dikman

Pretty simple, I used an old electric slow cooker my wife was throwing out, chopped up the suet and left it in there for several hours to reduce. I poured out the liquid to cool and gave the cruzzly bits left behind to the chooks. Doesn't get much easier. I told the butcher what I wanted to do and he gave me suitable scraps from the sheep carcasses, not quite the "pure" suet but worked fine for my needs.

I would consider removing them altogether if you're opening it up. I doubt if many would use this connection these days.

That would explain the funny bulges on the left of the post. I was wondering about that.

The photo is a bit small but it looks very similar to my 51W59.

If you're referring to the tension release pin that slides inside the housing to push the discs apart, I've had to make a couple in the past and just found a suitable sized nail or piece of rod and cut it by trial and error until it worked.

There are quite a few posts on here about them and also youtube videos. It could be useful for what you suggest but the bobbin is very small so not suited to anything other than small jobs.

The older 335's were limited to #138 thread but were happier with #69, I'm not sure about the new models as I couldn't find it listed in the manual that I have. It also mentions needing an air supply.

Damn, that looks nice! Jimi's right, it definitely needs a decal of some sort on the front, now that it's all clean it looks a bit....bland.

Looking nice. You're getting pretty good at this.

Unless you're getting it at an absolutely bargain price then I doubt if it will be worth the effort. Too much to go wrong.

As chiefjason pointed out, wet-molding and dyeing strips the leather and hardens it significantly, which is why most give it a coat of neatsfoot oil first, to add a bit of oil back into it. There's nothing wrong with using straight beeswax other than it needs to be warmed up to make it workable, as you said. In my experiments with various wax mixes I came across one chap who said to mix pure gum turpentine (NOT the manufactured stuff!) in with the beeswax to make it softer. Yes, it worked, but over time the turpentine tended to evaporate out and leave a black gunk in the container. Not good. I've also seen mention of using Pine oil but have no idea how effective it would be. When you've finished your project let us know how it went.

Well, my tallow has been sitting in an unsealed container for quite a few years, stored in a shed that gets bloody hot in Summer and very cold in Winter, and hasn't gone off. I've got several concoctions I've mixed, using tallow, and likewise had no issue with deterioration. Just sayin'.

If you want to soften the beeswax mix in some tallow and neatsfoot oil. Tallow doesn't go rancid.

Except if you look at Constabulary's machine it has a feed dog.

You must be a magnet for these machines, they always seem to find you!

Thanks mate, great photos and quite remarkable that the buildings not only survived but can still be used. If you didn't say where they were taken that "industrial style" of building could be anywhere in the UK.

Yep, I tried a couple of programmes I found on the 'net with my little burner but to no avail. One that did work was simpler than the stuff that came with it!

At least you're honest! I think it's safe to say that many of us were the same when we started.

For a first attempt that looks very good to me (my first attempt was plain, no decoration at all!). You done good!

Dwight, the gun control crowd here in Oz would go into screaming hysterics at the thought of a pastor wearing a concealed firearm in church! I love it!

I was about to ask the same thing. And " makes em solid as a Republican judge. " made me laugh.

Fair enough. What about using those double-cap rivets instead? Might be easier and quicker than stitching and be decorative too.

Dwight, normally Single Action stages use 10 rounds for pistols and 10 for rifle, so a loading strip holding 20 rounds is used to take the ammo to the loading table (firearms are only loaded immediately prior to shooting the stage). It also ensures that you have the correct number of rounds to load - I once accidentally loaded 11 in the rifle, which only left 9 for the revolvers. Most use a loop of leather/lace to hang it from the belt or the hammer of a revolver. Noob, did you stitch between each loop? I've never found it necessary to do that as once it's fed through the slots it doesn't move.

They're all what we call upholstery-class machines and should be fine for what you want to make (other than thread size). The max. they will take is #138, which is significantly smaller than your hand stitching thread. All this means is that it won't look the same as hand stitching but will still work fine. The servo is definitely a must have and the one on the Singer looks good but the machine is obviously priced accordingly. Parts for he Singer/Consew should be easier/cheaper to get and extra feet for those are readily available. Everything for the Pfaff will cost more. I'll have to leave it to others to comment on whether they're good value as I have no idea of pricing etc in your neck of the woods.

When you said hogleg I wasn't expecting to see a flintlock! The bag looks very nice.