MADMAX22

Dont have no good info for ya, just wanna say those are some cool looking old machines. I know the 29k is a very useful machine if you can get it working good. The others I am not sure of. Looks like a good find though. Sure Wiz or Bob or Art will be around shortly. Looks like you dont wanna be operating them though until you have taken them apart and cleaned/oiled and what not.

Barbours is tried and true and works very well. I personally use 6 cord myself. As far as colors well dye it whatever color you want. You can dye it before waxing and doing the tips. As far as the price I imagine that there is a reason that it is half the price. Either the amount or the quality. The amount you spend on a spool of barbours will last you a long time doing holsters and anything else for that matter. Not sure how many holsters you make in a week but I am sure it will last you many months. Also dont forget a little bit of neets foot oil when doing your mix, this will keep it a little bit softer. One other thing I think I went with right twist but would have to look at the package.

I have a small space heater in my garage that does pretty good at heating up my working area a little bit, enough to use my glues. I personally only use two types, the weld wood for most of the smaller stuff. I use 3M 77 spray for all the liners, belts, any applications where I use padding like my rifle slings, other items that I want a quick and easy application and can avoid fine detail glueing. I have use tape to mask off portions to keep from glueing them when using the 77. It does work really well though. I like it for belts because its a second or two of spraying one swipe and about a minute or two of letting it sit then its ready to go together.

Great writeup about your experience so far. I imagine it will be great overall if you get it up and running good. I got mine from Neil at Neils saddlery. Thing runs like a champ now that I have learned how to properly use it (pretty much my first sewing machine besides a POS home unit for sewing my uniforms). They are great machines IMHO.

The only issue with the store bought waxed thread is that it for one is usually just wax, it usually has way more then needed or not enough. Also making the ends to go thru the eye is so much easier before you wax the thread.

When handstitching something entirely I only use barbours linen with my own wax/rosin mix that I make. It works great. Occasionally I will use some of the same bonded nylon that I run through my sewing machine just so it matches. That is rare and I really dont like doing it. The properly waxed linen really holds very well and is easy to stitch with.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The customer was very happy with it and I will be sending it out soon.

I use the blue painters tape. Tried packing tape, guess mine wasnt that good. Took forever to get it off in little tiny strips and chuncks. The blue painters tape works pretty good.

Thats a toughy, looks really good so far and it sucks but think there aint much you can do about it IMHO. Let it completely dry and super shene it and hope that some of it goes away atleast that is what I would do in my limited experience. Sometimes its hard to do but you just gotta redo a portion, just really sucks when its the tooled and colored portion that your happy with. Maybe some others will have some more ideas.

Well had a misunderstanding with the last one I made (my fault) so redid the rifle sling a little different. Basically wanted to depict the actual deer that was taken so got the antlers and such to match. Looks better in person then the photos I took. Really need to set up a light box. Critiques and what not appreciated.

Great looking stuff, love that revolver and you did a great job of complimenting it.

Thats interesting. I would say if the glue is ripping the face of the leather off then its doing its job. I think I have had a little different experience with handstitching. Ive tried to take apart things I have made before with just 2 backstitches (dont use one on the start since the string is attached from the loop you start with) and ended up just cutting the thread with a razor blade. I use barbours 6 cord and a rosing bees wax mix to wax the thread with. Just curious but why would you back stitch at the beginning, if your doing a saddle stitch it starts as a loop so there is no where that the thread can come loose.

Good looking stuff, really like that effect you get with your coloring.

I gave up on the pre waxed stuff for my hand stitching. The barbours comes unwaxed and I would basically do it the old school style, thin the edges which is really easy once you get a hang of it. Just a razor straight across the thread at the end. Then I would wax it myself. Its so much easier to get a nice thinner coat of wax on it that way. Then twist the ends up and they make a nice very tapered end to thread the needles with. I am pretty sure I use the "0" hanress needles with this method. Would have to double check on that. The wax I use which I made one batch of a long while ago is pretty much equal parts of bees wax and rosin with some neets foot oil (maybe a couple tables spoons for a roughly 3 cup batch). This stuff is amazing for hand stitching. The rosin mix gribs really nice both for your fingers and the stitch itself. Once your stitching is pulled tight its there to last. It sounds kind of like a pain in the butt, however once you make the stuff up and get use to waxing the thread it really goes very quickly and painlessly.

Interesting idea as far as the colors go. One thing with the thread I dont think it should break at all. I know my borbours 6cord I cant hardly break it unless it has been cut down to one or two threads. If I was getting the linen thread I would definetly get borbours if you can. Other then that maybe check also that you are waxing the thread before you start stitching. It will keep it from getting frayed and such.

You can get the clear lac now, saddle lac is not the same, saddle lac is not worth its price IMHO

Looking great Dave, always really like that applique lacing. The design came out really clean. Should look killer once its all done (heck it looks killer now).

Depends on the style of purse, its size, how light or heavy you want it to be and such. I think on average you can use around 5oz leather. Its a good starting point atleast. You can do the body in thicker leather if you want and the gussets in a thinner leather. If its a smaller purse with heavy tooling I would use a heavier leather like 7 or even 8oz. If its a big purse though that can get heavy so stick with the lighter weight leather.

I wouldnt say linen is outdated by any means. Ive never been able to break my 6cord barbours thread by hand. Granted you need a good wax/rosin mix to hand stitch with it IMHO. All of my projects that I hand stitched from several years ago with it are still going strong.

So I got a 32oz bottle of feibings antique paste with my order. Got the light brown stuff. Thing is I opened it up and made sure it was stirred up and all and it is definitely a olive drab color. Kind of like the army green olive drab. Its a cool color and all but not light brown. Any ideas. Gonna call and see about getting it replaced monday but was wondering if anyone else had scene this before.

Sometimes you can get away with having the bottom of the gusset (bottom of the bag area) wider then taper it up as you go. Now that I think about it cant remember if this helps with the corners or not. I need to do a wider array of leather work because I keep forgetting what helped me in the past lol.

Oh wanted to add if you pick one of these up, after running it for a while make sure to check on the reverse lever there is a screw in the back that can come loose a little bit, you can start to feel it a little in the lever when it starts getting loose and your reverse stitches stop lining up with the forward ones. Just something to check for those that have these.

I picked up a CB4500 from Neals saddlery about 8 months ago I think. Was shipped painlessly, it took a few days to come in to his shop then they went thru it and got it all setup and adjusted. I unpacked it, put it together, oiled it and started sewing. Ofcourse I had a few questions and he spent some time on the phone with me getting me thru the few questions that I had. Bob's videos on utube helped with the rest. I even talked to Steve a couple of times and he is a really great guy as well. Do I regret getting the CB instead of a cobra, not at all. If I did it again would I change who I got it from, to answer that the only reason I would go with cobra is because I live in WA and they ship out of CA. Either way no matter who you get it from either three of these guys will spend the time on the phone with you to make sure it is running great. Oh and to mention these guys are all in good standings with one another and even if you didnt buy from one or the other I am sure would still end up helping you out if you had questions. As far as a price difference I didnt really notice much of one. When I got mine I think the CB was a little cheaper but all in all its about the same.

Depending on where you get it if it has been in a retail environment the chances of the leather getting something on it is likely. Ive only had this issue with tandy and waterhouse vegtan. I had a cheaper side from tandy a long time ago that looked like it had been sprayed with something. There were spots all over that wouldnt take it.

That is one great way to do it. There are a few threads on here that are similar to what you describe. Another way is to cut the gusset to a diminishing shape instead of one size thru out. This can help. Also when you start stitching, unless you know the exact size and shape of the gusset I would get the bottom and corners glued up and stitched then work your way out to the ends. The way Dbusaro describes is a great way also if not using a form.