Andrew Chee

What kind of motor did the machine come with? Whe you turn the machine on, does the motor start running right away or only when you press the peddle? If the former, then you have a clutch motor. If the latter then you have a servo. If you have a servo motor then you should be able to turn the speed down. If a clutch then you have to learn how to properly control the clutch. They are harder to use then servos. Speed reducers are available but they are really meant to increase the tork at low speeds rather than to necessarily slow the machine down considering that modern servos already can slow the machines down to a crawl. if you have a clutch motor, you might want to consider getting a servo motor. They can be had for around $100. Speed reducers are generally that expensive or more. If you Sew really heavy stuff then you might need a speed reducer as well but I don't know. Andrew

Hello all. I have a question on burnishing. My current process is to use saddle soap (or water) after edging, then I run it against either a wood burnisher on a drill press motor or a hard felt burnisher. Then I wax and burnish again. I don't currently dye the edges because I want to have a natural looking edge. This method works great on regular veg tan. I found thought that when I use harness leather (W&C harness leather), the area around the grain and flesh sides darkens a lot more then the center. I attribute this to the fact that there are oils and waxes from the hot stuffing that are more concentrated on the surfaces of the leather. But what happens then is the center of the leather has a lighter color than the edges. Is there a way to remedy this without using dye? Thanks. Andrew

Definitely good advice. Right now I do a lot of "hmmm... This is thicker than the last thing I did so I should turn the knob in a few turns". Your method definitely makes for better repeatability. Thanks. Andrew

You can still use Veg Tan leather. Generally speaking, if you use a thinner leather, it will be easier to turn. 4oz leather is pretty much as thick as you need for a purse. Maybe even thinner. I have some veg tan leather that are softer tempered (definitely not as soft as chrome tan) but they turn pretty easily without having to wet them. Andrew

Not sure if this is important to you but through my research I have found that Adler 205s have more different types of presser feet and attachments available to them (piping feet and binder attachments). 441s Generally have the standard feet available. 205s also have suspending guides available but I have not been able to figure one out for my 441 clone yet (it does have a swing away guide though). Not sure if those things are important to you but just FYI. Andrew

Hey Spinner. How do you take notes of tensions? Since tension adjustment is turning the tension knob in or out how do you know when you're at the "right" tension for a particular needle/thread/thickness combination. Is there a particular method you use to keep track of things? Andrew

I think (but I could be wrong) that the 797 is a double feed machine (ipresser feed and feed dogs work together to feed the material but the needle just goes up and down) while the 1445 is a triple feed (all three work together to move the material). Triple feeds in general are better than double feeds cause the stitch lengths tend to be more consistent when going over seems and such. I live in the SF Bay area and I checked out a 1445 from a Craigslist guy a while back. The machine is nice and will sew thick enough. The problem was finding presser feet for that machine. 797 feet are much easier to find and there are a lot of variety (piping, zipper, etc...). Anyways, good luck. Andrew

Your issue with the splitter chopping the leather can be caused by many things. I'm thinking your splitter may not have a top roller so sometimes the Esther may flip up a bit and the blade will chop it off. Sometimes we. Yo hit a hard spot in the leather the blade can chop it off. T the best of your ability try to hold the lesser down. Even so, this may continue to happen once in a while. Andrew

Call Dan at Campbell Randall. He has machines that do this. Andrew

I like the beer. Nothing says a project done like a cold beer. Andrew

How does it compare to a triple feed in terms of handling slippery material or going over thick seams? Also, how is it in terms of marking leather? Andrew

What are the pros/cons of a driven roller type of machine? Wiz doesn't really cover this type in his write up. Andrew

The black mat stuff from Tandy's more for punching. It gets cut through pretty easily. If you cover your entire table with it, it will get pretty scarred up. I wanted to cover my table with something that I could cut directly on so I went to TAP plastics and got a piece of cutting board material cut to the dimensions of my table. You can use a pretty thin one (like 1/8") since you'll never cut through it. The material's nice and they can basically cut to whatever dimensions you want. Not terribly expensive either. Then if you want to use a punching surface, keep using the tandy punch mats. Andrew

You might want to check out the Weaver punches. The round strap end punches I've purchased have been pretty good and they're not terribly expensive. Andrew

While it is certainly doable to use a 1-1/2" round strap end punch on a 1" belt, the look would be different. When used on a 1-1/2" belt you will get more of a semi-circular rounded end. If you use it on a 1" belt, there will be some corners. If you can live with that, then it's find. Andrew

Just out of curiosity, how much does one of these machines cost? Andrew

You should contact Dan At Campbell Randall. He's making me up something very similar for a lot less money. I was gonna post the costs and such after I got the details be it will be a few more days before he gets it for me. I know the price will be at least half of the cost of the European ones. Just FYI. Andrew

Any idea on pricing for these? Andrew

Hello everyone. I've tried different leather finishes before including ones that I made myself. What is the difference between a leather "conditioner" and a leather "finish"? Is it simply the addition of some sort of wax to the formula? I've used Leather Balm and Bee Natural. As far as I can tell, they both feel like an emulsified wax solution to me. Both give the leather a slight shine but doesn't seem to give much water repellency (I usually use 1-2 coats only since I don't want my leather too shiny). Anyways, if anyone can shed some light on this subject, that would be great. After all, what is the purpose of leather finish? Is it to repel water? To give leather a shine? Andrew

There's a huge monthly antique fair in the San Francisco area. I was at the last one and there was a dealer there that sold these vintage mailbags as well as new replicas that he made themselves. He was charging $395 for them whether vintage or new. The vintage ones were in a shape similar to your pre-restored one. Andrew

Just a little comment. I've found that on this board, wallets, belts, amd purses is really considered light-medium weight stuff even though you may consider it heavy weight. when people talk about heavyweight here, they're talking about holsters and saddles. What area of the country do you like in? The problem with model numbers is that everyone's a clone of everyone else so you will find a bazillion different model names for what is basically the same machine. I went this very same thing a few months ago. I now have two machines and I feel like I have a much clearer ideas as to what to look for. So instead of models, here's a couple of features you should look for: Walking foot: specifically compound feed (aka triple feed) Maximum sewing thickness: 3/8 - 1/2 inch Heaviest thread: 138 (maybe a 207 but you won't need to go heavier than that for what you're sewing) Flatbed or cylinder bed: cylinder beds are more versatile when sewing gussets for bags but many don't have a flatbed attachment so is not as convenient on big flat items. This one is up to you. People talk about the need for smooth feet and feed dogs and that is true but in a pinch you can modify those yourself to smooth then out. servo motor is a definite must have in my opinion. Anyways, you can PM me and I can share more of my experiences with you. Andrew

Honestly, I really don't trust that I can sand the leather down to sub-2oz levels with any sort of consistency. And even if I could, the flesh side would not be terribly attractive to use I don't think. The basic probably is that knife splitters really aren't consistent enough to do sub-2oz splitting. And if you have any leather other firm veg tan, it won't like that either. Oh well. Andrew

Dan from Campbell Randall got ahold of me. Apparently they carry just this type of stuff. Thanks Dan! Andrew

PM Sent. Andrew

I recently bought so chrome tan leather in royal blue to make a purse for my wife. I would like to finish the edges but I don't want to turn them. I see that a lot of women's hand bags have an edge paint that matches the color of the leather. Does anyone know where I can find such a thing? What do the handbag manufacturers use? Thanks. Andrew