bcurrier

One of the few brand names in the business, it seems, that actually originates with the factory producing the machines. Bill

Should be close enough for most purposes. It all depends on how precise you need to be. Bill

While you could take a local "sewing" course (contact just about any retail sewing machine shop), you'll quickly find that home sewing classes focus on clothing and home decorating construction techniques as much - or more so - than sewing per se, those techniques aren't very applicable to constructing leather goods, and the machine instruction itself will only be dimly applicable to heavy leather stitchers like Artisan's. A better bet would be to find a local leatherworker who is willing to let you hang around and observe, if not actually help you out. In addition to local craftspeople (arts/crafts type), you can also look for custom bootmakers, leather repair shops, motorcycle gear makers, people involved in renaissance fairs, etc. You can also contact local industrial sewing machine suppliers to see if there's anyone local they can refer you to. Leather sewing is actually really, really basic sewing in most respects (flip through a book of heirloom sewing techniques sometime if want to get your eyes opened on that point). I think the more unique aspects of sewing leather actually relate more to the specialized nature of the machines due to having to deal with wide variations in very heavy materials. Most people that do home sewing don't really understand their sewing machines or how to control sewing parameters (tension, timing, lift, machine clearances, and other machine settings, in addition to needle & thread selection, etc.), nor do they need to in most cases. I'm not suggesting you need to become a sewing machine mechanic to use a stitcher, but becoming familiar with some of the basics is more important in leather stitching than home sewing because you're left to your own resources much of the time in resolving problems. If you can make one of the shows Artisan attends, as Art suggested, you'll unquestionably get the best, shortest education relevant to your needs. Just be aware that it's not just a matter of "running a sewing machine." Bill

I save the fake plastic credit cards they stick in credit card solicitation mailings to use as glue spreaders. They work great and they're free. Bill

I don't know offhand if 794 was originated by Schmetz or not. By specifying a 794, you're asking for a needle with a 2.5mm shank (the part that goes into the needle bar) and 60mm from the end of the shank (top of the needle as installed in the machine) to top of the eye. For practical purposes, you can consider size primarily as the diameter of the shaft (or lower portion of the needle), and you ALWAYS need to specify the size in addition to the system and point type. It doesn't matter whether you give the metric or Singer size. The point type (D in your example) refers to both the shape and orientation of the point. Think of needle systems this way - a system is a set of needle specifications, basically EXCEPT for the size and point type. Things the system can specify are the shank size, length of the shank to the shaft, shaft length, length of the groove (width of the groove varies with needle size), size of the scarf, orientation of the scarf, taper specs on various parts of the needle, curvature for certain needles, etc. You're 100% correct about redundancy. Size on packages is almost always given in both metric and Singer size, and others as well for specialized types of needles that historically had their own sizing schemes. You almost always also see more than one system on a package because there are equivalent systems for most needle types. Bill

I believe 7X3 is available in a number of different point types. Bill

I appreciate the thoughtful response. What's clear from the response is that the environmental and gear considerations for firefighter's suspenders are very different than normal dress clothes. On the latter, rigid suspenders definitely cause problems. Bill ps - I'm very supportive of firefighters - both my great grandfather and grandfather were in the service. Thanks for being there.

They look very well-made and are good-looking besides, even more so when customized and stamped. Can you comment on their comfort, though? All-leather construction with no slotting (like galluses) or elastic material anywhere means no give. Move your arms up, the pants go right along. Bill

The deal is, all horses have conformation defects, so it really is more a matter of how the aspects of a given horse's conformation play against each other. Nothing particularly bad about a horse downhill a bit as long as there are other factors in play, like heavy bone, for example. Depends on the ribs, but you're right for most cases. You don't see them as much as you should, though. Bill

I'll quote my wife - "That's the most beautiful belt I've ever seen." I also like to see acorn and oak done so well, as it's often the most mangled for some reason. Agreed. It's all in the details - which at this price level have to be flawlessly executed, custom (one-off, in this case), and elegantly done. This belt hits all three. Bill

I would be one happy rider with any of those on my Springer. Do you use leather for the backs as well? Bill

That's a good practice, and an improvement over what most seem to do: go forward, back, then forward. Starting in reverse results in stitching the backtrack area twice. Starting forward, three times, which is bulky. Bill

Beautiful work. I like how you take advantage of the beveling halo for modeling purposes in the eyes. Bill

Rest assured it will get there. Like all importers, Artisan has to juggle pre-planned shipments against both existing and new orders, meaning if new orders spike, there can be delays - and there was just a major show (Wickenburg). From what I understand, the 3000 has been a big success for them. Still, as a small company carrying a wide range of machines, they can only stock up so much. Stay in contact, Artisan is good about telling their customers exactly what the situation is. Bill

My coffee shop-owning brother would agree. He likes to say that the more you like coffee, the more you like it black. Me, I have to have the cream and sugar. It has to be cream, no milk, no half-and-half. And it has to be HOT. You can develop a taste for anything, though. I had a night job when I was a kid where there was a nickel coffee machine. It spit out half-size cups of some of the weakest, nastiest coffee you can imagine, lightened with God knows what. I got to where I really liked it! Drank about a dozen or more every night. Bill

About the boiling water, though - it would be well above heated glue pot temps. I probably would have tried the same thing, but if it didn't dissolve the glue, a couple of repeated slugs of the water probably did cook it pretty good. Bill

Walk away. Bill

No, but it occurred to me after first seeing this topic that the edge tools that Woodcraft sells might also be usable. http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=564 Bill

Sounds like you're dealing with a horse snob, but there's two kinds: the kind that will come back to you because of problems they caused, and those that won't. I wonder if she might fall into the second category - you didn't mention her complaining about the original saddle maker, for example. If she does fall into that category, there's really no downside in selling to her. These are typically the really wealthy people that can literally afford to use equipment to the point of being careless with it, and replace it, equally without thought. That's the kind of person that thinks nothing of mucking up a custom pair of two or three thousand dollar riding boots ... after all, you can just buy new ones ... There's lots of these people in the horse world. Bill

Glue pot? As in heated glue pot? You don't heat PVA glue. It's cold press. If the glue was cooked, even unintentionally (as in using an electric pot for convenience sake, then turning it on by mistake), I can understand why it's stuck in there. If you just mean a container for cold glue - no, I've never had a problem with any kind of PVA glue like you're describing. Bill

Beautiful stuff. I especially like the spiderweb bag. Seeing it reminds me just how much most bags look alike and how refreshing it is when something different comes along. Plus, you manage to pull it off with subtle shape changes and restrained, but very effective tooling. Bill

Post 1: "I bet the animals that were murdered (oh, sorry - hunted) ..." Post 2: Then this, followed by eight! paragraphs: "... i dont want to turn this into a flame war or a diatribe" Really? There actually is a place for this on the board. It's the "Off Topic" forum.

The hotplate on a drip coffeemaker that uses an insulated carafe doesn't kill the coffee. It only slows the heat loss. The hotplate on glass carafe drip makers, though, burns the living daylights out of it in no time. Bill

Art's advice is excellent. I think you're going to have a hard time finding a machine in your price range that will let you make the bags. If I'm reading you right, you want to start with lighter weight leathers, but want the machine to be suitable for heavier veg-tanned leather also. On the other hand, if you stick with the light to medium weights in terms of the machine's capabilities, you'll have no trouble in your price range, used anyway. If you luck into a decent Pfaff 1245 for the money, grab it. I see lots of the Singers Art mentions, but a lot of them are pretty used up. Another machine to look for would be a Consew 206RB, which you're more likely than the Pfaff to find for $700 or so, as they're about $1,300 new where the Pfaff new is about twice that. Bill

We use a KitchenAid grinder and grind fresh for the pot in the morning. The coffee maker is a Cuisineart drip we picked up at Costco. Works great and the carafe keeps the coffee hot for a few hours. We buy Starbucks house blend at BJ's Wholesale Club in the 2 lb. bags and the odd bag of other beans here and there as they seem interesting. Regis, you pretty much quoted the coffee gospel on ground coffee losing its flavor, but I personally don't really see much difference as long as you use the ground coffee in a few days. On the other hand, there is a flavor loss after roasting, but I find it most pronounced within the 1st 15-30 minutes. My brother owns a coffee shop and roasts his own beans. When he brews a fresh pot right from the roaster, it's out of this world. Wait an hour later and it's still excellent, but not much different than what he roasted a day or so earlier. Bill