Andrew Chee

For long straight cuts you really can't beat a rolling craft knife. They're like a sharp pizza cutter. They don't pull the leather at all since they roll. As long as they're sharp, they'll cut pretty much anything. Andrew

I use Chicago screws in some areas. Especially areas I might want to be removable like handles and straps. The onlyproblemmwith Chicago screws is that the shortest closed end ones are 1/4". If you want shorter then you have to get open end Chicago screws which look a little different. Andrew

I know of a lady in San Francisco that teaches high end hand crafting of leather (think Hermes). I haven't taken lessons from her but hear good things. She has a full nine month course of instruction that costs $10k. She also has smaller classes. Is that what you're looking for? Andrew

Could it be that the spring tension of the safety clutch loosened? That might explain why the clutch disengages on heavier material (when the needle meets more resistance). Might be worth checking out. Andrew

I bought my wife a Bernina home sewing machine. She had a cheapo Janome sewing machine before. I have to say that the Bernina (the lower end model) is awesome. Great control. good features. I use it to sew the cloth liners for my bags. Not a heavy duty machine but it sews great. Andrew

How wide of a split do you want to do? Blade splitters won't split chrome tan very well since its pretty soft. The best splitters would be a band knife splitter but they're too expensive for your budget. One thing you can do is to use a bell knife skiver. You can run the leather through in several passes to get the whole piece split. Those can be found for under $1k. Andrew

The finish on your bracelet is kind of a matte finish. I've seen braids that have a shinier finish. Is it a matter of the type of leather one uses? What type of leather did you use? Andrew

It's funny what people consider heavy duty in the regular world and what people consider heavy duty on this board. That kingmax machine is no lightweight sewing machine but for the purposes of this board it's only considered a medium weight machine. Folks on this board focus a lot on holsters and sheaths type of work and that would be considered super heavy duty to the rest of the world. Andrew

Can't really tell from the picture but if you can see the knot at the end (where your arrow points) then they simply sewed to the end, did one more stitch to go past the last hole and then backtacked. If you don't see the knot and this is not hand sewn then I have no idea. As for the logo, looks like it was hot stamped before they sewed. Andrew

For a rough comparison of machine thread to hand sewing linen thread, a four strand linen thread is roughly equivalent to a size 207 thread. Three strand is about a 138, and 69 is about a one strand so it's pretty thin. Way too thin for holsters and sheaths. For those, you need a size 207 and higher at least. I don't do holsters so I don't use stuff that thick. Don't know what machine you got exactly but if your machine was set up for 69 thread, I highly doubt it will handle 270 thread. Andrew

These look really nice. How are the awl blades secured to the hafts? Would you be interested in making awl blades to specific specifications? I'm thinking about somehow getting awl blades that will fit into a 441 clone sewing machine so the shafts would have to be a specific diameter and length. What's the ballpark price on your work? Andrew

Blade type splitters (such as the Landis as well as the Artisan and Cobra blade splitters) are less expensive. The Landis can split up to six inches. The Artisan and the Cobra can do 12-18 (forgot exactly). They will split leather nicely but only down to a certain thickness. The minimum thickness you can get down to with a blade splitter is probably 2oz. Any thinner than that, these splitters just don't have the precision to do reliably. These cost from about $400 - 1800 depending on model and condition. The powered splitters (band knife splitters) have a moving blade like a band saw. The basically come in two flavors. One with a powered top roller and one without. Some can do both (swap out the top roller for a bar). They will both split to sub 1oz thickness. The top roller models will be able to handle stiffer leather but will not be as precise on thinner materials. The ones with a top bar (no roller) will work better for super thin things but won't handle stiff veg tan as well. These splitters will be $5000 and up depending on model and condition. I wish I could have a band knife splitter.... Andrew

Check out kwokhing.com. You can get one for like $50 including shipping. Andrew

I make fishing rods as a hobby on the side. The problem with using leather on the grips and such is durability. For the wet conditions that the rods go through, a lot of leathers would not be appropriate since they are not water proof. You can't do embossed images on leather for rods because only vegetable tanned leathers work for embossing and tooling and veg tan leathers are not waterproof. You could add a waterproof coating but I don't think that would hold up to the wet conditions over time. I guess that's why people don't use much leather on rods. Andrew

Incredible work. Just out of curiosity (you don't have to answer this) but how much does a job like this earn you? Looks like an incredible amount of work. Andrew

The doming tool is made by Judd Tools (www.juddtools.com). I purchased it directly from his website. Judd tool's email address seems to be down but I was able to email them directly via their Paypal email and did get a confirmation from them that they received the order and will process it in a week or so. Andrew

I'm not sure what size thread you are requesting but it could be that the thread is pushing the upper limit of what their machines are capable of sewing. In that case, using a lighter thread on the bottom lets them be able to use the heavier thread on top. With the correct machine though, there is no reason that you can't have the same thread on the top and bottom. The problem is probably because they don't have the heavier class of machines. Also bear in mind that the stitches on the bottom side will not look as nice as the stitches on the top. That's just a fact of machine stitching (unless you use a needle and awl machine). Andrew

Make it a little higher. Like 36". It'll help with your back not having to be bent over all the time. Andrew

As far as feet and attachments are concerned, they should be the same. Andrew

You can get the Douglas awl at Sheridan leather. Andrew

That's very interesting. How do you do this inside stitch? Do you stitch it inside out and then invert it over a round core? I'm interested in finding out how it's done. Andrew

It's basically the same size as any other industrial sewing machine. About 48" x 20". You can shave a few inches on the length by cutting off part of the table but that's about it. Andrew

Hello all. I had some W&C harness leather a while back and as those of you who may have done this know, when you emboss the leather, the waxes cause the imprinted area to darken quite significantly. I know that this is due to the way they treat their leather. When I emboss on some other leather like skirting, it imprints nicely but does not have that darkening effect. Is there something that I can do to treat the surface of a skirting or tooling leather that would give it this effect when embossed? I have a stamp with my logo on it and I want to have the darkened effect when embossing it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Andrew

Shell Cordovan? what was your example from? Andrew

I've tried a lot of different things. The thing that I've found works best is nylon rope. You can get it in whatever diameter you want. Make sure it's firm enough that it doesnt compress too much when bent. Of you look at my galleries you'll see bags I've made using this rope for handle cores. Andrew