cldpsu

Hi all, I’m hoping to buy a bench grinder to use with a rubber expanding wheel I purchased. This is going to be for sole/heel finishing. I’m looking at a Rikon 1/2hp or 1 hp slow speed (1750 RPM) grinder and they have 3 and 7 amps, respectively. I’m not concerned about the extra 100 bucks in the heftier version, but I’m wondering if it’s overkill to have that much power and whether I would experience any bogging down of the motor with 3 amps. I’ve always done edge finishing by hand so I’m unsure about the pressure applied to the wheel and how much I might manage to bog down the motor. Thanks for any help!

What exactly is the right amount of pulling? I've cut my fingers a little too and I'm not sure if I'm over pulling.

I forgot that it persists even after taking a qtip with deglazer to the affected areas and then redyeing another coat on the belt.

I don't think so. I was really careful, no glue around, extremely clean surface wiped down on several occasions. The only thing it could be is gum trag and I checked repeatedly and never saw it on the grain side.

Definitely helps a lot. I buried the belt in some corn starch for 12 hours and it didn't seem to do much. Maybe I'll try kitty litter for a week, haha. Is it possible there's no remedy? On a different note, something's happened with these two belts in the dyeing process. I'll add that I used gum trag on the back of the belt before dyeing, but I can assure you that it didn't spill on the front of the belt. It almost looks like the grain is damaged.

1. With the first neatsfoot coat, if it's not evening out after ~8 hours, do you add a little more in certain areas before waiting the full 24 to add a second coat? 2. Do you ever buff between dye coats to see that it's even everywhere before applying another coat? 3. What do you use to apply your neatsfoot oil? Or Lexol conditioner if you ever use that? I'm getting some of that in the mail from Springfield, but the neatsfoot oil I have is compound : ( I have a dense sponge I like for the 50/50 Resolene. Thanks everyone for your replies. I really appreciate this ongoing help.

I applied it with a soft polishing cloth that you get from cobbler shops. It doesn't feel mushy as Tom said it might, but perhaps I should bury it in corn starch or something like he said. Maybe I did over oil but it's not mushy, but I understand what you guys are saying about waiting enough for it to even/level/spread out. I know Fiebing's Resolene is good but I'm annoyed at myself and would hate to just conceal all this excess dye with the topcoat that probably won't even adhere well to the grain but rather the excess dye. Is it right to think then that over oiling causes a deep saturation that ends up penetrating under the dye and then pushes the dye out of the belt? Nothing is really trivial with this stuff. I'm fascinated by all of it, despite my mistakes. So, to conclude, would the course of action to remedy this be burying it in cornstarch and then hopefully buffing out excess dye and then top coating it? Or will the burying cause the leather to be dry once again and require a light coat of oil?

Okay, good to know. Thanks!

Don't think I have too much oil. It's two-toned for sure. I guess I'll keep buffing, haha. Those cloths are all from the belt. Is this a normal amount rubbed off that you see in the pic?

Can anyone chime in whether neatsfoot oil being applied before buffing could cause a never ending attempt to buff out the dye? I'm not exactly sure what's considered normal in terms of excess being buffed out. Here's a labor pic.

Hi everyone, I was sewing a belt for the second time and I realized that I changed the stitch formation for two-three stitches under the belt keeper and perhaps changing back to the original formation caused there to be a large space in the leather, but it seems like the stitch is holding on to less. Should I be concerned about this tearing and turning two stitches to one, and possibly loosening the belt keeper from its tight setting?

Oh and my method of application was with a dauber/sponge.

Thanks, Tom. This was with Fiebings Pro Oil. I'm new to all of this and may have applied neatsfoot oil before the initial buffing started, but I can't remember now. I'm not sure if that has any impact on it.

Hey everyone, I did a search and can't find a thread specific to how much buffing to do. On a recently dyed belt without a finish, no matter how much I buff with a soft cloth, I always get dye pigment on it. Is this normal and does one stop after a few minutes of buffing, comfortable that the surface excess has been removed? I don't really understand if I'm pulling out whats impregnated or if I'm still removing surface excess dye. It seems eternal.

Do you dilute the pro finish 50/50?