bikermutt07

I was just offering another scenario, caution is always good practice on the net. P.s. you need a copy of my social?

I have seen the same shopsmith listed on Craigslist for one price and eBay for a higher price. I gather it is from eBay fees. The one I saw on eBay even mentioned his ad on Craigslist for 500 less.

That's a good tip. Thanks.

Wow, just....wow!

That is fantastic.

I am with you. My hands have bad arthritis or carpel tunnel or something. 5 minutes of that stuff is all I can handle. I dropped the idea of tooling before I ever got out of the practice stage. But if I was doing it I would treat that as another area. That is where you would have your granite top at.

Welcome aboard. Glad to have ya.

I don't have any machine experience but I am hoping to eventually obtain a cowboy cb341 which is a clone of the juki LS341, if I'm not mistaken. Retailers have confirmed the cb341 running up to 207 thread on top and bottom with a knee lift of ⅝" and using a very large bobbin. I think that combination with a class 4 would allow a person a lot of range. But again, all I know I have only read.

That is really nice.

It is probably more of a production decision. On a large scale smaller pieces bring better yield from multiple hides.

I use some black River templates. They are great.

I see.

That looks great. Do you have good luck with the steps you mention about the Aussie? I usually just apply a thin coat and let it rest a day, then buff it.

That is cool.

Wow, thanks guys. I just want everyone to have fun here. I got a lot of encouragement and help from people here when I started. I'm just trying to give some back. I think it's the responsibility of us intermediates to handle the heavy load of the easy questions. That way our experts can focus on helping the intermediates with the tougher more evolved scenarios like complicated construction, sewing machines, and saddlery questions. That's just the way I feel about it. I'm no expert at any one thing, but I'm pretty good at a lot of different stuff. Sadly, most of that isn't leather related. But luckily I'm good enough at enough other things to not go hungry. Sleep? Who needs sleep?

But wallets aren't exactly a small item. I usually suggest key fobs or bracelets. It's more of an exercise. One at a time you don't get enough practice with each step. You may only get 20 minutes of burnishing, 10 minutes of dying, one or two snaps set, etc. etc. This kept me developing at a very slow rate the first year. It also lent itself to me forgetting steps and or order. But, I can see your point. Perhaps I should amend the quote for clarity.

Good job.

Yeah, I was just saying what it looked like from my end. I had read your whole post. Actually, I would say the inside looks like chocolate from here. Monitors are all different.

I keep hearing "finally" in there.

I would think for sure you would want a separate dying\finish station. Have it all by itself. A good pattern making\cutting area And assembly. So 3 stations could do it? Maybe a tooling section? I'm just guessing.

Looks a nice dark brown from my cell phone. Looks really good. I couldn't imagine riding down the road with everything that would fit in there (my back would be killing me).

Welcome aboard, Bill. Enjoy this tidbit... "Start in small batches of the same small item. This will give you great yield from your leather while you develop all the techniques. It will give you more time to practice each step. Plus if you botch a few you can keep progressing without starting over." (Anyone else can feel free to copy and paste this to share with other newcomers. It wasn't my idea)

Ha! I don't think they would like that, Mike.

Take this one to heart...... "Start in small batches of the same small item. This will give you great yield from your leather while you develop all the techniques. It will give you more time to practice each step. Plus if you botch a few you can keep progressing without starting over."

Yeah, may as well give it a shot, now that I've mastered the internet.