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Greystone - those links may or may not be what the OP was looking for, but I can never remember where that page is - thanks for sharing! I'm going to bookmark it right now for future reference.

I just thought I'd follow-up with this thread in case someone stumbled across it and never found the updated thread containing a servo fix. I was one of the early people complaining about the servo motor sensitivity. I loved the sewing machine itself, but was unhappy with the lack of control I was getting out of the servo motor in stock form. No worries though - Steve and his team have come up with a fix that makes the servo motor function like it should. If you have any concerns, please don't hesitate to call Steve. Here is the thread that discusses the servo motor fix: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=41916&view=findpost&p=260742

Same here - it works even better than the post-it-note mod I was using because this new fix from Steve gives an even greater range of speed than I was getting with the post-it-note. I set it to 40, and I think I was getting about 35-37 on the display (meaning it's capable of running almost Max speed). Obviously I'll never run it that high, but I sewed a mock-up holster last night with the speed still set at 40, and had NO problem at all controlling the speed. There is NO WAY I could have done that before (without the mod in stock servo form). Good job Leather Machine Company!!

Ugh - dang hackers! I had customers complaining they couldn't access my site. Turns out one of my files was hacked, causing redirects to other sites. I was never able to detect the problem, because it was working fine for me. To make matters worse, I went on vacation for a week in the hills of SE Oklahoma and I had no internet access (except for my iPhone) almost the entire time because a bad storm knocked out the cabin's modem. A friend of mine pointed out a website that will scan your site for you (for free) and let you know if you have any problems, and if problems are detected, it gives you a bit of information to help you fix the problem. Anyway, I decided the best approach was to simply start over from scratch. I erased my entire website from my FTP folder, erased my database, changed all my passwords and rebuilt everything from scratch. What a pain!!! If anyone is interested in trying out the free site scanner for their own site, it's http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/.

Yeah, but you can't see the back. That was what I was noticing in my google searches - they usually just show the back.

Don - I'm with you. I hate applying dye with anything but an airbrush. Check out satansbarber on YouTube - he does most of his stuff brown, by hand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTNJSOEwPUs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hi Andy - a 7oz face with a 7oz lining will result in panels nearly 1/4" thick - much too thick to detail form. Lined leather is even stiffer than unlined leather of the same overall thickness. Wether or not it's machine sewable will depend on the machine. The edges will be nearly 1/2" thick. You can look at my website in the How's it Made section a http://www.adamsleatherworks.com/hows-it-made/ to see the videos Mike is referring to (thanks Mike!).

I'm looking for inspiration from others to see some options for rear belt slots. My standard offering is the pancake style mag pouch with the belt slots on the leading and trailing edges of the pouch. I've included a sample photo that shows my current design. It allows the pouch to ride a little tighter since there isn't an additional layer of leather against the hip, and it also allows a little more retention on the magazine since the belt will pull the pouch against the body. But, it obviously takes up a TON of room on the belt. I've never gotten any complaints, but I'm sure my customers would like a more compact option for single and double mag pouches. I've seen some that have a tongue that protrudes from the top a couple of inches which is then folded down and sewn on the bottom. This is simple enough, though I have an option for a 'pinch guard' at the top of the pouch to help guide the magazine into the pouch. I could incorporate the fold into that, but that would make the pouch ride a bit lower on the belt. 90% of my customers request this option. I've also seen some that have a flat panel on the back with two slots cut in it to form the tunnel, then the two mag pouches are sewn to that panel on two sides - the leading or trailing edge and the bottom edge. I guess this would work okay, but I'm not sure what I think about the mag pouch only being secured to the back panel on two sides. Right now I'm leaning towards attaching two strips of leather to the back of the pouch to form the slots - one behind each magazine. I'll attach them at the top and bottom. This will work well enough, just not sure it's 'professional' looking. Anyway, looking for inspiration from those that are willing to offer it.

Just got off the phone with Steve - he called to let me know this upgrade will be coming my way in the next day or two. Thank you Steve for keeping me in mind and for all your team's hard work in coming up with an easy to apply solution.

I don't have an answer, but have experienced similar frustrations. I'm going to try airbrushing the finish on next time I use it to minimize the color bleed/smearing. I applied it with a dauber over my stitching on the last journal cover I made, and that helped a lot. I just made sure not to rub a lot - tried not to go back over the wet areas until it was all dry.

I got that too when I had a Boss - I found it best to rotate the piece 180 degrees and stitch a few stitches, then rotate it back around and stitch the piece. When I got to the end, I would either overstitch my previous start point (in which case, I wouldn't do what i just said - I'd just start at the beginning and go all the way around then overstitch the start point by 4 or 5 stitches), or rotate the piece 180 and overstitch 4-5 stitches. That probably made ZERO sense. Imagine two scenarios.... If I sew a straight line where the two ends do not touch one another (like they would if you sew a circle), I'd make a mark (point A) that is equal to 4-5 stitches away from my start point (point . Then, starting a point A, sew towards point B, then rotate the piece 180 and sew to the end (point C), then rotate back around and sew a 4-5 stitches and end (point D). If I sew a circle with the two ends touching, I'll simply start sewing at the start point, then go all the way around and end by stitching over my start point 4-5 stitches. Bottom line - I would never sew backwards with the Boss if I could avoid it. I have a Cobra Class 4 now, but I still do the exact same thing I just mentioned as a general rule. The stitches just look better that way.

Since its almost toast at this point, try rubbing over it with a dauber that has almost no dye left in it and see if you can build up the color. Then, seal it with a light coat over the cracked area - maybe even with Fiebings Leather Balm With Atom Wax. I've had this happen when making a journal cover with Tandy leather. Cracked right at the fold. Skiving away material on the backside would prevent that.

Thanks! I have a LOT to learn about the various types of leather and such - that page on my site was my attempt to force myself to learn something, and to help others as well. The Creative MayheM page is really cool too! The photography is fantastic. My coworker loves the red shoes!

Those look fantastic! I was just browsing your gallery - very fun and creative idea! I like them all. And I like the subtle detailing, like the gear stamp on one of the eyes. Heading over to your Facebook page right now!

It's 3-5 if memory serves... I used to have a Consew 206rb that I'm kicking myself for selling! Will buy another if I can sell enough of these. I sorta feel like it has to be hand sewn though to justify the price I hope to charge.

Thanks everyone - I appreciate the compliments. I forgot to mention, but part of my comment about still trying to figure out the best way to make these was also referring to the best way to sew them. I have a Cobra Class 4, but the leather is too thin to use the standard base plate with the lower feed dog. I can use the holster or stirrup plate so the thickness is no longer a problem, but then I get horrible puckering on the bottom since the lower feed dog isn't pressing the puckering flat. I could minimize that by switching to a smaller thread and needle, but I can't afford to have different thicknesses of thread right now so I'm stuck with 277 thread and 200 needles. Anyway, to save time, I punched all the holes with my machine using the holster plate, but that left tracks (and the puckering) even with VERY little presser foot pressure. I didn't just use the machine to sew it because the leather is too thin to bury the 277 thread knot. But, with a saddle stitch, you don't really have that problem since there is no knot...

I'm still trying to figure out the best way for me to make these, but I'm getting the hang of it I think. One thing I keep messing up is the pattern size - I'm not allowing enough overall width to allow the cover to close all the way, but this one is almost perfect (finally). Now if I can just get the stitching down (I hate hand stitching). This was made from cheap Tandy leather that was on sale a few months back, and it's tooled with a few of the basic stamps, then dyed with the Tandy Profession Waterstain (Red), then blotted with Fiebing's Pro Oil Black, then I airbrushed Fiebing's Pro Oil Dark Brown to blend the black and red. I then coated it with two heavy coats of Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax. I wanted to antique the tooling, but I didn't want to seal the leather with an acrylic finish or anything like that - I want it to still feel like leather, so I'm not sure how to antique it at this point. Any suggestions? The first photo shows the red most accurately - overall, the entire piece is fairly dark - not nearly as bright red as the second two photos. This thing was a nightmare to photograph and I was too lazy to setup a light box.

It really is pretty quiet. I've been using 277 top and bottom, and have bought white, natural, brown and black and most recently Henna from Weaver. I decided to stop offering White because by the time I form, oil and seal, the white thread gets a tad muddy looking and is VERY hard to differentiate between white and natural. So, now I just offer natural. Weaver's 277 natural (It's not really called Natural if memory serves) is a tad darker than what I was buying from Tippmann - it actually has more of a tan color to it. I think my machine came with 3, maybe 4 bobbins. Can't remember off-hand. Thread colors are pretty limited once you start getting up that thick. Some people dye their own thread. I'm not ready to go down that road just yet....

I had the motor set at 40 when I started my current batch of ten orders. My post-it layering is only allowing a max of about 22 - still way too fast for this type of work. But, towards the end I put the servo at 15 after I noticed it was still set at 40 (maxing at 22 because of the post-it setup I have right now).. Without the mod, there is no way I could leave the machine set at 22. About 7 was all I could risk because of the lack of control.

I tried transparency film with a printed gradient. Barely engaged the motor at the darkest point. Printed another one, but printed on both sides to make it even darker. Not much change. Switched to vellum. Not much better. I wanted to try a spray paint gradient but didn't have any on hand. It takes quite a bit of light blockage before the motor activates at all.

I shot a little video last night of me sewing one of my pancake holsters using the post-it-note mod shown in my previous post above. What you can't see in this video is that I now have FULL use of the entire range of motion on my foot pedal to control the speed. Granted, with this particular color of paper an the amount of layers I'm using, I can't make full range of the maximum speed of the machine. But, 22-23 (out of 40) is still pretty fast for this type of work - much faster than I need to be using. Honestly, if I was able to utilize the entire speed range from 1-40, the pedal would be twice as sensitive as it is now (with the post-it-note mod installed). So, even though I can't use the full range of speed, the pedal is effectively twice as controllable since it's half as sensitive as it "should" be (to utilize the entire speed range of 1-40 over the same foot pedal range of motion).

The control panel is very confusing. I use Bluehost and have been pretty happy with them. My Wordpress site seems to run slow at times, but I'm not sure that's their (bluehost's) fault.

Beautiful work, as always Andy! Very envious of this one... Can I ask how difficult it is to use the latches on the inside of the bag - are they easy to latch? Man, I wish you'd make a tutorial so I wouldn't feel so nervous about wasting another $50+ worth of leather on my next attempt...

You might start here for an overview of the different types of leather if you're not already familiar with it. In fact, maybe I should check it out again too.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather Are you saying, for example, you might go to a garage sale and buy a leather couch for very cheap, then cut it apart and use the leather for your new hobby? LOL!! Hadn't thought of that....

For hand stitching, what's the best C.S. Osborne chisel to pre-punch my holes? http://www.csosborne.com/no700.htm http://www.csosborne.com/no452.htm http://www.csosborne.com/no609.htm The no700 specifically says its for saddle stitching. But the blades don't look angled... The no452 doesn't look angled either, so I'm leaning towards the no609... Anyone have any suggestions or a better recommendation (besides punching holes one-by-one with an awl)? Also, these are obviously mult-pronged - which tool is the complimentary tool for punching the holes going around tight curves?Look