billybopp

That's one cool machine! Kinda makes me wonder if one could get a cheap old sewing machine and somehow modify it to do much the same thing .... Hmmmmmmmmm - Bill

Looks pretty darned good to me. - Bill

Personally, I wouldn't risk buying one of these and would buy from a known reputable dealer such as the ones listed in banner ads up at the top of the page here at LWN. They go through the machines they sell and set them up properly to sew leather before delivery to you. They also provide superb after-sales support both here and by phone. If you buy a no-name machine, you may be totally on your own for initial setup, parts and support. Unless you have LOTS of experience with industrial sewing machines, that is certainly worth the relatively small price difference. Just my opinion, FWIW - Bill

Let me preface my opinion by saying that I don't currently own a leather sewing machine(just a couple domestic machines), and sew all my leather by (aching) hand. But I've been keeping my eyes and mind open for the day that I make the move to mechanical methods. I've been watching this forum for a few years now and have learned a LOT! I definitely agree with @chrisash, geography should be a factor when choosing a machine to buy, both for future service and support if you should need it, and for shipping since that could be a significant part of the price. These machines are pretty heavy and distance becomes a factor in shipping cost. Of course, the main factor will be whether the machine is suited to your needs. The support that you can find on this website from talented amateurs such as Wizcrafts, Uwe, Gottaknow(not an amateur, but also not a dealer), and others is amazing to me. The depth of knowledge is awesome. But even more impressive and amazing to me is the support from the dealers that participate here, such as Cowboy Bob, Cobra Steve, Techsew Ron, Gregg at Keysew, SolarLeatherMachines and others. They provide support not only for the machines they sell, but for others as well: it is astounding. Additionally, dealers can provide phone support. There are even a few from dealers and amateurs from Down Under that jump in to help so you might even get an answer to a question in the middle of the night here! How cool is that! When push comes to shove, tho, you may need a mechanic to look at the machine at some point, so geography does become a factor. I don't know if there's anyplace around where you are in the fingerlakes region, but it's worth a look. Of the dealers that I know of, Techsew is in Montreal, Keysew is in Philly and Toledo Industrial Sewing (Cowboy) is in Toledo. None of those are more than a day's drive for you. That's where I'd start! Some of them have banner ads that you'll find at the top of the page here at LWN, so give the site a little love and click those as part of your search. This all reminds me, I need to go visit Keysew one of these days and let Gregg buy me a cup of coffee. They're a short train ride away, and I walk past every now and then on my way to a great little pub that has a nice selection of craft beers and good food. Keysew is always closed that time of day, tho. Hope that helps! - Bill

That's a brilliant piece of design! Kudos and thank you! Now I know for sure that I need a 3D printer! -Bill

I guess that's what happens when ya find yer mate on here! LOL

At any college biz school, you could take at least a semester long class on costing and another on pricing if you wanted to go to that kind of depth, but Mike pretty much hit it on the head in a nutshell version which should work just fine for small production ( including hobbyists). The only real rule there is that you want to sell for more than it cost you to make (if you want to make a profit). Pricing is generally done by "What the market will bear" .. What are people willing and able to pay for your product. That can vary quite a bit depending on where and to whom you are selling. About the only way to find that is to look at similar items in the market, actually try selling your product, or some sort of pricing survey ( we call that market research ). Mike has a relatively simple costing model, it sounds like - and that can be just fine. If you wanted to go into more detail, you'd start with actual cost of ALL materials which could include materials cost, shipping, storage, even insurance. Be sure to include ALL materials such as hardware, thread, glue, dye, even water if you use it, etc. You'd also include labor (even if it's just your labor) and such. Those are all Variable Expenses: the more products you make, the more things you pay for. Once made you need to think about cost of packaging, storage of completed items and such. There are also fixed expenses which includes the space, heating and cooling, insurance, tools and such that are used for production: these cost you pretty much the same whether you make one item or one hundred. How deep you want to go, tho, depends on you and to some extent how much product you make! Just some food for thought! - Bill

When saddle-stitching, you simply tie two pieces of thread together and hide the knot between layers at your first stitch. It's that simple. With a sewing machine the thread never actually crosses from one side to the other, so while you can have a different color on each side, you cannot get a "candy cane" stitch. - Bill

Stitching chisels make holes that are much too big for thread that small. I'd consider using them ... or a wheel ... to mark the spacing then a small awl to punch through. You might even get away with a leather point needle as an awl blade to make the holes. - Bill

LOL. That's the problem with web searches in general. They return exactly what you ask them for, and not always what you intend! - Bill

Murphys law says that all rivets that you currently have on-hand will be exactly the sizes that you do not need. It's a proven fact. - Bill

Yes please!! I've been toying with the idea of making shoes too! - Bill

Welcome aboard. Wow! Sounds like you got some great deals on those machines. Every time I see one of those 7s with all their exposed parts I can't help but wonder if an OSHA inspector came across one, would they die of a heart attack on the spot? As for the box of tools, you're in the right place to learn what they are how to use them, so ask away! - Bill

You beat me to it @KingsCountyLeather. LOL! @RockyAussie Thank you! I always pay attention when you do one of these posts since there they're always well done and always something to learn from!! Heck, if I had the money I'd buy a croc bag just to encourage you to keep posting, but alas I'm poor. - Bill

Happy Birthday Johanna ... And a million thanks for all that you do for us! - Bill

That's one of the best uses for most of the Tandy kits! They mostly pretty decent designs really. Trace out the pieces on cardboard or such, marking out a line where the stitch holes are rather than individual holes. Go ahead and assemble the kit, learning just how to put things together - what order and such. When you're ready to make another, pull out the cardboard patterns, cut your pieces, and mark the stitch lines lightly with dividers and then make proper stitch holes with stitching chisels or pricking irons and an awl. Now you've got a nicely designed bag that's put together with much nicer stitching than you'd get with those big holes in the initial kit! - Bill

No experience with this sort of thing, but why not do an X stitch, a baseball stitch, or some other decorative between white and green in a third ( or more) contrasting color? Make it part of the visual design. - Bill

I like to think that knowledge is the result of experience, either your own or somebody else's. The main thing that makes experience superior to somebody else's passed on knowledge revolves around this imperfect thing that we call communication. Imagine if the technology existed that would allow a direct brain link from one person to another. Knowledge could be passed along wholly intact, including for example what it feels like to hold a swivel knife just right or hit a stamp just the right way with just the right power. It'd be easy peasy! But that doesn't exist, so we have to rely on communication to pass along that knowledge through some form of communication, whether one-way or a two-way exchange, and in many possible formats such as verbal, written, pictorial, video - any of which could be one or two way. So, we're limited in obtaining knowledge outside our own experience by the communication skill of another person. Furthermore, we need to find somebody that communicates in a way that works for us. What is perfectly clear communication to one person might be pretty much incomprehensible to another, whether because of the format or the style of the communicator. Fortunately, we have people with experience and the knowledge gained from it that are willing and able to pass that along as best they can to us, imperfect tho it may be. Their knowledge is a GREAT shortcut for us! To pick on @immiketoo for a minute. Bad as it was, imagine how long it would have taken to make that first case that he mentioned without the benefit of Stohlman's book - and how many bad versions it may have taken to get an acceptable result. Even then, some techniques and ideas may never have occurred to him! Also fortunately, @immiketoois a pretty smart guy who got it figured out and probably added some new knowledge through his experience, and that of others .. and is willing and able to communicate it to the rest of us. - Bill

Some things never change. Then as now, some people had more money than others and liked to flaunt it with a bit o' bling. When people are willing to pay for bling, there are always going to be others willing to make something to accommodate, for profit. Where there is a craftsman willing to make and sell things with bling, there's another craftsman willing to make the tools needed for said bling. I could be wrong, but I think Bob Beard hand-cuts his tools. Stamps were almost certainly made - probably using brass - possibly cast then hand finished, maybe just cut from a chunk of brass. They would not have lasted like steel does, but long enough to makes lots of bling before they wore out. As for the repeated wave patter, who knows ...Maybe. A Greek key pattern seems pretty likely - they seemed to like that one well enough to have it named for 'em! I also wonder if somebody willing to pay for that kind of bling might have been willing to pay for a bit of metal too for clasps and such, maybe even made from gold? Maybe a gemstone button or two? We'll probably never know, but it's interesting to think about. No matter what the ancients did, your work looks fantastic, Mike! - Bill

I think JLS was just pokin' a little fun at the Clickspring guy for saying it's aluminum when really looks like yellow metal at places in the video ( the aluminum pulley and the steel shaft.. even the white of the superglue tube has a reddish yellow hue ). It's probably looks that way due to the very warm lighting used for the video. Clickspring mostly uses brass, so the lighting is well suited for what he normally does. That said, I've subscribed to this YouTube channel for quite a while now. He doesn't post often, but when he does it's usually pretty cool. He has built a beautiful large mantle clock from scratch using machine tools, and is currently building a replica Antikythera mechanism using techniques and tools (which he also makes) that would have been available to the ancient Greeks. - Bill

The Stohlman case books are invaluable. Projects in them are very dated (when was the last time you saw an instamatic film camera with cube flash?). But the techniques are just as sound now as they ever were. They are a good investment. - Bill

Thanks for that list @immiketoo! Great info for helping make heads and tails of tool quality and pricing. One thing I'd suggest for anybody is to avoid the REALLY cheap tools such as you find on eBay for 25 for $20 and such. Those are the ones that we hear people complain about bending and having lots of issues. Otherwise, I'm always a bit of two minds about buying tools. On the one hand, buy-once cry-once is a good philosophy but in order for that to be a wise decision you need to know what you want. On the other hand, try cheap then buy better can be a better choice if you don't yet know what your personal style is and don't really know what you need. There's also a bit of a middle road too: Buy pricey tools where they make a big difference, and buy lesser tools where they don't. Geometric and basketweave tools really need to be "just right", so better tools are a good investment. I wish I had known that when I started! "Slightly off" tools in that class are a real pain to use. Upgrading those was a very good choice for me. IMHO, the craftool and craftool pro are a good place to start for most tools, especially if you get them used or on sale. -Bill

If you are looking to learn how to carve and tool leather, most YouTube videos are too brief to really learn a lot from. Not that it's hard to do, but a single ten minute video just can't show you all that much no matter how skilled the teacher is, and some of those are better than others. One of the best I've found, by a true master, is Tandy's video series by Jim Linnell. He takes you through tooling and making a wallet from beginning to end. The pattern for cutting leather and tooling can be found at https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/download/K33pit53cr3t/Blog_Project_Patterns/TLF_BillfoldBlog_1115.pdf . Bear in mind that it's sponsored by Tandy and references their tools and supplies, but of course you don't HAVE to buy their stuff. And, of course, as mentioned above, LearnLeather is a great resource with some free and some paid content. Also as mentioned above Ian Atkinson and Nigel Armitage both have very good content on YouTube, but are more oriented toward leather project construction techniques than toward carving/tooling. Others that are worth a look include Don Gonzales, Serge Volken, TandyLeatherfactory, and UKSaddlery. There are others that are good to be sure, and quite a few more that are not so good. Hope that helps -Bill

I suspect that floral carving has been around for about as long as people have been decorating leather. A quick search online will find some examples of floral pattern leather covered chests and trunks that are several hundred years old. The Sheridan style, though, is relatively new as I understand it. The style is characterized by circular swirling patterns that flow one into another, and originated around mid 20th century in the area of Sheridan, Wyoming. Acanthus leaves have been used as an artistic motif for millennia, and by this point are very stylized. In architecture, if you look at the top of Corinthian columns you'll see stylized Acanthus .. And they show up in a lot of other ancient artwork. No doubt they showed up in ancient leatherwork too. - Bill

Great work all around! Horse looks great, I like the colors. The cam seeder combo works fine....the cam impressions are still close enough that the rays touch and hide the edge of the basketweave. Well done. -Bill