YinTx

I guess the main part I was wondering about was the fact that the pricking irons in the photos from my post are made in China, and appear to be an exact replica of the Blanchards, minus the branding mark. I think they are claiming theirs will not rust as the Blanchards do. Thought perhaps this was the source/manufacturer for the Kyoshin Elle irons, as I got to this (Chinese) web page by following links on GoodsJapan's web site. YinTx

I am looking for some used European style pricking irons, 7 stitches/inch and 10 stitches per inch, not too particular on which, and would consider other sizes if the price is right. If you are looking for other tools or leather, perhaps we could work a trade. (I have caimen, ostrich pieces, veg tan, chrome tan, many tools) PM me if you have some you would like to be rid of! YinTx

Dhaverstick, I can see you put a lot of thought and design into this. Very unique, and a lot of detailed work. I do wonder if it is useable in terms of having the bowstring hang up on any elevated details? I look forward to seeing what else you create! YinTx

Now those are cool. Very well done as well. Thanks for sharing! YinTx

Is this thread still available YinTx

Monica, You are right on the lining needing stitching all the way around, and as you can see if you look closely, I have already marked the lid for the stitches, but I knew I wouldn't have it done in time, so I stopped where I could. I will finish it out soon. Thank you for the positive compliment on the stitch work, I have been really focusing on trying to improve it. I have a long way to go to reach any level of perfection, but I am happy with the progress I have made in two months since I started. And CharlieZ, nice work on the tooling! I also liked the color combination that rundogdave did. YinTx

I'll take the awl.. YinTx

In a word, Yin Been Stitchin! I did not follow the original design, since I started this in December when I picked up a piece of leather and started cutting and dying it for the first time. I could not find something that I liked for myself, so I designed each piece of this on my own from the get go. I have had to learn a lot of things to get this bag completed, including, well, everything since I had never worked in leather before. So design, cutting, dying, treating, burnishing, folded edges, lining, wet molding, sealing, and not least of all stitching, including saddle stitching and box stitching. Did I say stitching. I think there were about 210 linear inches of stitch on this little bag: that would be 17 linear feet! Everything is done by hand, no power tools. I didn’t have a lot of good tools to do this with, just a Craftool 2.5mm stitching chisel to mark and an awl to pierce the leather. The veg tanned leather was not the best, seems I got some of Tandy’s stuff that folks were recently complaining about. And I was wishing I had better thread than the generic spool of braided I don't know what, but I waxed it and used it anyhow. I think a Barbour, Tiger, or Fil Au Chinois would have looked much nicer and been easier to deal with. But overall, the kit it is something I will use and I really like the way it came out. I hadn’t expected to end up stitching quite that much by hand, since I had originally intended to fabricate this with a stitching machine, but there it is, all by hand. The kit is a bit larger than typical, mostly because I wanted to be able to put standard sized items like shaving cream cans, hair brushes, toothpaste, etc. in there without having to resort to “travel size” items. I hope everyone enjoys it. The edges are not completed, as I would like to spend more time to make them nice, but still wanted to enter into the February challenge. I will put more photos in my gallery as I get them uploaded. Items used: Veg tan leather pigskin liner Dye vegetable oil D-Rings O-Ring Button Studs Resolene Round Knife Ruler/straight edge glue brush needles thread beeswax awl Craftool 2.5mm stitching chisel scratch awl Hole punch edge beveler burnishing stick pliers Wet form: Wood Saw Screws Screwdriver small hammer contact cement sand paper Stitching pony YinTx

Hah, I hope you don't mean me, I don't want to be barred! And I've looked at your works, Monica, and have been in awe. You definitely have skill and a great style, should have no fear of my work, lol. YinTx

Bound and determined to finish this thing. Lots of stitching to do tomorrow though! Hopefully I will get to finish the edges by then too, if not I'll enter as is. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&album=2474 I picked this hobby up last weeks of December, so this has all been learned in the two months since then, and almost entirely using Leatherworker.net. Handstitching still has a bit to improve, but significantly better than day 1. Looking forward to putting up images of it completed sometime tomorrow! It will be one of the first projects I have ever completed - the others are on the gallery as well - cell phone slip case and a checkbook cover as I was learning. YinTx

Been working diligently on mine, but seeing it may not happen by the end of a short month. What is the deadline? YinTx

Found this on the 'net. makes one wonder. I didn't know Blanchards had that rough a finish on them. But I've never owned a set, maybe someone that has some can comment. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ja&u=http://www.leathercraft.cn//%3Fproduct-17686.html&usg=ALkJrhiul0hgBymZLW0YJCwKamSKsz2C-g YinTx

Nigel, Thanks for all the reviewing work on your videos. Very useful as I am trying to improve my stitching as you might note from my other postings, and all I currently have is a Craftool 2.5mm with 6 tines and a 1 tine (agree with you, one tine is pretty useless, not to mention it makes an entirely different sized mark/hole despite the size marking). I noted on Goods Japan's web page, that the Kyoshin Elle irons are "made for Kyoshin Elle." This sounds to me like made by someone else, somewhere else, and sold by Goods Japan with Kyoshin Elle's name on them (perhaps made in China?). Which makes me question all the other stuff they have. Was there any indication on the packaging to say where they were actually manufactured? And in their correspondence did they ever indicate they might improve the rigidity of the tines? YinTx

I'll let the video speak for itself. Sorry about the volume, I'll work on speaking louder in the future. But if you turn it up, you can hear it pretty well. You can see I took it apart, tried to make adjustments, checked for free play, tried to find the binding area, etc. In the end, I think I have a general idea of what to do, but please take a look and make any inferences and suggestions based on what you see. JLS, I am thinking maybe if I can not rotate the shaft, maybe I can rotate the bushing. Next time I open it up I'll try that. Thanks to everyone helping me out here, it'll get fixed eventually! YinTx

Wizcrafts, Thank you for the detailed suggestions. I did take it apart further, and took some video along the way. When I can get it uploaded, I'll post it. Suffice to say, I did remove the cover, the shuttle and race, and removed the link crank arms by removing the snap ring "c-clips", and lowered the block some (about 1/4") just to see what it would do. That only managed to keep it from feeding leather when in service, so I think I can rule that out as an issue. Nothing seemed to be out of alignment (the rods on the needle and presser feet never were contacting each other). The main issue I saw was the rear presser foot (with the spring) would not move freely. I loosened the set screw slightly on the bushing that is at the bottom of the casing as the presser foot bar exits the head, which seemed to help some. It appears that this bushing is causing most of the binding. I'll be looking for that part along with the shuttle and race so I can replace it if possible. The issue is not yet solved, but I am hoping this is narrowing it down! When I can get a video of the dissection uploaded, I'll post the link. YinTx

Update just to show video of binding on the Techsew 4100. There are two videos since I had to make a second take to get the additional information in. I have also been able to get the smaller machine to handle the 69 thread, but not very well. Still looking for a replacement bobbin spring for a BGMC, a close variant to the Techsew 2700, so if anyone knows where I can get that part, please let me know. First Video of Techsew 4100 binding problems: Second Video of Techsew 4100 binding problems: YinTx

Thank you all for the positive comments!

First thing I have ever completely stitched on the machine. Still need to replace the bobbin spring to deal with thread tension issues, and kind of messed up the plastic carbon copy cover, but for my daily use I think it will be functional. Debating putting edge coating. Open to suggestions for improvement as always YinTx

The more I looked at the machine in operation, the more I became convinced there was something wrong with the tensioner spring in the bobbin case, so I removed it and tried to flex it. Not really a spring steel metal as you might expect, since it bent easily. So I gave it a bit more of a curve, and reinstalled it. Voila, there was a bit of resistance on the bobbin thread once again, and I could adjust the tension by tightening/ loosening the screw. Success there! I feel the tension is still uneven as the knots don’t alway sit correctly on a single run of 2 foot stitching, but it is much improved. If I can find a new one to replace it, I will. Any ideas on further improving tension consistency would be appreciated. Thanks, YinTx

Fantastic work!

Update on the BGMC 2700 Variant (similar to Techsew 2700)! The more I looked at the machine in operation, the more I became convinced there was something wrong with the tensioner spring in the bobbin case, (photo, with screwdriver pointing it out) so I removed it and tried to flex it. Not really a spring steel metal as you might expect, since it bent easily. So I gave it a bit more of a curve, and reinstalled it. Voila, there was a bit of resistance on the bobbin thread once again, and I could adjust the tension by tightening/ loosening the screw. Success there! I feel the tension is still uneven as the knots don’t alway sit correctly on a single run of 2 foot stitching, but it is much improved. If I can find a new one to replace it, I will. Any ideas on further improving tension consistency would be appreciated. I also observed the shaft in the end of the handwheel while the machine was running and not piercing the leather. The handwheel was slipping on the shaft, and not at the safety clutch as I had originally presumed. So I removed the hand wheel, and noted the screws that secure it to the shaft (again, photo with screwdriver pointing it out) were not even aligned with the flat spot on the shaft. Realigned, tightened screws very well, and once again, voila, success! Punching through hard veg tan once again, no problem. I have also lowered the needle to change timing between the hook and the needle. So I seem to have the smaller machine running stitches with larger thread (135 is the only one I have tried so far). Will change out to a lighter thread tomorrow and see how that works, hopefully I have discovered most of the issues and can get back to work with this machine. Will try to take a video of the Techsew 4100 later as well, to illustrate where the binding seems to be occurring in there and update on that when I have done it. YinTx

JLS, No offense taken at all. Unfortunately my newfangled laptop doesn't have software to let me draw arrows and numbers on photos, or I would. The clamp is actually above the collar, the collar pushes up on the clamp, which is where the spring resides. The roller I mention getting pushed into the casing is attached to that clamp. There is normally about a 1/64" gap between the roller and the case, and it generally never touches until it binds. The roller moves freely on its own until it is jammed into the case. The collar should go straight up and down, as the rod does not change angles. Any change will cause the bushing in the collar to bind on the rod, hence why only about 1/64" does it in. I have tried all the screws in the head to verify they are tight, unless I have missed one. I think the heat was generated by the hook impacting the race, as you can see clearly in the photo where it has chewed out a significant amount of metal from the race. It is possible this is a new shuttle, since I would expect the damage to the race would be more evident on the shuttle. On the Cobra diagram I have, the roller is part #21, the bushing/collar that binds is part #7. YinTx

Around midnight last night, while working diligently to see where the issue may be in the Techsew 4100, came across this. There are apparently two main areas of rubbing/binding, one in the head area and one in the bobbin area. Bobbin area: When I pulled the plate off the top of the cylinder arm, noticed a heat mark on the guide around the bobbin. (see color marked steel that I am pointing to with tip of screwdriver). Looked underneath, and saw where the hook had been impacting and wearing metal from this guide (pointed to by tip of hook). This is not the only area rubbing down here from what I can hear as it turns, so something is out of alignment. Head area: Still not sure exactly what is causing this, but the collar that rides the presser foot tends to rotate about 1/64" every 3 to 5 rotations of the handwheel. This causes the roller to bind against the case and the presser foot rod to bind on the collar/bushing, and the foot jumps about as it binds/unbinds. If you lift the presser foot with the pedal, everything frees up and carries on for another 3 to 5 rotations. YinTx

Northmount, Thanks for that. I did previously remove the strip entirely, it does appear to have a smooth/unbent shape, and does appear to clamp down properly when the screw is tightened. There was nothing under it to cause problems. I am tightening the one closes to the exit of the thread as it is the one that makes the strip flex. I had thought the thread was going under the tension strip, it was hard to see so I did verify, it is going under the tension strip. It is still freewheeling. YinTx

Wild Bill: Great observation. I did backstitch on the end, but not the start. I will do so in the future to avoid the potential point of failure. Andy: You are right, I did not glue the pieces together, so resulting in the "crack" on the edges. I will do so in the future. Thank you all for the positive comments and suggestions! They will help me continue to improve my work - maybe I'll become an artist yet! YinTx