Cumberland Highpower

Other than maybe limited market ( Leatherworkers are mostly hobbyists I guess), Seems like someone would offer a clutch motor or a servo with a 4:1 gear box bolted to the face. That would be an easy solution and could be make to be drop in to a standard clutch motor. I have 3 machines with GE Gear Reduction motors on them, so obviously it's done with standard motors anyway....

No a router is crazy fast. You could probably use a shaper though, "IF" it were belt driven type and you reduced the speed/pulleys down. You'd have to buy or make a burnishing head.

I like that. Sounds like for a full range of burnishers I only need a spark plug from my Dodge C/V, one from a Farmall and one from a Cessna 150

The Atom Se25 that I have in my shop here is starting to feel a little weak.....But not a good time to send it off for a rebuild. (I can't afford the down time). It's been leaking around the top seal a little and seems to have less power to cut than it used to.... A guy not excessively far away has a Sandt Hydraulik" 20 Ton clicker for sale. Looks pretty sharp. Trouble is, I've never used a Sandt clicker. I'm guessing they might be German made? I'm curious if they're still made or old machinery that's rebuilt over and over? How do they compare to Atoms? I've only owned Atoms (Se25 and 999). Ok, briefly owned a Reece at the dawn of ages..... What is a good condition Sandt worth? Or should I stick to buying another Atom?

1993 seems just fine to me. The machine in your picture looks pretty good. But the price is excessive. That's $700 US! I'd not pay that for a Dixon splitter. Why not buy a Heritage 8" splitter from Weaver Leather? They're made in the US and well built and can also do lap skiving. If you sign up for a dealer/wholesale account with Weaver the wholesale price is about $260 lower than the Dixon you're looking at. They also seem to be made/machined much more precisely than the Dixon Splitter. Maybe postage and UK import tax is a bit high....Just an idea. With all those long bust/defunct leatherworking shops in the UK, I'd be inclined to believe every flea market in England would be awash with surplus tools...

Personally I find the splitter in the link at the top to be somewhat overly priced?? I sold the one I had in September on Ebay auction type listing and it went for $310. I was very satisfied with the price realized. I never used it. They're a very heavy cast iron frame machine. I happen to still have a pair of Osborne 86's Jcuk, and kind of like you have had it for some time. The 86 is a smaller machine than the Dixon and to be honest I prefer an Osborne. The Dixon doesn't do anything the Osborne doesn't. I paid $25 and $20 respectively for my 86's at an auction. Here is a pic of the one I sold (Nothing wrong with the blade, just the lighting):

The very late Dixon tools fell off some in quality...But who's hasn't? Osborne's quality certainly has. I recently sold a very old Dixon splitter (Same as the late model) to a fellow and while it was over 100 years old, I found the quality to be about the same as the recent models. Meaning to say, made of good materials, but workmanship a bit rough around the edges.... Sometimes those old tools weren't always as good as we'd like to think they were. Dixon is generally a good brand of leatherworking tooling. I'd buy anything marked Dixon if the price is fair.

I've got a R-32 embosser and it looks like a roller for it. There were other makes of embossers too that used similar size rollers. I don't have that exact pattern, but I do have a standard basketweave roller and 2 very slim rollers with that scalloped pattern identical to yours that you stack on either side of the basketweave. Adds up to be very very similar to your roller. I rarely use the R-32. Right now it's supporting a stack of Bridle bellies about 2 feet deep. There is one for sale on this forum. If you buy it, you already have a roller for it.

Does anyone burnish lace? I can't say I've seen any burnished lace in my lifetime...If you wanted to actually do it, I think a vertical burnisher would work better. Isn't round lace made by pulling square lace through a "die" known as a rounder? That machine posted above is just a common horizontal burnisher that someone made. Probably works well overall.

Ah, interesting. That's a binder in the photos. I guess hats have a wire inserted into a leather binding "tape" sewn onto these hats? From the OP's posting, I had the idea the OP was folding a skived edge of the brim back over a wire....

I'm a little struck at the complete lack of options for machines here in the US. Virtually nothing on the market other than Chinese/Taiwanese clutch motors and cheap servos that seem to be poorly made/designed. Most everyone with a heavier machine uses a speed reducer pulley system. I guess I understand the economy mindset, I have it to a degree. It would be nice to find something better as an option. Efka setups are very expensive and hard to find here in the US as new items. After some searching in the recent past, it appears there are Japanese made servos out there. Mitusbishi has a couple that if I remember right were labeled "G5" and were between 500-700 USD. I'd think they would have to be much superior to the inferior Chinese servos?

What is your asking price? That's a good classic machine. Did you make the flywheel? When I see clean shops and spotless machines I get pretty jealous. Everything I own is covered in oil and leather dust!

I've bought leather from Hartland Tannery off and on over the past few years depending on projects, and placed an order for a sample this week through Acadia Leather. Noticed on a few items it mentions "Made for us buy our supplier". I looked a bit online for leather they used to carry, and came across an article that the Tannery had closed in Summer of 2020! Acadia Leather is still operating with a full range of the same leathers and I'm a little surprised to hear they shut the tannery down during the Covid Panic.... I visited the Hartland Tannery in Jan 2019 and it was humming away at what appeared to be at good capacity....I'm pretty sad to see it has closed..... My big question here though, is who is tanning these leathers for Acadia Leather now??? Acadia/Hartland was/is owned by Tasman......Do they have another tannery that produces this leather or is it imported from Mexico?

It looks like a leather burnisher to me. Maybe home made. 3450RPM is really not all crazy high considering how small the burnishing head is and the fact it's steel. Maybe they had plans to install a lower rpm motor and that's what they had available. As to it being open or enclosed It really shouldn't make much difference really, given it's rather benign application. There isn't enough dust generated to really amount to anything. Most that did get created would never make it too far into the depths of that motor anyway, considering there is that lid from your Blue Bonnet or whatever Butter. Allot of leather burnishing heads have slots cut into the burnishing head as a way to channel out dust/fibers, etc. I've seen some heads made from steel, but most are wood, leather, or a combination. A spring to help assist the lift of the motor would have been a great addition. I have an older horizontal Burnisher here (Randall? USMC?) that is a horizontal type with a large wooden head, much larger in diameter to yours. it's both having multiple contour grooves and slots cut into it just like yours. I also have a newer Randall/Campbell VSB and it's also horizontal. The Newer one can go as high as 4K RPM and uses the wooden heads that fit my Galli FCE. I never run it past about 1k though (Variable) and sometimes not much over 500. Horizontal burnishers are great for smaller items or softer items that are easier to burnish on a flat surface. Wallets, Watch bands, etc. Given the size of the grooves, I'd gamble it's for belts or some kind of horsey stuff like harness or bridles. I have seen more steel burnishing heads on shoe related machinery, than on machinery for other uses, so maybe it's something to do with footwear mfg...Anyway... I've also got a Rossley folding table with a built in heating element. I had big plans for it but so far it's always just sat....Think they have any vaule? Not really wanting to part with mine, just curious

I'd maybe be interested, but California is too far... Can you freight? Would you have interest in selling just the rollers?

kgg I think the Cowboy that's sold today is made by the same outfit that made the GA5, slightly enhanced. Some have reverse for a little extra cash. What do you plan to sew on one of these? They're pretty much a copy of the old Singer 45. I'd say they're somewhat limited in practical use, as they only seem to have a feed dog. You can sew leather or nylon mostly fine, but this machine will have no ability to pull material to speak of, nor will it be able to climb at all over various thickness leather. It will probably leave feed dog marks on the underside. (Not always an issue though). I can't say it wont work for you of course, it might work on what you have planned for it. They're being made and sold, so they have to be working for some. I'd say your best bet is to buy the roller foot to go with it. Are you planning to sew leather? Sometimes you can get machine of a different flavor to work for your projects. 20 Years ago, before I had a building full of machinery and working out of a portable building in the backyard, I bought my first "stitcher" an Adler 205-25. I think I paid $800 for it not really understanding what it was. While it was made for moccasins, it did work well for what I was making at the time. That machine had a lower feed dog and "foot feed" similar to the old Singer Shoe Patchers, but no needle feed and no reverse. That combination would be slightly superior in feeding ability to your GA5, but It was very prone to slipping or not feeding and still did not climb very well. Harness or bridle leathers that were well greased up were extremely difficult to control.

How do you have them priced? Rings and Duncans.

Hello Wiz, It's only a new head I picked up. I placed in on one of the standard motor tables to test out. Same old twin belts/standard motor w/pulleys under the table. (I haven't gotten as far as the new servo motors yet) The gearing sound is in the machine head no doubt, sounds near the shuttle. I thought there might be an adjustment to raise the shuttle but I haven't seen it just yet. I'll take a closer look. I've owned UL's since 2009, having bought my first during the recession. Back then allot of shops were dumping machinery pretty cheap. I've run it a fair amount and to date only adjusted 2 points for wear and changed the stitch length. I've never had any issues, although I hear many complain about the UL's......I get the feeling that it's the heavily worn machines that are the problem machines?

I picked up a Union Lock head today that looks to be in really great shape, nice and tight. I believe it was not used much since rebuilt from the looks of it. (None of the factory black paint is worn off of the shuttle/bobbin housing). Now, it does work of course, I swapped it with another machine head to test it out. It seems to work well, just needing some wax cleaned out. But...I am a little perplexed at the noise it makes. All the UL machines I've seen and the 2 I have here make a light gear gnashing sound when running, but this head makes extremely loud gearing sounds. Especially near the shuttle. Everything looks rock solid and tight, maybe too tight...But is excessively noisy. I almost feel like the gearing is too tight. Is there an adjustment I don't see that allows the shuttle to move up and down? Seems like when I run it by hand by the flywheel I feel a little excessive "gnashing" of the gears. Anyone happen to have a service manual for the UL? I've never needed one but maybe I do today

I used to have one just like that but lost it somewhere along the line... Osborne made a very limited number of punches to Government specifications in the past, and those punches used a taper friction fit tube and NOT a screw in type. It looks like yours is of that type from the photo. If you look carefully do they appear to be threaded and screwed in, or pressed in and held by a taper? IF it's a Govt Spec punch, the original owner probably got it for "free" as he probably carried home as contraband, but at $2 you have a GREAT find. When I pointed out that I had this model Osborne punch that didn't take screw in tubes, I was lightly derided here on this forum until an Osborne rep stepped in and noted I had a Govt property punch and detailed how they were different. Now, you might laugh but I lightly sharpened mine on occasion without removing the tubes. I used a brass deburring tool made by Wilson and it can lightly sharpen the inside and outside of your tubes so long as they don't have big chips out of them.

I see you're spooled up with 3 different colors/types of thread, but you never mentioned what you plan to make with your 105?

That's a bad day.... It sounds like your machine just had poor QC. Did you insert the original needle in your machine or did it come installed? It may have been a tight fit from the start. That's poor qc in that case, but it's not hard to fix. You can clean up any burrs in the needle mounting hole. If your needle is rubbing, something is out of adjustment, bent or poorly made. Skipping the hole in the needle bar had nothing to do with your needle breaking or anything else. Your needle was probably under allot of stress because of the misalignment and snapped after a couple stitches. 20 mins looking it over and making some adjustments should cure the problem. At worst you might need to replace an out of spec part.

I don't think you'll find much more than manuals online. The successor was the 205-64 and it has allot in common including the presser feet. I happen to have a 205-64. I believe the 105 uses the 328 needles? Now the shuttles and bobbins for your machine are pretty easy to find and the same as a singer 45. Ebay is full of Chinese replacements. When it comes to presser feet, it's a little tighter market. In today's world, there are not many feet made now for the 105/205-64. In 1965 there were many types available for all kinds of work. You'll have to keep a close eye on this forum's postings and Ebay. Almost none of the attachments listed in the 105 manual above can be found today new, although over the years you made pick a couple odd pieces here and there up at flea markets or online. On my 205-64 (Same feet at yours) I have about 4. One is a Juki 421 foot that I recently bought, milled out a little deeper in the needle slot and trimmed the toes back. Works great but not a bolt on out of the box proposition. I think some feet from a couple of the Chinese Coyboys might be workable. You'd have call Bob Kovar on that. I do know he sells a Chinese Roller "Foot" that fits your machine. The 105-64 is really a great machine although it does have some limitations compared to the newer Unison feed type machines. Back in the day the 105 was a common staple among leatherworkers.

I'm debating to order a sailrite or a Reliable to try out. I'm looking for max low speed torque. Kgg I have surplus brushed 550W servos that came off machines and a Randall VSB "Burnisher" built on one by Randall. I wonder if these are they types you are using? I can get close to zero torque out of any of them. The burnisher works ok, I run it about 500RPM's on 4-6 oz leather items. I don't think i it could work on anything else without stalling. My Galli FCE has a DC motor on it mounted on front for burnishing and it has a great amount of torque and uses the same wheels as the Randall VSB I have. Makes me think those 550w motors aren't really very good? What is the largest machine you run with the 550w servos?

Well, I probably should have kept my interaction with Levi to myself.... I may want to deal with him someday, who knows. still don't know what that part is though?