MADMAX22

You will have to use smaller needles, thinner thread, and a thinner awl. Plus when you are stitching you have to be easy on how tight you pull it.

Tandy has a few patterns that are on sale right now if you want to go that route. I think they are like half price. Well not patterns but project packs or whatever they are called. Would be easier for your first one.

Not sure about the others but I just throw a couple of tablespoons in the sink or whatever and throw some warm water in there. It helps to dissolve the baking soda. I usually dip my items for vinegaroon and go from that vine to the baking soda dip for just a quick shake or two in it then it gets a quick rinse with fresh water and its off to dry.

Be sure to scour craigslist. I have scene many good looking sewing machine benches on there from time to time.

Great looking stuff Boma. I think your carving pattern flows very well and the color scheme is great.

Yeah I would say call Ryan first since it was his machine that was sold, if he cant help ya I can almost guarantee that Bob or Steve at cobra can. If those three cant help ya I am not sure who can. Either way you wont be going wrong by calling any one of them. I bought my cowboy from Neels and Ryan has been a great help with it. I didn't need much but I know he is just a phone call away. Ive chatted with Steve and hes a great guy, bought some parts from Bob for my 211 and hes a very knowledgeable and also a great guy to deal with.

Great looking case, excellent choice of leathers.

I think it looks very good. One thing I would recommend is see if your camera has a micro setting on it. That will help you to focus in on your projects more clearly and not get the background clear and the project fuzzy. the work looks great though.

ahh that looks right. Thanks for the info.

Can someone tell me what this machine is. Found it locally and am wondering if it is worth picking up and working on this winter. Thanks.

Looks great and I am sure works great as well. How well do you think the contact cement will hold up over time?

Hey guys just wondering as I am kind of new to sewing machines and all. I see alot of people altering there old sewing machines to make them more capable sort to speak for what they intend to use them for. I was just wondering how does this affect the overall value of a sewing machine. The only thing I know much about as far as old things is cars but with those guys lots of times you try to keep everything original to maintain the value. I am assuming the only reason most of these older sewing machines except in the rarer cases of ones that are very rare or very old that this doesnt hold true. That the value is more associated with what they can handle and how well you can control them. What got me wondering about this is my 211 is all original from the light to the stand and motor. All singer parts that I assume came with it. I was thinking of changing pullies or maybe a servo motor down the road not to much but is this something where I should hang onto the old parts and try not to alter anything to terribly much or it doesnt really matter since this machine isnt a one of a kind anyways (probably hundreds of thousands produced). In general are sewing machines worth more for what and how they sew as a utilitarian item I guess is what I am asking. Just kind of a conversation thing but noone around me is into old sewing machines lol nor knows anything about them.

Thanks Art, Side note: I use to fuel the old fire fighting bombers with the radials (b24s, b25s, ....) and those things man, if they werent leaking oil they were either out or about ready to quit. I have been doing real good with making sure any joint or moving contact area has some oil on my cb4500 so Ill do my best to treat this old beast the same way.

Thanks Wiz, got the lower feed hook bobbin assembly from Bob today so I get to start cleaning/oiling/fixing and see how it does.

Hey all been going thru my ol 211g155 that I picked up and didnt see anywhere in the manual about the various lubrication items on the machine. I understand there are several spots that you put some oil on before and after use, the moving parts and what not. My big interest is that there is a well in the top with felt in it and what looks like another cap with several tubes feeding out of it on the bottom. Do you just put as much on the felt as it can handle then it gets drawn to the proper lubrication points? It seems pretty straight forward but dont wanna mess it up just because I dont know how to oil it properly. Thanks.

Have not heard that. Unless it is a new thing you can order a side at a time if you wish. HO has always had a min. order of like 10 sides I think hence why people usually pay the higher prices by going thru someplace like springfeild or gholiger. Give them a shout.

One thing I would be careful about with waterhouse leather is in my experience they looked great until you roughed up the flesh side or deglazed the hair side. Then all the defects and issues would start showing thru. I tried a few of there sides and double shoulders but wont go with them for vegtan anymore. Ill stick to WandC or HO (from them or springfeild or anyplace that carries HO leather). Due to price I have been going with WandC because they seem to have the best deals for the most part.

Wickett and craig tooling sides I have had very good luck with, even the special grades that are on sake. Still get by with only some of the belly and neck which is what your gonna get with any side. One option that you can get is just order the backs. I think its about a dollar more per foot but if your not wasting any of the belly and what not then it may be worth it. Both WandC and HO offer this ofcourse you gotta get 10 sides from HO which may not be that bad if you know you will be using one weight like in holsters.

For the dies I would go with feibings pro oil dyes. They are very good and not water based. Not sure about the black liquid though. I use the black paste stuff.

CTS that is the reason I use sno-seal or similar (my own creation as stated above also). It works pretty darn well to protect the leather and if your not going out in the elements everyday doesnt need to be reapplied that often. It doesnt get that cracked finish look when it gets flexed. I really dont use anything else anymore.

Well just about anything you do while hand stitching affects the end result in some fashion. Thats why you have to no matter what do it exactly the same every stitch in order to get a nice clean result. With the knot that some people make it depends on whether you toss the loop over the top or over the bottom of the thread your pulling out which can drive the thread up or down when you pull it tight. This along with depending on which direction the awl hole is made can affect the look of your stitch. Would have to experiment with it.

I have used vinegaroon on several belts. Its great because no matter if you sweat or get it wet or anything you dont have to worry about the dye running on your pants. I have about a half gallon coffee tub that I have my vinegaroon in. I loosly roll the belt up and drop it in for a minute or so. I give it a little shake to make sure everything gets the black then go about the rest of the process. Turns out great. I have also lined the inside of them with natural vegtan for a double layer belt. Here is a link http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=24398&st=0&p=155025&fromsearch=1entry155025