Randy Cornelius

As far as the awl blades go the Osborne and the tandy ones I have to do a lot of grinding and sharpening to get them to work the way I like. Most of these are too big and make to big of holes for most thread out there so I like to grind them down to a slimmer blade. The smaller the hole the better the final look of the sewing job. That was until I bought the Douglas slim awls blades. They are ready to use out of the box, except they come in little plastic tubes. lol. They are expensive but worth every penny if your time is worth anything to you. I also like to use the egg eye needles that Weaver sells for sewing. I try not to do much hand sewing these days but when I do I want the Douglas Awls. Randy

I talked to Danny Martin at his booth at the IFLoG show in Ft. Worth 2 years ago. He told me he makes his knives out of circular saw blades. The touble with that is maintaining the same quality from one lot of blades to another. I have one of his point knives and like it well enough but did not buy one of his round knives, I have enough of those. I would say they would be a good value based on the other custom knives available out there now. Randy

Try Ohio Travel Bag? RC

Herman Oak Leather is distributed by Caledon Sales, Calgary, 403-252-0232 per their web site. Randy

The only awl blade that I have been able to use "out of the Box" has been the ones I get from Douglas Tools. The ones I used to use from Osborn had to be sharpened and honed to be able to use. I would take them to the grinder and shape them to the correct size and angle, then hone them shooth and finally strop them to polish the blades so they would go through like butter. You can use one, but the Osborn blades are a lot of work. The Douglas ones are expensive, 20.00 as I remember but are worth it if your time with worth something. Randy

I have my home and farm insured through Farm Bureau, they sold me a business Liability rider that was not that expensive at all. Might look at something simular with your homeowners policys. Randy

Steve, I wish you well in your new endevor, I very much enjoyed the time I spent with you and Jerry at the booth at every show I seen you at. It was your knowledge and genuine love of the business that swayed me to buy my first machine from Artisen all those years ago. I have never once regreted buying an Artisen and the support from you and Jerry after the sale has been great. You two spliting up is like a divorce amount your closest friends, you don't know which to support more. I suspect that your new machine is just as good if you have put your name on it. I do not want to get in the middle of whatever happened between you and Jerry as both of you are very well respected men in the business and I consider both a friend. I wish you well and hope to see you down the road somewhere..... Randy

Funny you should ask, I have been asked to teach a class on basic case making at the IFLoG show in Indianapolis, In this fall. In that class I will be teaching the basics of making molds for cases. I have used several different materials for molds over the years but I find that wood is the best. It will absorb some of the moisture and help dry the leather while in the mold, thus setting the form you want and keep it. Wooden molds can be made with common wood working tools, the most importaint is a router but with some patients you can make them with wood chistles, rasps and sandpaper. If you can make it to Indianapolis this fall my class will be very afordable. Randy

Ask 10 people and you will get 10 different answers. The gun she should buy is the one she is comfortable with. If she has week hands a revolver may not be for her. If she cannot pull the double action trigger then a wheel gun is not for her. If it is for home defense then I would not worry about accurate shots at great distances, must shots would be under 5 yards so any of the smaller cal. would be fine. A hit with a .22 is far better than a miss with a 5 inch shell, (I think I seen that on someones signature here, sorry I stole it) but it's true. A .22 is very effective at close range but a .45 will never be smaller than a 45. So make sure whatever she buys she practices with it and becomes comfortable with it... Randy

I know Weavers has natural colored snythetic fleece but nothing in colors

I will glue most items before sewing just as was said before, to hold everything together. With machine stitching the bottom piece will tend to pull under. If possible leave the bottom piece just a little further out than the top to prevent the bottom piece from pulling back under. When I do not want glue on the item, like sewing purses that I sew inside out and them later turn right side out. I will hold them together with binder clips and remove them as I sew. I buy these by the box full from office supply stores. They work great for all kinds of things where you need an extra set of hands. Randy

For those of you that do not know I have a son, Riley who is very much into leather like me. He tells me to buy the best tools I can. I ask why, he says, "because some day they will me mine". Now is that love for your dad or what? Randy

I think you can view the cataloge on line now but it does not have the prices listed, All I have is the print cataloge with the prices. Randy

Springfield Leather, Springfield Mo had them the last time I was there, it's been awhile so not sure if he still has them. Randy

For dying edges I use a standard wool dabber but for one exception, I burn the dauper down to where it is just a tight ball. Yes I set it on fire, let it burn some to where it is just a tight ball without all the fluff. It holds the dye well and it dose not tend to let it run down the back side. also have used the felt on a cloths pen, you can get some felt that works well at Walmart in the sewing dept. It comes in packs and is used to cut and put on the legs of chairs so as not to scratch wooden floors. It has a glue back but it does not hurt it any for dying. Randy

Those are called "Clipped Corner Buckles" and can be bought new from Tandy, and Weaver Leather. Randy

I agree, it is very dangerous to use...

My first choise would be english bridle, it has wax added but not as much as Harness leather. I build Law Enforcement K-9 tracking harnesses that really get a work out and the english bridle holds up well and is somewhat water resistant, something you might want to consider when making dog equipment. Randy

Where are you getting Clear Lac and who makes it, never heard of it. I bought the last 3 quarts of neat lac my store had. Randy

Yes I have one but would not reccomend them to anyone. The best sharpening system I have is a leather belt that I made for my 4 x 36" table top belt sander. I then put rouge into the belt and use it to strop all my knives. Works so much better that that other system. RC

This process is not on the CD. The spring I am talking about is inside the bobbin holder itself. You have to take the bobbin holder out. I am not at home and don't have the tech names for all the parts. But you have to take the small screw out that you use to adjust the tention. Then inside the holder this little spring will come out. You have to bend it a certian way for more tention, another way for less. I cannot remember which way I had to bend mine. But I have not had any problems since. But your problem sounds like something has happened to make it not sew all of a sudden. Try rethreading the machine from the spool to the needle, replace the needle and clean and oil the machine. Take the bobbin suttle out and clean and oil there also. I had a problem with my thread fraying out of the stitches? Worked and worked on it, finally I replaced the needle and everthing was fine. Looked at the old needle under magnifying glass and it had a tinny burr that was pulling the thread. Randy

Sometimes it is so simple, sometimes it's not. Try looking at the spool of thread. Make sure the thread is coming off the spool from the top. Meaning that the very first thread guide, the one on the long rod is right above the spool of thread. It this gets out of place it will try to pull the thread off to the side and the thread will hang up and cause uneven top tention every few stitches. Also if you need more bottom tention than the screw will allow you can take the bobbin holder apart and there is a tinny spring you can bend to give you more tention. There is always a reason for it doing what it does, right or wrong. Start at the begining, the thread spool and work your way to the needle. Don't straighten those needles, throw them away and put in a new one. Give Jerry at Artisen a call and see if he can walk you through any problems, I understand that Steve is gone, he was very good at trouble shooting over the phone. Randy

Looking for a sourse of light weight 2oz glovey type white leather. It has to be pure white not ivory or off white. Like would be used for garmets. Not haveing any luck, tried Siegels and other web sites. Randy

Waht kind of dye are you using, I went to using oil dye and it seems to help. I now order most of my black already drum dyed from the tannery. The drum dye process helps a lot on keeping the color from rubbing off. Randy

Wickett & Craig sells black skirting, Black tooling leather, black english bridle and black harness. They drum dye it and the color seems to hold very well with very little or no rub off. I have been using it for years for my black Law Enforcment duty belts and other black strap goods. But I have never tooled. Personaly I think tooling on black is a wast of time as the tooling does not show up. You have to get close to see any detail, but that is just my oponion. I have done some tooling on the black english bridle just to see if it takes very well. You have to case by dipping it in hot water but it does tool very well. Herman Oak will sell black dyed leather but they spray on the black dye. I have never used it so don't know how well it set and if it will rub off. Randy