bcurrier

A needle system is a set of specifications for a needle. It includes at least shank type and diameter and length from the butt end to the eye, but can also include things such as the specs for the grooves, tapers, flats, etc. The system itself does not specify the point type or size (size is the diameter at the eye end, not the shank or butt end), which are always specified in addition to the system when a needle is ordered, and in fact, there are multiple systems and naming standards for both needle sizing and point types also. A needle system may IMPLY a size range or point or usage type, however, which only adds to the confusion when trying to figure out if a particular system is usable on your machine. Finally, needle and sewing machine manufacturers have the habit of appending proprietary creative and cryptic bits to existing needle system names when they create a new needle based on an existing type. "794 Serv1" would be an example, where "Serv1" designates a shorter needle of a 794 type ... even though the length would "normally" call for yet another system. Confusing, isn't it? Needle system naming originates primarily from the sewing machine manufacturers, but many of them are closely associated with needle manufacturers - often because the needle maker was involved in creating the machine(s) with the sewing machine makers from the outset. There are multiple needle system names for most needle types. Although cross references exist - I've seen them - to find identical, comparable, and usable systems, they are very hard to find, and none up-to-date, to my knowledge. In the end, if you have a machine that takes a common needle, like a DBx1 in a single needle lockstitch machine, you're simply never going to have an issue finding needles in all sizes and points. If you have something slightly more exotic, like the 794 used in the 441 class machines using for sewing leather, it pays to develop a knowledge of systems, point designations, and needle makers. Briefly, though, there's needle system, size system, point specification system, and various additional proprietary add-on designations. There are multiple systems to specify the system, the size, and the point. It makes for thousands of potential combinations, many, many, many of them for physically identical needles. It's extremely confusing, but once you've gone through it a few times and understand what you're looking at, it gets better. But then there's THREAD specs ... which are just as bad ... Bill

The technical difference is that dyes bond chemically with the material being dyed, while paint pigments do not. More accurately, they actually change form. Dyes need reagents to trigger the chemical reactions, and not just for the bond, but to make them colorfast. Those can be in the dye already or added separately. There are fewer available reagents for water-based dyes and very few good ones. The reagents are typically strong alkalis (sometimes acids) or metal salts, which can be handled properly in an industrial environment and removed from or corrected for in the material being dyed, but those considerations obviously have to be compromised for a pre-mixed or home-use product. Dye problems are compounded with a material like leather in that moisture and the various fats and oils contained in it absorb the dyes also - and don't bond with the dye, unlike the tissues themselves. Even the best dyes are problematic for leather because of the huge variations in hides, tanning methods and materials, and condition. Add that to the need to use an off-the-shelf product and the results are bleed, rub-off, splotchiness, and fading. Bill

Metric needle size at least makes sense in that it IS a size (nanometers), unlike Singer, which is an arbitrary system and whose numbers look the same as a lot of other sizing schemes. I'm almost there with metric, I just have to force myself to think of the metric size first. I don't see the needle system issue going away though. I like to reference back to CANU, as it's the closest to a cross-reference available for compatible systems, plus the point designations are consistent. But it still doesn't REALLY cross-reference comprehensively. Take a DBx17 (CANU 37:20) vs. a CANU 38:00, for example. And yes, unfortunately I am old enough to remember the Whitworth system, including arguments over whose thread specs were better and why! Bill

You're correct, my error. Bill

Of the systems listed, DPx17 would be the most suitable at the heavier end, any of the others for the lighter stuff. 135x17 and DBx1 are basically the same and are very common. You want to cast the decision toward where most of the work will be, though, because needle availability in the various leather point types will be a factor. You can get very small leather needles (say 9 or 10) in DBx1, for example, but not in DPx17, where, conversely they are available up to a 23 or so. Personally, I'd get a few needles at both ends of the range I wanted to use first, then sew one of the machines off with some samples using my own threads. Bill

Barkeeper's Friend (stainless steel cleaner) is basically Oxalic acid. Never occurred to me to use it for leather, though. Bill

It's beautiful! If you don't mind me saying so, though, the frame doesn't do it justice. Bill

Out of curiosity, what were both the old and new threads? I'm amazed that swapping out one for another in the same size caused such a dramatic tension problem. Bill

It's probably Photoshop Elements, which lists for about $100 and retails variously from $60-90 or so, depending on the deal of the moment. Full-blown Photoshop (CS3) is mucho $$$$$ - starts at $1,100 list and goes up dramatically from there. Bill

I took a look at the Montana Silversmiths site. When you read the concho descriptions, there's a really odd statement that they should be kept away from saddle soap. Pretty strange for an item under saddle trim! Bill

It actually looks more like a top tension problem. While the general rule is to look to bottom tension for a problem on the bottom, top tension for a problem on the top, I don't see any indication of top thread takeup - at all - on the sample you provided, nor does the bottom thread look ramrod tight. In fact, the latter looks loose on the right side of the photo. Bill

Interesting topic. Fiberglass has never been my favorite material for anything. It's heavy, ugly, and nasty stuff to work with. Proper application (and longevity) depends on controlling a fair number of variables, something that is best done - but often isn't - in an industrial setting under monitored, controlled conditions, and is usually pretty haphazard elsewhere. The stuff ages, the resins are light sensitive, the layup is moisture sensitive, and has to be protected from chemical attack and abrasion. Encasing wood is a situation where you have to be particularly careful with it to avoid moisture retention and delamination problems. Epoxy is better than polyester resins, but there goes your cost advantage. It has virtues, too, including considerable strength when properly applied, repairability, and low cost relative to many alternatives. the last two strike me as most relevant when the article is large and the fiberglass surfaces are accessible. A glassed saddle tree has neither quality.

I couldn't disagree more. Americans have been in more or less continuous combat since WWII in one place or another, at one scale or another. Lately we toppled 2 regimes. One - Afghanistan - after the Soviet Union failed to do so after years of trying. American soldiers are currently fighting and dying, enjoying, moreover, the most widespread public support of any action since WWII. Don't pretty up history too much. We were brutally hammered any number of times in WWII in both theaters, including major defeats and surrenders. There was significant opposition in and out of the military to the war itself, various components of it, policy and funding issues, conscription, etc. Aside from any pro & con arguments around the government's heavy-handedness during the war, there were many things I wouldn't want repeated which in our times are properly the subject of public debate ... even if not all have been solved. Those include torture & prisoner treatment (many documented WWII abuses), civilian casualties (carpet bombing of German cities plus the atomic bombings), treatment of "suspect" populations in the US (Nisei), segregation in the military, censorship, war profiteering, and more. We were blessed geographically in that our industrial infrastructure, unlike Europe's, remained intact throughout the war. Finally, we were damn lucky in several critical battles - two of which could have turned the result (the Bulge and Guadalcanal). I think you may have the education point backwards. The military has historically supported and used civilian education heavily. The senior ranks have always been among the best-educated people in the nation, having a high concentration of advanced degrees across virtually all disciplines. The preference is for an educated military population, including the enlisted ranks. The military sees no conflict whatsoever between good education and the quality of the individual soldier - quite the opposite. My father was an Army veteran (a private) of heavy combat in both theaters in WWII, fighting through Italy, ending up at the aforementioned Battle of the Bulge, then shipped off to combat duty in the Pacific, ultimately winding up as part of the occupation force. So I recognize and take nothing away from the grit of such soldiers. But I see the same kind of soldier in the news every day. Bill

I called Aetna felt a while ago - their all-wool, medium and high-density felts are very expensive. (Not to suggest that the pricing is so much Aetna as it is the cost of such felt itself.) As I recall, something in the medium density range, 1/2" thick was well over $100 for a sheet perhaps a couple feet square. Bill

Try this link: http://www.industrialsewmachine.com/webdoc3/feed.htm I know I have a link somewhere to a site with moving diagrams, but can't find it right now. Bill

It's polyurethane, and tougher than hell. It is more flexible than rawhide, but if you take a piece with 2 pairs of pliers and try to tear it, I think you'll be surprised at just how tough it is. Bill

Can't really tell from the picture, but is there plastic internal gearing or just ridging on the handwheel for a cogged belt? Bill

You're probably thinking of a Singer 29 class machine, usually called a patch machine. They are workhorses, but their suitability depends on your intended use. I haven't owned one, so take this with a grain of salt, but having gone down the same investigative path ... 29 class machines exist in several variations, but most you are likely to find are built and set up as light leather stitchers (say 1/4" or so max). They are used heavily for repair work on garment weight leather and for sewing patches. The cylinder arm is very slender (not much support), the bobbin is small (not good for larger articles), and although it sews a lockstitch, the machine is compromised for general purpose use by its ability to sew in any direction. While the last is terrific for repair and patches, it doesn't necessarily let you sew long, dead straight lines very easily. They have a reputation for being fussy when it comes to changing set-ups (different threads and tensions). I've yet to see a used one that didn't have the daylights beat out of it. Bottom line - unless your primary uses are repair and patching, keep looking. 29s aren't general use leather machines. If you do decide on a 29, you may be looking for awhile to find a good, tight used one. You can still buy them new from a number of importers, but then you're going to be creeping up into the price range you're trying to avoid. Bill

The freezer idea is creative, but probably won't work. Most bacteria can survive extreme cold (WAY colder than a freezer) for extended periods, centuries even. At the other end (heat), the exercise would depend on the type of bacteria and the method used. Heating to pasteurization temps (about 160F) and holding for awhile might do, but some bacteria and bacterial spores aren't even killed by boiling. No matter what, it will STILL probably smell. My guess is that if you clean and condition it as a previous poster suggested, you'll have done about the best you can. Bill

I can't speak to the differences in any detail, but I've had two different spray-in liners in my own trucks - Rhino and LineX. The LineX appears to be a little tougher. I managed over 10 years in my last truck to abrade and tear off bits and pieces of the Rhino, usually from either pushing pallets into the bed, or from the bottom of a loader contacting the side rails. The same things don't appear to phase the LineX nearly as much. (I do try to be careful with that loader, though.) Over the long term, the Rhino surface also chalked a bit, more like from weathering & exposure than age per se, though. Bill

Congratulations! You're going to enjoy it. Just got my own machine a week ago, and am finding the folks at Artisan as 100% responsive after the sale as before. I haven't sewn a darn thing yet except tons of practice on scraps. I'm finding there's a bit of skill or finesse required, but it comes pretty quickly. Bill

Even as I wrote the reply, I gave some thought to flexibility differences between the materials. Rawhide is a stiffer material, even if its tear strength is lower. So, within its limits, I can see how the rawhide covered tree might hold up in the truck example. You have to ask a few questions, though: Does testing to that extreme even matter?. Saddles have to take handling and storage abuse, but they aren't designed to be run over by trucks, either. Was it an apples to apples comparison - i.e., who's to say what the design & construction goals of the two trees in question were? I guarantee you could make trees that would turn those results around. What were the thicknesses and layup of the rawhide vs. the LineX tree? Were there differences in the basic tree? Does the basic tree NEED to be different to take advantage of one material vs. the other? Etc. etc. So here's a different question - why would a "properly" constructed (equivalently strong), LineX-covered tree not be better, especially if it were cheaper and more consistent? Is it harder to build on? Present maintenance issues? Heavier? Or is this an aesthetics issue? Bill

LineX is far stronger than rawhide. As LineX points out in their sales literature, the product is used to provide explosion proofing protection to the military facilities' walls. It's also waterproof and doesn't rot. It sounds like a terrific application to me. Bill

I know you didn't ask, but hope you don't mind some unsolicited advice ... On the memory foam - be aware that unless you can find a supplier that has the really high-density stuff, it kind of poops out after a while, i.e., takes a set and compresses. that's even more of a concern for the thin layer you're talking about. (Just to be clear, I am referring to the memory foam and not the high-density upholstery foam you also mentioned.) Gel plus memory foam sounds like overkill. Maybe someone else can weigh in on this, but it also seems that two body conforming layers would work against each other. Bill

I just finished the setup on my new Artisan 4000R. I ordered just before Christmas, but held off shipping for a bit as I originally ordered the machine with Artisan's new positioning motor, and the synchronizers hadn't arrived. So, with the WESA show looming and more delay possible in getting to a resolution, I opted to take the machine with the standard servo motor. Artisan shipped immediately once the decision was made. In fact, Steve made a point of personally shipping the accessories I ordered in advance to ensure I had them for use with the machine as he would be in Denver when the machine itself was sent out. I picked up the machine at the freight terminal, and arriving at home, had it in the house in about 15 minutes. It was VERY well palletized and wrapped, and the freight company Artisan uses didn't so much as smudge the pallet. I did the uncrating and basic setup of the stand and head the next day, but had a couple of minor issues. I called Artisan and Dave took care of them within 5 minutes. I called Steve the next day to walk through what I was pretty sure was an issue with the shuttle or possibly timing, but turned out to be a different threading pattern than specified in the manual. Total time to resolve over the phone after checking the timing and a few other items - about 15 minutes. The machine is smooth as can be, quiet, and I've experimented with a range of thicknesses with absolutely minimal tension tweaks. If you are even remotely considering buying a sewing machine, I'd strongly encourage you to call Artisan. My experience reinforces everything that's been said about them in terms of superior customer service orientation and responsiveness, and the machine's quality is superb. Great company, and I'm already considering another purchase. Bill