bcurrier

Perhaps. The question, though, is what sizes and point types do you have? Your pictures of the boxes show size 22 round points - not much use for that. It's hard to tell what the needles are that you show individually (like your first picture). So, quoting Brando - "Whatcha got"? Bill

Agreed in all respects. Until I purchased my 4000, my preference was to go either to a local distributor or to certain national distributors, like Dunlap-Sunbrand. I went to Artisan because really heavy-duty machines are a niche market for most distributors at best (i.e., a lot of them don't really know much about these machines or their application quirks), and buying remotely made support really important. It doesn't matter who answers the phone at Artisan - they're all geared toward support, before and after the sale. Bill

Nice, concise site. The pictures are excellent, too. My only suggestion is that you address the titling on the main page. Are you trying to convey a personal page - "David Theobald" - or a business site? And just what IS the business' name? Is it "Theobald Leather" or "Butler County Leathercraft"? Bill

Good question. I used them recently on some fabric for touch-up. The color only lasted through a couple of cleanings, which kind of suprised me, because they sure seem permanent when you get the ink on something you don't want to get it on! Bill

What is "metho"? Alcohol? Bill

The most basic difference is that the equine spine isn't designed to bend as much as a human spine, if I remember my shoeing school anatomy right. Horses have evolved to optimize straight-line flight in open country. To my mind the difference emphasizes how appropriate traditional saddle trees really are to the horse's anatomy. There's every reason to keep weight off the spine, of course - but because of the limited sideways bend in a horse's back, no downside to the tree shifting the burden off to the sides, either. I don't have a problem with the concept of treeless saddles per se so much as they introduce risk when people don't know when or why to use them. It's fine to use one for an oddball fitting problem or to improve on bareback if you can evaluate the fit properly, but their flexibility increases the odds over a traditional tree that you'll injure the horse if you can't. I've been around horses since before I can remember, owned some, and studied the horse, but would still have someone else take a look before I used one. I've never even heard repair issues mentioned before - and it sounds kind of scary. Glad the discussion came up. Bill

Linen can rot (as can cotton), but you can also find linen-sewn items hundreds of years old, too. Nylon can "rot" from sun exposure. Both nylon and poly stretch more than natural threads. Etc. etc. All thread types have their own characteristics, so it's a matter of picking the best thread for the usage. Bill

"A lot of stamped light weight stuff." Kind of what I thought from gleaning the little I could from the pictures, and therefore no interest. The thing is, it really could be a deal for someone looking for something like that. The problem is that the lack of detailed pictures give the impression that, well, you're hiding what you're selling. I doubt that's what's you had in mind. Bill

- " Where is the best place to buy needles for the Artisan???" How about Artisan? www.artisansew.com Bill

I'll be ordering a few shortly, then. Thanks for the reply, Will, and welcome to the forum. Bill

Will, Are the bronze buckles actually bronze - or brass with bronze finish? Bill

I've only ordered from Siegel a few times, but my experience is that they're very helpful once you get them on the phone - including checking stock on the spot. Their site doesn't give in-stock status and you can't count on their specials being in stock by the time you order, either. In the case of the TL70 knife, I tried ordering it a few times before figuring out I needed to call them to see if it was in stock (it wasn't). From what I gather, they were pretty much flooded with orders from their year-end special and sold out of a lot of tools. While they've restocked some since then, I'm guessing they're still not stocked back up completely. I wasn't going to pay Tandy's price for this knife, so I bought the smaller TL71 from Siegel instead, which was in stock. As I see it, their ordering, inventory management systems, and website need some attention. I've had problems trying to use their online ordering, and, once again, it really needs to indicate what their stocking status is. I understand that this could be pretty expensive for a small business, though. When I was getting started, I tried placing a very large tool order multiple times, only to have the shopping cart automatically empty out on me for some reason - presumably some sort of timeout. Siegel's personal customer service responsiveness, on the other hand, is truly excellent. So, as long as you call to order and make sure you confirm what is actually available, no problem. Bill

Nice looking buckles. Pricey, though, especially for plain brass - even understanding it's a repro. I might pay it for the bronze, assuming it's actually solid bronze. Bill

Know anything about it? Model, condition, $$?

Luke, How did you end up with two "T"s in your name on the stamp??

Tractor Supply carries Lexol. There's one in Vineland, NJ.

Do you mean places on the surface of the leather turn brown - not the burnished edge? If so, perhaps you're overheating whatever tool or cloth you're burnishing with and touching that that to the leather, you're gripping the leather so tightly when burnishing that you're compressing the leather, or that the leather itself is flawed. Remember, though, that it is perfectly possible for leather to water spot no matter what you do. Bill

One that always appalled me is a place in Rehoboth, MA - "Camp Ramsbottom for Boys and Girls". When I lived in Santa Clarita, CA, there was a building with two businesses. One side side was a life insurance company, the other sold caskets. Bill

No way, no how is a magnet going to affect timing on a mechanical machine head, unless you have a part so loose that you already have a problem. Bill

This is one of those things where you slap your head thinking "why didn't I think of that"! So much for bolts and handles and grinding and bending and shaping ... Bill

Ed, I enjoyed your other thread on 441 adjustments. I look forward to any more such in the future. Bill

Dave, anyone who can understand the innards of a walking foot machine is definitely a creative person! It isn't that hard to follow down a single mechanical chain of linkages, but when they inter-relate the way they do in the more complex sewing machines, it makes your head spin sometimes. Bill

The best small steel (not cast iron) anvil you'll find is going to be a small farrier's anvil. You can get a 30-40 pound steel anvil for about $150. You can use steel plate, too. The problem with plate is that raw stock isn't hardened. Some smiths, in fact, use anvils made from steel plate or re-face old anvils with a layer of new steel plate. But they get it hardened before use. For practical purposes, a chunk of scrap stainless from a local steel service center is going to last a very long time for leatherworking. As long as you're doing light copper riveting and various setting jobs, no problem. You're only going to have problems if you start using it to shape metal. Bill

My wife uses them for pins, pushpins, binder clips and the like in her sewing area. They work great, and I doubly appreciate them because the room is carpeted. There's nothing quite like stepping on a needle! The magnetic dishes are not only handy to hold the contents wherever they sit, but they stick to the sewing machine heads, too. Don't try that with a home machine or industrial with a head-mounted servo control panel, though! Bill

I like it a lot. Nicely done, restrained design with good depth. Beautiful colors that complement the bike's color. Bill