LeatherWerks

Okay, thanks to everyone who responded, makes me feel better about the delay. And thanks Bearman for your IM reply. I don't have any issue with the delay as I have other burnishers I can use. Where the problem comes us is with Paypal. After you hit day 45, there's nothing Paypal will do to help you resolve the issue. So, I'll continue to wait, and hopefully, I'll get the burnishers before day 44. At that point, no matter how great you all say Ed is, (and I'm sure this is true), I'll have to cover my 6. Steve

I ordered 3 burnishers from them back on March 30. Ed sent me an invoice through Paypal and I paid it the same day. He send me an email saying my order should ship about April 14. Since I haven't seen the order, I sent him an email but get no response. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks, Steve

I've finally got to the point where I'm going to buy a power skiving machine. I've never used one before, but I know it will be faster and higher quality than the manual process I'm using now. I've heard the words 'top', 'bottom' and 'top and bottom' used when referring to skiving machines. Is one better than another? My plans for the skiver will be of course the standard thinning of leather where seams come together, but I also need to skive dog leashes where the loop or if you will, handle comes together. In that case, the skive needs to be thicker at the beginning, and taper down to near zero over a distance of about 2.5 to 3 inches. Will a power skiver do this? Finally, who do I buy it from? I have a Cobra 4 sewing machine I bought from Steve at Leather Sewing Machine Company. I know he sells two types of skivers. Nothing but positive thoughts about the equipment he sells and the service he provides. Are there others near Missouri I should look at? All your thoughts and comments would be appreciated. Steve

Here's how I make collars. I take one strip of Horween 5 to 6 ounce and one strip of the thinnest veg tan I can find, normally 2 oz. I skive the area where the fold is going to be so it's not so thick. After gluing the two strips together, I sew them using 137 thread at about 6 stitches to the inch. I've never had a case where the collars have come apart. Steve

Eric and Wiz, I've been out of town for a few days but wanted to let you both know, I did tighten the bobbin tension a bit and adjusted the top tension slightly and now have a perfect stitch. Thanks for your help. Steve

Wiz and Eric, thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try and report the results. Steve

Eric, I know you have some of these machines and you too have helped me through some problems in the past. The bottom stitch seems to be perfect in my opinion, I wish the top stitch looked like he bottom stitch. Would it be in my interest to try #138 thread before I made any adjustments and see what happens? Last week I was sewing some thin veg tanned leather using #69 two layers and the machine was sewing perfect. Steve

Wiz, I thought when I posted this, you might be the one who responded given that you've helped me through some sewing machine problems in the past. I understand the concept of tightening the top tension because I tried this and it seemed to help a bit. The 'throw of the check spring' is a new concept to me, and I really don't know what that means, except that the company who services this machine told me to never tighten or loosen this spring, somewhat like the conversation in the 'Garden of Eden' about the apple. Anyway, I'll work with the top tension and see where that get's me. Thanks for your response. Steve

I have a Juki 1541S. I'm trying to sew two layers of common vinyl using #69 thread at 5 stitches per inch. I'm using a Groz-Beckert 135X17 needle. The bottom stitch looks perfect but the top stitch doesn't appear to be pulling up as tight as I would like. I have a variety of different needles I could use but am wondering if that's the problem. I'm attaching two photos showing the top and bottom stitches. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Steve

I recently purchased some from Buckleguy. I too buy from Springfield Leather, but thought the Buckleguy product were superior. Steve

Okay in fairness to Douglas Tools, I called them about the shipping and they walked me through a way to get it shipped USPS for 7.57. So now I have the Barry King handle with the back ordered Douglas awl on the way at some point....pardon the pun. Thanks to everyone who helped out on this one. Steve

Okay, check this out. Bought the Barry King handle. 35.00 plus 8.00 shipping. I go to Douglas tools and was about to order the 27.00 awl until they told me it would be nearly 19.00 to ship it. Can't figure that one out.

Okay, all those ideas are great ones. I like the Douglas awl just because the other tools I've bought from them are great. TXAG, does that Barry King handle use a wrench to tighten around the awl or some other method?. Do you think a Douglas awl would fit in it? Even though I could use the Osbourne, I like the look of the Barry King handle. I even like the look of the Douglas handle better, but not for 75.00. It's kind of like the project that I broke my Tandy awl on. The guy wanted a custom sheath for a razor blade pocket knife he paid 5.00 for at Walmart. I ask him why he would pay me 40.00 to make custom sheath for a 5.00 knife and he said, "he just liked how it looks." So for me, if it will fit, I'm going to try the Douglas awl in the Barry King handle. Hope it fits. Steve

Recently, I had a project where I had to hand stitch because I just couldn't do it with a sewing machine. I don't like hand stitching, not because it doesn't look good, it just takes too much time. Anyway, not owning a stitching awl, I bought one from Tandy Leather. It lasted about two hours and the awl pulled out of the wood handle. You get what you pay for I guess. Anyway, now I need another one, and this time I'm willing to buy a quality tool, not because I plan on doing a lot of hand stitching, but because if I do, I want my awl to last through the entire job. Looking around at my current tools, many came from Douglas Tools, that is after the original ones I bought from Tandy Leather broke. I could spend 75.00 for an awl handle and 27.00 for an awl from Douglas, but was hoping there was a less expensive route out there. I know the Douglas set-up would be the last time I ever had to buy an awl, but it just seem a bit expensive for a tool I rarely use. Anyone know of a quality stitching awl on the market? Thanks, Steve

I recently purchased a Milt Sparks holster for a handgun I have. It's left handed and I got it for half the normal price. I guess someone ordered it and their credit card failed. Anyway, their loss was my gain. It's a beautiful holster, an Avenger style and has a feature that I hope someone can tell me more about. That feature is what I assume is a metal insert at the top mouth of the holster that stiffens and keeps the holster from collapsing when the weapon is out of the holster. I've heard pros and cons of a steel reinforced holster, but always was interested to understand what type of metal was being used. If anyone has built a holster in this fashion, or knows what the Milt Sparks company uses, I would appreciate your comments. Thanks, Steve

I have two machines, a Cobra 4 and a Juki 1541S. I've been trying to perfect my build procedures on some 3/4 inch wide dog collars. The Juki does a great job, I'm using light leather and #69 thread. Problem is when I try to turn the radius at the tip of the collar, I never seem to get it right. Enter the Cobra 4. First I can see where the needle is much better than the Juki. When I get to the tip of he collar, making that tight radius just seem much easier. I've tried everything on the Juki, I have all the different feet, edge guides, etc. Now, I'm thinking, since I sew better with the Cobra, why fight it, just use that machine. Well, I'm using 277 thread and that's probably overkill on a dog collar, unless it's a collar for some giant prehistoric dog. Here's the question, has anyone used 138 thread on a 441 clone? If so, what adjustments did you make so that the machine sewed correctly? Thanks, Steve

Andrew, thanks for that very in-depth reply. I now know much more than I did about skivers, and can make an informed choice. Steve

Ray, that is probably Campbell-Randall, I buy stuff from them from time-to-time. Steve

I'm in the market for a skiver but don't know which one will be best for my type of work. I guess what I would use it most for is skiving thin leather. I've started making some wallets and need a machine to skive just enough so I can turn over the edge before I sew. I guess also, I'd probably use it to skive the buckle end of a belt from time to time. I generally get my equipment from Steve at the Leather Machine Company and would continue to do that if his machine is right for my application. I'm looking at his NP-4 which is a bottom feed machine (even though I don't yet know what that means). I guess one question is, do I need a top and bottom feed machine or can I save some money and just get the bottom feed machine. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated. Steve

Okay, I'll give that a try, thanks for the tip. Steve

Chief, I thought it might be user error at first but these snaps no matter how you try to engage them just won't snap together. Steve

I bought 10 sets of 'Pull the Dot' snaps from a company, and for the life of me have not been able to get them to snap. Today, I thought I'd try to modify the socket in an effort to make it work. In the inside of the socket, there is the locking tab. Thinking that this was the source of my problem, I decided to grind about half of the tab away. Guess what, the snap works just fine now. Of course, I can't sent this to a customer, I guess I could, but I wouldn't because it doesn't reflect the product quality I expect. Anyway, to my point. Is is possible these 'Pull the Dot' snaps could have been manufactured some where else and passed off as the real thing? From the threads I've read, very few people report problems with this type of fastener. Steve

Okay, will do. Thanks for the replies. A swing away edge guide sounds interesting, I'll look for one. Steve

I recently purchased a Juki 1541 used from a person. It came with the standard foot but this foot won't get as close as I'd like to dog collar fittings and D-rings. Knowing nothing more about this machine other than it puts down a mighty fine stitch, does anyone have any recommendations on what feet to purchase to make it more leather friendly? Thanks, Steve

I'd hold off on KnifeKits for the moment. The snaps they sent me don't seem to work. Steve