TinkerTailor

Oh, totally. Just a caution for future readers to watch out for.

A lot of upholstery leather these days is bicast which is marketing for bonded plastic leather. Also some upholstery leather may be treated with scotch guard or something which is no fun on skin

Welcome to the Forum. Have you braided before? Romal reins are one of the harder things to make. There are a whole bunch of techniques coming together here. I am not a braider but i would suggest getting a book or two on leather braiding. It is nice to have book in front of you to reference step by step because braiding is a whole bunch of "this one over that one under two and around, then back....do this 10 times and then switch to the other direction.......". There is a whole section of this forum on braiding and quitea few tutorials and book suggestions there. Also, the only way I knew what you wanted was the title because it is the only thing you posted in english. We are an international site and all converse in english. There are a few people on here from your part of the world, They may be able to help with translation if you need it. I know leather operations and words may not be contained in a standard translation dictionary. Some of them are not even in the english dictionary........

Thanks. That is my personal phone case and took a long time, longer than I could charge a customer for. Like the case would cost double what the Iphone did.....I wanted something I could pull out and show people a few different techniques. The penny is actually a rivet and the on the other side the penny is the backer for the snap. I made this hardware. If you look close, the thread color is candy striped. That picture is before i finished the edges on the camera hole. On the topic of finish, I admit I am having some rub off from the background , which is tandy water based leather paint, even with multiple coats of resolene to try to stop it..grrrrrr...(I should know better..). I buff with old t-shirts and bed sheets. One of the reasons why people use fiebings is they don't mess with recipes. Tried and true and consistent. Tandy has changed formulation on their in house products over the years, sometimes better and sometimes worse. Leather is such a fickle beast and there is nothing worse than getting half way through a project, running out of a product and then finding out it is either discontinued or totally reformulated. Incidentally, because these products are used in industrial environments, the chemical constituents are listed on the MSDS sheet for them, available by googling if you want to know if it is dye or paint. That is how we know there is no oil in oil dye. I speculate that it is actually an indication that it is oil compatible, meaning you can make dye neetsfoot oil. This is just a guess. A lot of "shoe re-color" products are not dye they are paint. It can be difficult to dye finished leather so paint is used.

I looked at an osbourne head knife at a shop the other day and the handle was crooked by about 15 degrees. I have recent manufacture an osborne #145 awl that has the ferrule glued in on an angle so there is no way to put the awl blade in parallel to the handle. That one was a gift, so I kept it. It really is a joke. There is a market for quality tools and it is growing. We as a society are swinging away from mass produced, and more people are looking for quality hand made items, and classic items that last. Look at the money being spent on barber supplies like straight razors, or on quality axes these days(or crappy leather stuff on etsy). Those tools from China are made for pennies and sold for dollars. There is a huge profit margin there. Some of those companies have managed to sell penny products for hundreds. There is more than enough room for a manufacturing company in the USA to put out a quality product and not have it cost a fortune if the profit and greed is kept in check. If Osbourne leveraged their heritage as a brand (ie spend longer than 5 minutes a decade on the website) and actually put out a quality consistent product, they may not go the way of Dixon and the rest.

That little dent in the cap right where the post would be tells me It may just be a big double cap rivet. Perhaps the maker put a piece of cardboard or something between the leather layers while setting it, then removed it after to give the needed clearance. The screw heads on chicago screws frequently have ridges on the backside of the head to dig in to the leather and help prevent them from turning after install in situations where there is not supposed to be movement of the joint. You are right to be worried because it is totally possible it could unscrew while swinging around if those ridges bind up with the moving leather. That being said, If you use a washer on the screw side to prevent the screw ridges from rubbing the leather, and give them a slippery surface to spin on, It should prevent this. Also, select a socket height side thicker than the leather so the leather is free to spin on the barrel of the socket and stays away from the screw. Most importantly, using permanent strength(red) loctite, run the screw all the way in so it jams into the socket hard and the leather is still free to move. If the screw does not bottom out leaving the leather free to move, the barrel is too short and the leather will put pressure on the screw. Small tubes of thread locker are available for a couple bux at auto parts stores. Instead of testing on a gun, make a sample swivel, and attach it to a brick or something and hang it from the bumper of your car. Drive around for a week and see if the brick is still there.........Just let me know where you are at so i can avoid driving behind you.........

Coverage will depend on colour, tannage and many other things so it is difficult to give a definite answer. It will also differ greatly with technique. Most people dilute for a couple reasons, one is to get more even coverage. It is very hard to get an even dye job with one application unless spraying or dipping. You will get streaks with a dauber or a sponge. Multiple coats solve this because the streaks blend into each other with each layer. If you were you dye it in multiple passes with full strength dye, there will be way too much dye on the surface, and you will end up buffing it for ever to keep it from rubbing off. Another reason to thin the dye is you may a thinner consistency for your application method. Another reason to thin dyes is to build up colour for effect. Fade dye jobs are done with thinned dye. I carved some maple leaves on an iphone case and i dyed them with multiple (8-10) washes of mahogany dye thinned to 12:1 with a drop or two of red or black thrown in here and there. Some colours also do interesting things when thinned. Fiebings regular Red dye thins to a really bright fuchsia......After a couple coats it goes red.....Dye is an interesting beast and a never ending source of experimentation. Thin with isopropanol, standard drugstore rubbing alcohol. Also used for cleanup. No, pro oil dyes, and dyes in general should not leave a film if applied correctly. With dyes, the goal is to get the color down into the fibers and leave the grain exposed. Part of the technique is to buff off any dye left on the surface after it dries. Paints cover the grain. Also, steer clear of the usmc black. It seems no matter how long you buff, it still rubs off in many cases....

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Talk to all the pawn shops and keep your eyes out. Leather tools are not as easy a sell as cordless drills. They are pretty uncommon and identifiable. They may just turn up.

Cansew in Vancouver has lots of bigger threads in many colours nylon or poly at good prices. Last time i talked to mason, they did not stock much for thread bigger than 138. Not many options for needles to fit my 441 either. I have a few other connections down here depending on what you are looking for. Hit me up, one Nelsonian to another.

The clamp is great but nothing in comparison to the work you put into that bench behind it. And the rest of the shop as well it appears.

How much and do you ship? Wow, That is amazing. I love the Greene and Greene reference. You could make a few bucks selling these. There is absolutely nothing of quality on the market these days. The contrasting wood is stunning. Even simple ones of the same design but without the embellishments would sell. Great work. Thanks for sharing.

This used to be true, however the bots and crawlers nowadays are very sophisticated and can see right through many of these techniques. The "at" "dot" one does not work. You need to be sneakier. Think about it, If they have facial recognition software to identify faces out of pictures, they for sure can figure out a simple obfuscation technique. Google can live translate text, this requires the computer to understand the words. Just switching a number or symbol for the word is not enough. The best way is to open a second "burner" email account with gmail or the likes and use that one for any publicly available situation. They are free. If it gets too be getting crazy, dump the address and start a new one. You can set up mail forward for trusted mails to your real inbox. The gmail app will let you have multiple accounts configured and switch between very easy. I have 5 gmail accounts in total. All this time your "myname"@gmail.com is still safe. Btw, If you are Bob@hotmail.com, sorry for all the spam......That was my go-to email to sign up for stuff for years.

I've had just about enough of your nationalism, Wiz......

In Canada, the "do not call list" is used by companies outside of Canada as a list of real phone numbers.......One of the reasons for call centers operated by contracted companies in other countries. There are American companies that do it to us because the do not call regulations end at the border...Would not be surprised if there are canadian companies doing the same thing to you guys. I don't put my numbers/addresses on any list ever. I still get junk mail addressed to the previous owner from almost 10 years ago but nothing in my or my partners name, except mail from the real estate agent that sold us the house......My email has got 4 spam mails this month and 3 were actually mis-categorized.

Except when they are not of course...

I usually oil after forming to soften it up . Water forming will stiffen leather and it is advisable to get some oils back in after, If it is too hard, it may be uncomfortable and/or crack in use. It should still hold shape, just be softer. Careful with the oil, it can take a day or 3 to fully have an effect. It is much better to put too little oil on, wait a day or 2 and then see if it needs more. Over oiling can ruin leather and is really easy to do with neetsfoot. The leather will absorb way more than it needs. Now as to finishing the back and bleeding, Back finishing is one of those difficult things that can vary greatly with the tannage and the texture of the back. The flesh side of the leather absorbs a dye a whole bunch faster than the grain side and tends to collect dye particles caught up in the nap. Buffing will only go so far. It is kinda like getting sparkles out of shag carpet.....In addition, the water, oils and soaps,sweat and other stuff a wrist cuff/hair piece is exposed to will effect the leather and finishes. As far as finish, many use beeswax based finishes but be carefull, over application can cause them to be sticky. Others use thinned resolene, but this can make the back rougher and scratchier.... Short answer is, use the smoothest/firmest backed leather you can and only dye if you have to. Do some experiments on scrap to see what works for you. Edging is a whole other topic. There are many threads on here about it. One piece of advice to prevent bleed is to use several light coats. Don't worry if the first dye coat does not cover, you will get it the second time. Oversoaking the edge to get even colour the first application can cause bleed easy. Again, the edge absorbs product way faster than the grain, so go slow and sparingly.

And that is 500 profit. Every hide you buy to make into gifts and make no money from goes against the profit.....and it is really hard to keep track of the value of the home grown carrots you traded for that wallet......

As far as i know, Nakajima=juki in most cases. I believe Juki bought nakajima's sewing division back in the 60's or 70's when nakajima went hard into typewriters and other office equipment. There were quite a few years where both names were still sold. Often, if you use the same model and just search for juki instead of nakajima, you find the same machine. There are also Japanese Nakajima 441's. Nakajima had been on the sewing machine market for 2 decades before juki even made their first machine, so likely Juki bought them for their designs and tooling. Nakajima started making machines in the 20's and juki in the 50's. Machine models appear to have traveled both ways between the brands for at least a few years. With this in mind, I guess that machine is the same as a Juki 321.

In order to be gender equal, I understand with women, you put a pencil under a breast, if it fall out, good, if it stays, watch the diet, if it disappears, no hope.

I looked at the harbour freight site and i see a woodworkers bench and a metal bench with a pegboard backing. Both are pretty good deals as general workbenches go, however for leather: I have used a woodworkers bench before but got annoyed with the dog holes all over the top. I frequently had issues with these holes, like pushing my knife right through the leather and cutting mat all of a sudden when I went over one, messing up the cut. The vise was nice for clamping glue ups on smaller items like wallets. It also looks nice. The metal one with the backboard is a good deal if you replace the top right away. If it is the same one we get up here, the frame is pretty sturdy but the benchtop is particle board and will not survive any hammering. Replacing the top or even skinning it with real ply is the way to go.

Just drawing at straws here but this came to mind: Have you tried with a needle a size up or down? I know webbing can tighten down on the needle and the hole closes back up. I wonder if the act of turning the work causes the thread to wrap around the needle a little and get slightly tighter, or perhaps stopping the needle motion to turn allows the webbing to collapse the hole, effecting the ability of the machine to pull the top tight at the end of the stitch cycle? Also, just curious, what happens if you turn a 90 the other way? I wonder if it makes a difference whether you turn towards or away from the hook. If it is the same both ways i would lean to a needle/thread/lube issue but if it changes with direction i would suspect something going on in the hook with loop formation. Again, just a shot in the dark. Thread lube may help as well.

It is pretty basic, the plywood is used full size, and the store will cut the studs down to 36" lengths for you. The 12' pieces get cut into a 4 and an 8 for an end and side rail. All you need is a drill and possibly a small hand saw or a jigsaw to cut notches in the bottom shelf where the posts are. Most big box hardware stores will rent you a drill for a few dollars. This table design is also far superior to the harbor freight one. I have held trucks up on lighter weight frames. If the table is properly built, 2x6 rails with 4x4 posts every 4 feet will likely hold up 5 or 10 thousand pounds if not more. (An unsupported fir vertical 4x4 post 4 feet tall is rated for 17500lbs vertical load and 2x6 fir is rated to hold 4200lbs on a 4' span, and you have 2.) Granted, some don't have the skills to work with wood, however the leather projects they are going to do ON the table have more complex construction than the table itself.....

Plus i think those machines can be finicky and will turn expensive hides to scrap in seconds if something isn't perfect. I wonder if the risk involved with custom splitting is too high. It is one thing if you have a stack'o'hide beside you and you can grab another hide, and sell the messed up one in the defect pile, It is totally another if the customer sent you a single hide of expensive imported reindeer leather and the machine eats it...

I bet i could do it. sheet of 3/4 ply for top - $40 sheet of 3/8 for shelf - $18 2 x 12' 2x6 studs for top rails - $19 2 x 12' 2x4 studs for bottom shelf rails - $13 4 x 8' 2x3 studs for shelf and top cross braced $10 option a:) 2 x10' x 4x4 posts, 3 36" table legs out of each - $40 option b:) 4 x 10' 2x4 studs doubled up for posts - $24 dollars. Those are current canadian prices. While i am in an area with cheaper wood, our dollar is worth $0.75us right now. It works out to $118 if you make the frame out of just 2x4 with 2x3 cross braces under table and shelf. If you beef up the top rails to 2x6, and use doubled 2x4 posts it will cost $124 If you use 4x4 posts and 2x6 rails top and bottom with 2x4 support rails it is only $152. $152 CAD= $114 american. Just enough left for a box of screws.