bruce johnson

A few tips and tricks. Contact cement gives a mostly immediate permanent bond if both sides are tacked up. If they are lightly touching you can sometimes lift them apart and go back. Once you press them with a slicker or hand pressure. they are usually stuck for good. You can reposition the pieces if one or both sides are wet with glue - not allowed to time to fully tack. Both sides wet give you more working time than one side wet/one side tacked. They need to be left alone for the bond to cure, but will sure stick. Rub them the next day and they are usually set for good. If the glue gets past the point of tacky and fully dry, many contact cements are heat activated. You hit them with a little heat from a heat gun and they get sticky again. If you need to peel apart something that was contact cemented, a heat gun works there to soften the bond sometimes - get a start, throw a little heat to it, peel back, throw some more heat, peel more. Some contact cements will loosen or not bond well with oily leather, some will (or used to). Might need to use temporary tacks or clips and while sewing or lacing. Some will delaminate later if just glued. If you need to mold something later you can put on a couple of thin coats of contact and let it dry good. Then dunk the piece and let it case up. Once you are ready to stick it, hit that glue with some heat to tack it up. Stick it down and go to molding - I do it for ground work on saddles and hear the boot and shoe guys do that for some sole applications. The heat gun I use and see in most shops is a paint stripping gun.I just fan it over the area. I use mine on low usually. Hair dryers never got it for me, I lack patience at some things.

Chrome tan chap leather is the usual. You can either use water, alcohol, or a mix of the two to wet the fringe. Then twist it tightly and let it dry. On the twisted fringe stuff I used to do I would twist three or four up, then use a binder clip on across the ends to hold them in place while they dry.

I haven't used any for a while but at least some were metric. I have some 4mm screws that fit those. If they are regualr threads, I am thinking 8/32.

Ferg, If yours has the welt press on top, it is called a 5-in-1. At least one place lists the five functions of those as a welt roller, sole cutter, heel trimmer, edge beveler, and skiver. Can any shoe folks verify that a 3-in-1 will trim heels as well as cut soles. If so, they may be a skiver/sole cutter/heel trimmer. It is probably one of those things that a person cand do enough different things that the functions kind of overlap. I do know that at least with my dedicated crank skivers I can level them and split or angle them and skive. The only 3-in-1 I have is a Progressive salvage piece and it has the blade adjustment way different and "Progressive" may be a misnomer.

Ferg, As far as I know Landis was in St Louis, but I haven't had a ton on Landis bench machines. It seems like most of the leather bench machines came from St Louis primarily and Minneapolis also has some. Memphis might have been part of the Landis deal. I just don't know. I think at some point Landis acquired American and Champion, but I am not 100% sure if and when.

I have started a new thread to continue the discussion on crank skivers. There are pictures of two crank skivers I have right now with the blades angled and level on both. Here is the link - American and Landis Crank Skivers .

I am starting at new thread on comparing two crank skivers I have with pictures. The American is my own user and a Model B with a 2-1/2" blade. The hand lever will open the gap between the rollers. This skiver I modified. The top wheel was milled originally. I took the teeth down to make it smooth. The blade angle adjusts with two eccentrics. One is under the hex head bolt to the left of th etable in the rear view of it. The other is under the lower slot head bolt to the right. Loosening the bolts and then turning the eccentrics changes the balde angle. There is a view with the blade leveled for splitting too. The Landis is one I just got. It has a 1-3/4 blade. The blade angle is adjusted by the hex heads in the slots - two on the left and one on the right. This one will level up too.

Melaine Machine had everything from small sewing machines up to clickers big enough to cube a car when I was there. I took my leather down to Melanie Machine and that helped a lot. I took a mix of chap leather, oiltan, and vegtan up to skirting. He had a few choices in new and used machines. We played with the different machines and switched some parts like the milled steel feedwheel back and forth to test the choices. Arnold also has the cleanest warehouse I have ever been in. It looks like one guy's sole job is to walk around with a duster.

Ferg. Is that a Landis or American? The adjusting set up looks pretty similar to the Americans I have had. I haven't had many Landis skivers, but the ones I have had and the one I just got haven't had eccentrics. On the American I have right now, I have two eccentrics. One is up at the top left looking at the picture you posted. The other eccentric is where that hex bolt is on yours. I can't tell from the picture if that is a washer or a eccentric under that hex head. By raising that eccentric up and lowering the top left I can level the blade. This Model B is a kind of a cool skiver. It had a milled wheel top and bottom. We took the teeth off the top to keep from marking the grain. There is a lever handle to "open" up the gap between the feed rollers and that gap is adjusted with a nut on the handle linkage. It also has a 2-1/2" blade which makes it really handy for longer skives. Ken, I went along not ever knowing or even thinking much about what all a 3-in-1 does. I had one and I knew they cut and knew they skived. I asked a few guys and nobody knew why they were called a 3-in-1. "I guess something to do with shoes" was the common answer. I am pretty sure it was Arnold at Melanie Machine who said the third function was splitting. I've always had a splitter pretty handy too, and they are a lot easier to adjust.

Ferg, I have had Americans that had the eccentics, My American Model B on the bench has them too. I just played with it and can go up with one and down with the other and splits a 3/4 inch strap pretty level. It is pretty limited with the range, but gave me a 7 oz split. I have only had one Landis 3-in-1 and can't remember how it adjusted. I just got a Landis crank skiver like this one pictured and it has the same slots and bolts adjustment. I can level the blade on thts Landis and have a little more room to change height than my American.

Melanie Machine in Vernon or Steve Tayrien

niftycurly, They will do firm chrome tan like latigo and some oiltans pretty well. Not so bueno on chap or softer mulehide. As far as splitter vs. skiver. If you level the blade they will do a level split. I was told that was the elusive "third function" of the 3-in-1 > cutting with the wheel, skving with the blade angled, and splitting welting material with the blade level. Anybody else heard that?

And to add yet a third hybrid method..... I had a good conversation with a guy this morning who asked me to share how he has been doing it the last 15 years. He puts two thin coats of contact cement on the skirts/plugs and lets it dry well. This is to help with sweat penetration. Then he uses rubber cement over the contact cement on the skirts and the woolskins. He thinks the rubber cement is stickier with picking up some of the contact elements, but still can be pulled off easier than contact alone. Kind of an interesting approach. Anybody else doing this?

The only thing I use rubber cement for is woolskins and for what it is worth, the brand of rubber cement I use is Elmers. I buy it in the metal quart can at the office supply store. I was using Barge and paying the shipping. After visiting a few shops and seeing the gallon can or quarts of Elmers sitting there, I decided I could go that way easy enough. I don't see any difference in use. A couple of those guys told me that the glue stays better in the metal cans.

Just a question here. I started off with a clutch motor on a 205-64. I upgraded it to a servo motor maybe 6 years ago. That servo had a screwdriver adjust that limited the top speed. I had a good range of pedal travel and control. When I bought the 2000 that servo was an option I took except it had a dial instead having to adjust it with a screwdriver. I got the 1245 with the same motor too. I really never thought it about it until Wiz brought up the brake release on the new servos. I have been doing that on this motor without ever thinking about it. It seems to release the same as the clutch motor used to. There is nothing digital on it, just a sinple rotary dial. Is this type of servo motor still available? Another control tip that sure helped my was to stop using the pedal like the gas pedal in my truck. I am kind of a drive with the ball of my foot guy behind the wheel. A local sewing machine guy taught me to put my whole foot on the sewing machine pedal. "Toe to go and heel to slow" was his saying. When I just had the ball of my foot on it, there was a little lag from letting up until the spring pulled it up. Using my whole foot and pushing that that heel down really slows it faster and gives me more control. .

I use rubber cement for sheepskins. It is probably all in how a person was taught. I know good makers who use rubber cement and good makers who use contact cement.

For horse gear they are called "panic snaps". If you check at farm supply stores and tack shops, they should have them on the rack of miscellaneous hardware.

Leathersheen is an acrylic type finish that Fiebings make. It is pretty close to Supersheen I expect.

On the personal goods stuff. I oil first and leave it 24 hrs at least. I resist with two coats of Leathersheen. I usea diluted briar brown HiLiter sponged on and worked in. Then wipe about 10-20 mninutes later with a sponge of Leathersheen again. It isn't as complicated but looks good.

There is no regulation in almost all of this. There are a few groups that are trying to get some standards, but pretty slow sledding here in the US.There is sure an art to leather and then the mechanics of doing things with leather. I have heard Leather Artisan, Leather Craftsman (person?), Leathersmith, and probably a few others if I thought a little more. Then you can self-add the adjective "master" to these too without a lot to back that up. Some people work in shops and others work in studios. Mine has a roillup door and you used to be able to park a truck in it so it is a shop by my reckoning.

Interesting question and hope some of the international members weigh in. I have followed this same discussion on other forums in the past. For a lot of people, they may be pretty synonymous. Some will say that a leather crafter in the US tends to bring up the image of crafts - modpodge, hot glueing felt shapes into birds, creamics, macrame and that sort of thing done as a pastime or by kids at camp or scouts. Crafts are something done for enjoyment and not necessarily profit motivated. "Working" is a business and profit is more of a factor in that scenario. It kind of follows the trend into hobbies and pastimes post WW2 according to some discussions.In reading from people in other countries it changes some. A "craftsman" indicates a higher level of skill or artistry than a "worker".

Jon, Very cool. Some great leatherwork and I really like it, hoist of the Leinenkugel for ya! Gotta say it now. I started off in Minnesota so had to be a Vikings fan. On to Indiana and back then it was the Bears. I have now been in California for 28 years and still can't buy into the Raider Nation/49er deal up here so converted to the Pack a few years ago. I am not a pick a winner guy at everything though. Still a Cubs follower.

Michael, It is the "Pro Stitching groover". The other Tandy I have is the EZ adjust. It is pretty alright too.

Cheryl, The last message I had from you was that you couldn't do anything until June 3rd and I don't have anything quite that wide right now. The largest slot I have right now is short of 1-1/2" in anything older. I bought a small set with some wider punches that may be at the post office today and could have one in there. One of the 1-1/2" for sure is a trace punch, but she described some that are regular slot but wasn't sure of the sizes . I'll know more tonight if they came today. I'll email tonight either way. I will also let you know exactly what the Dixons measure. One option for slots also is to use a shorter punch and overlap the previous punching to make up a longer length. Thanks, Bruce

If I was going to use just one, it would be the Tandy one that came out a year ago. It makes a nice groove and pretty easy to run. The blades seem to be fairly consistant too. I have a few others - the larger of the Tandy offset groovers (Saddler's groover?), the Osborne #34 with the loop tips, Osborne #129, had a couple Osborne #130s, and the patent leather tools/freehand groovers. They each have their own advantages. I use the compasses for work with more curves, the freehands to take off top sttiches to pull a stitch line for repairs, and the other Tandy if it is close by.