dikman

Yes, it does sound odd. After 90 years you would think they would have found something better that doesn't have the potential for staining the items (whatever they are).

I've been using a contact adhesive made by Sika, nothing special other than it is thinner than the Selley's stuff that I've used in the past. I've taken to thinning it with Xylene as it slowly thickens up, seems to work ok. I've made a few belts, mostly gunbelts, using two pieces of veg-tan glued rough side to rough side with no problems. I suspect most solvent contact adhesives will work fine, regardless of the brand, I've even used the cheap stuff from discount stores.

Using Cosmoline between two layers of leather sounds a bit bizarre to me.. Unless the leather is sealed before applying the Cosmoline then it's bound to start seeping through when it gets warm/hot, being a grease. I'm trying to visualise a reason for doing it and can't for the life of me think of one. And if you find a process for drawing the Cosmoline out of the leather then what is the point of putting it there in the first place?

Looks like a pretty solid belt, should last a while.

Full marks for taking the time and making the effort to do all of that!

If you wear suspenders why not make a pair of tooled leather suspenders? A little more complex than making a belt, maybe, but should look pretty cool.

I made three different sizes, they're currently drying as I coated them with diluted white glue 'cos the plywood I used is rubbish! Just have to find something to use for the pins. Thanks Dwight.

Glad it worked out for you. $300 for a post-bed machine is pretty good, particularly as they don't appear to be very common unlike flat-beds or cylinder arms.

I like that little dohickey, I'll have to make one.

Idiot!

I think welding and re-drilling is the only real option, I suspect silver solder will be too soft and eventually wear from thread abrasion. Know anyone with a TIG? It would be the best way to fill it, otherwise a MIG should work. The downside to welding is possible rusting over time.

Congratulations! I reckon you got a bargain, well done.

My first lathe belonged to a family friend, he was a fitter and turner and built it himself, it was vary basic and lacked many of the niceties, like power feed. I bought it off his estate and it came with a lot of high-speed steel tooling that he had ground into various shapes. I did a lot with that and eventually bought a more modern one (paid for by digging boolits out of the berms at my pistol club, melting them down and selling the ingots to reloaders ). While I have carbide tooling too, I get a lot of enjoyment out of shaping high-speed steel bits to suit a particular purpose. I also have one of those little "mini lathes" that are common on ebay and find it very handy for small jobs, plus one of those small mills. The mill is, of course, limited in what it can handle but I've found it very useful to have. I love machining aluminium and brass. How about a photo of the stylus, Bruce?

I guess it made the decision for you, but it's very annoying when they don't have the courtesy to at least answer! One of my pet peeves.

While not the ideal machine for what you want to make it should work ok. Factor in the cost for a servo motor too, as unless you are quite skilled the clutch motor will be difficult to control. My 51w was my first machine and no matter what I did I couldn't control it until I fitted a servo and speed reducer! I don't use mine very much as my other machines are more suited to what I make but it's nice to have a post-bed machine (just-in-case).

CdK, I find lathe time to be very therapeutic.

Very classy! Which colour dye?

A friend of ours had a leather business many years ago and kept a bit of stuff when he got rid of it. Just before he died he asked me if I wanted the stuff, so of course I said yes. There is various pre-dyed leathers, tools, buckles, fasteners (including several thousand assorted quick rivets) and three very old Carr hand presses, with an assortment of fittings for various fasteners. Strangely enough, though, there are no fittings to use on the quick rivets. So, a bit of lathe work and I now have a set of dies for quick rivets (which I can also use in my arbor press if needed). The bottom anvil is flat while the top die is slightly domed. Heated and dunked in linseed oil to minimise rusting.

Even though I don't need one I'd grab it at that price! Can't go wrong. If you still want to use your heavier thread you could just use the machine without thread to pre-punch your stitching holes, it's a good way of getting nice straight evenly spaced holes for hand-stitching.

Nice job on the reducer, the method of adjustment is ingenious and simple.

If you had just shown me that, without saying anything about the dye, I would have said it looks great and would have asked how you high-lighted the snowflakes!

I guess I should have made it clearer, I've been experimenting with casting lead jigheads and powdercoating them, I wondered what would happen if I added the glitter stuff to the pc before baking it. That's nice to know, bladegrinder. I need to try it on a decent size piece as I've no idea what the final finish looks like, I'm hoping I like it since I've got so much now. And yes, I've now got enough to dunk stuff if I need to. As an aside, the big bottles are now $75 each and the Neatsfoot oil $45 so I think I did well!

That comment from Hightex sounds a bit odd to me. I wouldn't have any qualms about buying one, the only reason I didn't is because the cost of just the head was almost the same as the 441, so naturally I bought the biggest I could afford!

Browsing marketplace (as one does) and saw some dyes advertised for $50. After a couple of weeks it was still there so offered $40, she said ok so I just picked them up. 2 big bottles of English Bridle (full), 1x Light Brown (50%), 1x Dark Brown (50%), 1x Black (almost empty) and 1x Neatsfoot oil (full). She also threw in some ecostain (Slate gray and Silver), 1x small bottle of Mahogany, 1x Black edgekote and some glitterlites. I'm not sure what I can use the glitterlites for, might be good on fishing lures? I'm feeling pretty chuffed, just need to try the English Bridle to see what it looks like.

Thanks for that, I've been lying awake nights wondering how much they hold! Nice job on the winder, though, you might as well tell us how you made it.