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I will try my best to describe it. I think there are some YouTube videos about sharpening. I do not have access to my skiver at the moment (it is at another location). If I had my machine in front of me, I would do a video to show you or take photos. Unfortunate, because of the coronavirus I can't do that at this time. To the best of my memory here is how I do it. If anyone else is an expert at this, please post you corrections (I will not get offended!). Please be careful and watch your fingers and eyes! How to sharpen knife/blade: 1. Clean your sharpening stone. It will sharpen much easier with a clean stone :). You may need to clean it several times as you sharpen the knife. If there are 0 sparks them you need to clean it. 2. While machine is running (or while you rotate the blade) run a black permeant marker over the edge of the knife (about 10-12mm of the edge). This will show you if/when your knife (blade) is sharp. 3. Position knife at a certain distance from the top guard. OR some other fixed location. For example: I place the blade 10mm to the left of my top knife guard. I use a ruler to check this. I like this position to be where I normally leave my knife. That is, very close (2mm?) from the edge of my presser foot. EVERY time you sharpen the knife, put the knife in this position. Why? Because this sets the angle of the knife and gives you constancy. You want the knife in a fixed position, and then, 4. Slowly (very carefully!), move the sharpening stone towards the knife. As you sharpen continue to move the stone toward the knife, 5. Stop once the marker is gone. You should have a nice 10mm polished edge that is very sharp. As the knife gets dull, you will need to move it back to it's fixed sharpening position and sharpen it a bit, so just a little to the left. I hope all this makes sense!

I have them on independent plugs.

Very nice! I use a Teflon foot with mine. I also have a 30mm roller foot, but like the 54mm teflon better (especially for splitting larger pieces). I could not get the roller foot to split/skive even. I don't have the experience that @RockyAussie has, he knows skiving machines well -Adam

We make similar items as well as some bags. When we hand stitch we use Lin Cable 532. The Serafil M20 (#135) thread is the closest diameter to 532 that I could find. This is when you see it in person and sew it. It is about 0.57mm according to my eye and placing the threads side by side. The M30 (#96) equals about 632. The Serafil is a poly thread and "seems" larger than the Lin Cable. You will be happy with #138 thread coming from a 532/632 hand stitch thread. We bought an Adler 69 and it is working fine for our items. A 441 machine would be too large for our wallets/flat items, max of 6mm (15oz ?) of leather. If you like the thick, rustic style with say 332 thread then you will need a heavy duty machine (441 etc). -Adam

We have Adler 69 for the same use. We like it and it has plenty of punching power for 6-7mm of vegtan (with a 750w Jack servo motor). But...it does struggle climbing over seams. I think the best machine up from the Adler 69 or Pfaff 335, with a narrow arm, would be the Durkopp Adler 669. But they are expensive. Another machine that might offer greater climbing with a narrow arm is the Juki 246. It has a 4 motion feed dog (goes up and down AND side to side unlike the Adler 69). In a narrow arm there is not much else out there I think. If a larger diameter arm is fine then you could could look for a Adler 269, Juki 341/1341/1342 etc. Or the next step up from there, a Juki 441/Adler 205 clone. The truth is once you step up from the Adler 69/Pfaff 335 things get expensive very quickly! Hope this helps some. -Adam

Very nice! Will have to remember this when I have a bigger shop

Glad to help and thank you for the kind words! Good luck on choosing a machine. Whatever you buy, please let us know how it works out for you. It's always nice to see how a machine performs for someone!

You are correct about the climbing. That is the one thing we do not like about the Adler 69. It struggles when we reach a thick seam that you have to cross over. You have to "help" it along It is like it does not have traction. I assume a 4-motion feed dog would really help here... -Adam

Good to know! My Adler 69 can fit about 7-8mm under the foot. I did sew 7mm with it. I didn't realize the new Pfaff 335 could sew that thick...

I do not think the Pfaff 335 can handle 8mm easily....You need a larger machine if you think you will be sewing 6+ mm. The Adler 669 comes in at lest four variations: 1. ECO. No auto features. The foot is raised using a knee lever or hand. 2. CLASSIC. This has basic auto features such as back-tack etc. It also has a pneumatic foot lift. This uses a small amount of air presser from a compressor to lift the foot. These features are very nice if you are doing higher volume. 3. GOLDLINE (I think it is called this). This has even more auto/computer features 4. PREMIUM. Direct drive servo motor, fancy computer etc. If you get the ECO, I would make sure you buy it with a Servo motor. It is a very good motor and will help greatly. I think for your use the ECO with servo would be a good machine. The price for me in the EU, for the basic 669 ECO with servo motor, and edge guide and LED light is about $4700 (4050 Euro), including VAT.

We use a Adler 69, which is the older (much older!) version of the 669. We can easily sew 6mm of Italian vegtan (Tempesti, Minerva Box), and even Sedgwick lacing hides. The most I could sew with mine is about 7-8mm (not something I would recommend). A pfaff 335 or Juki 346 can sew the same thickness. We use M20 thread and a 140 LR needle. The 669 is an entirely different machine! It can easily sew 8mm of vegtan using 138 (M20) thread. So yes the 669 can handle vegtan. If you need to sew more than 10-11mm you would probably need a larger machine. -Adam

Hello! We recently bought a used Adler 69 after hand sewing for many years. We make similar items. The Adler 669 is on a class of it's own compared to the Juki 346 or Pfaff 335. As far as I know, there is not another machine like it. Is it worth the extra money? Only you can tell. If I had the money I would order one today However, from a business viewpoint, I could buy 2 good machines for the price of 1 Adler 669. Hard decision. Some of the advantages of the Adler 669: 1. Very large bobbin 2. 20mm Foot lift height (compared to about 12-16mm on the Pfaff 335 or Juki 246) 3. Full motion, adjustable feed dog. The feed dog moves up and down and not just side to side. This will help feed material over thick seams etc. The Juki 246 does have full motion feed also I believe. 4. Possible to change over to binding if you want. Not sure how quick this is though. 5. Long stitch length 9mm (compared to 5-6mm on others). 6. Very good at climbing over large seams etc. 7. Narrow arm, but can still use m15 thread. Very nice when making small bags etc. That is just a few of the quick things I can think of. I am far from an expert. I am sure others here can give you much more info. Looks like you will get a very nice machine no matter which you buy! -Adam One other thing: The Juki 1341/1342 are very very nice also. If the larger diameter arm is not a problem for you...

Thanks for the idea. You are correct, my needle was a bit far from the hook. I was able to move it closer but I had to be careful not to get it too close to the guard. Again, I think this is because the needle it about 1-1.5mm on a angle to the left. I will take a closer look at the needle bar, maybe take it off. I might just buy a new needle bar next year... Thanks! -Adam

Nice sheath by the way! And beautiful knife

3 layers of 8 oz is about 9mm? I believe that is about as long of teeth as you will find. My Wuta irons are about 9mm long I think. About 10mm is as long as they get. The KS Blade Punch irons might be a bit longer. You will have to use an awl to finish the holes or get a heavy duty sewing machine I am afraid. -Adam