billybopp

Marbling isn't all that hard, and can be done with leather. It's pretty much about using something to make water gel, such as carrageenan, gum trag, and other ingredients. You then float a dye or paint on top and make patterns with it, then lay paper, leather, or whatever media on top let it absorb the dye/paint and pull it off. Check out this video by goodsjapan marbling leather. Bill

Wicket and Craig.

My Tandy pony has enough tension to use without the bolt for most things.

^ What Bikermutt said ... And if you want a higher level of finish to your strap edges, I'd consider something like these: http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/9036/001/52 http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/29255/001/52 http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/9029/001/52 http://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/9022/001/52

A mockup is a good idea. Many here find that vinyl behaves similar to leather, is available, and cheap. Particularly when you have fifty percent coupons from the fabric store, such as Jo an

It knows far far more about you than you could imagine.

... And of course, it's by Lucas. One of my favorite bumper stickers of all time was on an MG .. A picture of a light switch, and read "Electrics by Lucas".. Switch marked OFF . Barely Visible . Dim.

I have both, and find the wooden cutter a little easier to learn to work with. The draw gauge works well too (even at 150 years old like mine). If money were no object, tho, I'd try a plough gauge - folks that have them seem to love them. If I were doing a lot of straps, I'd consider a rotary strap cutting machine too. Bill

Interesting problem! I just tried a little experiment and it worked. I probably wouldn't try to go much more than half the thickness of the leather. 1. Mark out your area and make a vertical cut at the edge to define that area, going to just about final depth. 2. Use a single bevel tool ( I tried a Japanese skiver and woodworking chisels, both work ) and cut in about 1/16 to 1/8 inch from the line with bevel down and remove the little wedge of leather to help define the work area and get down to depth. 3. Still with bevel down do help control depth of cut, work your way across the area removing material to depth. Just work carefully and remember a wider cut will likely make it easier to get a level surface. I managed to get a 2" square this way in about 10 minutes, with more than half that time marking and defining the edges. As always, whatever tool you use needs to be sharp. Like, should I even touch that sharp. You could easily shave with it sharp. Bill

Such occasions exist? It looks great. Love the colors and brass.

Thanks for posting videos ... And be sure to thank your videographer for us as well.

I've never actually been in a Tandy store either, but have dealt with Kelly by phone when she was in Allentown. Maybe one o' these days we can arrange for us SEPA/NJ folks to meet up there. It'd be pretty cool to meet up and shoot the breeze sometime! Bill

For irons that are marked with a number, sometimes that number will tell you the number of stitches per inch and others will tell you teeth per inch. So, for example, one maker's 6 is 6SPI, and another maker's 7(TPI) gives you 6SPI. With the cheapie Chinese ones, they are usually marked in mm, but they are cheap so that might not be totally accurate. To me at least, that's not all that important as long as they are ballpark correct and consistent. I don't really care if the stitches are 6.5SPI or 7SPI. It's much more important that they are evenly spaced, angled, and thickness, and consistent across irons in the line (eg 10 tooth, 6 tooth, 4 tooth and 2 tooth). Bill

If I were in your situation, I'd put the blade aside and replace it with a good steel blade, and keep using the swivel knife. I suspect it's a nice knife, and not nearly so delicate as the ruby blade is. Best of both worlds that way!

They don't make them anymore. They do come up on ebay once in awhile, and are quite expensive ... Like approaching and beyond $100.

Ruby is really hard stuff, and should have a great edge but be careful, it's brittle and chips easily if you drop it or bang it. Bill

Another couple of classic styles when butting two pieces of leather together is a baseball stitch or a cross stitch - with a couple of others in these subjects too, including twisted rope. There are a lot of possibilities with some research, or imagination, or both!

You're welcome. I've been looking about for a decorative stitch myself, but I want to have the stitches lie very straight, rather than our beloved angled stitches. I've been experimenting a bit, but haven't quite found what I want yet. Bill

There are several types of decorative stitches out there. I haven't seen one like yours before, but it's cool. One of the simpler ones is as simple as tying together two colors of thread and then doing a normal saddle stitch. There's a subject on here about it. Another is presented in a video by LWN member GMACE. There have been others shown on here, and still more around I'm sure. Bill

Interesting! Seems like if you have a machine that works like this, you could probably hold the lever at mid-point when adjusting stitch length and avoid some wear in the parts.

It seems to me that if the customer is ordering holster and belt, easy peasy. If you've met the customer, not all that hard to make a good estimate. But how do you tactfully ask an online or phone customer "Just how fat are you, anyway?" ... Particularly if you're dealing with a female customer?

Put some painters tape on before you cut, rout, or drill. It will help laminates to chip less. Bill

I have one of these, and it sticks to the ram really well ... BUT unless your arbor press is pretty big with lots of clearance between ram and base, it occupies much too much space to be practical. Bill

That crossed my mind - I'm thinking in combination with a diamond awl leaned back to 90 degrees rather than the usual 45 .. For my part, I like the look of a slanted stitch on lots of things, but for this it won't look right. Stohlman's method uses a stitch groove, which also won't work for what I'm trying to do - but I may try it to see. I've got a pretty good handle on getting a nice straight run of stitches. The description of what I'm looking for isn't as clear as it could be. The stitches between holes should look more like this ----- than like this ///// for the effect I'm going after. Thank you all for your thoughts and advice, It's appreciated. Bill

I'm about to start a new project, and need to make some lines of stitching that are very straight or close to. I don't have a heavy duty sewing machine, so hand stitching is the only option. The effect I'm looking for is like pin-striping. Any thoughts or advice?? Thanks in advance Bill