TwinOaks
-
Content Count
4,513 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by TwinOaks
-
-
If you have a bike shop nearby, by all means.....GET A PATCH MACHINE. There's a little place in Mobile that opened up right next to a bike shop, and half of their business is walk-in, sew-on customers.
-
In previous challenges, there was initially mass confusion, a groundswell of ' can I join in?' questions, and the decisions of what to make
were SWAGs. There was a lot more enthusiasm than planning (my bad!) for the long term 'lesson plan', so your decision to use Tom's patterns is a good one. It will keep participants on the same page.
The challenges I started were more oriented to learn the tools, than to do projects, so end results were often drastically varied.
For 'difficulty levels' I think it'd still be better to just have one project/month depending on difficulty. The lessons start at one point and build skills. If it's something simple (change purse) then have two options; something complicated (purse) then only that pattern. That was one of my challenge failures- too much variety to stay focused on the tool. My vote is as you said- easy to hard. Old hands can use the opportunity to show what experience has taught them, and then be the 'teacher's assistant' during Q&A.
Be prepared for a drop off in participation, as some folks will get their feelings hurt others will just 'run out of time'. A rank beginner won't produce the same quality as someone with 20+ yrs experience, so limit/discourage 'ringers' from showing off (too much). Beginners may be intimidated into not participating if 'competing' with a pro or semi-pro. This is where 'winner chooses' can go wrong- if the same person 'wins' consistently, then the plan for the challenge gets altered.
Thanks for taking the lead on this, I feel it's one of the best ways to help our member base.
-
I've done consignment a good bit, and 20% isn't unheard of. In my case, the store owner was also pimping out my leather and effectively using 'stock' as the hook for 'custom' orders. Yes, he got 20% of that too, but he did all the marketing, customer relations, sales, etc. If YOU have someone looking to sell through your store, I'd suggest having a minimum per month that they pay you. YOU are keeping up with inventory, overhead, utilities, AND are probably going to pay city taxes on the amount of shelf/rack space you have. You also need to do some research on consignment contracts, and when you accept something.....TAKE PICTURES and preferably have the seller sign off on them. That (hopefully)protects you from someone accusing you of damaging their goods. You should either have an escape/no-fault clause, or insurance to cover the items if they DO get damaged. That's what the 'minimum' is for. Require that the seller (if local) tends to their merchandise at least twice a month, evenly spaced. If they're high volume, more frequently. If they're high price (saddles, framed art, jewelry, etc.) watch them like a hawk. They don't get to take anything from the store without a record that YOU keep. (avoiding the "hey, where's my money for the XXXXX I put in here for you to sell (but forgot that I took it home)" type of people)
You might also offer a 'discount' if people are driving business your way with their websites. For example: "John Maker" has a website that includes the statement "products may also be seen at [[name of your store]]" A few points of your % would be worth the advertising...IF the site is actually getting customers in the door.
Contact the local radio station (whatever is popular) and inquire about ad pricing and placement (the time slot your ad airs).
Make up some "free samples" to distribute at other businesses (leather pen cups, etc.) [ a 'change tray' takes a square of leather and 4 snap sets], and include some business cards or contact info. NOTHING drives sales like jealousy and 'Keeping up with the Jones', so consider some 'freebies' for the 'popular' people....you can call it a bonus gift and hand out a braided bracelet.
-
I do it a slightly different way than above - I lay out the general pattern on flat leather, but I first sandwich the revolver between two pieces of dry leather, pinch it together at the trigger guard and top strap (hold with spring clamps, clothes pins, etc.) and mark the leather where it meets. Then, when un-clamped, just measure the distance between marks. That's the size that the opening needs to be when you lay out your stitch lines. If you need to err, do it on the small side and just wet the leather well then stretch it where the cylinder is.
-
For your reading pleasure, Bob Park's tutorial on casing leather: click here
-
Do you want to apply a schedule to the projects? Such as:
"Pattern posted by the 5th of the month, all competing entries completed by the 20th, and voting/judging by the end of the month?"
I'm not trying to take over your challenges, but merely trying to provide some insight from previous iterations. I would also suggest that there be a 'window' for Q&A in case anyone participating doesn't understand part of the construction methods.
If I can help out on these, let me know - here or PM, and I'll be happy to do so.
-
I think most folks are recovering from Christmas.....Give it a week or three, and bump it back to the top?
-
In most cases, you'll find that bags and garments use Chrome tanned leather. It's a different process, and can yield much softer leathers than vegtan. It also does NOT finish the same.
Yes, it can be bonded/glued to vegtan, but it will not burnish like vegtan edges will. That is one of the reasons you'll see most bags sporting some flavor of edge coating.
-
Here's what I see that **might** improve the aesthetics: The stitch line under the muzzle has an odd angle- it should be parallel to the stitch line for the top of the revolver....&....personally, I think an open muzzle is better because any lint/dirt/etc. that happens to get into the holster can fall through.
Other than that, I think it'd look better sitting on MY table. Very nice job on the coloring and stitching.
-
There are a two major things that can cause that - The wrong type of leather, or wrong amount of water. If you are using Vegetable tanned (veg-tan) leather, then the first is eliminated. If it's Chrome tanned (or a derivative of), or harness leather that's been hot stuffed, it won't hold the stamps like veg-tan. If you're leather is too wet, the impressions will fade out quickly. If it's too dry, the impressions will barely be noticeable to begin with. Also, if the stamping is flex a lot while it's still damp, that could wreck the impressions.
-
you DID read the size listed in the description, right??? that's the baby version
-
It looks like a new take on a pretty common type of machine. For rivet presses, I don't think it makes much difference, but for snaps, it's pretty important to have dies that correctly fit the snaps, etc. The other thing to look at is how much depth there is behind the setter head. ...aka, how much throat the machine has. For straps and such, it wouldn't really matter, but for things like purses it may be somewhat limiting.
-
Here is a tutorial from one of our late members, David Cole, aka DCKnives...RIP.
Click the link, then click "Knife Info", then "Inlay Tutorial"
-
For the simple molding of leather, you could try the cuir bouilli method....which is 'wet forming'. The idea behind heating the leather is to speed up the drying and 'heat set' the collagen in the hide. I use a toaster oven set at 150, but with the door left open a little bit. Starting from 'cold', I set it for 10 min and start checking it at 6. If it's getting too hot to touch, it's time to pull the leather from the heat.
Another method you could use is to shape the leather as above, then coat the leather with a combination of melted wax and oil. When the leather and wax blend are hot, the leather will soak up the blend quite readily. Then when it cools, it will have a very hard hand and be very water resistant. This is often seen in traditional styled Puuko sheathes made from leather (as opposed to the fiber board they also use), and in some leather tankards, bottles, etc.
-
Welcome to the best site on the internet. If you don't mind, sharing, what part of the state are you in? I'm in process of moving from Mobile up to Huntsville, and have been looking for other members in the area. I recently found the Alabama Leather Guild, which has meetings in Trussville (just outside of B'ham). There's been a few other members from our state join up recently, too, and I'm trying to
scope out the competitionsee if there's anyone one around so we can compare notes, techniques, etc. -
I'm in. I tried to keep up some monthly challenges about 2 years ago, then life kicked me where it hurts..... I haven't been doing much leather work SINCE then, so it's fitting that I pick up leather challenges as I start living again....
or....
In response to the "challenge" aspect.......Bring it!
-
Now, I don't know everything, and no offence meant, but if you don't even know the correct name for dies, describing them as cookie cutters, and you don't know what sort of machine you want, I suggest you are not ready for that step, and need to do more homework & get more experience.
This.
Something you may want to try is to use some "Hammer Dies". They are essentially the same as Clicker Dies, except built a little beefier, and you use a hammer to make them cut through your leather.
Between this and your post on sewing machines, it appears that you are 'chomping at the bit' to do leather work. While I'm glad to see such enthusiasm for our craft, be careful. It's quite easy to have several thousand dollars tied up in machines. You need to realize that unless you have a full shop with employees, that typically only ONE machine is going to be making money at any one time. That means your amortization of cost will be spread out over even MORE time. To give you a real life example: A few years back I purchased a used Tippmann Boss for $900 (financed). Once I had it, I had to learn to use it - which was two or three days spread out over a week....just to get to the point of "proficient". Next a part of each item had to go to cover the cost of the machine. I was selling goods through a friend's store, and rolled my "profits" back into the machine. I paid off the PRICE in 3 months, but I didn't recover the actual COST of the machine until close to 6 months after that.....at the same production rate!. When your products have to pay for themselves (as in buying more leather to replace what you used), and still stay competitive.....there isn't all that much to put into anything else. So keep learning and practicing, developing patterns, do more learning, ask lots of questions, and make full use of the fact that this website is the single largest compendium of leather knowledge on the planet.....it's interactive and the members happily will help you.
Advice is someone telling you "don't touch that, it's hot". Experience is touching it anyway and getting burned. Wisdom is seeing the blisters on someone's fingers and deciding not to touch the hot item.
We, the members of this forum, are offering all 3.
-
Sewing machines shouldn't leave marks in leather except the stitches. If your friend's machine is doing that, then it is not properly adjusted (presser foot tension), or not properly set up (aggressive feet and dogs). And I've never seen a machine that couldn't sew a straight line....unless you're talking about a zig-zag machine. The machine isn't set up correctly, or maybe it's not a leather sewing machine. Or it's operator error, plain and simple. I don't mean to insult your friend, just provide some thoughts.
I suggest doing some searches here on the forum for hand sewing examples by "Katsass". 100% hand sewn work, using saddle stitching methods with waxed thread and two needles. You'll see plenty of stitching that's 'as good', but very little that's done better.
As far as the question "can a machine sew like hand stitching?" the short answer is NO. Sewing machines use a lock stitch or chain stitch, hand sewing typically uses a saddle stitch. The thread path is completely different, and not interchangeable. With that said, some sewing machines CAN and DO produce excellent quality stitching that is consistently tensioned, evenly spaced, and looks good. The best looking machine stitching is done by needle and awl machines, but those are not as common as they once were. Still around, just not common, as most folks use a rotary hook machine these days.
-
My concern with double threading is since there's only one set of tensioners...how do you assure that both threads are evenly tensioned? I can see it being quite possible for one thread to slide past the other, and leave you with loose stitches or worse...a birdnest in the hook case.
-
I was just wondering if you guys could help me come up with the price range for making things such as wallets or belts.
The price range will depend on just how far you want to go. Knowing how addictive leather working is....the short answer to "how much $" is: All you can spend, and then some.
Some of the questions' answers can be found in this thread: click here That topic was addressing holster making specifically, but it's the same tools, and it's what'll get you started.
I also completely agree with the following statement: "... soon it will take over your house." -Roq
-
Look at the positive side of all this.....by the time you're done, you'll know this machine inside and out.
-
Welcome to the best site on the 'net!
-
It's going to depend on the jeans' manufacturer. Just because there is some variance between them, I make my 1.5" belts an actual measurement of 1 3/8ths".
-
You might also check here. Brettun's Village offers a wide variety of punches, individually and sets. The page linked doesn't show the oblong or 'bag punch', but they do have them listed on another section of the site. I'd suggest calling and telling them what you're after.
What Machine To Sew Wallet Interiors
in Leather Sewing Machines
Posted · Report reply
If it's JUST wallet interiors, you could get by with a Singer 111 (or variant/clone). You should be able to find those from $200 for just the head, maybe $400-500 on a table.
If there's a chance that you'll eventually do more with the machine, plan for something like a Consew 205/6, Juki 1541/lu562/lu563, Adler 67...and the price ranges anywhere from $500-$2000. Those machines have more clearance, and can handle larger threads.
You might even look at going with a cylinder arm medium duty machine, and add a flatbed.