TwinOaks

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 here for tutorial 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 competition see 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!

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.

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.

Just stick (no pun intended) with it. It's normal to have some snags and be a little apprehensive when you first start out. If you stay with it, and keep using it, six months to a year from now, you'll plop down in front of the machine, run a test strip, adjust as needed and then sew up a few things without thinking about it. Remember when you first started driving a car? You checked every little thing; now you just get in and go. It'll be the same with your sewing machine.

I'm saying relieve the downward pressure on the walking foot. The indicator is the 'track' or indentions left by the foot. The reason the thread doesn't pull up as tightly through the grain side is that the grain side is stronger and more dense than the flesh side. This is just a tension adjustment - make an 1/8th turn (at a time) tighter on the primary tensioner to pull the knot a little higher. The right hand pic also shows 'too much pressure' on the walking foot....the leather is pushed out a little bit. That's where the pressure from the top pushed the leather down into the slot plate a little bit. Even though the marks are there you can roll or hammer them out- a light spray of water, and even pressure (rolling or modelling spoon) or light taps with a smooth faced hammer. The reason that sewing (2) 2oz pieces looks bad is that it's too thin to be sewing with that machine....in it's current settings. Most leather workers that go to a powered machine end up with at least 2, often 3 machines. This is because it's more time efficient to have one machine for thinner leathers and one for the thick stuff than it is to make all the adjustments to have one machine sewing everything. [all you Adler owners can just hush] It's fairly easy to change needles and threads, and in many cases the thread tensions will stay relative, but you still need to adjust foot pressures, foot lift height, stitch length, etc. Not a LOT of adjustments, mind you, but some - think of it as 'fine tuning' the machine to the project. If you sew the majority of things in the same thickness range you can find a happy medium...but getting out of that range means adjustment. In the example above, your machine is barely pulling the stitches inside of piece of 8oz leather. You'd need to increase tension to lift the thread to ~1/8th" to be in the center of the two pieces...with 2oz leather, you're 'target zone' is 1/32nd...and in that size you're talking about a 'target zone' of 2 or 3 thread thicknesses. This is why most of the time, lighter leather is sewn with smaller thread. It also just looks better. Make a mark on the thread tensioner nuts so that you have an index point....then start playing with scraps. You may be surprised to see how much difference a 1/4 or even 1/8th turn on the tension nut makes. Incidentally.....try sewing some 2 oz stuff with the way it's sitting - it might work well considering how low the knot is. Now, record the settings on a little note pad....ex. 8oz total thicknes... Tensioner 1 - 3 threads showing, index at 11:00, T2 3 threads showing index at 9:00. Do that with a couple of different ranges and you'll have your starting points. And if you can, always sew a test strip first, so you can make any fine adjustments to that specific thickness.

Be wary of Aluminum DUST as you're grinding/sanding/filing it.

Well, YES, there is something wrong there: The picture seems to be tilted a little to the right. And...it looks like the center foot pressure is a little too high for that thickness. That's a simple adjustment of perhaps only 1/4 turn. Looks great, and I'm glad to see you got it sewing.

Brettun's Village has a wide selection, and 1 7/16ths IS listed on the round punches, for $60. They have a hot link for oblong/slot punches, but it goes to the round punches....probably best to call them and see what they have: Brettuns Village Leather 557 Lincoln St Lewiston, ME 04240 Phone: (207)782-7863 or toll free for orders only: 1-877-LEATHAH Fax: (207)782-7448 FAX I've only ordered from them once (rivet splasher) and true to the advertising on the page, what you see is what you pay....including shipping. I ordered, and had the rivet splasher in two days.

glad you got that sorted out. And it looks like I'm re-learning sewing machine diagnostics!

Thanks for taking time to post this.....but I'm going to recommend against the leather thicknesses listed. There are simply better choices of leather for this type of project than veg tanned leather. For the exterior panel, I could see using 2-3oz veg tan so that carving is possible, but not the interior. The interior needs to be super thin liner leather, like tooling pig skin, split kangaroo...even chrome tanned. If you look at the minimum thicknesses 4oz back, 2 oz interior, and (2) 2oz pockets, that's 10oz per side or 20oz when folded....at a minimum. 20 oz = 20/64ths..10/32nds...5/16ths of an inch. For a comparison I make double layer gun belts in the 16oz range. Remember, that's the minimum thickness. It's likely that if the leather runs on the thicker side of the size range, that this minimalist wallet will be 1/2" thick.....BEFORE adding cards. A "minimalist" wallet needs to be very thin and compact, just something to keep an ID and one or two cards together, and maybe a few bills. That is the reason you see so many 'front pocket wallets' that consist of nothing more than a pair of pockets sewn together. Small, lightweight, thin, and does only what it needs to....that's what's going to appeal to the "fast moving" customers. It IS a nice wallet pattern, though, and with some changes in material choices you'd have a excellent product.

I'm just suggesting that you have all the bases covered. If you have an arrangement that's working, then keep on doing what you're doing. Besides, if you're wholesaling to someone, you already have legal documentation in place.