi James, I'm thinking you meant "The Thread Exchange" in Weaverville. http://www.thethreadexchange.com/ Art

You can also fly to Denver and connect with a Beech 1900 into Sheridan. It can rock and roll sometimes, but is usually ok. Beech 1900 us a twin engine turboprop 19 seater. They also fly another plane that is a little bigger (little is the operative word), even has a flight attendant. Art

Every time I set any of those brass burr rivets, don't matter if they are flat head or round head, I have to break into a chorus of "John Henry was a steel drivin' man" to get the job done. Art

How about an intro? For the "damascus" head knife, you would best go to a Tandy and get one. If you want Ivory, you're going to have to do that yourself. A head knife is a serious and difficult piece for pattern welding to start with, unless you want something rather small like a couple of inches tip to tip. Anything of size is going to be a project for a really serious pattern welder, and for the guys I know who can do it, they would have to be interested, in other words, the commission would have to interest them, and $5k would maybe get them started, not saying what it would final out at. Jeremiah Watt can also "fancy up" his tools, which are darned good (and a little fancy) to start with. Bob Douglas makes the best awl on the planet, but it ain't fancy. If you want something pseudo-flashy, go get that Tandy thing. Art

And they don't take any chances today when it really counts. If you look at the trinity of safety belts, Bashlin, Buckingham, and Klein, you'll see they use stitching and burr rivets, nowadays, they even use lacing in addition to that. Even little tounged d-rings are attached with two burr rivets and safety dees (the ones you attach the strap that connects you to the pole) are stitched and riveted. Pole straps, because they are narrower than belts, and can be abraded by the pole, do not have any stitching at all (usually), the clip ends are usually held on by the leather which is then reinforced by a metal cover which goes through the clip end and down the front and back of the belt and is then riveted around and through the leather attaching the clip end or buckle. When riveting, it is better to limit the motion of the leather around the rivet by double riveting or stitching and riveting. Art

Call them and see what you can work out. Don't worry about quantity, worry about the leather you need. Art

Hi Rick, Talk to Shep at HO and see what he can do for you. Special stuff is not out of the ordinary especially if they might get a mention or some pics out of it. Also, talk to Steven Siegel about some high latitude hides, and in Europe they don't have barbed wire or many bugs to mark a hide. Maybe something out of Sedgwick? Also, talk to Horween out of Chicago. And don't forget Matt at Wickett and Craig, I'll be going there next Monday, so I will check for you. Art

I think what you might take more consideration of is that Artisan may be less able to sustain the price war than Cobra. They are both burning cash to sustain this war and one is going to run out before the other. Who is burning cash faster? The one with the lower prices. Why not take advantage of the super low price? If your guy loses, you can't expect the other guy to treat you as a valued customer, he's going to sell you the replacement part, but it won't be on lifetime warranty, in fact, I would expect to get soaked for it and not get a bit of help making the repair. Remember, he has his LOYAL customers to take care of. Don't chase price, look for something that will be serviceable for years with friendly, affordable, and available service for the life of the product. The desired thing is for both of these companies to survive. However, I think there is just too much bad blood for that to happen. Anyone notice the Artisan ads at the top of the Leatherworker.net pages? Art

Hi Scott, I guess about 70% of the leather either now or previously on the hoof, could be construed by someone to be chap leather. Full grain, splits, everything but veg tan and rawhide. So giving you a price without knowing exactly what is going to be difficult. Anywhere from a dollar or less a foot to four or five. Go to Hide House and Siegel websites and zero in on what you need. Art

Afraid I misunderstood, I also prefer linen for handstitching. I use Barbour's and you basically have white and occasionally black. Sizing runs 3 to 8 cord, you probably want to start with 3 or 4. There is also Hungarian thread at about 60% of the cost of Barbour's. Never used it so don't know the quality. You can however do good work with anything, poly, nylon, fishing line, sinew, artificial sinew, linen, or wire. Cotton doesn't hold up well. Handstitching thread (small spools and inexpensive) from Hidecrafter or Tandy will work ok too. Art

No, But I can make something up over the weekend, maybe; work (real work) has been keeping me quite busy. Art

Hi ?, You will find 69 or 46 poly or nylon to be the best size for your work. If you are machine stitching with a home machine, 46 would be better. The smaller you go in size, the larger the number of colors that will be available. If you look at the thread charts, sometimes you see all these colors, but when you call for 277 or 346 you get the white, brown, black routine, one lb. spools only. Also with the smaller threads, they put it up in 1/4 and 1/8 lb. spools. Try the thread exchange for smaller sizes. Art

I too have the Versa Groover, I also had one of Jeremiah Watt's patent leather groovers which was pretty good also, it had legs and I got the Douglas. I like both. However.........Them little Tandy ones (the ones with the hex screw in the end) have their own little function. I use them for decoration. I mean decorating leather. I have 4 of them (probably more than that) set to different distances from the edge and use them to cut a little border decoration in back of the stitch groove. You have to use your imagination in tight places or where transitioning from one part to another, but they can be handy. To sharpen them just drag them across your strop board a few strokes. When they get really dull, you may need to use 600 grit sandpaper with a little oil on it. You can use a Dremel with a fine, really small wheel for the inside, but I use the smallest sandcord or crocus cord I can get to fit through the hole and give it a few swipes. If just doing decoration and not trying to plow a trough they stay sharp pretty long with the occasional touch-up. Art

By short, I mean 1" to 1.5", maybe 2 on the outside, but that would be way too long for me. I have seen them as short as .75 inch and I liked it on thinner leather. The shorter the awl, the faster you can stitch, and the less chance of scratching or impaling yourself, and with the edges of the awl as sharp as they should be, those scratches can go a little deep. For holsters, the standard size is what I use (Bob Douglas sizing, he makes one a little smaller too). Art

Hi Lance, Don't buy using price as a criteria. You have a few options. 1. A used Cast Iron Boss, pick it up for $800 (they are out there) and have Tippmann rebuild it if necessary. Don't use the Boss for belts, a half hour of pulling the handle is more than enough. The medium duty machines really are inadequate for a holster maker. I regularly exceed where my 618 would go. Also you are limited by the room under the arm both height and width, and you are restricted to size 207 thread, and I know mine likes 138 or 69 a whole lot better than 207. I can make it work, but why? You will kick yourself quite a few times after you do one gunbelt with bullet loops on a medium machine. 2. Bite the bullet and buy a 441 class machine, and right up front get one with a 16 inch arm as opposed to a nine or twelve inch. Get one with a needle positioning motor if you can afford it. As you are new at this, you will need a little (or maybe a lot) of handholding, and there is no one better for that than Steve Tayrien at Leather Machine Company (Cobra). The Cobra Class 4 is the best 441 clone out there regardless of price, but the price is good too. Buy the big stitcher first as it is hard to find a good used 441 clone or not. The medium weight (upholstery) machines like a Highlead 618, Nakagima 280L, Pfaff 545 or 1245, Juki 1541, Consew 206, and many others all come up regularly on the used market if you keep your eyes open; watch Craig's List after you get some experience with the 441. Art

Your awl should be short sharp and smooth. I haven't seen anything from Tandy that comes that way; doesn't mean it can't be sharpened and smoothed. I generally put a piece of beeswax against the leather on one side and push the awl through from the other. Sharp is important and smooth is more important. Do not let pushing the awl through bend the leather, it can let the awl break or bend, or mess-up where the exit hole is. A good awl can be had from Bob Douglas, for around $20 which is pretty steep, but you'll have it for a while. You can get by with a C.S. Osborne Haft, the Douglas ones are beautiful and priced to match. Art

First off, don't chase the price of things, get what you need to do the job and get the look you want. On your staining, during the manufacturing process, you will get oils and other things on the leather, from your hands and handling. You need to deglaze or remove this. In particularly hard cases, some heavy duty deglazer like Ethyl Acetate may be needed, but for everyday stuff, DEA (denatured ethyl alcohol, by the gallon from Wally World paint department < $10) will do the trick. Rub the leather down good with the alcohol to remove oils and open the pores. I cut my dyes (Fiebing's Pro oil dye) as much as 50% with DEA as I think the dyes are way too strong right from the bottle. I keep my dyes in a gallon jug and pour them into a plastic dish pan/sweater box/plastic pail and then flood the project with a sponge wrapped in an old t-shirt (the alcohol in the dye will take the sponge apart in no time, here again a cheap plastic sponge, not a real one). Just keep flooding the dye on until it is a dark as you want, you can always do more, you can't take it off. After you have your color, wipe down with another t-shirt and hang to dry for at least overnight in a dry place, in New England or Florida (and most places in between) you may want to go longer, in Arizona, 4 or so hours may be enough to get it dry. Now your project will have some residual dye stuff (micro particles) that you need to buff off thoroughly before you put finish on like Tan-Kote, Bag-Kote, Pecard's, Montana Pitchblend, or products like Neat-Lac (now Clear-Lac). Use plastic gloves when dyeing, but use the ones without the grippers on the fingers, they can leave marks on the leather when it is wet. If grippers are all you can get, handle gingerly or by the edges. Ethyl Acetate will go through cheap plastic or surgical gloves like the salts went through the widow woman, so use the heavy duty kitchen gloves, you can use the same pair again and again, and beware of the grippers. Only us old farts will know the salts and the widow woman reference, it is just endemic or my metaphoric style of prose. Art

You can get a magnetic non-roller edge guide from Bob or Steve (click link at top of page for Leathermachineco.com) and it will work fine, better than a roller for the small machine. Installation is dead simple too. I think they are about $15 or so. Art

Well, Your only choice there is Springfield Leather, as HO does not produce shoulders unless attached to the rest of the side. Maybe you can convince Kevin to cut the shoulder off a HO side, but you will never find a double shoulder. I have a shoulder from way back still in the HO wrapping paper, just never got around to using it. I have used shoulders from Siegel which were very good especially at the price. If you are just starting out, go with Kevin, he will treat you right. Art

Hi Ray, I'm pretty sure it is a carrot peeler. Art

I got the demo at Sheridan and then had some time to sit and play with it. The quality and design are up to usual Luberto "built like a tank" standard. Finish is good, no shortcuts were evident. I have only one problem with it. The motive power is a crank on the side of the machine (where a traditional balance wheel would be). I just have a problem with cranking that thing and feeding the work. That's not saying I wouldn't get used to it after a while, it cranks away from you unlike most balance wheels, which is a good thing. I have no problems working my No.9 with the wheel on the front, but the crank on the side might take some time to appreciate? It is a little more fluid than the Boss, and I would have a hard time deciding between the Cub and a Cast Iron (original) Boss. With the prices the way they are today, You should seriously consider a powered short arm 441 clone, unless portability is a factor. Art

1-800-645-0197 http://www.ferdco.com Art

http://ronstools.com/orderform.htm Art

Dry veg tan makes all sorts of noises when machine sewing, it sometimes sounds like there is something wrong with the machine. Art

Call Steve, he will give you good advice. Eventually you end up with 2 or even 3 machines. http://leathermachineco.com/ Art