sbrownn

An excellent suggestion. Make your design unique and your craftsmanship and leather and hardware quality better.

https://www.libertyleathergoods.com/types-of-leather/ That was a good article as well.

That article was very informative.

My experience has been that any leather that has the word "genuine" before it is made of low quality leather or the waste from splits that has had a grain pattern embossed on it.

I guess I would contact Bob and request a replacement for the table.

Did you forget the /s?

It's not a matter of horsepower but rather the type of pump the motor is driving. Vacuum cleaners are designed to move a relatively large volume of air at a low level of suction using a centrifugal fan. What you need is a vacuum pump, a pump designed, not to move air, but to pull a vacuum.

Only what you see in the stores. What do you think you see in the Chinese stores of American made leather goods? Many of the Chinese goods are made to fill the part of the American market that doesn't care about quality...which is quite large. The Chinese were making high quality leatherwork 5000 years before America ever existed...do you think they have somehow have lost that skill set?

Thanks, that makes sense since you are only cutting out a small part of a pattern instead of creating the entire part.

They don't keep theirs looking nice for so long unless they are hardly ever ridden, which is probably mostly the case. If you ride on the same seat for 50K miles I can almost guarantee you will wear it down.

There is a lot of anti-China sentiment on this site that is not supported by actual facts. Many companies trade their trade "secrets" to the Chinese for access to their markets and that is their choice. All countries workmanship is considered "shoddy" when they are first industrializing. No better example than the Japan bashing after WWII. Countries seek to fill markets that is within their capabilities to fill. Prior to having their infrastructure destroyed in WWII the Japanese made absolutely great vehicles and products and that is why they made such a quick recovery after the war. Just because a country makes low cost products to fill a market niche doesn't mean that they are "shoddy" workmen. Maybe you should take a closer look at the environmental regulations that US corporations avoid by manufacturing in foreign countries.

A 3D printer works for making dies but I think the quality of the press with your laser cut dies is better. How long does it take compared to 3D printing?

Well now at least we know the real reason you won't buy anything from China; seems like it really has nothing to do with the quality of the product at all.

Most hand applied leather dyes only penetrate a small distance into the leather and so they wear off or get sun bleached. My experience with motorcycle seats is that it is a combination of both. My last seat wore down to the point the stitches began to come apart so it was no surprise the dye was worn too. For multiple colors there isn't really much alternative but for a solid colored seat you could use leather that is fully penetrated with dye in the tanning process.

Yes, it all depends on the market you are selling into. If you have a customer base that is willing to pay for the labor to make glass like edges then by all means go for it. I don't have that kind of market so I'm more inclined to do things the way you do and not worry about glass like edges.

I have found that my machine behaves differently when I "hand stitch" with it as opposed to powered stitching. Generally the difference isn't as pronounced as what you are seeing but the the stitching is definitely affected by the speed at which the machine is running. Do you have a speed reducer on your machine? If you set up your machine to make nice stitches when it is running powered as slow as you can make it run, then there may be less difference between powered stitching and hand stitching. Just my experience...

Really nice art and leather work.

I like t o final cut my edges after I've glued up the pieces. That takes care of having to align and sand them.

The Aquilim 315 can be removed from the edge with a wet cloth or by just by rubbing before you finish the edge.

Are an overstitch wheel and a pricking wheel the same tool...one wouldn't think so.

So the Chinese can't make good leather? LOL. The Chinese were making high quality leather while most of the western civilizations were still wearing untanned hides and living in caves.

Is that the kind of curve they have been talking about, around the z axis? I thought it was the natural curve a belt takes on after being worn which is along the x axis.

I would move the tightening screw closer to the hinge as it's present location limits the width of material you can put in the pony. Both the handle and the block behind it are places to catch the thread on.

I have tried almost every leather supplier out there and use different ones depending on what kind of leather I am looking for. I like American Leather Direct for the types of leather they sell. If you set yourself up with a business account you can save a lot.

I don't like to use padded straps on my instruments but when a client asks for padding I use wool...the world has enough plastic as it is.