billybopp

It'll still make a decent knife if a bit on the big side, which is not a problem as long as it fits your hands! Just sharpen the daylights out of it. You might find it more comfy to hold if you wrap the "handle" with some electrical or friction tape. Bill

I agree with Halitech. Study a bit with some of the good videos around and then practice .. A lot! One thing that can help some with practice is to glue up some scrap in the thickness you'll mostly use and then put a heavy line or stitch groove on BOTH sides, then mark your spacing in your preferred way. If you can mark spacing on the back to match the front pretty precisely, that can help too(not easy to get them lined up the same front to back). The line on the front side will help you keep that line straight pretty easily. The line on the back gives you a target to aim at top to bottom, and the spacing marks a target front to back. Once you start getting it right .. you begin to find that your arm is always in the same position, awl in the same position, and work in the same position! That seems to be the key to repeatable results. A stitching clam, pony, horse, clamp is a huge help too. Keep the stitching line down relatively close to the jaws of the clamp to minimize now much it flexes around. A good VERY sharp awl is essential. A wine bottle cork of some other backer that the awl can go into is helpful on thinner leather (keeps it from flopping around as you try to hit the target). Just remember, a cork from a RED wine bottle ... So that you can let it breathe while you use the cork and then drink it AFTER practice. It will not do your stitching much good to drink the entire bottle before. You might also find that hand sewing leather is in general a skill that needs a little upkeep practice. After not having made anything for awhile, last week I made a sheath for a head knife that I recently bought. I dove right into sewing it with no practice, and the backside holes were all over the place but got much better as I went along. I should have glued up some similar scrap and practiced first. The skills degrade with time, but come back quickly with a little practice. Getting the skills initially just takes more practice. At least that's how it goes for me! Bill

Congrats on your new machine!! I'm not a sewing machine guy, but I read this post might get you headed the right direction ... http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/42187-ll-vs-lr-needles-stitch-patterns/ There's a LOT of info there about leather needles, so be sure to check out the links in that thread. You also might want to poke around on the Schmetz needle learning center, there's a tremendous amount of info there, Who knew there was that much to a seemingly simple needle! Our own Cowboy Bob at Toledo Industrial has a great chart on their website for sizing thread/needle combinations. As mikesc mentioned above, right twist thread is relatively rare, and I remember somebody saying it's now used only on a few special machines. Right/left twist is also known as S/Z twist, and there's a bit of info about it on Superior threads website. Superior threads also has a LOT of great educational articles. Searching the web for S Z twist might reveal even more. Like I said, I'm not a sewing machine guy (yet), but I do find 'em fascinating so read lots on here to be ready for the day I find myself with one! I'm sure that at some point one of the real sewing machine folks on here will chip in with more info that I could ever provide. Bill

I live right in Philadelphia, and don't have need of a car. PA is a big state, and Curwensville is 250 miles away, so getting there is a challenge. It's on my to-do list next time I visit family out that way, tho (if I can convince them that a tour of a tannery is a fascinating thing). Maybe a bribe of leather goods would help!

It may sound silly, but a good source of drawings for leather is ... Coloring books! I've used a number of "adult" coloring books for patterns and inspiration in tooling leather. Particularly useful has been a Celtic book with a number of knots, animal designs and other. They can be reduced in size (or increased if need be) on a copier or scanned and reduced. Works great! I'd draw my patterns myself, but somehow leather stick figures just won't work so well. Bill

A crepe eraser works well. They often come with liquid latex for just that purpose, and will work well with most adhesives that do not penetrate. Bill

My supply is getting pretty low. I'm in for some when you have a price. Can't wait to try tooling some good quality leather! Bill

Those numbers are awfully thick to be ounces. I suspect they may be mm without the decimal. So maybe 1.5 to 1.7mm. 2 to 2.2mm. Etc. Those sound like more usual leather thicknesses. Bill

Very clever!

Despite being the computer/networking consultant for a number of engineering firms for awhile, I never really learned to use CAD. Having had some drafting classes in school doing things the old fashioned way with a board, T-square, triangles and compasses, tho, I had a pretty good idea what they were trying to accomplish. The drafting board still comes in handy for laying out leather patterns that are larger and need a little more visualization. For smaller and simpler projects, I use an antiquated version of Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator works great for some things, the drafting board for others. It all depends on what you're trying to do! Also, GREAT video Tinker. I had forgotten some of those techniques.. Bill

I cheat, and intentionally cut the gusset a little long, then dry fit it and cut to the correct length. Works every time. I've also recently started cutting the top of the gusset round at the top to help support the flap when it's bent over the top, and also that helps support the top flap to keep it from getting smushed down. Bill

No fair. You had help from a storm trooper.

Fiebings grey dye was really more paint than dye. But it worked well ... which is more than I can say for their white!

Have you angered any Chinese officials lately?

It works fine here in Philadelphia, if a little slow to load.

I've heard good things about the Jeremiah Watt interchangeable blade beveler. Cheap at something like $45 a full set and usably sharp out of the box. Haven't tried them for myself yet, but they're on my buy list. Bill

I was rather amazed at the Ferragamo guy's sharpening technique. Wow. But, I threw the video up on screen and continued to watch in the background as I was doing other things. It looks like he finally gave up on his sharpening technique at about 48:30 and opened a brand new Tina-messer knife! Now, we all know how un-sharp knives are straight out of the package these days, but it works better than his original. He also shows MUCH better technique sharpening that one at around 54:30 or so, which makes me wonder if he was originally sharpening the body of the blade and dulling toward the tip so as to skive the inner layer of leather thin without thinning the upper leather? Also, at 50:45 or so, you see him removing the tacks from the shoe .... so there ya go, Bikermutt! They mostly come out, except for it looks like a few at the toe and heel. After watching this video, I now also understand the shape of a cobbler's hammer. That swoopy head design makes sense. Who knew? Bill

Here is the link to the ribbon pocket thread. I would have posted the link last night, but was using a tablet, where such things are a royal pain! Nice as tablets are, some things are much easier on a real computer! Bill

You might take a look at ribbon pockets. Looks similar on the outside leather, but uses a strip of fabric to form pockets. A search here will find em for you. Bill

White dye is worse than useless. There are a couple of threads o n here about it. Bill

Wind Fire Designs Circle Tool

I thought about a draw gauge when I was initially looking for a strap cutter, but the darn things looked mighty scary! Instead, I bought the Tandy wood strap cutter and have used it for a few years, and it generally works OK. I've heard folks say that "the original strap cutter" is better than Tandy's, but can't confirm that myself. I have found that my Tandy wanders a little bit if not used carefully, and have also modified it slightly with a little piece of cardboard in the handle where the crossbar meets it to change the "toe angle" just a wee bit. That helps pull the leather in toward the handle and helps a bit with the cutter wandering. Also, as with most leather cutting tools, the blade needs to be sharp, sharp, sharp. Replace and strop often. Now that I'm a little more confident about not cutting myself, I've bought a draw gauge to try. I recently purchased a civil war era brass and rosewood draw gauge. It's just a beautiful tool, and the price was right at about $65. The blade is toast, but modern blades can be had for a pretty reasonable price. Can't wait to try it. Bill

I ran into the "no cash over XX dollars" for the first time back in the 80's, and managed to get my gas paid for by card... but .. I asked a lawyer friend of mine about it later, and this is what I was told. Cash is in fact legal tender, and if the store legitimately cannot change the bill then that is a valid situation. If they will not change the bill that's a totally different situation and you owe them nothing. I don't know if you'd get away with that in reality, but that was the legal situation in Florida at the time. Could be different now and other places. Bill

Good advice, zuludog! Needles do indeed come in a lot of sizes and the shape is different as well. The Tandy needles have pretty big eyes for the needle size as compared to the John James needles that I'm now using. That makes the Tandy needles a little more difficult to pull through in most cases, and I suspect easier to break. One little trick that I've found is that if you are having a hard time getting the needle through the hole, back it up a little bit and rotate it 90 degrees and try again. That re-orients the thread in relation to the hole and will often let you pull through by hand. If you do need to use pliers, as zuludog mentioned, be careful as they can nick up the needles. Smooth jaw pliers help with that tremendously, and can be found online pretty inexpensively (< $10.00 US ) as smooth jaw jewelers pliers. If you're using the smooth jaw pliers, it's best to go straight onto the needle rather than from the side. CaptQuirk .. Yeah sharp pointy things through your foot is no fun at all. Don't be afraid to modify your awl by flattening a side! Not only does it keep it from rolling off the table and through your foot, but the flattened side will help you keep the awl oriented in your hand so that you know by feel what you're doing! Hope that helps Bill

A few years ago I bought several hundred dollars of train tickets in Italy, and a bunch of stuff in World of Warcraft. Too bad I don't even have a passport or play WoW.