lranger

Chris, I'll try to help you the best I can. First, I have to say that I don't see how people order/buy leather online, without seeing it first. Almost every time I've done that I was disappointed. So,,,, I try to only buy it if I pick it out myself. I suppose the only way is to "bite the bullet" and try a supplier out until you find good ones that you can trust. (It helps to get opinions of suppliers on this forum, though.) I have bought their Thoroughbred skirting leather, enough to build two saddles. I went through many sides to pick them out myself. I can't see any difference between the Thoroughbred and the Herman Oak that they sell. I was happy with the quality of the leather I bought. I have bought quite a bit of their garment leather, Shearling wool skins, and I just bought three sides of 8 oz. bison leather from them. The wool skins are fine, but I go through a large stack to pick out the best ones. (There are plenty that I wouldn't want.) The garment leather is OK if I'm wanting it for something that doesn't need to be the best quality I can find. The Minelli sides at Tandy are the best quality garment leather I have found. I buy it when it's on sale. In fact, I always try to buy leather from Tandy when it's on sale, and when I can pick it out myself. The bison I just bought was all the 8 oz. bison they had, and it has LOTS of cuts/blemishes in it, so there will be lots of waste, but it's all I could find, and I'm making moccasins out of it so I can live with it. The good part is that the price is low enough. A lot of the garment leather is $2.00 a sq. ft. and the bison was $5.75 per sq. ft. Shearling wool skins are roughly $100.00 apiece. My opinion is that they are like a leather "discount house", and the quality is not of the highest. But, unless you're wanting ONLY the best quality, it's plenty good for the price. They buy a lot of "odd lots". May not be the best, but it's priced right. I've never ordered from them, so I don't know how they are about that. I personally feel that they aren't very helpful/friendly when I'm there, but then I don't really care. I just look at what they have and pick out what I want. They have much more stuff there than what is shown in their website. They have all the hardware needed for building saddles, for instance. I don't know how a person would go about buying from them without going there, but, I think you would have to REALLY have a talk with them on the phone and tell them exactly what you want, and don't want. Find out how they deal with you returning an order that you don't like. Maybe you can get them to send samples. Try making a small order first. I hope I've helped. Don't take anything I've said here to mean that I don't like the place. It's OK, but with issues. Keith

Chris, you still looking for info on Montana Leather? I live near Billings and buy leather there occasionally. What would you like to know? Keith

Thank you, Ray, and thanks for that info. I need to, and would like to improve on the tubes and tube lining. The problem with using pvc tubing is that the available sizes make it extremely hard to line it and still have enough room for the sticks to fit, particularly the butt ends. Plus, all that pvc makes the case somewhat heavy. I don't really know how much of an issue the weight of the case is to people, though, since the case's main purpose is to protect their high cost custom cue sticks. It seems that other cue case makers have gotten away from using the pvc tubing, but I haven't been able to figure out how they make the other type of liners. I'll keep trying.

Thanks Windrider30 and wantedleatherworks. The innercase can be pulled out, if repairs ever needed to be made, by cutting the stitching around the top of the case. It just slides in and out.

Thank you, Monica. It's one of those instances where you actually get what you have pictured in your mind. In this case, the look and the colors all came out just like I had pictured in my mind. I don't know if it comes out in the pictures or not, but when you shine a light on this case, it looks like there is a light inside the case illuminating the tooling areas.

What a nice compliment Tramps. Thank you. I didn't even know he played pool until Christmas when he asked me about making him a case. See, he's in Florida, has been going to college, just graduated, and I have been in Montana for ten years. He's playing in a league down there. I sent him a few pictures of the case just before I finished it and he was really blown away. He's been going around showing everybody the pictures and he says some of the guys in the league want one, too. Sooooooo, maybe I'll get the money back that I spent on this one. Whether or not, it's worth it to make him happy.

Thank you very much Jon P. It took a lot of figuring, planning, and work, but I really like it my own self. This is the first cue case I've ever made, so I really didn't know how they were made. I just looked at pictures and tried to figure out a way to do it. I really do appreciate your comment. Thank you Tom T. You wouldn't be Tom T. Hall by any chance, would you? Thank you PsychoSmart. You think just like I do. I think tooling gets overdone a lot. I was trying to make this case nice and clean looking, without the clutter of leather handles and strap holders made of leather being sewn to the outside of the case. I used D's with the metal clips to fasten them to the leather. But, the trouble is apparently you can't buy them any more, at least not the ones with the long clips, and the short ones are too short. I had to take the short clips off the 3/4" D's and put longer ones on them that I took off some 1" D's I had. I always liked Little Feet. Great band, and I really like your specialty. I have trouble with that too. Thanks again to all.

That was a bit of a chore, Cyberwolfe. I cut a piece of 2x4 to fit just right inside the case to punch the holes. Then, I started stitching in the middle, going toward the end. Obviously, I couldn't see inside the case, but I would insert the needle from the outside first, then lay the needle on the inside up against the inserted needle, by feel. I would then pull the outside needle out and try to find the hole with the inside needle, which was close at that point. Most of the time I didn't have much trouble finding it. After I pulled the inside needle out I'd insert the outside needle, then reach in with a pair of needle nose pliers and pull it on through. Then I'd have to reach back in to pull the threads good and tight. It quickly wore the hide off my knuckles, so I had to put a bandage all the way around my hand. It took quite a long time to complete, but it was a case of "have to". Takes determination.

At Christmas, my son asked me if I could make him a cue case for his birthday. Here are pictures of the case I just finished. The tubes are pvc tubing lined with soft sueded pigskin. In fact, all the lining is sueded pigskin. The tubes were taped together and then covered with 4 oz. vegtan leather, creating what I call the inner case. Then, the outer case is made of 8 oz. vegtan. I mixed the dye myself. It is 2:1 Reducer to Tan Fiebings dye, with a little bit of Red mixed in. I used Eco-Flo saddle tan hi-lite on the basketweave tooling, then sprayed the dye with an air brush, and finished up with a couple coats of Super Sheen. Then, it all has several coats of clear Kiwi shoe polish. It is mostly hand stitched using #346 polyester thread. I used a machine to install the zippers. It was quite a project.

There is a rule-of-thumb for bag making that goes like this; If your outer material is thicker/stiffer, then your inner lining material should be thinner/less stiff. And, if your outer material is thinner/less stiff, then use a thicker/more stiff inner lining material. When I make fashion type handbags, I use 2-2.5 oz. garment leather on the outside and either heavy linen material for the lining or 2-2.5 oz. leather for the lining, and they end up plenty stiff enough to stand on their own. If I wanted it to be stiffer, I'd use maybe 3.5 oz. outer leather and linen or 2.5 oz. leather for the lining. I sometimes use the Tandy bag stiffener in the bottom of the bags, depending on the type of bag, but I don't like it as well as using thicker leather in the bottom, maybe a piece of 4 oz., or even two layers of 4 oz. to get it stiff enough in the bottom. In clutch bags, I've used bag stiffener just in the closing flap, and I've used layers of thicker leather underneath to stiffen it up. It just depends on the bag. You'll probably work out how you like it best after making a few different types of bags. Hope this helps.

When I hand stitch shearling on saddle skirts, I take my scissors and go along the edge of the shearling trimming the wool fibers short about a quarter inch in from the edge. The stitch line in right at the edge of the trimmed fibers so you can see the stitching holes for stitching. It looks very nice when done. You could give it a try on a test piece before trying it on the handbag maybe.

Techsew Ron, by finishing up this thread, I was only trying to help some others that seem to be having the same kinds of problems I had, but now you have really xxxxxxxxxxxx by implying that you guys solved the problem. The facts are: All the problems I listed above were present when I received the machine on day one. I worked with you guys for two months without resolving the problem. The video that you sent me regarding the timing was incomplete as I stated above, there was no mention of the fact that the needle had to have reached the bottom of its travel and come back up. Therefore, my machine looked just like the video you sent. This fact leads me to believe you don't even know how to set the timing properly yourself. I actually figured out the timing problem when I was watching Cobra Steve's excellent video in which he thoroughly explains the operation, maintenance, and adjustment of the Cobra 4. When he explained how to set the timing, I knew right then that was my machine's problem. I checked it right then and it was way off. I adjusted it myself, and now it works. The zip-tie and chord have nothing to do with oiling. It only restricted the operation of the foot lift. When I received the machine, it had a #20 needle in it, large thread, and the samples that had been sewn on the machine using the longest stitch length the machine can do. It would sew that material, but not without giving problems, and it would not sew 2 oz. leather with a #18 needle and #69 thread. It was skipping stitches, raveling thread, and creating birds nests. Your own advertising says, "Your machine arrives oiled, adjusted, thoroughly tested, and ready to sew." I don't consider that to be the case. I agree with Constabulary. Maybe you need to check on whoever it is that is supposed to thoroughly test and adjust the machines before they go out. Don't interject yourself in my posts trying to act like you're being helpful again. You are not.

I know that this thread is a bit old, but since people search for and read posts after some time has gone by I want to update this thread. After 2 months of working on this machine, I finally got enough information, and by observing how the machine works, I finally realized that it was out of time. It may seem that that would be easy to determine more quickly than what it took me, but there is one VERY important fact that never seems to be mentioned when talking about setting the timing. Everyone stresses that the hook should pass the scarf of the needle at a certain distance from the needle and that the hook should be passing the needle a certain distance above the eye of the needle, which is all correct. BUT, unless I missed it somewhere, no one ever mentions that this HAS TO HAPPEN AFTER THE NEEDLE HAS REACHED ITS LOWEST POINT AND HAS GONE BACK UP A CERTAIN DISTANCE. On this 2700, the distance is 2.5mm. When I checked for this, the hook was way past the needle at the point where the needle had risen 2.5mm, or about 3/32". I don't see how it ever made a stitch, no matter what size thread or needle I had in it. There were two other problems with this machine when I received it. One is that there was a plastic zip-tie inside the head, around the foot lift shaft, and a piece of heavy chord, which I removed. (I assume they were there to prevent damage in shipping from overseas.) Two, the mechanism that releases the upper thread tension when the foot is lifted DID NOT RELEASE THE TENSION. This was because the very small shaft that goes thru there was too short. I had to make a shim to put in there to get that to work. Constabulary, if you read this, the information you gave me was very, very helpful. Having the exploded parts diagrams enabled me to figure out how to adjust the timing and the bobbin assembly. Thank you very much, and thank you to all who tried to help, also. The machine has been sewing flawlessly since I set the timing correctly, and I've been using a #16 round point needle, #69 thread, and 2 oz. leather. I haven't had an occasion to use it on thicker leathers yet, but I'm sure it would do just fine.

keplerts,,,,,,,, it's an S62 Master Airbrush Kit with a TC-20 Series compressor. I bought it over a year ago and haven't tried it until now. Everything you need comes in the kit. It has a dual action airbrush, which means you can control the amount of flow. I'm lovin' it. The web site is www.tcpglobal.com. The Air Brush Depot. It's $132.00 on the site right now.

I think people use standard rubbing alcohol, but I've always used Fiebings dye reducer. I don't have lots of experience with dying, but some, and I've never been able to use it straight out of the bottle. I've always cut it 5, 10, even 20 to 1, reducer to dye. If you're applying it with a dauber or cloth, it's going to be very dark and streaky, in my experience. If you keep putting on more coats to even it out, it just keeps getting darker. What I've always done is to weaken it so much that I can apply enough coats to get it even without getting too dark. Absolutely, the only way to do dying is to cut some small pieces of the exact leather you're using on the project, and mix different ratios of dye until you can easily get the color you want. Just make sure you can duplicate the ratios exactly, every time. I use a syringe. Having said all that, it just happens that I just finished doing some testing with dying by using an air brush. It is infinitely easier and better. I mixed a small amount of Fiebings tan dye, 10:1, and sprayed the leather evenly. It was a very lite tan,,,, perfect. Then, I changed to some darker tan, 2:1, and sprayed around the edges to get a sunburst effect. It was very easy to do, and looked beautiful. With the airbrush, you can easily control how much dye you're putting on the leather, and it doesn't put too much on like a dauber or a cloth will do. I'm in love with this airbrush already. Can't wait to get started on the project I'm testing for, a custom cue case.