HarryB

Old computer saying: garbage in, garbage out. Also, old friend explained it this way: you can't make chicken salad out of chicken s**t no matter how much salt and pepper you put in, how much mayo or pickles, its still chicken s**t! I've been to shows where individuals have shown all the tools they have made because they didn't have access to production tools. The time wasted in finding the parts and making some make-shift inferior quality tool could have been better spent walking to their nearest Tandy Leather Factory and buy what they needed. I realize that everyone doesn't have the bank account to afford a lot of expensive tools (me included!) but I will buy fewer better tools than spend my money on inferior tools. When I started leather work, not much besides Craftools were available, but, they were a lot better quality than what is available now. They used to be individually HAND ground and finished and made a very good impression. Over the years, well, you know the rest of the story (thank you, China). Also, we now have numerous tool makers that make it better for us from a variety and quality standpoint but you have to pay for what you get. Thanks to all you tool makers. You are filling a void that has needed filling for a long time.

Buy the 31-15! Then you can buy my 7-34 . Seriously, both are great machines for their respective purposes. I had an extention presser foot lifter put on my 7-34 years ago and it will EASILY sew through 1" thickness leather or leather/felt combo. It works great; i just don't have any use for it any more. It is for sale if anyone is interested. Only problem: you would have to come to Memphis to get it. I'm afraid shipping would be outragous. It weighs a ton (or there abouts)

Wow! I wrote Harper Mfg. about a stamp and got a reply on 6-23 from "Harper old" (?) It was a very smart assed answer that I didn't expect because I, too have about three Harper stamps already. So, now who do we get stamps from that are made like Harper's ? I like the round handle and the stamps I have are excellent but, snub one of us and you snub all of us!

I believe Lee Valley - Veritas carries a pair of specialty pliers that hold screws and nuts from the tip instead of the side. Great for holding while grinding. One way you can tell where your hardware is made: American made will usually be 8-32 threads and "foreign" made will usually be 5 mm I believe. Depending on the application, they are close enough to the same size that you can force a 8-32 bolt into the female side of the Chicago screw.

Hey Pounder, glancing through the posts I didn't see anything about what kind of presser foot or bottom plate you are using. When I switch to my stirrup plate on my Adler, I have to crank the top tension way up because the feeder foot on the bottom is disengaged. Don't know what the type lining leather would have to do with it. My White thread would knot up on me and skip stitches. I switched to a needle sizee one larger and it solved that problem. Maybe this will help.

I have built counter tops for several years and I wouldn't want to use Formica or other laminates for a cutting surface. Once you cut on Formica, the surface gets scored and will cause your knife to wander when trying to cut your leather. However, laminate scraps make excellent layout patterns. Not too hard to make and don't change sizes after you've traced around them several times.

Nope, never work: waaaaaay too clean. (Great looking shop!)

Most likely the snap is a little low. Sometimes, the leather is not stiff enough and gives a little too much. I'm sure there are other reasons but those are the most common.

Weaver is good and I use Wickett & Craig. I prefer the dry, veg tanned latigo. But that's just me.

After MANY shows, I think the most important advice is to make it look "professional" and finished. Don't let your display look like a flea market table. Make displays that layer your products instead of piling them all on a table. Hand your belts, purses with shoulder straps and other long items. AND, don't forget security! Even at the best of shows, things WILL walk off. Have a great show. Additional note: just read another posting about shows and it jogged my mind. Its a pain to take a lot of tools and such, but I always take a small tooling surface, a few stamps, a little dye, lots of scraps and some finish. The pounding of just stamping a name on a bracelet will get a crowd up. Then you can dazzle them with some fancy swivel knife cuts and hand to the kids. Giving a kid a free scrap with some fancy cuts on it has sold many other items to the parents. I also finish all my belt tips in the shop and let the sizes run long. I cut the buckle end for the customer after I have fitted them for the proper size. Let the watch this being done and they feel like they have purchased a "custom made" belt just for them (which they have) AND, BE SURE YOUR NAME IS ON EVERYTHING YOU SELL.

Singer Manufacturing Company, but close enough.

This time I agree with the "ranters". The price you paid was for research; not for use. I also agree with you: the price is way too high and the quality looks like it really sucks. For that kind of money, all the edges should have been slick and a lot more attention to detail. Just my picky 2 cents worth.

Wow, that's a new one on me. Never seen veg tan do anything like that before. Has to be in the basic tanning process. Looks like they began to stuff it and changed their mind. Are those scratches on the leather also? Simple solution: use a different piece of leather for now and take that piece back!

Hey, UK, Practice, Practice, Practice. No, really; the edge guide will help tremendously regardless of how much you practice. Go ahead and get one. A little off topic, but I realized when I read your post what I don't like about the servo motors: they are silent! My mother was a tailor and sat at her loyal old Singer 31-15 machine for 10 - 12 hours a day. I'm sure I heard the whir and purr of the motor even before I was born. Thing is now some almost 60 years later, I'm still sewing on that same machine. I think the whir of the motor is probably calming when I screw something up! Good luck with your stitch guide.

As with other things: the harder the surface, the better. Plastic will bounce around too much and be too noisy. If I need a small portion of a craftaid, I will use painter's tape on the portion I do not want to imprint on the leather. Hope this helps.

You know all you have to do is ask! Think I have the one you need and you are welcome to use it any time you want.

Same as Skip; bad batch from Hidecrafters some time back. George was good about replacing the bent tools, but......

Just a few examples of recent sheaths. As you can tell, its kinda up to you how they are made.

Pretty simple; used to be Brown's Leathers and when I started concentrating on holsters, primarily for law enforcement, I changed it to Silhouette Leathers for the silhouette targets used by the popo and it stuck. I also used High Country Custom when I did most of the custom work for High Country Cowboy Company. Now its mostly "H. R. Brown ~ Maker"

Have played the pinanner since I was 5 (yes, they had pianos that long ago) and played trombone in high school band and keyboards in "garage bands" during high school. Now I mostly play the stereo.

Two suggestions: #1, cement your padding in place, line the entire piece and lace around the border. #2: Place the lining on the back of the sling facing the bottom, buckstitch the lining to the sling, fold the lining over the padding and lace from one side to the other. Either way, you need to lace around your top swivel tab. Make sure you allow for the width of the lace around the tab. Hate for you to spend that much time on a project and then it won't fit through the swivel! Good luck.

If you get one ticket here, the state doesn't take your license. If you get a second ticket before you go to court on the first ticket, no one knows about it. When you go to court you are fined and your license are still good unless you have racked up too many points. IF your license are taken, it normally takes several weeks to get them back through the state. If it hasn't been a very long time between the first ticket and him having a "valid" license, they probably aren't. I would check to see if his current license is his old license that was returned to him or if it is a new one that has been "re-issued". If re-issued, probably fake. Let him walk for a while and he will appreciate his driving privilege a little more (maybe). How old is he?

Won't be long before we'll be saying "I'll trade you a handmade leather belt for two rolls of toilet paper and a pound of coffee"! Its been said before: I'll keep my folding money and they can keep their 'change"! We're still the greatest nation on earth but for how long? :soapbox:

God's speed, Jordan. Keep a positive attitude and keep your leather tools handy. They are a great stress reliever. (And don't forget where we are!!!)

Ditto on the other comments. The secret to a smooth background is use the largest tool in the smallest space. And make your designs to have a minimum of background.