TinkerTailor

I like these more, you can really get them inside things when you need to for stitching etc. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

pb blaster is mostly kerosene. old farmer trick to clean parts and unseize bolts.

Put it in a drum of kerosene for a month, pull it out, pressure wash it, wax it and sell it to some hipster store as a display piece. Use the money to buy a machine that is at least complete. You can easily spend double or triple the time looking for parts as you do actually working on the machine, sometimes tenfold if you are a constable....

When you are replying, hit the "more reply options" button, there will be a section near the bottom asking to attach files, this is how you post pictures. What you have done here is posted a link to your hard drive. The button i suspect you used is to post a picture that is already publicly available on the internet.

That binder, any chance you can take a few more pics of it? I don't think i have ever seen a clear pic of a 441 set up for binding, and i have been curious how to go about it.. Thanks in advance

Mythbusters proved you can polish a turd.

From Trail BC, which is in the mountains half way from vancouver to calgary, it is roughly a 7-9 hour drive to Vancouver depending on traffic, weather and radar.....through some of the twistiest mountain roads in the country. I can fly round trip for 500 bux on a regional airline.. There is no excuse for those prices. You are getting hosed

If it is stretching and distorting, it is probably easier to do it with a knife anyways or you are not using proper technique. I can't see how the saw would cause distortion in most veg tan leather if it is sharp, set up correctly and the user isn't forcing it. With proper technique, sideways blade pressure is eliminated on the work side of the blade to keep curves sharp. This involves cutting twice, once close to the line to remove most of the waste and again on the line to get a nice edge. Bandsaws do have a learning curve.

Nowadays handstitched means it is supposed to look crooked, uneven, with little rough edges and stray stitch holes everywhere. Punched with a round punch way too big for the thread. It is called character duh!! I show people, hipsters especially, my hand stitched stuff and 50% will not beleive it is by hand. They insist it is a machine, and i am lying cause it is too perfect. I do not think my hand stitching is anywhere near perfect but when competing against this: https://www.hatch.co/products/52667-personalized-flip-clip-leather-wallet-w-money-clip https://www.hatch.co/products/45733-mens-leather-bifold-wallet-slim-minimalist Wow... On the other hand, this guy is not bad and underpriced for this site: https://www.hatch.co/products/87604-double-eagle-bi-fold-wallet-all-leather-with-secret-pocket-and-money-divider-on-the-bill-compartment

I just looked up flights from either toronto or hamilton to sault st marie for a 2 day return trip on dec 15 and just about choked on my cheerios.....1000-1500 bux..and some were 7 hour flights with stopovers......That is close to the driving time......WOW! I fly to calgary for 175 if i shop around early and 4-500 if i am last minute holiday booking. For 1500 bux plus the mechanics rate and a hotel, meals etc, you could almost buy a whole nuther machine.

Don't know where in Ontario you are but Simards in Cambridge deals it this type of machine. They actually have an OMSA 455 for sale here. They also service these machines and have dealt with production leather machines for years. If anyone in your area can point you in the right direction they should be able too, and may be close enough for house call. http://simards.com/ Phoning Campbell Randall wouldn't hurt either. edit: i see you are from Sault Ste Marie. To cambridge is probably a 1 hour flight, and a day drive, correct? You may even be able to do it by skype. I would try this and then fly the guy there if hands on is still necessary.

Winnebego with a cummins swap. Way more fun than towing a trailer. The ship in spaceballs was a winnebego

1st, get a muffin tin from the thrift store to pour the wax into. You can just pop out the pucks after. Removing wax from fabric and wood is a bitch, however any hard surface can get wax on it, and it is not hard to remove. Sometimes i rub oil into it to loosen it and then use dish soap to get it off. I have also boiled dishes in water to get the wax off, beeswax wax floats. Btw, this property can be used to purify, boil the raw wax in water and let it cool, the solids should sink and the oils will separate. You can just lift off the wax cake once cool. This is the stage you remelt and run it through your cheesecloth. If you try to strain the raw wax you have already, it is going to be difficult. Make sure the wax is dry before you heat it, you don't want steam bubbles coming up through the wax melted wax. I wait a few days between steps just to be sure. It can make a big mess, and burn skin off if water boils under wax. It can even explode if the wax has a crust and hasnt melted yet, allowing pressure to build. One good thing about the completely unrefined wax, it has the propolis in it still. Double boilers work just fine for beeswax. A candy thermometer from the grocery store is sufficient. A crock pot will also work, many now have sous vide settings at 130-140f. You can also just rub the wax on and hit it with a heat gun until the wax just liquifies and soaks in, then stop. This can be repeated over and over. If you have an ir gun, a clothes iron at the silk setting is between 140-160. Use the ir to fine tune temp. You could rub the wax on, put silicone parchment baking paper over top and iron it in. This may additionally add a glazing effect to the leather. Silicone parchment paper is your friend if working with hot wax. It is heat resistant and impervious to wax. Plus it is in the grocery store.

Is this a crack? and the haywire is a nice touch.....Damn farmers.....lol

Weaver has wholesale as well, though i would go with Uwes option.

Weaver Leather carries them.

Helps waterproof seams. Allows you to form a bag wet and stitch it dry. Stitching wet leather is no bueno....

Heads up, weldwood is very hard to find in Canada. Lepage is our equivalent. I use the blue heavy duty in clear. It comes in yellow and clear color, the clear is harder to find. They work the same, but the clear is less visable when you are sloppy, or on edges.

I have been offered 2 free tables in the last year or two. A rusty h-leg with a clutch motor and a nice k-leg one that fell of a truck ....Literally. Whole table is askew, probably fixable though. Don't have room for either. They are out there. Go to closing out upholstery/garment shops, they may have old table legs kicking around for free. Pretty tragic actually cause the machine that was on it was a relatively new juki post bed machine, a 1610 I think. Apparently the machine did a faceplant.. Huge crack in the head and a chunk of the casting broke out where the needle bar and foot mechanisms attached......ouch. I think it was only being moved a few blocks...

Some belly leather is fine, and makes great small projects, and if you are selective can be a very inexpensive way to get into the hobby. Paying attention to how smooth the back is goes a long way. The smoother the better for projects. However, when making machine adjustments, you need to eliminate any source of variance OTHER than the setting you are adjusting. Also, only work on one setting at a time. It is really easy to get lost and end up way out of adjustment if you adjust any system too fast, or multiple systems at a time. Adjust one thing, look at result, if it is worse, go back. If it is better, move on to next thing. If it got better and you adjusted 3 settings, you have no way to know which one worked, or which one made it worse conversely..

Have you tried to go back in with the stitching chisel from the other side? You can see the marks to line it up, and wont miss the calf, which was why you punched from the other side in the first place. This should neaten up the holes significantly.

Sometimes it takes a little to get a bag to "settle down" after flipping inside out. Depending on the type of leather and weight used, and what stage you are at in finishing, there are a couple things to try: One of the things to do is to force that fold over and hammer it flat, It is trying to return to the grain to grain position you sewed it in. Do this a few times over a few days, I seem to get better results this way. Also, dampening the leather on the gusset and then putting a box or something else rectangular into the bag, stuff old socks or rags into the corners to fill them out and then let the bag dry with the box in it and the zipper closed. You don't need to wet the whole bag, just the seams in question and the leather a little to each side. This works better on veg leathers but will also work on chrome a bit. Test first if the water is going to leave marks in your situation. Get tough with it. The more that corner is massaged into position, the better. Obviously use very smooth faced hammers and the like, however it is leather, it can take a beating. It can be quite perplexing how the geometries interact when doing curved corner gussets, or gussets in general especially once you add piping., i have found.

Ummm, that is exactly what i did.

Tandy got where they are because they have tutorials, a colourful catalog, and most importantly, they had mail order. You could get their items anywhere and order from a picture. For the most part quality was consistent. Prices were higher than wholesale, but they were also one of the few willing to deal in small quantities of things and ship to Alaska..... They also set up nice storefronts that people would travel to to see all the items layed out. And staffed them with people who knew the trade from a home crafters prospective. They are going to have to step up their game in the internet age. Their quality has dropped and their prices have risen to the point that there are quite a few smaller players who can compete with them due to online sales. As well, bigger players have seen the income potential of small sized but numerous internet orders. The internet has equalized things, and the brick and morter store front days are dying. Makers can research pricing, and quality reviews online and find alternatives to tandy in seconds. Factory direct in small quantities is common now online. Why order buckles from tandy when weaver and ohio travel bag and hudson4supplies will ship in small quantities, sell online and have better stuff for close to the same or sometimes alot less money? I bet in 5 years time, tandy will be either have pulled up their britches, or may not be here any more.

Are you testing stitches on bellys? That piece looks pretty hairy on the back and it appears like it may have wrinkles. Bellys can be very inconsistent in density, and i have seen stitches change alot and go from sitting on top to almost disappearing over only 2 inches due to this. I made this mistake for a short while when i got my machine, and it was frustrating because i would adjust tension to correct an issue, and then try again on a new scrap, only to see the opposite effect. The change in leather density was throwing me off. I aquired some scraps that were nicer, and then set it up correctly and i am good to go.