venator

Has anyone ever used a router on a horizontal mount to skive their leather?

So we've moved into the new place in Toronto. So when you're ready to send it back let me know and ill fire you the cost and new address.

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth regarding this, I've been a bit overwhelmed by the rest of my life lately. Thanks again for the work you're putting in on this, it looks like you've made some great progress and your help is still very much appreciated on it. Also my offer of a free custom shirt for all your help still stands. . . How's the progress now?

What thickness of leather do you use? How do you finish it so it can handle things like rain? A friend of mine wants me to tool a seat for him and I've never done one so I'm curious. Thanks

I agree with you, in purchasing a used machine I did not expect to receive a new machine. However the machine was not only sold as used but advertised as "reconditioned", in my mind this was not a reconditioned machine. When I purchase something as reconditioned I am under the impression that it has been cleaned effectively (clearly this has not due to the corrosion etc) that all parts of it work properly including such items as the lubrication system (clearly not the case) that all parts are correct for the machine (clearly not since at least one part required mechanical modification such as grinding). While the machine did work when we received it we put less than 5 hours of very very light use on it before we started to have problems, it received less use than I would expect one of Eric's machines to receive in less than 30 minutes of run time before it started to act up. While I would have no problem if a part had broken, it is used after all and such things cannot be predicted, I have issue with a machine that falls so badly out of alignment that it requires quite a few hours of labour from a skilled mechanic to get it working again. I also take issue with a machine being sold as reconditioned that does not have a functioning lubrication system, or the correct parts. If I was paying for these repairs I'm sure it would cost me less to simply sell the machine as scrap and purchase a brand new machine in it's place and that is what I find totally unacceptable about the entire situation. Had I purchased from an individual I would simply say "Caveat emptor" and move on but since this is supposedly a respected retailer that specializes in such things I feel there is a higher standard expected, one they clearly have not met.

So a friend of mine asked if I could re-cover his motorcycle seat and maybe tool a skull onto it and I've got some questions. 1) What weight leather would you recommend? 2) What sort of sealant would you recommend once I'm done? Any other tips? Stuart

Oh I'm tuned. . .

In defense of the first fellow to work on my machine (Derrick at Massey's sewing) he turned it back over to me after a few hours and told me he couldn't fix it, he also didn't charge me so I'm fine with that. While I wasn't thrilled he couldn't fix it I'm fine with a man who knows his limits and didn't charge me to discover them. Central Sewing on the other hand told me to put $500 down so they could diagnose my machine and see if they could fix it or not. Either way i lose the $500 and perhaps get a machine back that still doesn't work. I was less than thrilled with them.

Thank you again so much Eric, this really is appreciated. As I said, I'm happy to provide you with a free custom shirt for your efforts on my behalf, since it's what my company does it's the least I can offer.

Thank you very much for all of this. Please ensure you let us know where you think the problems originated, myself or before I recieved it. I have no issues owning up to any mistakes I've made, I hope everyone else involved feels the same.

The first link doesn't work I'm afraid.

http://dieworkwear.com/post/98980279924/new-standards I'm looking at the green Chester Moz bag and wondering how to get edges like this?

Can the 3 in 1 skive decently thin leather? Like a stones oil from tandy down to half its original thickness?

Totally unrelated but I was on TV today. I'm also a motorcycle instructor. http://globalnews.ca/news/1946831/edmonton-police-urge-safety-as-motorcycle-season-revs-up/

Yup. Ups.ca at $127. Guess I ship her Monday.

Well it's official, nobody in Edmonton will fix it. Eric it looks like if I can find a reasonable price on shipping it's headed your way. Best I've found is $425 each way though so at that price Id do better to save my money for a new one. Thoughts folks on shipping?

Fire me the name of the place you got the shipping quote from and I probably will send it your way. Also I've never met a mechanic of tech that didn't charge hourly for diagnostic time even if the diagnosis was "buggered". It's not his fault if it's unfixable, why should he be paid for his professional knowledge and time investigating it?

It did which is why I was assuming initially the fault was mine. But now I've been told that there are parts missing and damaged that ive never touched, adjusted, or in many cases even seen it appears it might have been a case of hiding problems not fixing them. This may not be true, I'm taking the first techs word on it so we shall see what the next tech says. I hope nick and the crew are innocent of any wrongdoing since they were great to deal with and I'll be the first to recommend them if they are. I'm just reporting updates as I receive them.

I'd love to take him up on it but $150 both directions (or more) plus fees, brokerage,mpossibly getting dinged with customs and duty again (they shouldn't for repair but it's happened in the past) etc in the hopes it can be fixed just doesn't work well. It might well be time to cut my losses but first I'll see if there's anybody out here who thinks they can fix it.

Well I took the machine in. . .the tech cant fix it so now I'm out money and have a machine that may not be repairable. Now I'm livid at Nick-O-Sew as it looks like they sold me a damaged and unrepairable machine though we will see when I take it to another tech and drop another few hundred dollars to see if a different person can fix it. If the exchange rate was better I'd probably do better to buy a new machine from someone else it appears.

Thanks, unfortunately reading through the manual it all means nothing to me. I'm a tactile learner and don't do well trying to learn like that so I think I have to bite the bullet and pay. If I could watch him do it I'm certain I could do it myself next time but since that's not an option I'll just hope for the best. Where the heck did you get that shipping price?! I called 3 places and was told nothing less than $425. Also reading the contents I don't see anything listed as timing....

If I was able to I would but since the only hours they can come out are the same hours I work I have to have a neighbour let them in. Which also means (I asked) if they don't get the problem fixed the first time i have to pay another $500 for another visit. . .that I also won't be there for. . . and if that doesnt' do it etc etc etc until they get it right. I get the feeling this is going to cost me more than the damn machine did.

I appreciate this offer immensely but paying it locally is the difference between getting the machine back in a week and getting it back in 3 months. Shipping from Canada is absurd and will kill me both $$ and time unfortunatley. The truth is that I'm handy but if there's 10 different adjustments that need to be balanced I'm not able to do that, with a car maybe but not a sewing machine yet.

Unfortunately I can't find a service manual. I've found the owners manual which covers nothing about service or maintenance and the set up manual from the factory which might as well be gibberish. I'm sure I could handle it all if I had the knowledge but I dont so it looks like I stuck paying someone $500 or more for 10 min work. Or selling my machine for scrap Steel and spending $4k on something new. Bad options all around. I would far rather learn to do it all myself but there are no classes around here or even info on the web so im out of options

Well the tech to.d me there are 10 different timing adjustments on my machine and if I adjust the wrong one I could cause thousands in damage. I'm a very handy person (cars mostly) but I can't afford to buy a new machine because I destroyed this one so it looks like I'll have to eat the $500-$1000 I was quoted for a home visit to fix it.