bstomper

Never thought of doing it the first way you've done it. Great idea I'll deffinatly try it

Hi, I had the same problem. I looked at a lot of pictures of straps on this website and ended up doing what it sounds like you did first up (I have posted pics of my straps under "first attempt spur straps"). Most of the spur straps that I've seen made with a concho have a smaller tag either rivetted on or held on by the concho screw. One person (I think their user name was Butch) on this site had the tag rivetted on and then pass through the keeper on the back of his concho. He had a keeper style concho instead of the screw type. I'm making my second set now and am using the concho screw to hold the tag on, though, like with the first pair, I'll Lok-Tite the screw in so I don't loose it all. The only other thing I could think of doing was sewing a whole other leather circle on over the concho screw on the back of the spur strap with the slot cut in it. I tried this on a strap I mocked up but the spur button and concho screw together made it all too bulky. Just putting something out there, maybe your strap design or the softness of your tag leather isn't helping with the problem? I'm no pro at this so I hope it's some help and I'm not just leading you up the garden path. Cheers Bstomper

Found this thread yesterday and got all excited as I have some stainless rod hidden away from another job. I must have hidden it away pretty good as I couldn't find it but I found some old car engine valves that I'm pretty sure are stainless, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Any one else tried them? Well I knocked one into a rough shape of a stamp I wanted with an angle grinder and went to work with my dremel. Man those things are hard!! I did enough to see that I could make it work but would need a better diamond tip or something for my dremel. I have a barb wire pattern roller and I want to put the pattern on a stamp. Had lot of trouble grinding the centres out. Any ideas or advice? Like I said, didn't get this one finished and made enough mistakes on it not to finish it, but come a rainy day I've still got plenty of valves left.....

I made my electric burnisher out of an old electric compressor motor. Not sure how many rpm it does, probably to many or not enough. Attached a bolt to the shaft and bored a hole through a piece of mesquite, slid it on and clamped it on with a nyloc nut. I then used this like a lathe and turned it to the desired shape. It seems to work good but I don't have much to compare it to. I ended up glueing a piece of canvas around it to see how that went. With my tool (maybe I designed it wrong I don't know) I've found thats it's good for cleaning up but to finish the job I add more wax or soap and finish by hand any way. It sure makes it quicker though!!

Hi thanks for the replies. I'll experiment with the stitch groover idea. I don't really want to heat the tool as I've read a few horror stories about the cheaper ones (which mine probably is) melting. Is the idea to use the tool to burnish a line or just make a groove for the dye or finish to sit in? Cheers

I've searched the forums for an answer to this question and haven't been able to find one. I've been using an adjustable edge creaser to mark ornamental lines either side of stitching on a job I'm doing. I'm having trouble getting it to "stay in the tracks" and think I might be pushing to hard trying to get a good mark. Or are the adjustable ones just a bit hard to control in general? My main question is do I need to dampen the leather first or not? I've tried both ways and have found that I get a deeper mark when it's damp but the edger is a lot more controlable when the leather is dry. Am I after a deeper mark or is it more just burnishing a line that doesn't need any real depth at all? Does it help to heat up the edger or is that just a matter of personal preferance? Also if anyone has advice on making one of these things work around tight corners (1/2" diam.) I'ld love to hear it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Wizcrafts, Is he a member of leatherworker.net and if so do you know his user name? The easiest way to contact him would be via email or messaging if it's at all possible. My clutch motor is running a 3" pulley at 1450rpm and I see that most of the others generaly run a 2" so I think this will be my first step. Does anyone run a hot wax pot on their machines and how do they go? Cheers, Bstomper

Hi Myriam, Me personaly I like buisness cards that you can write on the back of. Great when a buisness gives you a quote or estmate. Just an idea... Bstomper

How's the best way to get hold of Bob Kovar? Does he have a website?

Hi, Thanks for all the replies and advice. I'll play around with smoothing out the "tracks", never even accured to me to do something like that. I think I'll keep an eye out for a tredle base. The electric moter spins to fast and I'm looking at gearing it down abit. Trouble is it's a fine line between everything or nothing with it. And everything is a little hard to control at that speed. When I get a chance I'll go and see what rpm it does. Thanks again, Cheers, Bstomper

I have a Singer 45K25 that is set up with a presser wheel. The problem being that the wheel is 'serated' and leaves marks on the leather as I'm sewing it. I've tried adjusting tensions here and there but it doesn't really change anything. I was thinking of changing the machine over from a wheel to a foot. Has any one changed from a wheel to a presser foot for this machine and is it better? Has any one ever set one of these machines up with a treadle instead of a motre and if so how did it go? Any advice or apinions would be greatly appreciated. Bstomper