chgehrig

in my experience, the needle thickness isn't all that important (probably depends on the project you're working on), i'm can use a #6 needle with thin to heavy handstitching thread. best to try out i guess. by the way,do you know the thickness of the front cover plate for needles 7 and 8? i only have the 5/6 and plan to grind that down because i will be sewing very thick thread..

by the way, does anybody know the thickness of the front cover plate for needles 7 and 8? i only have the 5/6 and plan to grind that down because i will be sewing very thick thread..

hello, i've had the exact same problem: bought one used, took it apart, put it back together again and the thread would only lock when operated empty. don't worry if the shutter just loosely sits there, that's on purpose. what you need to do is to fiddle with the thread tensions. first the upper: make sure the tension wheel works fine (mine wouldn't spin because of the rust) and then adjust the thread tension. it needs to be fairly strong; so that the needle bends slightly when pulling on the thread. do the same with the shuttle thread. then you take two thick layers of leather and make sure to put the upper thread under the presser foot away from the direction of sewing. also make sure to bolt down the machine onto a table so you can hold and guide the piece while sewing, the transport is nowhere near as accurate as a walking foot. i hope this works for you. it did for me. if the problem persists, make sure your needle/thread is sized correctly and the machine's threading is according to the manual.

Great work! This makes me want to buy one of those machines. Could you post a picture of the backside of a seam? Does it look just like the upper side?

thanks a bunch for your informative reply. i found that it was just my lack of technique that mad the skin crinkle and rip, as the skins are really still supple. i have remodeled the cast for the casing to have much rounder edges, making it ever so much easier for me to stretch and glue the skin over it (it's made from a recycled plastic polymer that is easy to heat up and form) - i don't quite know whether my skins are boa or python, but they are huge (the largest is 4 meters, or 13 feet long - the hide stems from what i imagine to be an unfortunate victim of poaching. the person who gave them to me couldn't say how old they are, but they seem very old) and quite thick, and don't react to the cobbler's glue all that much. i will do some glycerine experiments myself with left over scraps, it's such an interesting material to work with!

since this is my first post, hello everyone. i am just getting into working with leather, and find this forum to be a very good source of knowledge. however, for my current problem, i haven't found anything on the forum as well as the googable rest of the web. i have recently been given a box of old, huge boa skins. they are already tanned, black, and though they are quite old, they seem in pretty good shape: they are still supple, the scales are hard to tear off (even the very large ones). i intend to use them in a rectangular box clutch project i have recently started. because i want to glue them on a rounded (round on all four sides, that is) surface, i need to stretch them over it to avoid wrinkling. how do i do that without ripping the skins? it seems that glycerine and alcohol is used in the tanning process, and glycerine apparently makes the skins supple. would it be a good idea to rub glycerine onto the already tanned skins and then stretch them over the cast? or are there other ways?