Chief31794

I always work with formulas and here's my formula when a customer asks for something like this, first I never argue, I know that a normal belt strap cut from Hermann Oak Back or Bend is plenty and won't stretch, but since he's concerned, I apply my formula: Double the leather Triple the Price and make em happy! Just kidding of course, most people believe you when you tell them that the leather is sufficient for their purpose. Chief

I know you said you weren't interested in a drill press, but in an apartment you might want to consider a dremmel press, they are inexpensive, small and work hard. Load a #25 needle in it, mark your stitches and punch away resulting in a diamond pattern that will closely resemble real hand stitching. Of course you could always use an awl and that wouldn't be any noise at all and wouldn't insult any hand stitching purists. Chief

How are you applying the dye? If you are using a dauber or cloth or wool, then penetration will be medium, Spray with an air brush and the penetration will be light, if you dip dye which is the only way I use any dye the penetration will be complete and even. Thinning the dyes is done more for tint control, I normally cut all fiebings dyes except Pro Oil Black at 1:1 with denatured alcohol I have cut some of them up to 8:1 Alcohol to Dye for specific colors and tints. Hope that helps, Chief

X2, I have used it for years, I use it on line 20, 24, rivets, just about anything, it is a little pricey when you add in the dies, but it never fails, sets perfect every time. One of the few tools Tandy makes that does a great job right out of the box. Chief

Leather is like your skin, you stay in the sun with it and it will darken, using finishes can retard that somewhat but continued exposure to the suns rays will "tan" the leather. Leather is not water proof nor sun proof in my experience. Darker colors like Black and Brown are not as noticeable but the areas left natural are very noticeable when they stay out in the sun. Chief

I have been sewing on a Needle Feed machine (Boss) for a while, I am pulling the trigger on a Cowboy 3200 today. When sewing a holster or sheath where the welt has been skived to provide a taper with the Boss I had to manually adjust the stitch length as the thickness changed to keep the stitch length consistent, will this be true using a triple feed machine or will the stitch length remain constant as the product gets thinner? On some sheaths this is as much as a 1/4" change when closing a foldover sheath and 1/8" on Bowie Knife type sheaths. I don't normally skive the welt in a Holster unless it is a cowboy style holster but it does happen from time-to-time. Thanks, Chief

On Lifetime guarantees, make sure you include an exclusion clause that only guarantees against defects and specifically excludes "wear and tear" because most leather items are made to be used and in use they will wear. Most items last many decades but wear and tear is inevitable and not something you wish to provide protection for. If so, customers could get a new wallet or belt or holster any time their old one started to wear. On leather items wear and aging add to the "character" of the item, but legal terms are legal terms and it is not good to provide a blanket guarantee it should be a limited guarantee with everything spelled out in the document. Another note, when you provide a guarantee against defects you might want to make it for workmanship and not materials because I doubt your material vendors are providing you a lifetime guarantee against defects in their materials. Chief

You definitely don't want to use a belly, that's the stretchiest leather on the hide. Buy a bend and cut the strap for the belt from that, recommend Hermann Oak, it won't stretch. If he's still concerned then buy a bend split to 6/7oz, cut it in half lengthwise, laminate the two halves together flesh to flesh, then cut the strap from that, that will not stretch, matter of fact you may even have trouble bending it. Chief

This item has sold. Thanks everyone for the interest. Chief

Marine MP, First, thanks for your service. The back side is not as "Pretty" as the front, but it isn't bad either, it can be bad if you have the presser foot tension to high. You can put cloth tape over the plate and that plus proper pressure does away with the marks. It is a Needle Feed Walking Foot and even the more expensive ones that are needle feed only have a tendency to be finicky about getting the back side to look perfect. It will never be hand stitching, but as I said it looks really good and professional when done correctly. There is a guy coming this morning to look at it, he makes knives and provides a leather sheath with them, I bought a knife from him several years ago, beautiful work, he makes a bunch of sheaths at a time so I think the machine will aid his shop efficiency. Hope that helps, if he doesn't get it and you're interested, I'll be in Atlanta the week of May 6-9, and could bring it with me. Chief (That's an Army Chief not a Navy Chief, although there's nothing wrong with Navy Chiefs I just ain't one.)

I have one, you will need to sharpen the blade and keep it sharp. The machine works good on belts, that is what I use mine for primarily. It will have to be mounted securely. Chief

My first leather project was sandals for Roman Soldiers, oh wait, maybe that was my 2nd or 3rd, can't remember. Actually, I made a belt at a US Army Craftshop in 1969 and have been doing leather ever since. Cheif

Bigfoote, The instructions are in Tandy's Book, "How to Lace", new revised edition, it has a copy-write of 2005. It was there stock number: 6004-00. It is available on their site in hard copy for $4.99 and for download on the LeatherCraft Library for $3.99. The lacing technique is referred to as "Quadruple Cordovan", it has instructions for double cordovan (double loop), triple cordovan and quadruple cordovan as well as Mexican Basket Weave (Round Braid) and others. Well worth having for reference. Chief This video is me demonstrating the Mexican Basket Weave or Round Braid, not the Quadruple Loop. Chief

Thanks, Its mostly taking up room in the shop. I think I priced it to sell. Chief

Welcome to the forum, great site. As for leather working tutorials, there are two places that have quite a bit. Tandy has free videos which teach basics, they also have a pay site on their leathercraft library that is pretty reasonable and has lots of good solid tutorials. The other place is youtube, there are lots of leather working tutorials out there, just search for what you're interested in, such as "Hand Stitching Leather", "Leather carving", etc. Good Luck, Chief

I bought this about 3 years ago, it is the aluminum model I think, it sews great, no problems with it, haven't sewn much because I'm old school and every time I think I might use it, I hand sew the item anyway. Just me I guess, thought I was ready for machine stitching, just ain't. I am asking for $950.00, would like to have it picked up or I'll meet someone half way as long as it's reasonable (200 miles for both of us or so), I'm in South West Georgia. I will ship, buyer to pay actual shipping. It comes with a roller edge guide, a standard edge guide, a flat bed attachment, a center presser foot plus the original presser foot, 7 bobbins, several needles (shown in the picture), manual, etc. Thanks, Chief

I'm pretty sure that quadruple cordivan is in the other book, I only have it in hard copy and the shop is closed. Someone else may know for sure. Chief

You can find them here: http://www.theclip.com/store/home.php?cat=277 They have several models on the Belt Clip page. Chief

Good advice from everyone above, but remember, if everything fails and it just doesn't look like you wanted it to; that's why they invented Black dye. Chief

I understand, the problem is the guy who sells you the concho has to have made a deal with the school or each individual school and the schools aren't willing to do that for most anyone except large scale manufacturers and he has to have paid the royalties on the conchos. Most concho distributors can't get through the enormous red tape and requirements to even start a deal with a particular school. Most schools also retain approval rights so that you couldn't buy their conchos and then put them on say whips and paddles for the adult industry (just an example), that means getting your goods approved, which a reseller (concho distributor for example) can't provide samples for approval because he's simply reselling the school's emblem. I've did exhaustive searches for concho's for UGA, and although I finally found some that I used to make a belt for a relative, I had to buy them "under the table". It's evident they aren't readily available by searching the internet for them. Keep in mind, Ford and Chevy welcome the advertisement, schools have no such motive. One way to get around it is to buy a belt with the respective concho on it, hope that they are screw in's and use those. There are sites with belts, etc for sale using University Team Logo's but not the conchos themselves. That's what I did, I found a guy at a show that had belts with UGA conchos, checked them, bought it and took the conchos off. That's pretty expensive though. Chief

You might try these guys, I've never used them, but they have a pretty extensive supply and specialize in belt clips. Chief http://www.theclip.com/store/home.php?cat=301

There are two books that Tandy has on lacing one is "Lacing and Stitching for Leathercraft" and I can't remember the other but both are good and carry much of the same information, however the one I named has single loop,double loop, triple loop, Mexican basket weave or Round Braid, and it also has two tone double loop instructions and a few others, I would recommend it. Chief

Electrathon is right, I assumed you'd decided on double loop, double loop with 1/8" lace will not cover an edge of that thickness very well. You could also consider using a wider lace say 3/16" (harder to find) and if it were me I would use a Mexican Basket Weave stitch with the wider lace, holes spaced and sized appropriately. 3/32" may still not cover with double loop that well, there used to be sources for 1/4" but I haven't been able to find any of that in a long time. But that's just me, I love the Mexican Basket Weave and it covers better. Chief

University logos are copywrited and protected and thus hard to find. The seller has to be licensed by the school to sell school logos. I ran into this because everyone around here wants University of Georgia emblems, bulldawgs, etc. Most concho manufacturers won't pay the licensing fee and be bothered with all the tracking paperwork on sales. They are available, I see them once in a while but then you also have to be careful about selling a product or making a product with a licensed emblem on it. Same with carving, you can carve school logos, but you are supposed to get either a license or authorization from the copywrite holder, a license they'll sell you (high and has requirements) but they probably will not give you authorization. Just my experience with it. Chief

If it were me, I would punch 3/32" holes 3/8" from the edge, but that's just me, others may have a different opinion. Chief