alfredleatherworks

Oh, that would be great! I keep taking a small chunk of time every day or so to scour the archives here, but so far I haven't found what I'm looking for regarding digital saddlery books. I've found all the other non-copyrighted books, largely on archive.org, but anything with a copyright has been harder to find. I'd consider buying a physical copy and having my girlfriend ship it to me, but the shipping cost is too high and then there's the 60% import tax/tariff on top of it all...too much for me, lol. Also, traveling around the country here with a physical leatherworking library would be super cumbersome. Which is why I'm scouring this forum and the internet at large for ebooks/PDFs, etc. I don't mind paying for a good book, but even in this day and age finding some texts in digital format seems to be difficult.

Let me start off by saying, I’m not looking for pirated copies of books. I am willing to pay for legitimate copies of the titles I’m looking for. Last February I sold off half of my leather shop and moved to South America for a while to live and work with the gauchos here and learn their style of leatherwork with a focus on their approach to rawhide and leather braiding. While I’m here I’m supporting myself by plying my trade as a leatherworker. I had to leave behind my physical library, and I didn’t think that was going to be an issue. Turns out, not only do I want the books for my own reference but I’m being asked to share my skills with others here by teaching. In specific, I’m looking for an ebook copy of Al Stohlman’s Encyclopedia of Saddlemaking and the book Creating Western Floral Designs by Bob Parks. Does anyone know if there are legit PDF ebooks of these titles? I can’t seem to find them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I have digitized copies of all my other Al Stohlman books, as well as many others, but I never got around to digitizing my entire library. FWIW, if anyone knows of other good saddle/tack or general leatherworking books that are available as ebooks, I’d love that info too. Teaching leather and English at the same time is fun, but with books for reference it would be so much easier, lol. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read and/or reply. Hope y’all are doing well this week! —Riley

Oh, this is good info! Thank you! I'm not a welder...I can weld, but only about as good as it takes to patch a fence on a horse pasture (it'll hold but it isn't pretty). I'm not going to even try to mend this myself. I'm going to talk to some local welders who can do it right. Knowing (now) to ask about brazing instead of welding is a huge help. I do have a copy of the manual (digital format). I need to contact Eli about needles and see what parts he may have. I'd like to see about a few extra bobbins. I've also thought about the printed copy that Ewe sells. As for not oiling the "part that should never be oiled" I will make sure not to oil it. These are good resources! I'll be hiring a professional to do the repair. My skills with welding are...rudimentary at best.

So... I have picked up the sewing machine and it is in such good repair! I'm excited to get it up and running. I've got to renovate my workshop anyway, and I'll be reinforcing the floor (it's a wood joist floor) in the process. For now, the machine (and all the rest of my leather shop) are going into a local climate-controlled storage unit. The machine came with a package of needles (labeled "Pearson 5"), and the bobbin winder. The needles appear to be original stock needles, but I could be wrong. The bobbin winder needs some repair, but I think I can get a TIG-welder to fix it up for me. I've attached some pictures for reference.

I have emailed him to chat about what size I need for which thread size and I’ll probably be ordering a bunch. I plan to use this machine quite regularly.

I’m not familiar with the machine you had, but the Landis #1 also uses the 331 system needles. I’m in the process of tracking those down and buying stock in them, lol. I live on a horse ranch and do a lot of heavy harness and tack work so I am very excited about my new machine!

I was always taught that if there are metal moving parts, you oil them. Goes for more than just sewing machines, lol. I’ll make sure to check on the linkages and moving parts on the pedals and I’ll oil them while I’m down there.