bruce johnson

I've got that Home Depot table in the tool shop, but I have the version with drawer. It is a good height to work over the top for my smaller knife sharpener and a few cranks to lower and I can sit on a rolling chair with a fairly high adjustment to use for hand sharpening and filing. There is not the amount of adjustment in the table that I would be comfortable with for both sitting and standing while sewing. To be honest, I never liked standing to sew. I could sight my needle and stitch groove better sitting. go for longer stretches. and have more foot control. That's just me.

I email invoices through either PayPal or Square. Usually 1-3 internationals a week and 2-10 domestics a day with tools. When I was doing leather work it was fewer transactions but more dollars per transaction - same methods. Shows are different and in person - Square register to process cards in hand or cash, occasional check if you look legit (haven't been burned yet). Home Shop - at the end of the year it is usually close to even split of volume between Square for card users and PayPal. There are lovers and haters of each as both buyers and sellers. At the end of the year - the percentage fees for me aren't different enough to worry about. I email PayPal invoices for people that prefer PayPal. Square - taking numbers over the phone and manually entering numbers for a good percentage of card users. Most small to medium size businesses use a card over the phone but some have an accounts payable person and I invoice those through Square. Some customers don't like to give card numbers over the phone or with international transactions there can be time or language differences - no problem, I email a square invoice.

My thoughts on the Boss only. Haven’t used the others. Mine was the original cast iron frame but I’ve helped a few people set up and get going with aluminums. Forget the specs, mine sewed whatever I could cram under the foot. I taught two wives and a then 15 year old son to sew on it. Biggest issue with people saying skipped stitches is not making a full stroke on the handle. Edge guide? I never had or used one with it. Sight the axis on the needle down the stitch groove like a gunsight and your line is straight. Reverse stitch would be nice but you can lift the needle slightly out of the leather, slide the work back, and drop as many back stitches one at a time as you like. Bobbins are the standard large bobbins and fine. I did a bunch of repairs on mine and couple considerations. Over time on skirts the edges may curl along with the plugs. That makes the holes curved and not true vertical. That needle deflection can be enough to miss the hook. You will get to where you can feel the stitch miss on the slight upstroke- just drop it again until you feel it catch. New sharp needles help that too, one size up is better also Tip there is take your time sewing or put in new plugs. I had a pile of bronc saddles one week during rodeo here and my powered machines wouldn’t resew them but the Boss would. $1000?? Twenty plus years ago they were $1600 with the basic package. Powered stitchers were $5000 or more. My Boss paid for itself about a hundred fold. Ease of control, easy learning curve, and good support. Only reason I sold it was I had 3 other powered machines and wasn’t doing repairs anymore.

Nice tip. I also use Delrin discs cut from rod for the Weaver Little Wonder presses I refurbish. They are just a flat disc that doesnt have the indexing tab. Unlike Tandy, Weaver does sell the replacement parts but I have a plastics shop close by and easier to do my own.

Looking good!

Yes, he is. He shows up on my Facebook feed occasionally. Just looked and he posted something 10 days ago. I don't know if his phone number is the same anymore or if he does emails. We used to talk a lot, but haven't talked for a couple years.

Is your test piece the same leather and thickness as your project pieces? If so it's odd that the test piece sews that much differently than the project. Needle size and thread size appropriate? Same bobbin on the test piece and project? Thread path not binding on top and thread coming off the top spool cleanly? These are what I check first on our machines. Otherwise I'd be on the phone Monday with Vince and have him talk you through it.

Welcome back Bill! Glad to see you are still active in leather

If the red is the plastic coat dip it should peel right off.

Here’s a couple things to think about. I heard of one person last year who called Tippmann’s directly. They either had one on hand or coming in for refurbishing and the price was good with the warranty they give after refurbishing. It would be worth checking with them. As far as buying online from a private party, be VERY cautious! It seems like the Boss is one of the most common things that scammers list. Good price, story of “found in a storage unit” or “bought last year and hardly used it” . Super cheap pricing and never comes through. If you do find one, do not pay by any method that doesn’t give rock solid buyer protection.

Ron has never been a member of this group. Pretty much his writing and advice was all in the old IILG email group and they rejected a forum format in favor of remaining an email list group. (one of the reasons for the formation of this group however many years ago). I am pretty sure the IILG information and archives have all been lost when that group disbanded. Ron is still alive although I have not talked to him for a couple years.

Probably the biggest modifications are these: - flower centers - grind a bevel around the outside edge where those radiating lines are. - Thumbprints - narrow up pear shaders into elongated shapes with straighter sides - Veiners - Thin them down from the back edge to make the impression thinner and more refined - Cams can have the corners ground and made into crowners - Bevelers - steeper angles to enable beveling stem work without mashing down adjacent lines. Typical bevelers are about 15 degrees, Sheridan bevelers are around 30 degrees and steep Sheridan bevelers can go 40-43 degrees. - undershots/lifters - can be made from shaders with some serious grind work. - Flower center bevelers can be made from vertical line shaders, shape them like a thumbprint, then grind one end to be slightly concave for a center beveler - Leaf liners can be made from vertical line shaders too. Grind them pretty much like you'd make a thumbprint then grind a flat angle on one end. Then make another with the opposing angle Most of us tried it 20+ years ago, we had to. Back then the sources were pretty tight - Don King and Bill Woodruff were the major players, Barry King was just getting going, Walt Fay was making some. You pretty much had to go to Sheridan to buy them early on. The stamps were limited in number and demand was there. Don, Walt, and Bill are gone (and those original stamps have had a 5-15 fold increase in price now). Barry King has a ton of options now, Clay Miller makes them, Horse Shoe Brand and Richard Brooks have recently stopped making stamps but made them. William Klutts is making some again. Wayne Jueschke makes really nice flower centers. Craftool Pro from Tandy has had a couple runs at Sheridan stamps. I am forgetting some makers here, and not intentionally. It is fun to make your own, but if you want to skip the learning curve and time spent on them, these options are there to buy them ready to go.

Kind of interesting. I bought an early Boss 24 or 25 years ago. I loved the winder that fits a hand drill. Ordered a couple more winders as spares. I tension the thread between two fingers and can go back and forth to level wind bobbins like an old bait casting reel. I tried the bobbin winder on my 205-64 and Ferdco 2000 and still liked my hand wounds better. same on the 1245. My wife has a Cobra 26 and I wind all her bobbins by hand drill. Would not go back. Everyone is different but that’s just me.

First off if the edges are irregular you need to square that up. Open side down on abrasive paper until you get a flat edge all the way around. Then when you hit the edge to the belt you need to already be rotating the punch in your hand. Same for removing it from contact with the belt. My angle is slightly higher than the coning of the punch to make a slight secondary bevel. Anytime you leave the punch sitting against the belt without rotating it you can create a flat spot at worst and thin spot at almost worst. Watch how the edge develops. Magnification is your friend to see closeup and get an even edge thickness. (Optiviser with a #5 plate is my usual choice for punches, #10 for finer work) As the flat edge gets thinner and thinner you should be going to finer and finer grits to refine the edge and remove grit marks from the outside edge. The final abrasive should complete the bevel and make a fine burr on the inside of the edge. I use a diamond file to remove that burr. I polish on a sisal wheel with black and then green compound, sometimes go on to purple. Wipe the burr off the inside again and polish some more until the burr fragments are gone.

At this point until I retire (1 years and 13 days) I sharpen anything bought from me for the cost of return shipping but don't take in much outside sharpening. That said, if you just can't find anyone close then let me know and you can send them to me to sharpen up for you.

Unless your 1x30 is variable speed there is a good chance it won’t be easy to do them on it. I sharpen these type punches on a variable speed belt grinder on really low speed in a slack belt section. Hit the edge already rotating the punch and never let it sit. I work the burr off the inside with a tapered diamond file. Go through the grits and then polish with a few compounds to remove grit lines and get to my final edge.

I would Call Tippmann tomorrow. They can either tell you and may be able to send a manual.

Mauls I have had - CS Osborne rawhide, Maul Master I, MaulMaster II, No names, Imports, Barry King, Bearman, Clay Miller, Bob Beard (yes he made them back in the day), Don King, handmades, and Wayne Jueschke. Mauls I sell - Wayne Jueschke. I am just going to concentrate on the Jueschke mauls. The handle - stacked leather and good ergonomic shape for me, stays in place in my hand doesn't transmit vibration. It is long enough to give a nice rebound action in your hand if you do the crosshand rocking wrist style of hitting. Head material - grippy without being rubbery or bouncy. Quiet when you hit the stamp. Bench is solid with a 3" thick rock and you just don't hear much. Weight - weight is toward the head, not neutral. That deadfall effect makes tooling much easier and in the case of walking stamps - faster. You are not "hammering", the maul weight does most of the work They can weigh the same as other mauls but have a heavier effect due to that head weighted balance. Durability - likely among the longest lasting. These are a few of the mauls in our shop - two Jueschkes on the right are around 18 years old, used for high volume work, the one of the left is maybe 6 years old - one of the first 12 mauls when he started making that size. Price - probably the highest initial price non-custom leather handle mauls available Value - That 1# maul in the center has conservatively 300,000 strikes (likely more). Cost per strike is around 0.0003$/strike. Still no flaking, chips, or surface wear to the head, handle is good and nothing loose. My experience....

Unsolicited testimony - If anybody has any doubts, I have bought some things from them. I can vouch that they are legitimate and easy to deal with. It is all what they say it is.

Fred, some people mount small motors or hand cranks on the bobbin winders that are designed to ride against the belt of the machine. My Boss came with a metal stem split on the end and goes in a drill to wind bobbins. Easy to use and 20 plus years later I have still never used the built in bobbin winder on a machine.

Not the easiest to explain. I’ve seen some video clips and pictorials but none I can lay a hand on right now. Basically here goes. The cantle is shaped and trimmed. The “bumps”are usually made with a filler like sash cord. Holes are spaced and punched through the three layers. The sash cord is whipped through the holes and around the back edge of the cantle. The cantle binding is fit up on top and pulled over. The binding has to be cased or tempered up right to be molded over the sash cord once it is stitched down. Rawhide can be fickle to work with to get the moisture just right. Mold with sticks, rods, whatever to get that definition of the cord underneath. Slits are then cut through the 5 layers for the lacing between the sash cord bumps. The lace is tacked underneath at one end and whipped through the slits and pulled down tight. This is another no fun part of it and wear gloves. Tack the other end.

My personal favorites are Gomph round back edgers.

I’m with Mike also. Slightly damp is much easiest and smoothest if you have a sharp edger. Dull edgers tear, push, and chatter. As far as what type edger - I doubt that very many people have used as many different edgers than me. Each has an advantage - might be lower price, ability to hold an edge, cuts a flat or rounded profile, easily obtainable, pretty or matching handle, or what ever. My number one criteria is ease of sharpening. Doesn’t matter how sharp they come new, they need to be maintained. Sharpening might be on optional skill if you cut with a utility knife, but there are no disposable edgers I am aware of. I want the top and bottom of that cutting edge to be easily accessible to sharpen.

LOL, only 63 years young. These catalogs mostly came with old sets or bought on EBay

My Mast press takes 3/8 dies. The Weaver Little Wonder hand presses I have sitting here take 3/8 dies also they should be pretty available. It looks like Weaver is only selling their Master Tools foot press now. Another source for dies is Beilers in Ronks, PA. They still sell foot presses similar to yours, Amish business with no website but they send out catalogs.