niftycurly

.What do you mean by expensive? At Savmor Leather in Los Angeles latigo goes for around $80 per half hide depending on weight/actual size. http://savmorleather.com/ Tho it's easier to call them than order online.

Hi Summerfabian - for what you describe a regular domestic sewing machine will actually work decently. I've been sewing up items with 2 layers of upholstery leather for several years on assorted domestics. You just have to make sure that you have a correctly sized leather needle (with diamond/knife tip), appropriately heavy nylon thread (I use #69 bonded), a teflon presser foot and sew with a long stitch (I use about a 6). It does help if it's NOT one of those sub $100 computerized things. The computer bits and dinky motor tend to freak out. Depending on the leather surface finish and density some leathers might cause trouble, but for the most part it's pretty good. The $20-30 metal body Singers often found at thrift stores work great. Best of luck!

Would anyone be able to point to a manual or any kind of documentation for the Landis 2" machine at the beginning of this post? Or perhaps know the model name/number? Google has not been forthcoming tho it looks quite similar to the Landis that Bruce posted in his crank skiver thread. Many thanks, -Ellen

Thanks very much for the great advice everyone! Melanie Machine is only 12 miles away, hurrah!

Hello lovely people, Would anyone be able to recommend a dealer, show room, trade show or any other such location near-ish Los Angeles where one could see and test a variety of the more budget friendly leather specific cutting, skiving, machines in person? I've been reading and reading on these forums but nothing beats a test drive. Many thanks, -Ellen

Does anyone know if it would fare as well on chrome tanned as it would on veg?

Would you mind telling me which part is the blade please? Thank you.

Thanks Jules! Are you finding that you need to work a little differently with it?I just picked some up and am liking it very much so far. - it,s much thinner than the other Barge glues, almost watery - clear, yay! No more yellow smudges. Seems to work better wet to wet with a little pressure rather than the usual let-it-dry-then-attach method. Perhaps I just need to use a thicker layer of cement? I tend to glue sparingly, just enough to hold prices together nicely for sewing and riveting.The heat activating is a great tip! This stuff sure dries fast!

Has anyone tried out the Barge Infinity Cement in the green cans? I used to use the horribly toxic yellow can and have moved on to the toluene free blue can but the fumes are still far too strong for my liking, even with a fan/going outside. (the blue TF formula seems to perform just as well as yellow Barge for me) The idea of no VOC's at all is incredibly appealing. As far as I can tell Infinity isn't available in tubes yet so it's a quarts and gallons only. Thanks in advance!

Hello - for anyone out there who machine sews a mix of leather and fabric: do you use the chisel/diamond pointed leather needle or the round pointed fabric needle? I'm specifically curious about the combination of leather with hardy stuff like canvas, denim and webbing, for example in a rucksack or tote bag. It would seem that the diamond/chisel needles would cut up the fibers of the fabric rendering it very weak at the seams but we've all been told not to use round needles with leather. So which is it? Many thanks, -Ellen

Twin Oaks - Thanks for the Particle tip! I believe this Boss was sitting idle in someone's closet for several years and seeming with the presser foot tension cranked as tight as it could go. Backing off helped greatly and seems ok. What little I can see of the cable doesn't appear rusted. I do have a copy of the manual but it doesn't mention a lube point for the cable - should I oil the part where it enters the arm? Gracias! -Ellen

WOHOOOOOO!!!! Many thanks busted and rickybobby! After greasing the bejeebus out of every moving part I could get to, including under the front cover, and cranking the handle about a hundred times everything is moving like butter. Bonus, the fraying thread issue has also gone away and the Boss is now stitching like a champ. I just whipped up this little card case. Side note: while the stitching is lovely, there was some blowout on the bottom side. I've nearly eliminated that by putting a sheet of copy paper between the leather and plate. The remaining cleaned up with a little antique stain. Totally happy dance'n now! Many many thanks, -Ellen

Hi all you Boss experts out there, I've recently picked up a used cast iron Boss from a fellow Leatherworker.net member and as he never actually used it can't ask him about it's foibles. So far I've got it cleaned and oiled, correct needle and thread in place but before I even get to fiddling with tensions there is a major problem. On the downstroke when the presser foot lifts to allow the material to advance it usually doesn't go back down. I took off the front cover to observe the action and it appears that the pressure foot cam is just not advancing quite far enough to click into the next notch at the end of the handle downstroke. If I manually push the cam forward before the upstroke the foot will pop down. The amount of not advancing enough is inconsistent. Sometimes it will be just barely, other times it gets halfway, some times it even reverses a bit. If I slam the handle down as hard as I can it will make it to the next notch maybe 1/10 times so it is not a matter of short stroking from the handle side. Any ideas? I'll call Tippmann on Monday morning but if I can get any sewing in this weekend I'd be happy dance'n. A couple things to note: * When the machine arrived the presser foot tension knob was cranked all the way down so tight I needed two hands to pull the foot lever. * The action of the presser foot lifting lever is pretty clunky (Is there a spot to lubricate?) * The thread take up arm doesn't go anywhere, is it supposed to? * Probably unrelated but my thread is fraying badly, needle size and placement are correct, brand new spool of bonded nylon. Many thanks, -Ellen

Ah, thanks for the info. I was wondering how much these ran.

Hi delormea397, I'm in the same boat - endlessly fascinated by bespoke shoemaking and taking my first steps. Just bought 4 pairs of wooden lasts yesterday from a woman on ebay that was kind enough to go through a stock of 50's Florsheim lasts she had for the sizes I wanted. http://stores.ebay.com/Fragrant-Fields She has about 30 pairs in assorted sizes right now for $15.99/pair. They're wood instead of plastic, which is what I wanted to be able to more easily shape them to fit my own feet. Have you come across the Carreducker blog yet? They're bespoke shoemakers in London who also teach a course - the blog is incredibly detailed and inspiring. http://carreducker.blogspot.com/ Also the Laslo Vass book "Handmade Shoes for Men" is back in stock at Amazon for a ridiculously low $15. As Kayak45 mentioned http://www.thehcc.org/ also has tons of info including digital downloads of some really intense shoe making technical books.

Rick - those "feet" are called lasts. You could easily fit the cast iron ebay ones onto a home made lasting jack like this one http://www.shoeschool.com/shoeschool/downloads/pdf/Lasting_Jack_ShoeSchool_DIY.pdf Would that serve your purpose? Best, -Ellen

Hi Ferg, What are you asking for your 5 in 1? Thanks! -Ellen

A suggestion for comfort: Look up trapunto, aka italian stuffed quilting. Usually done with fabric but there are medieval and renaissance examples done in thin leathers. You could avoid all the clay molding and wet work as well as have a very comfortable, albeit warm, costume if you use lambskin as the outer layer. Accent the depressed stitching lines with airbrush and I think you'd get very close to your pictures.

Airbrushes are very cheap at Harbor Freight. This $10 set is iffy for fine detail but good enough for big even swaths of color. http://www.harborfreight.com/quick-change-airbrush-kit-93506.html

I've cut very thin pigskin on a Silhouette SD with multiple passes. Leather was stabilized by adhering to a piece of paper first. Worked ok, but it was more trouble than worth I think.

If you go to a fabric store like Joann's and look in the accessories section of the pattern books there are lots of various hats including baseball hats. Just adapt the instructions to leather.

It is almost certainly not dye sublimation as that process requires the substrate to be polyester (I used to work in the large scale sign industry until recently) There are however several industrial inkjet.solvent printers that can print directly on leather and other flat materials. Some are small, sized for tshirts, others can handle material up to 12' wide and 2" thick (i.e. print directly on a door or piece of carpet). If you can find a local tshirt printer that advertises the ability to do one off, multicolor digitally printed tshirts they are usually happy to experiment for you if you want to bring them a piece of leather. (In Los Angeles a single such tshirt runs around $15 including the shirt) I've seen some interestingly printed leather pieces in the last few years and upon inquiry the makers always tell me that they are using this kind of direct printing. If you want to do whole hides or larger production runs find a large format printing operation (or construction house) that specializes in work for tradeshows and high end signage. They will often have the larger direct print machines.

You can find small steel letter/number stamp sets at Harbor Freight in a couple sizes. Since they are sold for stamping metal I would think they hold up to leather just fine. They are also super inexpensive, the 36 piece 1/8" set is only $8.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/36-piece-1-8-eighth-inch-steel-letter-number-stamping-set-800.html

All excellent tips, many thanks. (Especially the one about the chrome tan fumes! I wouldn't have thought of that) UKRay - do you have any leads on the heat resistant tape? A quick google tells me that there are many industries - perhaps a shirt printing supply shop?

Hi Everyone - I've searched the boards but not found the exact solution to my self imposed dilemma. Thanks in advance for any insights you may have I already possess a lovely set of small magnesium photo-etched plates with our logo that we've successfully used to stamp veg-tan leathers by hand and with an arbor press. We're now doing more work with chrome tanned leathers and I'd like to keep using the stamps but they sure don't work cold. They can be put into a hot foil stamping machine I know, but we'd like to avoid shelling out $1000+ at this time. Nor would we like to give up the shop space for such a single use machine. I've seen handheld branding irons all over the internet but they seem to require a specific type of threaded brass stamp head. Anyone have suggestions for attaching the magnesium dies to a heat source in a usable manner that won't permanently maim ourselves? Many thanks, -Ellen