YinTx

Received the thread, promptly. As described. Thank you kindly! YinTx

I have moved my available thread to an Etsy shop. You can see it here: Thread on Etsy. This is what you will find there: Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 332: Beige,Ecru, Orange, Red, Light Blue, Yellow Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 532: Orange, Havanna, Beige, Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 132: Beige Coats Barbour, 35/3 Black, 25/3 Brown, 18/3 Whitey White Ritza Tiger Braided Waxed Polyester: 0.6mm: Cream, Purple, Orange, Havanna Cigar 0.8mm: Orange, Cream, Black, Beige 1.0MM: Bishop (like a light purple) 1.4MM: Yellow YinTx

I have moved the thread to an Etsy shop, you can access it here: Tiger, Coats and Barbour, Campbell Satin Linen Threads. I have lowered the shipping, and there are sample cards available there as well. Thank you all for your interest! YinTx

I am going to make a wild guess, glue only? Did you use a specific tool to cut the slots, or just use a hole punch followed with knife between holes? Thanks in advance for the info! YinTx

JayJay, Can you share with us how you line the card pockets to retain the cards so they don't fall down into the wallet? I am trying to make an interior similar to this, without stitching across the wallet pockets. Thank you kindly! YinTx

Chriscraft, Unbelievable work. Your stitching is pretty nice too, and really adds to the piece. And can you tell us where you got your Hermann Oak labels? YinTx

Ok, I completely agree with this idea. Question is, how do we make it happen? who do we need to request a separate forum from? YinTx

Just an update, I have additional thread available for sale. I am willing to negotiate on quantities, regardless of color/size/type combinations! Here is what I have with prices, photos at the end: Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 332: Beige, $8/25 yds Ecru, $8/25 yds Orange, $10/25 yds Red, $10/25 yds Light Blue, $10/25 yds Yellow, $8/25 yds Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 532: Orange, $6/25 yds Havanna, $6/25 yds Beige, $6/25 yds Campbell’s Satin Linen Thread Size 132: Beige $12/25 yds Coats Barbour, all $5/25 yds 35/3 Black 25/3 Brown 18/3 Whitey White Ritza Tiger Braided Waxed Polyester: 0.6mm: Cream, Purple, Orange, Havanna Cigar $6/25 yds 0.8mm: Orange, Cream, Black, Beige $6/25 yds 1.0MM: Bishop (like a light purple) $6/25 yds 1.4MM: Yellow $5/25 yds Happy Stitching! YinTx

Art, My mistake, thought I would be courteous and let someone fix their own error. I will use PM and reporting in the future. You can delete my previous post if necessary to maintain thread continuity. Back on topic, I really liked the guitar strap that you made, Colt, very unique and something I haven't seen before! I have a lot of pieces of ostrich, so I may borrow your idea and do things like you did on the strap pad! YinTx

Ok, this is the first time I've seen someone hijack a thread for advertising purposes only. I would think the best place to put comments like this is in your own thread in the marketplace: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showforum=78. Others may be less inclined to be insulted, and more inclined to visit your web page and purchase something. just my .02, intended to be helpful. YinTx

So before I purchased my stitching irons and hand stitching thread, I searched around for comparisons of the different threads and irons and how they looked side by side. I watched all the Armitage videos, but did not see all the different samples side by side to actually make a comparison. I have seen one or two comparisons of different brands of threads, but nothing that allowed apples to apples and apples to oranges looks. So, I made a card that compared 7 different stitching irons, all around 7 SPI, some 4MM, and using 3 different sizes of linen thread (Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread), and 1 Ritza Tiger thread 0.6mm for comparison. The 0.6mm Ritza and 7SPI seem to be a common combination, and linens are fairly common too, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If someone wants to see a particular combination, with a different type of thread or SPI, let me know and I'll see what I can do. It was interesting to me to see how different the marks were, yet how subtle the differences were in the actual pattern of the stitch. I am not a master stitcher yet, so some of the differences are no doubt due to my inconsistencies, but I think it is somewhat clear which irons do and don't work with which threads. The 132 thread is some pretty heavy stuff, but I enjoyed working with it and really liked how it came out on some of the rows. I still need some practice to get the back of my 532 stitching to be more even, but some of it is passable, I think. I hope this comparison is useful to someone out there. The various irons used on each row, top to bottom: Old Joseph Dixon 7SPI Abbey England EconoStitch 7SPI CS Osborne 609-7 7SPI European Style Stitching Iron from Ebay 4MM Kyoshin Elle 3.5MM Ebay stitching iron 3.85MM (about 7SPI) Ebay Stitching Punch 4MM Thread used from Left to right when viewed from the top of the stitch: Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 532, beige Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 332, beige Campbell's Satin Laid Linen Thread 132, beige Ritza Tiger 0.6MM braided polyester thread, Cream Front side and back side images before tapping down with a hammer, and after. Images of the marks made by the tools. Images of the tools. Gallery with higher resolution images here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2727 YinTx

I just picked up a bunch of Cambell's Satin Laid Linen thread, in a variety of colors and weights. To me, it seems slightly better than Barbours, and not quite as tightly wound as Fil Au Chinois. But this is pretty subjective, I don't have information in front of me like tensile strength, etc. I like each of them, and will use them depending on the item I am making. I have stitched with Tiger also, and it is a different animal than Linen. Tiger does not have any thread smaller than 0.6mm that I know of, and most of the linens I have seen do not get into the larger diameters like the Tiger thread does. I like having the variety available to suit whichever item I am making, and thread, although expensive, is not the most expensive part of your project. However, done well or poorly it can make or break a project, in my humble opinion. To answer your questions on lengths, it really depends on the weight (diameter) of the thread. Most of the 50 gram linen spools seem to have about 250 meters of thread on them. YinTx

splitrail, I had a similar experience lately here in South Texas with the Barge contact cement. It has been working great, and then recently in the heat and humidity, it seemed to falter. I was able to separate the two pieces, where I would not have been able to recently. I thought maybe it had to do with the age of the can, so I opened a new can, it had the same problem. In fact, when I was sanding the edges, I was able to pull the cement out from between the layers after they had been hammered together, like a rubber band. I reapplied a different glue to bond the pieces together before finishing. It was clear that the cement had not bonded to the leather fibers at all, since it came out with no fibers attached. This was after letting the cement set for about 30 minutes to be slightly tacky to dry to the touch prior to putting the pieces together. I am really inclined to believe with this experience that heat and humidity had something to do with it, but I don't see the chemistry that supports my experience. YinTx

I've just built an excel spreadsheet to do the work. Not the best, I've used real MRO programs such as SAP and Maximo for materials purchasing, warehouse inventory and usage, so I know what it can look like, but for someone small like me, I can't justify spending much $$ on a new program. I think some have used Quicken and other programs, but I don't know how well it works. I am very interested in knowing what others do as well. YinTx

I think for comparisons, everyone would have to comment on speed based on technique (punch through with chisel, awl, dremel?), leather thickness/layers, type of leather (oiled? chrome tanned? veg tanned?) size and type of thread, and complexity of stitch pattern (straight line? curves? using a nice pony or horse or holding it in your lap? Care what the stitch looks like in the end? etc.) I too would like to know how my stitching speed compares, but so many variables that it is almost impossible to compare. Unless everyone was willing to make a two layer belt 44" long out of 3 to 4 oz veg tanned leather, using a 7 stitch/inch pricking iron with an awl (stitch marking included in the time), 18/3 linen thread, and a stitching horse, then post beginning and end times with inches/hour calculated, and the end result photographed and posted, both front and backside of stitches displayed. And maybe some other variables I didn't consider in there... just sayin. My stitching has varied from 8"/hour to 24"/hour depending on all these variables. YinTx Just thought to myself: Maybe this would make a good "Keep making stuff Challenge" for June.... we could draw in a lot of comparisons then! YinTx

Cool idea on the lacing for the mason jar coozie! I can see using that here in S. Texas on a hot sweltering day for a nice cold sweet iced tea... YinTx

Very clean looking, and great stitching! I hope they sell well for you. YinTx

Looks like you have a tremendous amount of hours in this one. I've never tooled, so can't be a judge, but I really like the way it came out. YinTx

Made a significant amount of progress yesterday. Still need to finish edging, and made plenty of errors, so pretty much a practice prototype. Stitching on suede I have discovered is difficult, as well as soft chrome tan leather (the pink material). Small stuff, like the stitched chocolate dyed tabs, really highlight inconsistencies. I am wondering, since I used the same thread throughout, and the veg tanned section looks larger than the chrome tanned section, if I should have used different sized threads to try to make it look the same? Images here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2624 YinTx

Absolutely stunning, I am in awe. Keep on tappin, your work is incredible. Thanks for sharing it! YinTx

Thank you, DoubleC! YinTx

Making a tiny bit of progress... http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=29046 YinTx

I wanted to practice hand stitching with my new tools, so I made a guitar strap. It is lined and has about 11 feet of stitching, so plenty of practice! It is the first guitar strap I have made, so please let me know what you think. I still have to put the slots on each end... More photos here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2687 YinTx

Is that crocodile or Caimen Alligator? I have some Caimen, and I am trying to figure out how to finish it, it has a very dull look like a veg tanned leather. How did you finish yours? Thanks, YinTx

Thanks for the business, Pit! YinTx