raysouth

Hello Cascabel, I am probably not the best person to answer this question but can relate what I have learned along the way. I had purchased one of thos you listed and it is a great machine, even though I was never able to use it. All of them seem to be made in China and have different brand names but appear to be, basically identical machines. The various agents have some different attachments and hardware that seems to be unique to their brand of the machine, which may be good marketing tool. I have spoken with most of the companies while I was in search mode and all were extremely able and willing to assist. Sure you would find the same results today. If thinking of making a machine purchase, I would suggest calling them and discussing your needs and obtain all of the information available from them. They are very eager to assist new machine users. Hope this gives you some idea of what I have learned and perhaps other may have different suggestions or opinions. God Bless. Ray

Hello Duke, A number of small splitters on eBay that may do what you need. As for Leather Machine Company's tools I can only say that everyone seems to find them to be a good company to deal with and the products are well made. Sure that Steve can be of assistance. Give him a call and he can probably help your needs. God Bless. Ray

Howdy All, Wondering if anyone would have input about rivet/spot setters that are reasonably current, have available dies and resonably priced? Have looked at several on eBay and they all seem to be of Chinese origin and a bit pricey, I believe. I would like to think that there is a multi-purpose setter available, along with a good selection of dies for various applications. Using the hammer is becoming a bit more difficult and thought I would seek something to alleviate the pounding. Would appreciate any advice, assistance along these lines. Might save me from making another foolish mistake. lol. Gent from China has one on eBay; item number 400296431001, a KAM JO950 but again, no reviews or advice from anyone having purchased or used this unit. God Bless. Ray

Great to have you as a member and your work is extremely nice. Very creative. Keep at it and enjoy the craft. God Bless. Ray

Hello Strudel, It is apparent that you read the books well. Great workmanship and happy that you have discovered the craft. Pleasant medium to work with and the sky is the limit. Happy to see your work and that you are a site member. God Bless. Ray

Hello Mike, and welcome to the site. You will find everything to get you going and plenty of assistance by the members here. Greatest leatherwork site around. God Bless. Ray

Hello WMarshall. You may find a few tools on the for sale section of this site but as redbeard said, ebay and Tandy are good places to start. This is the best site for obtaining the information you need for your projects. You can invest slowly and use the time in between to learn more about the craft. There is so much to learn that I find it best to research and ask for assistance that may involve something I intend to do in the near future or just to expand my knowledge base. Everyone here seems to be eager to assist whenever they can. I will send you a pm from this site when I am finished here. Welcome and God Bless. Ray

GREAT WORK. Looks good on the bike and sure it is a good feeling to know it is something that you made. God Bless. Ray

GREAT WORK!!!!!! Happy to hear that you have found your niche. Also heard that someone I know in Charlotte has been asked to make things for movie company or something like that. Sure you will all do well. God Bless. Ray

SUPER BIKE!!!! SUPERB LEATHERWORK. The only thing I couldn't find was the power window switch. ckl. Know it has to be a fun ride. God Bless. Ray

Hello Duke, and welcome aboard. I have also been shopping around for skiver but of a special type. There are a number of skivers listed on eBay at the moment. Might find something there or look in the "for sale" section of this site. May luck out and find something a leathercrafter no longer needs. Happy to have you join the site. God Bless. ray

Are you making reference to the $20.00 sides that have been offered? Ray

Hello Jennifer, There are a number of different devices that will do the job and good number of them may be found on eBay. Several of the leatherworkers on the site, have machinery for sale, at times, and I would browse through the for sale section here. Ask billymac, as he is very knowledgeable about the tools used for different operations. If I happen upon something, I will be certain to let you know. God Bless. Ray

Hey Heavy Leather, Great find. I have been looking for those type stamps for a long time and missed those. I enjoy stamping military items and not much around, that I can find. Hope you enjoy them. God Bless. Ray

No idea, Chrstn. Neat stamp and a good find. Hope you learn who made it. God Bless. Ray

Like many of you, I have purchased stamps from him and they are superb. Beautiful workmanship, fast service and priced very reasonably. Was happy to have stumbled upon his items while searching on eBay. Ray

Hey Y'all, Take a look at the 3 pages of book listings and be sure there is nothing there before they go away. The book, Leatherworking Tools 1700-1950 is gone but most everything else is still there as listed. ANY BOOK YOU SEE FOR $7.00 WHICH WILL COVER THE MAILER AND POSTAGE TO ANY ADDRESS IN UPPER 48. NO IDEA WHAT HAWAII AND ALASKA WOULD RUN BUT PROBABLY NOT MUCH MORE. NO OTHER CHARGES SO GRAB ANYTHING OF INTEREST. BOOKS REMAINING WHEN WIFE RETIRES AT END OF MAY, WILL BE GIVEN TO A SMALL LIBRARY IN AREA. Hope you find something of interest. All like new and if not, I will be sure to say so. God Bless. Ray

More questions for this lost soul. I am interested in doing some edge/lap skiving but don't think the skiving/splitting machines I see, such as Heritage, Osborne, Cowboy, etc; will do what I hope to do. Not having any idea what to look for, I am hoping that someone can head me in the right direction. An example; I have a piece of leather, about 10" square, @ 8-10 oz. that I want to skive and edge on to @ 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" back on all 4 sides. What type of manual, if any, machine will handle that for me? I can pull the leather through, to some extent, but not while holding other levers, etc; as I will be concentrating on staying upright while performing the skiving operation. ckl. If no machine is available that will do the trick, what would you advise as to good knives. I have seen some interesting Japanese knives lately, that appear as though they might be good for this task. Important for me to be able to skive while keeping hands far away from sharp edges. (Age and Infirm issues.) Regardless, hoping I can glean some relavent info here and get what I need without taking shots in the dark as I have many times in the past. Any and all advice will certainlt be of value so, Thank You and God Bless. Ray

Many interesting products to use. DickBlick.com has a number of very reasonably priced tracing materials on rolls or individual sheets. Speedball tracing paper 20 yard roll x 18" wide is @ $6.14, 50 yard roll x 12" wide is $9.26 and 18" wide x 50 yard is 11.97. In addition, something I use is called Sally's graphite paper. Composition is not same as found in pencil lead and is easily, with art eraser, removed if not heavily forced into leather. My primary use is when I am using pyrography on leather and most of it is burned away during the process. Great product for me but perhaps not for everyone. Hope this is useful for someone. God Bless. Ray

Howdy All, I am a subscriber to Shop Talk, published by Proleptic and wondering if you are familiar with the BIGBOOK they publish annually? Just happened to look through it yesterday and thought it might be good for anyone needing supplier information so thought I would mention here. I enjoy Shop Talk monthly and the BIGBOOK is furnished free with your paid subscription so somewhat of a bonus publication. Good reading and plenty of information, especially for thos interested in saddles and shoe making. Hope the information is useful for some of you. God Bless. Ray

Howdy All. Just wnated to let everyone know that I just posted another of the tools I will not need in the shop. As new as never placed in use. Thanks for looking and God Bless. Ray

Another of the tools I purchased and never put to use, soooooooooooooo, offering it at a decent price for anyone intetrested in such a tool. $250.00 cash, plus actual shipping charges via any method you choose, USPS, UPS, FED-EX. Comes with whatever was in the original box when purchased. Nice item but something I will not have a use for. Had to use a picture of the one being sold on ebay as my pic did not do well. Ask any questions. Great tool for someone interested in doing a lot of stamping. Hope this will fill a need someplace. God Bless. Ray

I have, over the past several years, purchased domain names, etc; from godaddy. Prices for the domain names were originally very reasonable but as time went by, their seemed to be an extra fee for a number of different reasons, etc; and became confusing. Also purchased the hosting and development program and that turned out to be a nightmare, especially when I attempted to obtain some assistance from them. After many frustrating hours spent trying to develop a site I gave it up as had no way to get the assistance I needed, and, to my dismat, they don't/didn't offer any refunds, for anything. Once you bought it, it was yours and good luck was the order of the day. Never have been up on computerese and the lingo is far beyond my very limited capability. The software that "ANYONE' could build and have a web site with was for ANYONE, and not for me. Never met ANYONE, but he was more up on website development than I was. I speak and converse in several foreign languages but computerese zipped right through the gray matter. lol. All in all, I suppose they may be okay but of no use to me and referring to my past experience with them, on a scale of 1 to 100, with 1 being the best, I would have to give it a 159. That bad and frustrating for me. ckl. Ain't life grand. I love it and more each day. God Bless. Ray