electrathon

Perfect post. I saw this stuff the other day and was wondering about it too.

The drier the glue is the less sewing machine issues you will have. White glue like leatherweld is very easy to sew through without residual sticking to the needle, causing the leather to lift and missed stitches. If you want to use contact make sure it is very dry.

I believe the plates are for machine lasting. Most people pull the plates off for hand lasting.

Michael Dale runs them. Some of the best leatherworkers in the world teach on them. Chan Geer is teaching the next one.

Try wetting your leather first. You will get a nice dark burnish in the natural veg tan.

This is a good idea but be aware that they are smaller than most real heads.

I have never used olive oil so I am not sure. I usually use saddle oil from Bee Natural or neets foot oil.

Condition before sealing. Fiebings can dry/stiffen the leather so it is a good idea to do it.

In the old days the stones they had would sharpen, just not as fast as the modern "stones". Also, steel hardness is far superior today then in the old days. Old steel was usually softer, so it sharpened easier, but often lost its edge sooner, so more touch ups were needed.

It looks like a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower to me. It is hard to say without seeing the rollers, but I have a sole press (used to laminate stacks of leather) that looks very similar. If it is the rollers will not be straight, but look more like smile.

Randal, Nice work. What you did with the grommets is very similar to how I had envisioned the cinch area. I really like how you did the straps. Aaron

There are a number of threads on here talking about how to test for wear on th. Wizcrafts is a pro. Where are you at? I have one for sale in Oregon.

I tried to get a pic of the front of a hammer. There is about a 2 degree or so radius on the striking surface. Your hammer should not have a flat face. As a comparison, ball peen hammers are almost the same on the face of the flat side. You do have the correct style for pounding flat seams/folds in leather, just yours is mis-shaped.

You do pretty work.

I thank you! I did not even realize I hit the 2,500 make. I seldome start threads but have tried to answer questions when I can. When I started one of my biggest frustrations was the lack of available information. Leatherworker was an infant back then. Johanna had a vision of the future wanting to move from an outdated Yahoo system in favor of a forum based system, she was very correct, and I entered here when the group was very small. It has grown a lot, and I hope I have helped in a positive way.Aaron

You have a cobblers hammer, not a leatherworhing hammer. You need a poly hammer.

Make sure you are fully stroking the arm and move the arm a little faster and decisively. Mine will mis-stitch if the lever falls short at all on the end of the stroke.

If flipping the motor is not doable the next answer is twist the belt into an 8 instead of a 0. Not the best answer but very functional. Use an o-ring style belt instead of a v belt. Rubber bands should work since it is just the bobbin winder.

Hard to be sure without seeing it, but usually smaller motors are not reversible. The easiest answer is to turn the motor over.

I would hand the guy a piece of veg tan and tell him to brand it. Then I would build the wallet around it.

Yes

Look up the machine. It is not what you think it is, far bigger and heavier. Massive pieces of cast iron.

UPS would not ship this machine. It would have to go on a pallet and be shipped truck freight. It usually is much more about ability than time.

You can sew it just like veg tan, but it is not as easy due to the softness.

Playing around with the pattern. It looks to me like the drawstring is ran through a fold over seam along the top of the bag. This is likely problematic as the leather will not compress far enough to allow the top of the bag to fully close. I think grommet holes similar to the backpack pictures posted in the thread will likely work better to close the top fully. Any other input or ideas on this? I am going to try getting involved in the challenge this month.