Michael Sheldon

A possibility: On the damp leather, initial or sign on the leather with a stylus, then use a swivel blade to trace the lines. After that, just dye it. The dye should sink in more at the cuts, darkening it. If you really want it to be visible, you could bevel it lightly.

I know what you mean, when I started I had the same problem. All it takes is practice. But until then, the secret is to only nick off a tiny bit, about 1-2mm. With such small cuts, any difference between corners is not noticeable.

The Weaver press is a 6-ton bottle. I was by Harbor Freight today. Yeah, their stuff is certainly cheap, in every sense of the word. Plus it would take a bit of modification to mount plates on it properly. Now I don't know what your hourly rate is, but I'm pretty sure the time I spent adapting one of those presses would equal or exceed the cost of buying a press already set up for the job. I shop at Harbor Freight now and again. But I don't buy ANYTHING from them I plan on using more than a handful of times.

Nicely done, I like the designs. One thing you can do to get a more "finished look" on your strap attachments is to slightly "nick off" the corners. You can cut them back aggressively to make visible 45 degree angles, or you can just barely nick the corners off so that nobody will notice without looking. It keeps the sharp corners from getting caught, mangled, mushed, etc. I pretty much do this on all pieces that have sharp corners now.

I'm looking into the possibility of having clicker dies made for some complex shapes I would like to use frequently. The real question is though, what to use for a clicker press? I'm not doing huge volume, so an expensive powered unit is out of the question. What are folks here using? The dies in question would be up to 6-8" at the widest point. Weaver's got a hydraulic bench press set up for clicking at $235 + 78 for plates, which doesn't seem too bad.

Well, after some research, and some examination, it turns out these specific bells have the holes sized specifically for 3mm pop rivets. So, much as I hate them, it seems the best way to go. Guess I can't expect too much from inexpensive bells

Correct, basically all you do is punch two holes at the top, and a short slot at the bottom. It definitely helps to have an existing one to use as a template.

I backstitch a few, cut flush, that's it. I've never had a free end pull loose.

Yes, a pop rivet would probably work. But I'm pretty much opposed to using pop rivets in anything I will allow another person to see, excepting sheet metal repair. They look like shite. IMO, nothing says "I couldn't figure out the right way to do it" like a pop rivet.

OK, on a bit of a whim, I decided to order in some sleigh bells to make some holiday gifts. I ordered in a few different types. The shaft-style bells I can easily see how to mount. make hole in leather big enough for shaft, stick shaft through hole, put brass pin through hole in shaft, bend pin to keep it from coming back out. Not exactly rocket science. The other bells I got are challenging me however. They just have a single hole through the back of the bell. I found references that say they are riveted on, but no good source on *how* to rivet them on. Adding to the confusion is the fact that one three different sizes of this style of bell, there are two different sizes of holes. On two of them, a #12 copper belt rivet might work. On the other, a #10 belt rivet is too small. Anyone work with these before?

I give that faceplant a 9.8 I worked as a patrol officer for a couple years. Drunks were a never ending supply of simultaneous frustration and entertainment. Every officer I know (including myself) has started to administer a field sobriety test only to stop it for fear the person would seriously injure themselves, or because they *did* injure themself. In one case, a person I stopped managed to injure himself just getting out of the car. The frustration is in trying to reason with them. Have you ever tried to convince a drunk of anything they did not want to believe? The same guy who hurt himself, after getting processed etc (BAC of .25+), we released to go home. He absolutely insisted he had to go back to get his car and drive it home. Even after we told him we would arrest him again, he was going to do it. I finally gave up on convincing him to leave it until morning, and called a sheriff's deputy to get it and drive it home for him. He really didn't need two arrests in one night, and I really didn't want to spend any more quality time with him. (Nice guy, but very very drunk).

I've you're a small independent, household insurers will often write a "rider" to cover business issues, but be careful that it might only cover loss, not product liability. If you're incorporated, or more than a small shop, you're probably looking at getting a commercial policy. We're in the process right now of getting a quote from Hartford.

Well, my home system is working fine now. But my work system, (same OS, same browser version) has the same problem the other system did, and I can't seem to shake it loose this time.

When it was not working for me, I could see the arrow, and the box showed on hover, it was a "live link", but it looked like FF was not happy with the javascript that populated the list options.

The leather needles I'm using are 135/16, with an angled bevel, and I'm very happy with them. The shop I bought the machine from had a pretty good assortment of needles. I've got the stock wheel on it. A larger one would be nice in that it would be easier to grip, but I've never even wanted more leverage. I use a single-sided foot with it that makes it easier to sew close to the edge and still see what it's doing. I once put some heavy velvet through it, but 98% of the time I'm using it for suede, nubuck or other chap-weight leathers. This year I might be running heavy canvas through it to make some awnings.

Pretty much just like you sharpen a knife, progressively finer grit stones, then strop to a mirror finish.

The only size recommended in the book is 69. I doubt I'd go bigger then 92. Dunno if the current model (PW-500) is any different in that regard. It really isn't a harness machine. It's aimed at the upholstery market.

I think I'd be tempted to get a Black and Decker workmate, plus a heavy slab of wood to clamp on top of it. You can get laminated "butcher block" table tops at your local Home Despot. Screw a piece of 2x2 to the back for the workmate to clamp onto. It would be stable, you could put whatever size top on it you want, and it would fold down to the size of a large suitcase.

I've been using a Thompson PW-400 for a few years. I wouldn't use it for harness leather, but it has no trouble handling two layers of 5-6oz. Three layers gets tight, but I've done it.

Define portable. Move across the room? Move in a large truck? Collapse down to fit in compact car trunk? Everyone's definition of portable will vary a bit. As I get older, even my own definition changes

Interesting. I'm running FF 2.0.0.6 I went into Tools/Options/Content, and on the "Advanced" button for javascript, enabled the various functions, closed the dialog, the dropdown works, re-opened the javascript settings, and disabled all of the advanced options. It still works.

Only glitch I find is in a forum thread listing the "Forum Options" dropdown near the top does not work anymore, same with the "Options" dropdown inside of a thread.

Agreed, unless you're planning on dying it very dark, there's nothing that can be done to minimize it. Veg-tanned leather will tan in sunlight. It's why I boarded up the window in my workshop.

Actually, I do use Neat Lac/Saddle Lac, but only as a spray, never wipe (it will smear the paint).

Thanks, I appreciate it. It's interesting restarting the shop. I have not done any paying work for over two years, and very little other work. Now that I've decided to re-open I find myself in the strange position of trying NOT to jump in and start working right away. There were many things I had wanted to do to make my shop more efficient (storage bins, shelves, etc) and right now its the best time to do it, since I have no pending orders or other deadlines to meet yet. I know that once I start actually turning out work, that I won't have the time or the inclination to make the shop improvements. So far I've installed new light fixtures, several new shelves, put up more pegboard, and I have a new base for my cutting table designed and ready to build. Once *that's* done, then I might actually start cutting leather.