BDAZ

I used to make bow strings and most of the wax is synthetic and designed for modern synthetic fibers. It's designed to hold the fibers together after the string is made. A small strip of leather is run up and down, like a slicker, to melt the wax and remove and excess. I wouldn't think it was a good alternative to bees wax for stitching and it's $$. Cya! bob

Do a search on You Tube for Cowboy 4500 and Cobra Class 4.. Cya! Bob

I own neither a Class 4 nor a 4500 Cya! Bob

First step is to decide if you are really a business or just a hobby trying to cover costs and expenses. If it's the later then make you own rules, cost you labor at $0 and have fun, AND have fun. My leather business is just the latest in a string of small manufacturing business stared over the years in in the chemical, scuba, computer and graphics industries. Business can be fun too but only if they make money or break even to gain market share. Losing money coupled with hard work is NOT fun in any industry. First off, I think the wastage numbers shown above are low. The analysis I have done shows a minimum of 35% wastage (assigning zero value to all scraps not used in production. Depending on the cut, I may go as high as 50%. How often to I cut a 2" strap which is 60" then use 42". The balance is scrap. I would never take a job for $15 and hour so why would I sell my time for less? I am able to multi task so I can step into my shop, say cut and glue some lining then back to my office and my other business so I can afford to work for less than if it was a full time career. Overheads are assigned based on square footage, with the leather shop 3 times the size of my office space but still cheaper than a stand alone business would have. For pricing, first I decide what market nice I am after. I research the available offerings, check the existing prices and see if I can produce a BETTER product for the same or up to 20% higher. If I can't, I don't go there. One last issue is marketing. What is your market? The guy that happens to drive by your house, happens to see your sign and happens to need a belt at the time and happens to have the time to stop or a market geographically more diverse supported by a killer web site, advertising and wholesale distributors and resellers motivated (by margin) to promote your products to their customers. Selling more results in economy of scale, lowering costs and making manufacturing more efficient. I am shipping a dozen similar items tomorrow, which took a lot less time to make, per item, than if I had a single order. I make less per item but 12 of my products in the market with my makers stamp are 12 more "promotions" for our products.Anyone who doesn't put a web site on their makers stamp is nuts, IMHO. To sum up, first do your market research, find out what price range you can sell similar products for and then work on your costing to see what your bottom line is and then investigate what it will take to reduce labor and materials costs. In my case, I have switched to drum dyed veg tan which is more expensive up front but saves me time and materials to make it cheaper than dying my own. I intially purchased a decent sewing machine at the git go because it was obvious hand stitching is for hobbyists and not commercially viable, unless you have leveraged that feature into significant money at retail. I used to work in the wine industry in California and the saying was that yo can always make a small fortune with a winery IF you start wit a big one, I think leather can be similar. Cya! Bob

Everyone has their favorite recommendation which is obviously the machine they own. That is called cognitive dissonance. However there are two highly recommended machines on this forum. The Cowboy 4500 and the Cobra Class 4.. Both are almost the identical machines with different paint and accessories. Call both companies and speak to Cowboy Bob or Cobra Steve as both are acknowledged as having excellent pre and after sales support. There are different packages on offer and shipping may be slightly more or less based on where you are, but either is your best solution. Cya! Bob

That IS useful! BTW my black Olfa blades arrived yesterday and I tested them agains the Stanley English blades. They claim to be twice as sharp as stainless blades but I couldn't tell..maybe marginally sharper. Both outperformed the Chinese blades. Cya! Bob

Another difference is the threading of the tension discs which are different directions than the Cowboy, they go through the guides twice as seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OtfCvzm14A Threading starts at 3:14 The Cowboy starts at 1:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boZOA4MTu2Y Interesting Cya! Bob..

I was looking at a couple of instructional videos, one on the Cowboy 4500 and the other on the Cobra Class 4. Both machines seem almost identical. I am guessing they are made in the same factory, but maybe not, What I found surprising was the threading instructions were totally different, almost opposite. For example Cobra bobbins are inserted with the thread running clockwise while the Cowboy using and identical bobbin goes counter clockwise. Is there a right and a wrong way to thread theses similar machines. What is the advantage of one over another? Thanks! Bob

Not going to happen on the black but here's a test I just did on the medium Brown. Cya! Bob

I use a large self healing 3'x5' cutting mat on my cutting table for long straight cuts, straps and other items that require long cuts. For trimming and complex cuts I use a Tandy ploy board at a different bench. For punching, I generally use my 2 ton arbor press and will use a poundo board or the poly board from Tandy on granite, depending on the size of the punch and the thickness of leather. I do use the marking on the mat all the time and will eventually rotate it 180 degrees and then flip it as it wears. Cya! Bob

Just a couple of comments. a should read "you did not create that are trade marked" There are millions of images and symbols that are royalty free. The other point is that the most likely response to a small maker pirating a logo would be a cease and desist letter. It costs both party's nothing and the problem goes away if the pirate is smart. Cya! Bob

I checked out Home Depot and to my surprise there were a number of high quality utility knife blades (not the break off blades) including some that were carbide coated and claimed to be 2 times sharper with 5 times the life. The Stanley break off blades were made in England. Cya! Bob

I have been primarily using black although I will be staring some brown items tomorrow, Her's a pic I just took of an item I am working on. Not sure what you mean by burnishing? Cya! Bob

Thanks! I'll check them out as well. Cya! Bob

I couldn't tell what wood it was but from the top it looked like a very old 21. I have a '63 D-28. Cya! Bob

I assume it's a D-21 in your strap pics? Cya! Bob

I have switched to drum dyed veg tan for all my production items. These items appear in the catalogs of my vendors so it's critical that the colors of an item I make next year is identical to the ones in the catalog. To that end I have limited my offerings to Black, brown and natural. The time and cost savings, in both dying and final finishing makes it well worth it. They tool and stamp beautifully. Cya! Bob

Colt, what year is your 21? Cya! Bob

I ordered 10 of the Black Olfa breakoff blades. They claim to be much sharber than the stainless blades as they are carbon steel. Sounds perfect! Thanks! Bob

I did a search first but couldn't find anything on blades. Thanks, I'll look again. Cya! Bob

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks Cya! Bob

I recently changed the blade in my break off blade knife. I strop regularly but started on a hide that was tough to cut so I decided to change the blade. I discovered an unopened pack of blades in my tool chest and to my surprise they were made in England. They were significantly better than the ones I had been using. Is there a source for quality blades not made in the PRC? Thanks! Bob

I wet form most of my products and have drying racks set up in the AZ sun. Black items will reach a surface temperature of over 145F and natural around 130. 2-3 hours and the products are completely dry and rigid. I have never had a failure. Glue sets in a hurry as well. I use drum dyed veg tanned leather for production which yields consistency, a good finish and saves time. Well worth the extra cost. Cya! Bob

Got it.! Thanks.. Cya! Bob

In the solvent industry we have an expression "Like dissolves like" so putting acetone on a water based dye will have little effect, and then soap and water won't work with solvent based dyes. I don't see what your test is supposed to represent since the thread is about removing dye from hands, not removing splatter from leatherr. IMHO ALL the cleaners are inappropriate for cleaning leather. The most effective way to remove dye from leather is using the thinner or solvent it is based on.Of course you run the risk of spreading the stain, since the splatter will dissolve in the solvent. It is also the best method of removing dye from hands, but not the safest. Another factor is dwell time. I am a partner in a soy solvent company and our soy based solvents are very slow to work, but are low VOC (met all the California requirements) but are also very slow to dry. You can paint it on an old piece of woodwork and 6-8 hours 10 or 12 layers of paint have completely peeled away, ready to be hosed off. The orange cleaners are similar and they require a long dwell time to be really effective. Cya! Bob