TinkerTailor

pics didnt work, will repost later

My dog would not look at it. It has to be a stuffed chicken or nothing. She has a chicken that had a squeeker in each paw, one in the head and butt and one in the middle. 6 of them. She ever so carefully surgically opened the stitching at the butt, and managed to extract all the squeekers and leave the stuffing intact...This is her 4th chicken, she has got better at the surgery every time......She hides the squeekers from us because she hates squeeks and we know it and torment her.....She finds it really difficult to pinpoint which direction, or which one of us has the squeeker...(hint: we both do..) She also knows if she hides the whole chicken, she will forget where when she wants to cuddle it. Ironically her mom was a rescue that had been abused for killing around 200 chickens in an hour when she got out on a farm. Came close to bankrupting the farmers.

No Prob. They are made(machined not stamped) in the USA and I believe someone from usbind is a member here. Btw, I have hot glued a dowel to each side of a blind-head to spin them in nice and tight. Hot glue breaks right off.

It could be a situation like happened bicycles in the mid 50's, where Raleigh bought most of the british cycling industry. They basically went up the street handing out cheques and raleigh stickers for the bikes. Your bikes have these stickers now. There were very little standards at the time, so many companies built similar bikes, but with oddities like different thread pitches on parts and things. For a time, while these companies used up there parts their were raleigh bikes that looked the same but were actually quite different and manufactured by in different factories with different tooling. Over time they were standardized to a homogeneous model. Adler probably bought up a few smaller makers at to get its start. They would have has to use the casting patterns and tooling they already had in stock until new ones could be made. Keep in mind, the 1880s were the beginning of mass production and advertising. Before then big companies making larger volumes of machines (for any industry) did not exist. The ideas of mass production and brand/model identity and uniformity were barely even thought of. That is what makes the machines from this area most interesting.

Check these guys out for fastener options: https://www.usbind.com/collections/screw-post-sets https://www.buckleguy.com/double-cap-rivets/

If it is a cylinder arm highlead, it is a clone of another machine,. Many of the dealers advertising on this site sell various feet designed specifically for leather, and made to fit these clones. What model is the machine? Once you find out what it was cloned from, you are home free.

Spi depends on project, and preference. Yes, tying off on backside, or between layers are ways to end the stitch. So is melting back 2" of thread and leaving a charred ball, but again, all up to preference...

Gonna need some more details, like what sewing machine are you using, what kind of leather, and best of all pictures of the marks. Some leathers are impossible to prevent marks of some kind. Some machine types chew up the leather pretty good, and may not feed well without the teeth. There is lots of info on here about feet marking leather. Solutions will vary by machine type and model.

Tubular rivets are ugly on one side. Double caps are the nicest and the same on both sides and will work in this application. If I was making it, however I would use chigago screws for the strap attachment. They are available longer and with a wider shank than tubular/doublecap rivets. Thread locker will keep them from unscrewing. Getting long double cap rivets tight without the shaft bendind and offsetting the head can be difficult and would be visible on this project. Double cap rivets don't play nice when trimmed and the additional labor to do so is worth buying an assortment of sizes.

Owned a few Makers Marks over the years, I think the bottle from New Nears 2002 was the finest. Can't remember how old it was....Not surprising considering the circumstances......Takes some big boy pants to get through a whole bottle and wake up in a bed not behind bars.....

That is done by hand by whip stitching all the way to the end and back again through the same holes. It can be done double needle as well. It is faster and easier to do than saddle stitch but is not even close to the durability. The stitching is exposed on the highest wear area of the item and if one stitch breaks, it will unravel for sure. It also uses way more thread than saddle, which can be a pain in long runs. I use it decoratively on butt seams like this where saddle stitch is impossible, note the way oversize thread: As to your comment on holes ripping, thinner leathers and finer stitching need smaller, more accurate holes and are not nearly as forgiving to tension issues. You need to get your tension right, and do it the very same every time or rips and puckers occur. May need to use a heavy leather sewing machine (like a 441 clone) leather needle as an awl.......

My original I made using letterpress type from a garage sale. No hammering, works great in a press. Cost me 7 dollars for a box full. I use it for monogramming as well. I also use a transfer process to put art, text or my logo on some projects, even on the inside if it is smooth enough. Here are some scrap bin test piece samples: For scale, the letter stamp is just under 1.25" wide, and that antique oak mallet is HUGE..... I just made a jbweld copy of my stamp it and it works great. See the thread about making stamps from jbweld, i will post pictures later today.

I take a run at all my tools with needle files and a buffer on a dremel. Bevelers and creasers especially. There is always a ridge, point or bad curve somewhere, and they can always use a polish to glide better. I make tools as well. Check this one out, it is made from a screwdriver. It is both a beveler or a creaser depending on which way you run it, I included pictures of both. It is in the #3-4 size range. Works great as a stitch ripper as well. Just slip it between the layers and go to town.

Moist and temporarily softened Veg tan does not need an overnight clamp but it sure helps when marking chrome tan.

Or perhaps pfaff contracted out and made them for singer, and they were meant to be repackaged and sold as singer certified parts or something.

I have never had trouble with marking any leather, I put the mark over the spot and squeeze it as tight as i can in a bench vise over night. It is best before final finish, but i have done it after and it turned out fine.

There is a simple technique for this, cutting both miters at the same time to make the seam perfect. I tried to type it out, but decided to draw a picture.

10 bucks a belt for a buckle and a track is actually pretty cheap hardware wise, The belts in the link i posted are cheap enough to be your source. Probably only take 5 mins to get that track out of the belt with a stitch ripper.

I make my bits the same way, only I use old dremel bits or drill bits and epoxy them into the dowel. I found one bump would bend the threaded shaft when i made them that way. The drill bits and dremel bits are hardened and don't bend. I found a dremel drill press stand at a flea market for 5 bucks, and i use the burnisher in it vertically with the table to guide the work. For small stuff, i use my flexi hand piece. I probably have 8 or so little burnishers going with different grooves and points. I have no problem pulling out a needle file or two and touching up the shape to suit the project at hand. I also have a blank ungrooved one always ready, just in case. In my opinion, there is no perfect burnisher, only a perfect one for the project you are doing right now. Btw, I have found that telling potential customer that i made some of the tools that I will use to make their item is really good for business.......They are not surprised I make leather stuff, but the look on their face when I tell them i made the tools is a totally different story. I have 10 or so stitching awls in front of me but by far the one I grab most is one I made out of an old triangular needle file jammed into a dowel, and filed with diamond files into a proper point. Looks like a prison shank.......

I am not necessarily talking about splitting to get two hides out of one, i am talking about splitting it until it is uniform thickness and bonding any that has ended up too thin to use alone, after the damage and thin spots in the hide are accounted for. I have bought shoes that were labeled as top grain, and they were bicast. I am not an uphostery guy, To me, full grain means the leather is uncorrected and only split for thickness. but i know that the leathers are always split for weight, I also know that a lot of it is corrected grain, or embossed to create uniformity in surface over large areas. How thick the split is is up in the air, If you cut it thin enough or are using crappy hides with thin spots, the only solution is to back it. When making the leather, it takes perfect hides to make 50-60 square feet of nice upholstery leather with a uniform 4oz without backing. Any damage, the belly, and any other stretchy areas become a problem when you are using the leather unbacked and uncorrected. The hides that are not as nice can be backed and corrected, the backing taking away the thin spots and stretch, and the paint/embossing correcting visible blemishes, making the hide worth more. The leather that is split of the back, if it is thick enough and big enough, will also have a grain applied with paint and pressure and be made into low quality leather accessories. They may also grind up the leather to make reconstituted leather products. Both of these types of products are labelled as genuine leather when they are sold. That is the reference I was getting to with the genuine leather logos on reconstituted products bit I have a leather guy that sells gorgeous Italian veg leather in handbag weights. From the same tanneries he gets these 5-8 oz splits with corrected grain, that are the leftovers from splitting high end thin leather from proper thick hides. He gets them and sells them dirt cheap. They are used for costumes in film, which are usually painted and broken down to look old, and durability is not an issue, as it only has to last a few days of shooting. They are also used to stiffen thin or exotic leathers. Keep in mind, they were split off properly tanned hides so are also good leather that has no topside. Perfect for shop made bonded leathers, and great for welts in sheaths and holsters.

Now that i am not on my iphone, and can use google with a keyboard, i have discovered that Bruce Johnson has a 3/4 asf&t punch for sale on his site right now. He lists it as one of the common brands of arch punch he gets. He probably knows the history of the company and if they made other stuff.

here is a belt for 10 bucks that has a buckle and track ready to be cut out and sewn into your project. https://www.amazon.com/Vbiger-Leather-Sliding-Buckle-Ratchet/dp/B00UT823WQ/ref=pd_lpo_193_bs_lp_t_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=GMAN6DEAM6R34RXEZ1PM

look at snowboard bindings. They use ratchets like this. The track should be easy, the buckle not so much.

Circle hole punches have been made by automotive/steam tool makers as well for use in cutting gaskets. You may have tools not originally intended for leather.

This. I have had my 441 clone set up on both the middle pulley and the slow one. On the middle, it would slow down but the motor was notchy seeming to change speeds in steps and it lacked torque at low speed. The motor was not happy. On the slow pulley, due to the increased motor rpm, I can get smoother, more powerful slow speed, and still get more than enough speed to getter done with an edge guide. I turned up the motor to max on the slow pulley and got it fast enough smell burning leather from the hot needle in 8oz of veg. Now i leave set up for stitch by stitch all the way up to 3-4 stitches a second. On a small detailed project, or one that is really thick and dense, I will just turn the motor down a few notches to limit my top speed just in case the cat steps on the pedal while I am sewing. It actually happened. I was sewing 3/4 inch of dry veg tan for these "brick of leather" keychains i sometimes make, and the cat stepped on the pedal while it was set for really high speed. Needle did not like the mach 9 through concrete sewing and exploded into shards flying at me. That reminds me, were safety glasses with these machines.... Go slow at the machine and speed up all of the other operations first. You probably wasted more time walking back and forth in the shop to get stuff while making a project than you will ever save sewing faster. The sewing time on a project, even slowly, is a small part of it. Working as a contract sewer and basically getting paid by the stitch is not what most on here use their machines for and is a different story. That story will be available as a pdf on this site in 2017, and will be titled "Life of a Seamster, The Wizcraft Autobiography"..