TinkerTailor

If you can find them, Italian tanned veg hides are glorious.....They generally are much softer and pliable than american. Check this out: http://www.pellealvegetale.it/en/ I know a place in Vancouver BC........If you are close enough. Gotta go in person.

If you look at Fiebings whole catalog, there are quite a few products that come in dyed versions for other markets like shoe repair and horse grooming. You know they are just mixing their own products together and selling them. I bet you can mix dye with almost all of their products. Atom wax comes in black and they say to use similar colored atom wax on colored leathers for restoration........... They throw some dye in resolene and sell it as edge coat for shoes......and hoof paint for more money....All industries do this. The truth is in the MSDS sheets. Weaver and springfield have them online. I also suspect the institutional leather finish is carnauba cream.

I once broke the moving jaw on a 5" record vise right off with a 6' pipe "extension".......That was a hellovah bang.....cast iron don't let go slow.....

I used a paint pen to make marks on the tension dials so i can count how many half and full revolutions i change it, That way i know how far to go back to get it at the previous setup. If you only change one thing at a time, it is also easier to get things tuned. You can easily get messed up by changing multiple settings at the same time.

If you are getting bottom loops, increase the top tension. Thicker materials need more to pull the bottom loop up due to friction in material etc.

I bet some motors have 20 bux in copper alone. Metal prices are down but crt televisions usually have at least 5lbs if not 10 in lead in the glass and solder, plus precious metals in smaller quantities. I know that the Cominco Smelter in Trail BC at least used to grind up whole tvs and smelt them with the ore. Take them to the recycler, Its better than the bin.

That first one you linked is a Cowboy and should be available from cowboy dealers btw. Also, try heater/ac supply places. Older style of ventilation fans have belt drive pulleys on them. I also know heater guys would change belts to adjust air speed Also try farm and implement supply places. Farm stuff has belts everywhere. So do lawn mowers. I personally would hit the hardware store as the last resort for this part.

Its a little different, and they are adjustable but i fit Brooks bicycle saddles at work, and it always amazes me what people find comfortable.....Sometimes the nose of the saddle is 1.5 inches higher than the back, and sometimes it is lower. Anatomy is strange.....Especially over the phone.. My method is to get all doctory, forget the embarrassment and ask very direct questions. Where does it feel uncomfortable? Is it a pinch or pressure? Front or back? Does it make a difference if you raise/drop your knees? As you raise your knees, your pelvis tilts back...etc Also ask if they have any spine/hip/knee issues or oddities from the past. Birth defects and old injuries can make a huge difference. I have a customer that broke a chunk off one sitbone early in life and they healed uneven. It does not effect her in any way while walking and normal sitting but while riding a bike it causes her hips to cant to one side due to one sit bone being higher.. This gives her lower back pain. Plenty of shops have adjusted plenty of saddles for angle front to back to help with the back pain to no avail. When I asked her about any injuries, she remembered this fall from her childhood. I took her $200 leather saddle and used a BFH to bend the seat rail down on the right, effectively "ruining" the saddle and voiding all warranty. It fit perfect. She loves it. On a semi-side note I have read about bike saddle fitters in the early days of bikes hitting the nose of the saddle left or right to bend it away from the "side the gentleman chooses to carry himself on" There are other questions probably relating to horse saddles. Don't hesitate to ask questions, even info the customer thinks is irrelevant can be the crux.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=36692

Do a search on here for edge paint. Tons of info and opinions.

Forget a scratch awl, use the adhesive backed 80 grit sanding discs for an angle grinder, rip off a piece as wide as the seam, stick it to something and go to town. I sometimes stick it to the tip of my finger. Easy to be accurate, and avoid marks on the nice side. I also will throw down a strip of masking tape to protect the nice part and get a nice straight seam allowance, evenly roughed up good. Awls are slow, and most so called rougher tools are like making sushi with dynamite....

I think Lee Valley has a good selection for woodworking.. http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=40096&cat=3,41306,41316 These might be cool for saddle making as well: http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=46598&cat=3,41306,41316&ap=1

Don't never mix no dye with resolene, and never use it on no edges...........You ain't gonna get the result you werent lookin fer.

Aniline is just dyed, where as semi-aniline has a top finish on it. Aniline dyed leather with resolene on it would be semi-analine. That is not much help at all. All of the commercial leather manufacturing processes have their roots in cottage industry, and by definition started in a home workshop........ I have found that analine dyes can indeed be used at home, and are commonly used in the book-binding and conservation world. They can be airbrushed, however dye particles may be an issue with clogging. J. Hewit & Sons makes aniline dyes for veg tanned leather. They have some info here: http://www.hewit.com/skin_deep/?volume=30&article=2 http://www.hewit.com/download/hs-dye.pdf And they sell it here: http://www.hewitonline.com/Aniline_Leather_Dye_p/ms-070-000.htm

Btw, The chats thing is different from private messages, it is telling you how many people are currently in the online chat room. If you scroll to the very top of the page, there is a little envelope icon on the right side of the screen just to the left of your name. Click on it and then click on view all messages. Those are your private messages.

Ohio travel bag has them i think.

The other thing i am noticing is the pattern, you have 3 good stitches and 2 bad ones then 3 good ones again. If you rock/tilt the 5 point chisel too much the outside holes will be on an angle, When you overlap the punch strikes, and angle the chisel, you blow out the end holes. 12-14oz is quite a bit to punch all the way through and be able to get the punch out easy. You may want to adjust your technique to punch the two sides separate, or go to an awl in hand stitch technique to finish the holes. I will sometimes punch before gluing, and use toothpicks in every few holes to keep already punched holes aligned. In thick leather only punch through the first layer, and a little further to mark the second, Then punch the second layer with the first removed using the marks from the first hit.

It is on here somewhere. I saw it in a thread about six months ago. I think it was bruce johnson who laid it straight. Be damned if i can find the thread.

Just bought some brand new ones from a new shipment i was told, made in germany right on package.

Great to hear.

Do you open beer bottles the wrong way too?? Wow. What a noob pushing the lever the wrong way.....Now hold my beer while i stamp the wrong pedal and put in 14 extra stitches...instead of lifting the foot.

Oil dripping down on the first bit of stitching is normal. I leave 3-4 layers of canvas clamped under the foot to collect it when i leave my machine for a while. Always thrown a few stitches into some scrap before putting in your prized project if the machine has been sitting. If it has been sitting, and the foot is dry, you should probably oil it.

Take existing gloves apart to make the patterns.

The do if they prevent tools from banging together in the drawer........Or sticking into the cement floor.....

If ya have to ask, its probably not sharp enough. You won't regret it being sharper, whatever it is. Make sheaths for everything, to keep them sharp. Buy band-aids.