electrathon

Stone is for stamping on the surface. Rubber or poly is for punching through the leather. Never drive your tools into a stone, it will make you say naughty words.

If it is from Harbor Freight it has a lifetime warranty.

Let me start by saying that I have no specific knowledge of the specific oven you have. The sound you are describing should like a transformer hum. It is not a desirable condition but is not necessarily something to be afraid of. Oftentimes the contacts get corroded and they start vibrating. If it is working I would leave it. If it gets horrible or is it stops working replace the contactor.

Make a rack that has wires sticking up. Position the rivets on the wires. The hardest part is stripping off the factory coatings.

I rarely use mine while tooling, but most always use it when basket weaving. It stops you from getting double imprints from hammer bounce. Wooden hammers are never a good choice.

I am in Portland if you want to drive.

Steel is stronger than brass.

Water and glycerine bar saddle soap here. I use beeswax sometimes but you have to dye first. If you use soap you can dye after burnishing.

How firm is your bench? Try moving to a concrete floor or sidewalk and see if there is a difference. It may amaze you how much impact you are loosing to bench bounce.

Use a piece of rubber behind it to get some grip as you tighten it. There is also a pair of pliers available to grip them as you tighten, do not remember who sell it. Also, use loc-tite to keep them from un-threading.

Try atom wax.

I am. Was wondering what the woodpecker part was in reference too.

Stunning work. Looks awesome. I am curious about the sewing pattern you used. I can see the X pattern in the stitching, but am curious about the band around the inlays. Is there some sort of piping you sewed around? I can see a color variation from the leather on each side but can not see what is there.

I have watched Eric answer many peoples questions on here. He is nice guy and is one of the sewing machine masters here. His offer is very generous and a great way to get your machine working. Remember, just because you pay a local person a lot of money does not mean he knows what he is doing or that it will work after he is done. The one guy to not let you touch your machine is the one that told you thee BS about it is impossible to do it yourself.

That is so cool. My Champion is missing the base so it is just mounted to a bench with a servo motor below. I can't imagine what the thing ways, without the base mine was incredibly heavy (I would estimate the top was well over 200 lbs).

The angle of the slot or the right or left handed person is not relevant. The reason for left and right twist thread on a machine is solely because the needle/hook/bobbin loops the thread as it sews. When hand sewing this does not happen. Tugging the thread to the left or to the right are not the issue. Twisting the thread clockwise or counterclockwise (done by the machine, not by hand) is the total issue.

Find a piece of tubing, like brake line, about 4" long. Sharpen the inside with a countersink. Put it in the drill press and drill through the leather. The finished hole will be the size of the outside of the tube.

I have one, use it fairly often. Works great and I have not been easy on it. It does not work on thick leather, the thinner the better.

I thought I would post this simple tutorial about how to not use a round knife and the opposing, how to use a round knife. Note the Leather Wranglers knife for the purpose of, "Yea, I like cool tools". Rule for a round knife: Always keep your non knife hand close to your body and always cut away from yourself. You will never get hurt this way. See pics.

I think the only functional solution is to bind the edge like was being talked about by TwinOaks. I think that even if you lace it you will find it difficult to hide the sewing holes (I know it can be done, I said difficult).

Yes, I forgot to add that to my post. You need to buy all the tools. I am a tool guy, so I am not the guy to advise against buying cool tools. It is hard to have favorites if you don't have ones you like less.

I skive all the time with a round knife. A good quality flexible blade makes it easy. I also use them for other knife purposes other than skiving. I have cut off a total of zero fingers over the years. In fact, I do not believe I have ever cut my self with one. When I hand it to someone else I always warn/remind them that I keep it "scary sharp". There is only one thing to remember with a round knife and you will never be hurt: Keep your non-knife hand closer to your body than your knife hand is, and cut away from yourself. Leather Wranglers has a few good knife videos on their website. Lots of good info for free.

I use 3/4 oz backs, pig or goat insides. Sometimes I line the back with cloth, sometimes with pig or goat. Never to my knowledge has a back ever failed. Every wallet I have had that failed was because I used a manufactured inside. I believe the numbers of failed pre made insides is 100% over a year or two, I do not use them any more.

When I pull it out of the dye I pat it with a towel to remove the excess. It helps a lot with the evening out of the color. I usually dye the same way you stated.

I do not have this one, but do have a hot press. Leather should always be damp. About 275-300 degrees. Less than 2 seconds contact time. Play with it from there.