fredk

hee, hee, (on us) It took till today to spot that, we are so observant aren't we? (not)

As frodo has said; surface preparation is a priority for a good top finish. I don't do the coating myself but I get it done. One place I used to use did not do the surface prep properly and the powder coating just peeled off, like a skin off a banana. Another place, which i now use, does a proper prep and nothing short of a nuclear blast takes off their coatings One thing I found out is to put cast iron items in a hot air environment with hot air circulating and venting and refreshing for a long period. This removes moisture which the cast iron has absorbed. Cast iron absorbs quite a bit of moisture from the atmosphere**. If left on it forms rust bubbles under the powder coating A friend showed me how much on a cast iron car manifold [exhaust header to US readers]. The weight of the manifold dropped by almost 5% upon drying.

My experience of powder coating is on vintage car parts and not a sewing machine a. the finish can be better than painting but it is thicker. b. the powder coating can be tougher than paint c. yes, you can apply decals on it and varnish over it. d. you imply you are going to do it yourself. don't forget to plug screw and bolt holes and cover any screw or bolt threads sticking out. you can buy plastic plugs for the holes and plastic caps for the sticky-out bolts e. done well a powder coat finish can look like a baked on enamel finish as per original old machines

Make sure you get pure NFO and not compound

Yup, its a very old idea. Some other workers on here have been doing it for yonks, further back than that faceybk you showed

In my experience oil darkened leather does not get any lighter. It does not dry out as does water It sill looks grand tho. Why use vegetable oil? Pure NeetsFoot Oil is better. To feed a project after dyeing and working on it, to replenish the oils I use a beeswax & NFO mix. There is very minimal darkening if any

a. on rivets. make sure they are neither too short nor too long for the material they are going thru..- if too short they will not fully fasten, if too long the stem will bend sideways and make the head drift to one side. Ideally you want 2.3 to 3.5mm of stem above the leather.

A; speed-stitchers, aka sewing-awl are dead easy peasy to use. Shove needle with thread through leather, making its own hole or a pre-made hole. when the needle and thread is thru, pull a length of thread off the needle equal to and a bit more than the length you want to sew. Pull the needle back thru the hole leaving this extra length behind. Poke needle thru next hole until thread is thru, then back it out a wee bit leaving a wee loop, feed that extra length thru the loop and pull the needle back out completely = 1st stitch, repeat along the length needing sewing: in hole, back a bit leaving a loop, feed thru loop, back out fully, in next hole. Its very fast when the subject is in a clamp. b. this appears to have a c-clamp built on the back end. I'm thinking its for clamping the sewing needle and to feed heavy long material, like sail or tent canvas, onto the needle rather than working the needle unit along the material

Le Prevo in Newcastle, England has what you need and will send to you as well.

very thin belly leather wet moulded over a ball shaped buck. was done in ages past. you'd need a very solid buck tho, maybe an old leather soccer football

yeah, shud work. use a fleece bonnet tho. for me; its 'over-kill' but if it suits your needs. . . . .

More very most excellent works isn't that a grade school thing?

Thanks for the answer. That looks the bizz sure enough Base-ball caps are not common here

those are really nice so they are so, do these get just sewn on to the top side of the base-ball cap peak?

This is true. Maybe, if available to her, a pair of basic impact resistant spectacles with side shields. As easy and as comfortable to wear as ordinary spectacles. I sometimes wear such when needed. If wearing them gives her peace of mind then I'd recommend them before most other.

wot he says. ~ I've had the occasional needle break but it just snapped and kept stuck in the material. If your machine is set up properly then there is a very slim risk of needles breaking Every little while I pass a sewing repair shop in Belfast. None of the dozen or so workers in there wear protective glasses, only a couple wear what look like ordinary reading/closeup spectacles for the close nature of their work. And Belfast Health & Safety inspectors are extremely efficient in ensuring rules are obeyed in commercial premises

A good few years ago I was doing some webbing in a car upholstery job and thought a hole-burner would speed up the job etc. Until I saw the price of one - about £2500. Mind you, it could be set up to cut and melt the end of the strip as well as doing about up to 10 holes all at the same time. But it wasn't the easiest contraption to set up if the straps were all different, ok if you was doing a hundred the same I just kept on with a piece of 6mm rod in v/g and a blow lamp. I had 4 pieces of 6mm, each in a pair of v/g and used one as the others were burnt clean and re-heated. I never punched the hole, just melted thru the webbing. But there again I wasn't fitting grommets, I was using screws with cups and flanged headed bolts thru the holes. And I did all the work outside, even in the rain, where there was a goodly breeze Edit; Try here. I don't see any prices https://www.thewebcutter.biz/rx75

It still looks very good though

re-purposing, as in, once used by a grizzly as all-weather cover and now re-purposed to trim on a human's fashion coat? I'm being facetious/silly, don't mind me

Peeps, have you seen this story? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50030291 In case you cannot access the story to read it ~ California has now banned the use and sale of fur products, effective from 2023. That may seem a long way off but its only a few years. Its the slippery slope, where Cali leads others, especially N.I., follow quickly Exotic furs and bear furs I get, but where does that leave deer, rabbit, squirrel and even sheep fleece?

Flat or round? round or flat? Personal preference really. I have plenty of round thread, and I have plenty of flat thread. I like both. I've not found that either one is any 'easier' to sew. I've mainly switched to pre-waxed flat polyester thread as my spools of round waxed thread are running out and I can't get more of them. I do like the way the flat thread seems to lay flatter and neater when pulled up snug in a stitch Thickness of thread should suit the project. I have no hesitation in using 1 or 1.2mm thread on a Plague Doctor's Mask but I'd not use that on a credit card wallet, for that I'll use 0.65 or 0.55mm thread Just get a few different sizes of thread and needle to suit and get used to those combinations and how they look on your work. I buy my flat threads out of China from ebay sellers. The cost is really cheap and the threads are ok. What are you using to make your sewing holes? are you sure its making clean through and through holes? I use these a lot: On thin-ish leather they cut through but on thicker, eg 3mm and above, they don't make through and through and I need to use a sewing awl to finish the hole otherwise the needle either won't go through at all or it struggles well. thats how I do it, one needle through, then the other passed though and both threads pulled up snug at the same time ~ if its in my stitching clam, if its not I pull one side up snug then the other.

For 1 or 2s I use cardboard, for more numerous I get acrylic templates cut, or use 3mm MDF, or I stick the paper/card pattern onto special kitchen cutting mats I get from Ikea then cut them out - all depends on how many of the item I'm going to make and how complicated it is I draw up the pattern to exact sizes and take it to a place which cuts out with a laser mostly. They charge me a pittance to cut my templates in clear 3mm acrylic or 3mm MDF. The plastic mats I get from Ikea can be cut with my leather scissors.

If its just for cutting on and not for heavy stamping - the glass from the door of a microwave oven or standard cooker

Lookin good there

No good without pictures Rule 371 section G, subsection 74, item 3 says, "you must provided pictures of all results every time you have done something the other forum members want to see"