Colt W Knight

I wouldn't run that machine with no oil, you don't want to scald the bushings and shafts. Ill post a vid of oiling points

Here ya go That wick looks really dry, how much oil is in the machine?

Those links aren't working for me.

I have a hair tool, but I don't think it would work that well for wood grain.

looks great

Looks like hardwork ( by a good artist) with swivel knife, modeling spoon, and a few bevelers to me. that eyeball and the wood grain look great.

Mine falls in the same hole in reverse.

When I back my thread length all the way back, I can get 4.33 SPI. So looks like about the same as your machine.

Let me check

I really like my Craft Tool Pro line swivel knives, and some of my stamps from tandy work really well. The Al stohlman maul is working well for me to. Lotta crap from there though. When I first got into leather crafting, I could go to the local tandy store and buy relatively inexpensive good quality leather. Over the last two years, my local store has quit stocking "acceptable" grade tooling leather, and the prices have nearly doubled. Im at the point now where I only go to tandy for buckles, conchoes, gromets and dye.

Those hand held shears only worked if they were razor sharp. They did use stones. Its a miserable job with motorized clippers, I couldn't imagine doing very many with those hand shears.

Glad to hear your clipper aren't gettting hot. Wahl and Oster both good heavy duty clippers and they typically market to Home Users, Barbers, Livestock folks, and pet folks. The barber and livestock models are generally the same bodies ( but they market them as different) The real difference is the blades made for people are finer and the blades for livestock accomodate the thicker hair better. When we trim livestock and sheep, we have to contend with natural oils and dirt on the animals, and they dull very quickly. Human blades typically wont last through one job. Sheep shearers go through so many blades while shearing they carry their own sharpening station.

How do you keep the trimmer cool in a production setting? When we shear sheep we actually have to use shaft driven shears. Are your clipper blades designed for people or animals? The ones designed for animals will perform a lot better on that wool than people ones.

Is your adjustment knob on the reverse lever loose? I can get about 5-6spi on my consew 206rb1

Love Arther's videos

On all my leather punches, I have started "dipping" them in beeswax before punching. Tools really like to get stuck in thick leather, and the beeswax makes it easier to removes and keeps them sharper longer. It also prevents bending tools because you don't have to wiggle and pry them out of the leather. I have a chunk of beeswax I keep on my table, and before I punch something, I just dab the tool into the wax. Ultimately, if you want the best stitching holes and uniformity, I would move to using quality pricking irons and a sharp/polished diamond awl. I got tired of hand stitching and bought a sewing machine. Hand stitching yields better results, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think many people care about the difference between well done hand stitching and well done machine stitching.

I couldn't say because I don't have any experience with them. Now that I have a sewing machine, I don't use these chisels as much anymore.

I have been thinking about making a similar setup for a while so I could border stamp at night without a noise issue. Thanks for the post.

The prongs on my Tandy chisels bent when I was working on larger projects. Once they bent, they lost what little strength they had and became worthless. I am also over Tandy Tools. The holes are big for 2 reasons. 1) They are cheap tools and need the extra metal for strength 2) The bigger holes are easier to pull a needle and thread through.

I waited for almost a year before I found an affordable used machine. They pop up, but not frequently.Once you have a machine, you realize they are worth it!

Thanks Bill , I learned a lot about dyes and painting building custom guitars. Whenever you mix products - I cant emphasize TEST OF SCRAP first enough. Even when you don't mix products, you still need practice to get your thinning ratios and applications just right to where you can get good results. Folk who are new to these things don't understand how they work, and are usually disappointed when they start using more than one product on the same project. Hobby stores always make their products out to be better than they really are.

I am having a little trouble following your process. Why did you apply super sheene, then wipe it off with a wet sponge? Here is how I do it 1). Case the leather - while its wet I give it a once over with saddle soap to clean - most leather is really dirty and has oily residue 2). Tool - let dry 3). light coat of neats foot oil - let dry 12-24 hours 4). Apply dyes - let dry thoroughly 5). Apply a couple light coats of clear/resist - let dry 6). apply several light coats of color ( acrylic )- let dry 7). Apply a couple light coats of clear/resist 8). Apply antique gel to highlight all the tooling - let dry 9). Apply several light coats of clear. When you apply stain, it needs to be applied to clean dry leather, and once its dry and has enough coats to get the color saturation you need, you need to put some clear or resist on it to keep the dyes and antiques from bleeding into the color. If you are going to brush on the clear/resist - you need to do so in such a manner as you are not wiping away the stain/color. Spraying is the only way I have been able to accomplish this. I finally broke down and bought an inexpensive airbrush. You can do it without an airbrush, but expect to get a little color bleed.

Can you post a picture?

Paints, dyes, and stains are essentially made up of 1)pigment 2) binders and 3)thinner Pigments are the colors binders fix the pigment into place thinners are what hold the pigment and binders in solution Dyes and stains typically do have any kind of chemical curing that fixes them into place. Dyes are typically alcohol or water based, and the water absorbs into the substrate and carry the dye with them. Stains do not penetrate as much, and sit on the surface. Paints and clears come in water based, spirit based(alcohol), lacquer bases ( uses acetone as a thinner) and oil based ( uses mineral spirits as a thinner). Some of these finishes have chemicals in them that make them cure chemically. Some finishes ( like lacquer or shellac) are evaporative finishes. They do not cure chemically. The thinner simply evaporates. Evaporative finishes can be stripped or recoated easily because the thinner in the new finish reactivates the old finish and makes it go into solution again. This is why wiping on a lot a leather finishes will result in streaking or smearing.

Wiping on a clear coat you will almost always have problems with smearing or smudging. The safest way to approach it is to apply your stains and dyes, let it dry thoroughly ( about a day) then spray on light coats of the clear. If you are using Tandy brand leather finishes - In my opinion the vast majority of them suck. The antique gels are okay. I like to use Fiebings for dyes and I use water based acrylic paints to add color other than black or brown. I use an air brush to apply dyes and clear coats. Eliminates the extra darkening from dauber application of dye and prevents smearing and smudging when applying the clear. If you are applying a water based stain or dye - a water based clear coat will dissolve the stain or dye. Always test on scrap to get an idea how a combo of products will work. Acrylic Resolene works just fine, but it will work a lot better if you thin it 50/50 with water and spray it on. You will struggle just wiping it on. I use Mop n glo, which is very similar to acrylic resolene.