TinkerTailor

Do you sharpen them when you get them? I have never bought a punch sharp enough, and a dull punch does not cut well. You can sharpen them by spinning them in a drill press and holding a stone to the bevel. I have also done them by hand with a diamond file. My drive punches are sharp enough to push through 6 oz veg by hand.

How do they fail? do they get dull or do they break?

Plus with spray glue you can just lay pieces of cardstock down as a mask where you dont want glue. Paper tends to blow up from the pressure. Makes doing turned edges so much easier. I also spray through cut out masks to attach buckle billets to bags for stitching.

Tandy can be a great resource for a beginner. Be wary of the sales pitch. They have helpful info but also have an interest in getting you to buy more stuff. Many have come to realize they spent way more than they may have needed too. Watch out for things at tandy like their sponges and nitrile gloves. They are WAY cheaper at the drug store. Get some ideas, start with a small project and just get what you need for that project. Get a few more things for the next project. You may find that you hate carving but love nothing more than making hand stitched wet formed traditional camera cases. Stamping tools would collect dust, while expensive stitching chisels would be used daily. If you use a tool alot, seriously consider investing in a better tool than tandy offers. If you use it a rarely, the tandy tool is fine. An unused tool never breaks no matter how good or bad it was made. Buying just what you need for each project allows your tools to evolve with your interests as they are revealed.

Top tension nut....not nuts? Your machine should have 2 thread tensions on the top thread, one on the back at the top and one halfway down the face of your head. They both need to be adjusted and balanced with each other. Just changing one will make things all wonky, or not change much at all. I have not run 138 through my 441, however here is a chart of standard needle and thread sizes for your machine. Not that 207 is wrong for your application, it is just harder to hide the knot with fatter threads and some types of thinner leather. I sew thin stuff with 207 all the time. I made a leather flatcap out of super soft 3 oz deerskin and it stitched fine. I will say that it took me a while of tinkering to get my machine to work the way i want, and don't plan on messing with it much unless i have too. @07 works for most of what i do so that is fine. I would try to let the glue dry overnight and see if that makes a difference.

That is what i was getting at, I guess i didn't use enough words. I use a 110 year old white rotary with an awl in it and no bobbin case to punch hand stitching holes.....Way easier that pricking irons. I can treadle it through 12 oz of veg if i give it a little help to start.....plus i dont need to spend 100 bux to switch spi....That rp machine is obviously based on the same idea. The part that jumped out at me.was it used the same type of heater element, showing how much of an impression it can make in such a brief contact. Is part of the advantage of these that they work better to compress the stitch line in chrome due to the heat?

This one is absolutely full of "what exactly did they do there?" moments.....The bad quality video makes it even more weird.....Then things they did to those big adlers...wow.. Watch out for the scorpion claw finger biter at 2 minutes.......

This one from the same user as the first vid Uwe posted has no needle and makes brogue punch patterns......

Halfords in Edmonton has mail ordered to the north for years and carries veg tanned leather as well as a whole bunch of other stuff. Quite a few things the americans on here can not get... I have never purchased there but they sell trapper supplies so they would have shipping to the north down pat. I have got good deals at buckskin in calgary, and i know they ship. They sell hermann oak and lots of chap, garment and upholstery leathers. They have S.B Foot (redwing boots) oiltan leather. This stuff is bulletproof and waterproof bootleather. Great for outdoor gear. I have got it as low as 5 bux a square foot. There is a little color rub off sometimes. The other thing to do is talk to every shoe repair or saddle repair guy you can get ahold of to see if they have sources or scrap.

What kind of glue are you using and how long have you let it cure? Partially dried glue or areas with heavier glue can cause greater drag on the thread leading to inconsistent stitching. What is the total weight of leather you are sewing? Is it even thick enough to hide the knot on 207? If that is 2 layers of 3-4oz, it could be only 6 oz total thickness which is pretty thin for that machine. I have some harder temper 3-4oz veg that is very difficult/impossible to bury the stitch in with 207, while i have some oiltan in the same weight that will hide the knot at almost any thread tension. In the second pic, nearly every knot is in the same place and visible on the top, a little less top tension may solve this.

What part of canada you in? I may have other options for suppliers that you are not aware of.

I'm with grmnsplx, That tearing looks like it is leather related and not technique. Make up a test piece dyed the same way, however this time either use some neetsfoot oil or carnauba creme or something to bring back the leather suppleness after dying. Then stitch the same way you did and see if it improves. Also, looking at the dye penetration at the stitch holes, it is not as deep as it could be. If you worked on your dying techniques to get deeper penetration, blemishes and tearing at the stitch holes won't show as bad, neither will scratches on the surface of the leather.

The only thing Explorer has been good at for years is collecting toolbars. Get Firefox, or chrome if you have too. Explorer is junk. The add-on support for firefox is really good. Likely there is some script blocking in the background that explorer or windows defender is doing to "keep you safe" that is breaking the site.

The burns cauterize the cuts. Its a win-win.

Pardon?

Totally. Arcing through bearings is not good. They may have a negative on the presser bar above.

Yup. if you go there they have random discount hides for 3-5 bux a square foot. Got some nice stuff from time to time in that pile. I don't mail order from them, i just fill my boots when i go to calgary to see family. I fly home with a coupe hides every time i go.

Redwing boots has their own tannery, S.B.Foot, and sells their oiltan boot leather to the public. I get it in Calgary Alberta. It is nice stuff, however may have some dye rub off. However, who cares if your socks turn colors if your feet stay dry while slogging in the cascades.

I would guess they are using the heat to get a stitch groove in chrome tan. The harness feet everyone uses on veg to sink the stitch would not work on chrome tan. The thing is, hot impressions take at least a little contact time, i am not sure there is enough time at full sewing speeds to make a mark, and the depth would vary with speed. The leather may even burn when stopping to turn a corner. As to the single wire, it could be a negative ground DC circuit like a car in which the frame of the machine is the negative pole.

One thing that can cause this is not enough foot pressure, if the work lifts the foot because the needle is in a tight spot, thread tension could momentarily get released, causing the skipped stitch.

No-one get me wrong, I really could care less personally, in this thread i am kinda playing devils advocate: What if someone was offended?.........interesting material for discussion, where the boundries on free speech should be set........Now that I have stirred the pot, I got sheitte to make.....

There are old posts from inactive users that have confederate flag stuff in their tags and banners.

ohio travel bag Buckleguy.com http://www.keyring.com/ http://www.usbind.com/collections/buttonheadstuds

I have noticed this issue as well. Can't say the imagery sits right with me either. This is a site about working with leather. It is not a site for promoting politics or religion. There are plenty of other places for that out there. Discussion of politics and religion and their relationship to crafting with leather would of course be excellent topics, or points on topics. Relevancy is the key. This is different from having a political or religious ad banner showing up on every one of a users posts, whether relevant or not. I know, I know, free speech and all.... I see free speech being a situation where, in context, each and every opinion should be heard equally. If you want a civilized discussion with me, ask. I will listen to your side and would hope you reciprocate in and listen to me in a civilized manner. Walking up to me when I am doing something else and yelling your opinion in my ear is going to get you a fat lip. I see these banners as sitting somewhere in between these two.

Uwe, I am not sure that 13 ply marine grade is good enough. That stuff is always epoxy glassed when they use it in boats, presumably because it needs the extra strength and protection. I did see that all the internal bracing has had the corners beveled to eliminate stress risers. Nice move.