TinkerTailor

The two thoughts that came to me, but may be contradictory, are 1: The tipman can be brought into that teepee and you can make shoes there. 2: Most shoe people i have talked to prefer a post style machine to a cylinder arm. Never made a pair of shoes, but from what I understand it allows them to stitch with nice side out in more circumstances, not having to work inside out like on a flatbed.

I like it. It looks quite real. I might go over it with a really light thinned wash to cover the little bit of natural leather showing here and there. What scale is that, Like is that a piece of leather 2" by 6" or is it 2 feet by 6 feet? Cause if it is 2' by 6' the grain is too big....and you don't understand what scrap is supposed to be.....

You can get aluminum shavings to light as well.

Never heard of that brand, but they look like just another player in the sea of clone brand-names. Is it a clone of a mitsubishi dy-253 by chance? If so, that manual should work. Or call Sewing Machines Austrailia, they sell Protex and mitsubishi.

Is there shredded thread up around the tensioners as well? If it is up there too, you can probably rule out needle problems, however the foot does look too close to me as well.

I didn't make my table, though it is modified. It is pretty much the same format as yours but adjustable. I have mine so standing the needle plate is around my belly button, and sitting on my stool it is the height of my armpits. Mileage may vary One of the best and easiest things i did was mount a heavy duty power bar under the table, That way i can leave the motor on and turn all the lights and things on with one switch. Only one cord to the wall. This also allows the lights to stay on with the motor turned off to work on the machine. I hate when the machine only has lights wired into the switch. You are supposed to turn it off to change bobbins and needles and stuff but then you can't see........Not a bad idea to still have a light on the same switch as the motor so you can see if it is powered up visually for safety.

Its like the french invasion around here the last couple of days...Excusez mon francais pauvres....... Bienvenue, verser une tasse de cafe et tirer une chaise.

A slot screwdriver with a 20-25 degree bend half way up the shaft works great, use a chainsaw file or better, a chainsaw sharpening stone for a dremel to put a curved edge into the tip, with a safety tow on each side. Wrap sandpaper around file to sharpen. Takes 10 minutes. Go to a swap meet/pawn shop and buy 4-5 slot screwdrivers with trashed tips for pennies on the dollar. You buy 4 because 2 will break when you try to bend them

The oil on it to keep it from rusting in the package is doing just that under water. Is the wool turning black at all under water? It can start off subtle. You are looking for black oxide not the standard red oxide. I would spray it down with brake or carb cleaner to get the oil off myself, but you can also burn it off, just be careful to just get it hot enough to burn the oil, believe it or not you can actually light steel wool on fire, it will ignite because of the surface area. High school chemistry was fun..

Ok, Two things that can help with the water marks are first to make sure you evenly case the whole thing the first time. It always seems to me that the first marks on fresh leather show up more. Dampening the whole thing after can help reduce spotty watermarks. Also important is using clean water, free from salts and minerals and from the same source for the whole project. For mould: Do not over case it. Keep it cool when you are not tooling. Put it in the fridge if you can. Use saran wrap layed over the areas you are not tooling to help them keep their moisture. I have heard of people putting Listerine in their casing water to keep down mould and i believe there are even special products for this. You can find info on this in the casing thread on this site. The most important thing is buying good leather. Leather that has been stored next to moldy leather or was moldy itself may grow new mold in hours. If you got leather that grows mold fast, get rid of it fast. It will infect your whole stash. As to tooling and molding: Any time you soak leather it swells. The tooling you just did will swell as well and lose definition. In addition, it will stretch and deform to the new shape. It will also get marks if you push on it with your fingers while it is being wet molded. So tooling after molding is the way to go, save for one problem. As you were told, you need to back up your leather with a solid smooth surface while tooling so the stamping works. There are ways around this. Sturdy metal bowls and stainless pots and pans can be put inside an object to tool it after forming. Be wary of non-stainless steel, it can turn wet leather black. It may be you need to do parts of the carving before forming and details after as well. Cold forming is fairly consistent and easy to do. Hot water forming is not co consistent and the results can vary a bunch from case to case. I would avoid heat if you can. Overheated leather will shrivel up and get rock hard, never recoverable. If you cold form, the faster leather dries, the harder it gets. Fans and mild heat can be used here but be careful and experiment first on scrap to get the process down. One test to see if leather is veg or chrome is to drop it in boiling water, if it stays the same it is chrome and if it shrivels up instantly it is veg. Try it some time. If you look up cuir boilli you will find techniques for hardening leather.

I think i like the idea of the machine mounted into a big table like this, where you can pound and sew anywhere and there is lots of room to lay things out. I would have placed the machine as far to the right as possible to maximize layout space, and I would even mount my cylinder arm off the back corner to the right of the juki If you put a couple sono-tubes(cylindrical cardboard concrete forms) lengthwise into the bottom they are great for storing rolled leather. I would look around for a plastic supply place and get a big sheet of hdpe (cutting board plastic) for the other end to cut on. Probably only need 1/4-3/8 inch thick because it is backed by such a solid table. AND since you are a welder, make a spot on the table for use as an anvil. A 12x12 piece of 1/2 inch plate would be perfect for most leather anvil use.

Than machine is heavy and will be wrecked if it takes a nose dive, plus you may be hurt. There is a reason cylinder arms are mounted on a long table or one with a heavy thick base and a small top. They are susceptible to toppling due to the machine sticking out. There are several base designs done by users on here for cylinder arms if you have a look around. Outriggers are fine until you trip on them smashing your toe and spilling coffee all over the bench, or so i've heard.... Alot of cylinder arms have foot lift and not knee lifts for a couple reasons, Odd sized and shaped projects are what cylinder arms are good for but that means you will be holding work in weird positions sometimes. Knee lift don't work well if you are out of position and don't work at all if you are standing up. Foot pedals are available for cheap from most of the suppliers on the site, they are also easy to make. hot tip: troll thrift stores and craigslist for old bass drum pedals from drum kits.... As far as lighting, The Jansjo LED lamp at ikea is like 10 bux. These are super cheap, durable and can easily be taken apart and mounted to stuff, the base is removable. Machinists mount them to lathes and milling machines for work lighting. They work on 12volts dc, same as a car, so you can chain up 2 or 3 to a universal power supply from the electronic store.

Oopsmark.ca

Bruce Cheaney is a user here, and makes bits and spurs as well as saddles. He may be able to help. prosaddles.com. Ironically while searching for bruces site i found this maker who makes custom saddle silver http://www.cheneycustom.com/about.htm

I was trying to think of that site earlier, but drew a blank.... too much in the brain today..

Thank you very much for these links. I have been looking for some of this info for a long time. Perhaps I should do some more searching en francais....Je suis Canadian apres tout. Je comprends certain.

Yup, there is alot of marketing that confuses the issues. For most of the standard different types of leather the tanneries just change one or more of the above. For instance, skirting is generally unsplit and can sometimes range in thickness from 8-16 oz within one hide. Saddle makers like this because the hide naturally provides the different thicknesses for the different parts of a saddle and it ensures the thick bits are as thick as possible. This type of leather does not work well for belts because of this. The same side of leather sent through a splitter to make it exactly 8 oz all the way through is perfect for uniform thickness strapping and other projects. There are other subtleties as well, some tanneries claim to tan skirting a little "fluffier?" than strap leather because it tools and molds nicer, where as strap leather you want nice firm leather for less stretch. Tanneries will have secret blends of oils, fats and waxes for harness and bridle and may vary from brand to brand. There are general recipes for each and bridle from anywhere should look and feel like bridle, pre-dyed and treated to have a waxy feel and rich coloring with a fairly firm temper. Some is waxier than others. Regular veg leather, if of good quality, should be pretty uniform from tannery to tannery and hide to hide. Now, Horween is its own goat. It's leathers are pretty distinct and vary quite a bit amongst their own brand names and rarely have equivalents from other tanneries. This is a whole catagory itself. Non-bovine (cow) based leathers are a whole other topic. Any animal skin that has been tanned to preserve it is technically leather. You can buy fish leather. Yup, tanned fish skins. Snake is leather. Kangaroo is leather. How you use them is in the advanced course...... Really the only way to learn what works for what and what you like to use is to experiment. Keep your eye out for people on here selling random remnants. This is a great way to feel and look at different types and see if they are to your liking without buying whole hides.

Part of the problem is there are no hard and fast rules. People use english bridle for bags and wallets (which should be meant for bridlesi would think). You can make a coin purse or keychain out of anything, I have made many out of SB-foot (redwing boots) boot leather I get cheap because of blemishes. Each hide has room for a decent sized project and a dozen or two small things If you cut around the crap carefully. Molded, dyed and carved items need to be done in Veg tan. The only way is to narrow it down for a particular project and try a couple samples and see what works for you. There are tons of experiences and reccomendations on here for any given project type. A lot of patterns also recommend leather. The main qualities of a particular leather are: Species- Is it tanned from cows, aligators, mice or kenyan pigmey goats. Most have their strong and weakpoints. Kangaroo is really nice for lacing, not thick enough for a saddle but can make a nice wallet. Horse is used in fine shoes Veg or chrome tanned?- tanning method. Most here use mostly veg because it can be carved, dyed and shaped easily. It is also the traditional way to tan leather Chrome tanned come finished and ready to use. Chrome tanning uses harsh chemicals and is fast, days. Veg used oak bark too tan and takes months-years. Thickness- each type of leather will be available in multi thicknesses, and can be split thinner. I have seen pebbled veg leather in 8-10 oz and english bridle split down to 3 oz. Project dictates thickness. A handbag with turned seams, pockets, zippers and other fiddly details will need to be thinner than a tote style bucket bag. Temper- This is the firmness. Different leather types and even the same type from different tanneries can vary in flexibility. Generally Veg is firmer than chrome tanned. Good leather has uniform texture throughout most the hide. Crap gets softer as you move to the belly. Finish: Is the leather raw, drum dyed a colour, has it been waxed and does it have a surface finish? Finished leathers are faster to use can be limiting in how creative you can be with dyes and tooling. Grain: Leathers that are pebbled frequently have been embossed by huge rollers with this texture. Other surface textures are also available, sometimes a tannery will have the same leather available under two names, one embossed and the other with a smooth surface. Cut: this is the part of the hide it comes from, there are charts for this posted on many sellers sites and all over google. Print one off and stick it to the wall next to the leather thickness conversion chart so you can easily convert mm to fractional inch to oz One thing to be aware of, the less finish and grain correction/enhancement there is, the harder it is for the tannery to pass off bad leather as good by repainting it.

Seamsters. It is tougher sounding and looks way better in print that sewer...

Pretty sure its a 201. http://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer-class-201-sewing-machines.html It will sew blouses skirts and quilts real good. Edit: if it is a 15, here is a writeup by Wizcrafts.: http://www.wizcrafts.net/crafts/singer15-91.html

Depending on the style of tool, an edge beveler slipped between the layers works, you just run the stitches between the toes.

what happens to the stain if the leather gets wet? Does it run?

I think you may have figured it out. Thanks, that is awesome.

one heads up, carnauba creme will darken the leather some, so be prepared and perhaps use a shade lighter dye if you are dying.. I think it also makes the color richer

Watch out for the ones that have return postage paid envelopes. They are the best.........Also, The return postage paid postcards can be taped to an envelope full of stuff.