alexitbe

for shoes the insoles are typically made out of 3mm thick veg tan belly.... because its cheaper leather The upper is usually chrome tanned leather of about 1.2mm thickness.... I have not heard of any professional using veg tan for uppers...

If you want to sew veg tan leather that keep the singer 45k.... It will go through anything you are likely to want to sew.... The singer 29k is a patcher machine and is really only meant for thin leather, which you would find on boots and shoes... The Allbrook is a fur sewing machine and is not much use for anything else...It produces a chainstitch which will completely unravel if the thread breaks... It does not break with fur coats or hats because the thread is protected by the fur itself and the lining... I would get rid of that if you have no intention to sew fur gloves,hats, etc.... Note that these raise quite a bit of money in Europe. Maximum 400 Euro.

I would keep the pfaff 192 since its specifically for leather and its a post bed which are not cheap to buy. You can convert it to a flat bed sewing machine by maying a simple raised table for it... However, its probably not strong enough for veg tan leather you might use for belts... However, for bags and everything else ts extremely flexible

The leather should be between 1-1.5mm thick for shoe uppers... Typically 1.2 mm is used.... There is the expression that the leather should be tight to the toe, which I believe means that the stretch on the leather should be across the shoe and not along the length of the shoe. So lay your vamp and quarters on the leather with this in mind.... However, I have seen old pictures of laying out the pieces on a hide and they haven't followed that rule.... So take that for what its worth.. Alex

Well, just giving some feedback.... I have bought two pieces of leather from Adrian, recently. One was half a skin and the other was a belly. I found the half skin to be really good quality and the belly was pretty good too. His initial postage quote was very expensive, but he was flexible enough to allow me to organize the courier and the postage dropped from 40 euros to 16 euros. So do not let the postage put you off. I am so pleased with my order, I am waiting to order again. Although it seems Christmas is a busy time for him... So I would say, that you can order with confidence from Adrian Hope that short review helps other people make their decision Alex

Thank you very much... I am trying to make shoes too and it would be nice to be able to do simple broguing Your shoes look like they are coming along nicely... I am folling this thread with interest. Cheers alex

Hi HaloJones, Can you give a link to where you bought the brogueing tool? It looks quite a useful tool... I bet it saves lots of time Thanks alex

I would say you are probably in luck... I guess they have the same hook as the pfaff 141 series of sewing machines. There should be a number on it somewhere... Please let us know and then we can probably help. Well done alex

really, I found the best place was ebay or aliexpress...

I like to have my machines on a treadle despite having servo motors... They are so easy to control for the hobbyist and dirt cheap... The patchers can still be bought with a treadle... Since our sewing with leather does not typically involve long runs of fast stitching i believe there is little benefit with a servo motor of a treadle

Got to agree with... They rank as badly as CNN

Hi Adam, can you describe how you sharpen and what you should look out for? Its something I will have to do soon... Thanks alex

It was no problem to do, I am happy to help if I can... Its a shame that interest is so low... Thanks for the advice on the skiver. Your are right, it has not been used in a very long and I have never used one personally... It is something I will work on after I fixed my Pfaff 193-5 shoemaking machine... The skiver is for shoemaking too, but everything is taking so long to find and then repair...Oneday, I will have a workshop that works.. Enjoy what remains of the weekend. ALex

Here are measurements for a Fortuna DRP... Its very old so may not be relevent... But I think many of the skivers are based on this old model so maybe it helps

With regard to stropping the blade: do you add any polishing compound to the leather or is the leather enough...? If I were stropping a skiving knife I would use sole veg ant leather to strop on... Would you use 2mm veg tan here or a chrome leather? Thanks Alex