Colt W Knight

Depends on what look you are after. If you want bright vibrant colors, I use Angelus acrylic leather paint. If you just want different shades of brown, I use different colors of Fiebings brown dye. Stain and colored dyes look more faded and not as bright on leather, so they give a muted affect. I have hand tremors, so I prefer to use Acrylics. If I get some in the wrong spot, I can wipe it off. With stains and dyes, especially, there is no going back. Here is one with just dye Here is one with acrylic I don't use stains, so I don't have an example.

I using a glass serving tray I found at the grocery store for a few bucks. I would like to have one of those nice Barry King ones though. I asked a few local glass shops about making one, and they all wanted an arm and leg because apparently, polishing the edges on glass is a bitch.

I want something a little versatile that i can do some "light" projects yet it can tackle 3/4' projects I just want to point out that there probably isn't a machine out there that will sew light and really HD projects equally well without a ton setup work switching between the two.

I would use raw hide, you get it soaking wet so its plyable, when it dries it will shrink a kittle and make it taught and firm.

I have had my Consew for a year, and I am just now learning how to use it right. I thought sewing was going to be easy.

I did the same thing one day when my brother came over to the shop to watch me make a nice padfolio. I was explaining how my sewing machine was built like a tank and I never have any trouble with it. Forgot to remove the loose thread while winding a bobbin and WAM! Thread jam from hell.

When my 206 shreds thread, its almost always the needle. If that needle isnt set just perfect, it runs like hell. I would take out tue needle, and install a new one, size 21 or 22 for T90 thread. Make sure it is all the way up, and the channel in the needle is the left. If the needle is rotated a few degrees it will shred the thread. Then tigjten the top thread tension incremwntally until the it stops looping. Check youtube for a video on how to properly thread the 206. Industrial machines have complicated threading, and missing a step or soing something backwards will really mess with your tension. Also, black thread is a lot harder to see with because all the dye. I have one spool of black i cant use because its so hard temper, it just shreds.

My surface plate was from Grizzly too, ordered it from amazon prime, so free shipping.

Thanks Bill

How did you attach the kydex? Cool idea

I have a 12x18 Granite slab 3" thick. Originally, I had some thinner granite, and it all cracked eventually. I bought a surface plate from Amazon, and my tooling has improved since going to a 3" slab. Reduces beveler bounce. If I had the extra money, I would buy a 18x36 slab at least 3-4" thick.

I cant turn the material as the needle is entering the leather on the down stroke because turning the leather in this position will deflect the needle sideways which will eother caise the needle to break of the finish downstroke, shred the thread or drop a stitch.

Looking close at your pictures, You may try using a #23 needle to give that thread more room. Ive had similar problems in the past that I fixed by going up a size in needle.

I think you just need to play with how far your needles comes in and out when turning to nail down the exact results. On my consew 206, I sew all the way to the corner, bring the needle all the way down and start back up ~1/8", left the pressure foot, rotate the material, then let the foot down and turn the wheel by hand watching to make sude the slack is all the way out

That is as close as my sewing machine presser foot would let me sew to the edge of the roll. When I rolled it over, i glued it doen with contact cement up to about where the 2nd stitch line set. By the time I figured out a good way to trim the extra binding, I was about done. Hope the next one is better. Actually stitching on the binding was a lot easier than I expected. Especially since it was my first time.

You could do that with a grooving tool as well, just remove the edve guide.

Thanks, I thought it was called French something.

Thanks for the reply, but the picture isnt piping. I added a picture of the backside. I thought it had a specific name, not just a welt.

I remember seeing a really nice tutotial on this site for this leather binding technique, but I forgot what it was called, so I cant look it up. Ive started experimenting with it, and want to look up more examples for comparrison.

A very good friend of mine as me to make her a photo album for her father, and said put whatever you want on it. I decided to do something different from what I regularly do, so I tooled some Cowboy and Indian scenes on it. Instead of burnishing and dying the edges, I bound the edges with some nice soft black deer skin. The interior is red pig suede with pockets and a three ring binder. After I took this pictures, I realized I missed beveling some lines, so I am going to have to go back and do that. I am not the best Tooler in the world, but I enjoy making things like this. Original artwork by Karen Boylan and Charles Schreyvogel Leather edge binding - This turned out really nice for my first try, and it was much, much easier than I expected. Interior - I tried a multitude of things to trim the interior trim, and just before I finished, I figured out how to do it well. Just free hand cut witha sharp razor while pulling the waste. At first, I tried inserting a backer strip and cutting straight down. Front cover Back Cover

I said the same things last year, and I have since made about 15 purses.

I got swamped with Fathers Day requests. 3 padfolios, 1 photo album and a guitar strap. Leather arrived Saturday, and I have been busy. Pumpjack padfolio Cow Padfolio Horse Padfolio

There is not a good or efficient way to clean those buffing wheels. You can remove built up gunk and fluff them easily. 1. Some folks will say to use some coarse sandpaper- Horrible idea as this can embed grit into the wheel, plus it is basically removing the outer portion of the wheel If you did this regularly you would prematurely shrink the wheel. 2. The old school way to remove buffing and rouge and compound is to use a hack saw blade. Again, This is just stock removal, but the blade wont shed sand particles. 3. You can take the wheel off and soak it some warm soapy water and give it a scrub, but who the hell is going to go through all that trouble? Plus, removing the wheels or adding new wheels you quickly realize how hard they are to mount centered, and you end up cutting a bunch away to get them to run true again. 4. A buffing wheel rake basically just helps remove gunked up compound and fluffs up the wheel. It wont actually clean the dirt and dye off. Folks who do serious work with buffers have a buffer with wheels set up for every rouge and compound so they dont get any contamination and dont have to swap wheels.

Fiebings acrylic dye is actually not dye, just a paint designed for use on leather - similar to Angelus Acrylic leather paint. My experience with regular fuebings dye vs pro oil dye. Pro oil dye is better. Its covers better and doesnt bleed as bad. Im not sure about the chemistry difference between them. I don't have any experience with the antiques you mention, but i am wanting to try fiebings antique paste. Ive been usimg ecoflow antique gel and that stuff is just messy to use, and i feel like i waste a lot using it.

Step 1. Carve leather - i like to clean the leather before carcing with saddle soap, conditions the leather and removes handling and tanning oils that fuss with dyes. 2. Dye leather a lighter color or leave natural * if you want to dye your letters, now os the time to do this. 3. Apply resist/clear coat. You made need 2 coats. ALLOW TO THOROUGHLY DRY - This may take 12-24 hours. 4. Apply antique gel in a heavy coat working it into the cracks and crevices. 5. Wipe off quickly with a rag/papertowel wad. 6. I like to wipe ot off again with a damp rag/paper towel wad 7. Allow to dry 8. Apply another coat of clear or resist. May need 2 coats. Allow to dry thoroughly. 9. If you want to paint your letters, now is time to do this. Also a note, water based finishes, like antique gel will smear easily if you wipe on a water based clear coat. The solvents reliquify the dry coat- essentially. I get much better results spraying on clear coats