heydox

Hey Skizzer. Big welcome to you. This thread covers your issue really well. Short and skinny of it all- buy a pack of John James Saddlers Harness Needles in size #2 (002)

This is the type of tool you are looking for. This is either called a “ribbed” “lined” or “horizontal” pear shader. For tool specifics- Barry King- Thumbprint: pear shader horizontal medium https://www.barrykingtools.com/thumbprintsveinersstops.htm Tandy/Craftool- Tandy does not currently offer a horizontally ribbed pear shader, but there are several discontinued stamps that you can easily find on eBay. Use the tool reference guide to search for the old numbers. https://www.tandyleather.com/media/downloads/CraftoolConversionChart.pdf

Looking closely, it seems to me they have used a pear shader with a ribbed texture.

I’ve kept projects in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for multiple days. I think 5 days has been my longest.

You should be proud of that work. The skull if very well done and has some excellent definition and contouring. The eye guard tines are beveled well and have good definition. Though that definition does not appear consistent through the main beams. The matting tool you chose for the background presents a problem that @Ferg mentioned. The pointed, detail stamp doesn’t present an easy way to vary the impression. Unfortunately, the symmetry of the deer skull and antlers emphasizes the patterning effect of not altering the orientation of the detail stamp in an otherwise random background. My advice would be to randomize your orientation of the pointed, detail stamp as you are working your figure’s edges. Some tight corners you just can’t avoid it, but along longer, open edges like the right-side eye guard tine, rotating the stamp as you work down the edge can give you a more random background.

Nice catch @Matt S , my reply was geared toward stitching with the transition pieces like the card holders on the top side. @KennethM , seeing you want your best looking stitch on the exterior of the wallet, I understand why you want to stitch this section with the card holders face-down. In this case I would suggest stitching past these transition using the hand-wheel. The feed dog is much harder to jig, but in this case a piece of leather wedged between the card holders would likely work. If you cut the jig piece to fit 1/16” off your stitch line to the top edge, you can ensure the piece is aligned with the top edge so it doesn’t get sewn to your wallet and it doesn’t slip away causing the feed dog to miss it. Or skip a jig altogether and handwheel over the section. You can match you stitch length to, let’s say, an 8 SPI overstitch wheel spacing and use that overstitch wheel to give you some guide marks as you handwheel that section. A little extra insurance that you’re not getting short stitches as the feed dog works to jump the transition. And an added bonus is that overstitch wheel can also be used over your finished stitches on the bobbin side, so the deformed leather from the needle puncture hole is inverted giving you a better looking underside stitch line as Matt S suggested.

Depending on your sewing machine there may be adjustments that can be made to the presser foot’s amount of pressure and it’s handling of an angled transition. But the manual way to handle a transition is to place a jig under the presser foot so that it travels over a level surface. In an instance like this wallet I would personally cut a piece of leather that is the width of the gap between your card holders. Temporarily place this jig piece adjacent to the stitch line as your machine crosses these two transitions. This will ensure the presser foot is not forced to climb or descend a transition and can travel across a level surface without affecting stitch spacing.

The glycerin bar saddle soap produced by Fiebing’s is labeled 100% glycerin. So there is no “saddle soapyness” ingredient. I would assume you can expect similar results from a craft bar of 100% glycerin. Now the saddle soap paste that you can load in your canvas cloth does have multiple ingredients, so I would still suggest sticking to the saddle soap paste over an alternative because the proprietary blend of ingredients is tailored specifically for leather.

There is a lot of misinformation about the term genuine leather. North Star Leather did a nice article about it.

To hand sew to plastic your best option is to drill your stitching holes with an appropriately small bit. If you have a drill press, that is your best option. Even a handheld rotary tool or drill will get you what you need, just have to be a bit more careful about maintaining a consistent, vertical hole. Contact cements will work to attach the leather to the plastic, but retention is a big concern. Since you’re taking the time to make the leather cover, I’d assume you want the cover to be used through multiple sets of page inserts. In that case I would not personally trust an adhesive to do the job.

The bench top Cobra burnishing machine that I use has an RPM range of 2000 to 3500. 580 may be too low to get an effective burnish, but you did say that’s the slowest speed.

Resolene does tend to want to bubble up over tooling. Cutting it 50/50 and using soft, long strokes of the brush to apply 2-3 separate thin coats will give you a much better experience with the resolene. Your leather balm with atom wax can be a good finish coat. Of the 3 finishes you’ve mentioned you have, resolene is the only “sealer” in the bunch.

When you tried the resolene did you cut it 50/50 with water? If not, I’d suggest giving that a go, the finish will be much cleaner.

The trick is to walk your stitch right to the edge of the thicker portion. Stop needle down and then raise the presser foot lever. Take a piece of leather, or any stiff material the same thickness as the increase of the additional leather, and place it at the rear of the needle and lower your presser foot. Continue stitching and your presser foot will walk cleanly off of the wedge onto the thicker section.

Looking great, nice progress! I’m excited to see that setup with a leather handle.

Thanks @GRod I did mold mine in a metal tumbler glass that was just the right taper. I did end up having to do a decent amount of sanding to get a smooth finish. A lathe would have been nice. I put in on the threaded rod and chucked it up in my drill press. Used that same trick on a chunk of leftover walnut that became the handle. The finish pieces are plated steel, not even sure what they were originally made for but I found them at Home Depot. The HDPE is light enough that the plates were definitely needed to get the weight up.

You should really like it, HDPE holds up really well. I made one a few years back and have been really happy with mine. I can’t recall which maul I patterned my piece of HDPE from, but it is 2 1/2” tall by 3” diameter.

Olive oil like any other animal/plant oil can go rancid. If you do want to use it in place of nfo, choose an extra virgin olive oil from a company you feel confident is giving you a quality oil. Extra virgin should mean you are getting a pure, cold-press olive oil without additives, but like anything else, those two words on the bottle aren’t a guarantee. Honestly though, you’ve gotten your answer to the cracking problem- a quality, wetted leather won’t need a coat of nfo or evoo to make a bend like that. I would only suggest a light coat of oil if you continue to use the water-based dye, they do have a reputation for “drying” leather. I’d recommend making the switch to Fiebing’s oil dye.

Sorry I can’t give you a good answer about a source of information for your machine, but I can tell you that you are most likely experiencing a timing issue with your shuttle hook. This is the first thing I’d check in troubleshooting your problem. Wish I could direct you to a YouTube video on checking and adjusting timing for your machine, but I’m not familiar enough with your specific machine to know the right video when I see it.

I would suggest Barge all-purpose cement. I have used it for years to attach fabric linings and never had any complaints. It is definitely a flexible adhesive. If I can also make another suggestion... when you do glue your felt to the leather I’d recommend positioning the pieces as if the flap were half-opened. If you glue the pieces flat and then bend the flap completely closed I’m imagining the felt will pucker along the bend in the flap.

Looks to be a copper rivet burr setter.

I would suggest vinegaroon. It will not rub off like the USMC black dye because it chemically changes the leather rather than dying it black. It will take a couple days to have a batch ready, but it is a time proven way to get a very rich black.