Andrew Chee

Hello all I have an Artisan Toro 3000. I was running it with a 23 needle and sewing 138 thread top and bottom through about 10oz of bridle leather. In that setup, its sewing fine.I wanted to switch to a heavier thread so I used a 207 top and bottom but keeping the 23 needle. I was sewing about 8oz total of the sedgewick English bridle glued together and I noticed that the stitches would skip every once Ina while. I am using the harness plate with no feed dog. Every once in a while the hook just doesn't catch the thread loop for some reason. When it's not skipping stitches the knots look just fine. The skipping is intermittent and may happen every 20-30 stitches. It may skip one stitch or it may skip a few. I don't really know why it's doing this. Could this simply be a matter of needing to size up the needle? I have some 24 needles on order but I only have 23 and 25 on hand. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Interesting... Thanks. Andrew

Hello all. All saw the below auction on eBay. I've never seen a machine like this. Does anyone have an idea as to the purpose of such a machine? Thanks. http://www.ebay.com/itm/C-S-Osborne-1800s-Leather-Crimping-Machine-/271220770622?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123 Andrew

What does the machine come with? Would you ship freight to CA? Andrew

Are they three different types of leather? The last line seems to suggest a tannery run distribution of grades but that doesnt really square with the first few lines. What type of leather is this for? Andrew

Here's a few pics. The quality's not the best since it's taken from my iPhone but hopefully it will illustrate the leather. Andrew

I made a bag out if it. The stuff is very soft. Bags made of this stuff will drape like a chrome tan bag if that's the look you're going for. Andrew

Check out waterhouse leather. They have something called the Renaissance leather that's a colored milled veg tan leather. It looks exactly like what you showed up there. Andrew

Very nice. I cannot imagine sewing a bag like that by hand. I didn't one by machine and that was tricky enough. But by hand... Wow Andrew

Shoot. Too bad

Nice work. That's a lot of stitches there. Did you bind the inside edges of the bag? Looks like you bound it with the red suede. How did you do the turned edges for the zipper? Did you just turn and glue the edges over and then sew to the zipper tape or did you sew right side to right side to the zipper tape and the turn? Man, I can't imagine doing all that work by hand. I hand sew a bag lie that once but didn't do a lining. It was still a button load of sewing. Andrew One other thing. The leather is really nice. Where did you get it? Is it a veg tan calf or a chrome tan calf? Andrew

Does anyone make such a thing? I was sewing the gusset of a bag together that was about 12oz total and had piping in it. I originally tried to sew it on my Pfaff 335 with 138 thread through a 22 needle and the strange thing was the machine would actually hit something in the leather and break a needle. The leather I was using was a soft milled veg tan from Waterhouse leathers. The stuff is very soft so I don't understand what could have been breaking my needles. I've sewn bridle leather through that machine with no problems so the 335 should've been more the adequate to sew this stuff. Anyways, I was using a piping foot on the machine because I wanted the stitch to get right up against the piping. So because the Pfaff wouldn't cut it, I ended up sewing it on my Artisan Toro 3000. Using a 23 needle and 138 thread it cut through the leather with no problems. I used a right toe foot and was able to sew with no problems. Does anyone make a piping for though? I'd like the stitch to get a bit closer to the piping itself. A 1/4" piping foot would work just fine. Thanks. Andrew

How thin can it reliably split? Andrew

I get my sides split down to 5-5 1/2oz. The flesh side after splitting is not stringy at all because the splitting process cuts the side pretty clean. If you don't want to split the leather you can ask the, to buff the flesh side which should make it much more presentable. As for how long it takes, it's not that bad. It's taken anywhere from a week to a few weeks depending on how busy they are. Andrew

Hi wiz. Do you have some pics of the slotted plate? I don't think I've seen those before. Andrew

You aren't going to find anything that really has a clean stitch on top and bottom until you get to a need and awl machine like a Campbell lockstitch or a union lockstitch. It's just the nature of sewing machines... Andrew

Sorry. Sold.

Very nice. You should glue some leather to the jaws so there's no chance of scratching the leather. Andrew

Of the two machines, the class 18 can handle heavier material. I had the 17 but sold it because I wanted a heavier class machine and higher foot lift. Both machines can sew 1/4" but any more than that then you will want the class 18. The class 18 also has needle feed where the needle jabs into the material and then moves back. The class 17 only had the needle coming up and down. Needle feed makes for more consistent feeding. With all that said, the class 18 is more expensive. Neither machine can be set up with double needle. Only double need machines can handle that you will never find a single needle machine that can handle two needles. Both machines are set up with servos and speed reducers so power and torque are not a problem. Steve at cobra provides excellent customer service. I would suggest calling them instead of emailing. They are very helpful over the phone. Andrew

$260. That was how much the platform from the company in France would've cost me so I'm ok with the price. Andrew

Hello all. I've been looking for a while for a flatbed attachment for my Pfaff 335. I saw a video from a company in France that made one but never was able to get one from them. I couldn't find a company here in the US that made one either. Recently I got into contact with a local machinist here in the San Francisco area about making some custom Consew 206RB needle plates (more on that in a separate post later) so I asked him if he could make a flatbed attachment for my machine. Here are the results. Andrew

That machine should suit your needs just fine. Adlers are nice machines. The speed reducer should give you plenty of torque for the thicker stuff. The only question is whether a flat bed machine will be suitable for bag making? If it is, then that machine will work just fine. Andrew

You should check out Douglas tools. They have a three piece setter for rivets. It comes with a setter, a Peener, and a domer. I don't like the all in one setter from Tandy because the setter part marks the leather. I'm waiting on my order for a setter from Tim Judd that does the same thing as the Douglas tools so we'll see how we'll they work. Andrew

Nice looking wallet. What did you use for the inside of the card slots? Andrew

137 is good for the exterior of the wallet. 69 is good for the interior card slots and such. Andrew