dcobranding

Do you have pictures of it? Where are you located?

Is this still available?

If you would like the contact info for the sales rep for Serabraid, please let me know. I would be happy to forward to you privately along with a PDF brochure with pictures and specs. I think that the problem is that I am needing to buy retail, and they are only set up to sell bulk wholesale.

The high resolution close up pictures that I've seen look identical to Ritza 25. Upon first learning of Serabraid, I had hoped that it would be more readlily available than the somewhat difficult to acquire Tiger or Ritza 25. I've been emailing back and forth with the U.S. sales rep for Amann (maker of Serabraid), but to no avail. Rediculous that it's so difficult to purchase quality braided poly thread. If I had the resources, I would become a reseller of either in a second. What little Tiger thread I have, I bought from Ludlow Leather which I think is either out of business or sold to a new owner. This has become a very sore subject for me. Sorry if my posts are a little on the "raw" side. I hope I wasn't rude inadvertently.

Coats makes a BRAIDED POLY as well, but FINDING it here in the States is next to impossible. I quite fancy Serabraid (by... name of parent company escapes me). Serabraid looks IDENTICAL to Ritza 25/Tiger thread. Again, CAN'T seem to find a way to purchase it, even though I've been in communication with the U.S. sales rep! VERY frustrating. I too would like to know how to actually get in contact with a U.S. sales rep for Coats who can assist in purchasing. Thanks for posting.

Note: I conducted a search of the forum before posting this, however if I missed a discussion please forgive me (and fire over a link to it). I'm looking to get into making leather boxes, and I would like to find portmanteau/inverse/reverse pricking irons similar to Joseph Dixon slanted style. Even Goods Japan/Craftsha diamond style would be fine. I have searched the internet, but have not yet found any options other than Vergez Blanchard which is way outside of my budget at this time. Thanks in advance for any information you care to share.

Nice work Pinsplitter. Thanks for the info.

I forgot to mention that I spent 90 minutes in store looking through EVERY OTHER HIDE in the 8-10 oz, and couldn't find a clean one! Some were somewhat clean, but had serious wrinkles. What's up?

I feel like I need to make sure that my expectations are reasonable regard to quality and wholesale price of raw vegetable tanned leather. For about a year now, I have been buying (as a Gold member) Tandy's 8-9 oz. European bends for about $80 each. I purchased 3 of these bends about 45 days ago at that price. Today, I learned that my prices went from $80 each to $150 each. I use the European bends because I require super clean stock for the products that I make. The European bends are roughly 30" x 50" with about 10% waste max on the hides that I buy (every 3rd piece in the store is superb quality, and those are the ones I get). I realize that the drought last year caused some fluctuation in the market, but did prices double within just a few months? Another issue—which might just be on the local level—is I feel like I have to HAGGLE to get competitive prices. One example: Springfield sells quart Fiebing's for $30 retail, Tandy for $40 retail (elite is $30). Their snaps are like $50 for 100, which I have managed to get for $18/100 on a price match. I'm getting weary of dealing with Tandy. How can the expect a future if they only cater to the hobbyists? Am I unreasonable? Please help me if I'm way off here. I really want to be realistic.

Can be made using gray paper and "blowing out" (over-exposing) a portion of the backdrop, or underexposing a portion of a white backdrop by position of the light. A softbox over your light [which creates a larger light source] is most handy to do this. [EDIT: A strobe type light is also highly recommended because it's nearly impossible to get enough light on the subject with a "hot light" (the kind that are constant light).]

Etsy is owned by eBay? Seriously? I didn't know that.

Awesome. Thanks!

Snap! That was a great deal. Congrats.

I'm baffled that this post doesn't have 100 pages of comments. This is seriously nice! I would be proud to claim that as my woodworking project. Fantastic job.

http://www.ludlowleather.com our of Michigan, USA carries Tiger thread 500m spools for $45 free shipping. FYI.

I agree with LTC. Here is a direct link to Nigel's saddle stitch video: I've watched it 5 or 6 times at least. Fantastic reference. Much like with sharpening and honing edges, there's a ton of garbage on YouTube related to the saddle stitch. Nigel is the best I've seen. For the record, I really want to get my hands on the Joseph Dixon pricking irons. Hope this helps.

My order has arrived, and I thought I would post about it. First impressions, right out of the package: Wow. It's really gorgeous thread. 1mm is not at all too thick for me. I believe the stitching is part of the beauty of a piece, so I would love to even try 1.2 or 1.4. The individual strands which are braided together are TINY. This stuff is going to be very strong by the looks of it. First impressions using it: A real pleasure to work with. It's waxed pretty heavy, but not overly so. The rigidity of the thread actually helped me better control the entire process. It glides through the holes and locks against itself nicely. Overall, I do see what all of the hype is about. It's good stuff. No, it's great stuff, worth (in my opinion) the little extra it costs over other threads and artificial sinews. Several colors of Tiger thread are definitely in my immediate future. Hope you found this amusing, if not helpful. My first "Tiger thread experience"... [Edit: A note about the color "Brown"... it's almost black, but not black. So, it's too dark for dark brown leather and too brown to use on black. I recommend Mid Brown or Havana Cigar if you want to match Fiebing's Dark Brown.]

I been doin some "cypherin'. FYI: Maine Thread's Waxed Poly: 70 yards = 64 meters (roughly); 500 divided by 64 = 7.8125 spools Price for 70 yards of medium weight waxed poly from Maine = $6.29 ea. $6.29 x 7.8125 = almost $50 for 500m Also, Maine's waxed poly is twisted, not braided. Tiger is braided and $45 for 500m. Maine Thread also offers a non-waxed braided "polished cotton" thread in a wide variety of colors (seriously gorgeous stuff, by the way), but it's $8.80 for 100 meters ($44 for 500m). Maine Thread sent me a sample card. Their waxed poly reminds me of Tandy's waxed linen (which I manage to break every time I try to use it). Poly is stronger. Maine's poly seems to be good stuff, just not what I'm looking for. I ordered one spool of Tiger through http://ludlowleather.com/. Had to try it myself. Get this though... I received an email today saying that they had made an inventory mistake, and the Mid Brown 1mm which I order was out-of-stock even though the website did not give that information. They were extremely apologetic (even offering me a $20 coupon code), and asked me how I wished to proceed. I ended up calling out there to figure out my options. Being a small shop owner myself, I told them that I didn't feel that they owed me $20 for an innocent mistake. I know how much Tiger Thread from Abbey England costs because I have an account there, and Ludlow is not making much margin as it is. But, what a shining and impressive example of fantastic customer care! Before I got off the phone, I asked when the John James 02 needles would be in-stock. He told me that they would be on his desk today, and insisted on throwing a package of them in with my order since I refused to take advantage of their generous (but warrantless, in my opinion) gift. Needless to say, I will be doing business with them again. Am I the only one who "geeks out" about this stuff? Come on geeks, stand up and make some noise! #time-for-my-meds

Thank you all for your input. This quest to find the best thread has been a maze to say the least. cem, thank you for suggesting Serabraid by Armann Group. I am in communication with Chris Sisson, the National Rep for Armann. Their T90 waxed braided poly looks fantastic. 12-16 ply, nice selection of colors, 500m spools for under $20 each (minimum purchase is 6 spools). I think I might have a go at Serabraid first. Of course, I have to pick up at least one spool of Tiger (either Sexy Chocolate... er, I mean "Havanna Cigar" or beige in .8mm) in order to do a proper comparison (at least, that's how I'm rationalizing it in my head). I geek out way too much on this stuff. Thanks again. Cheers.

Thanks Joe. I'll definitely try Maine Thread Co.'s "polycord" as they call it. By the looks of it, I'm not sure this product is apples-to-apples with Tiger. Their light weight is 2-3 ply while their heavy weight is only 6 ply, where Tiger is 12-ish if I recall correctly. Their poly looks to be round, where Tiger is flat. But, that said, I look forward to trying their product to see for myself. I'm finding myself geeking out a little more than I'm comfortable with about thread lately. Ha. Thanks again for the heads up.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

It appears that http://ludlowleather.com/ offers Tiger thread here in the United States (sorry mods, I didn't see the post by Mr. Armitage). I still would like to know if anyone has found any comparable alternatives in terms of quality and variety. Best, David