fredk

Got it. It was seized up a bit tho. A bit of brute force and oiling got the stop plate moving. Moves real smooth now. Did a little bit-by-bit dismantling and oiling - yup I'm using the proper oil. Had a stiff spot in the mechanism. Turned out to be mostly a big divot of fluff between the teeth bit and the case. As the teeth moved back they jammed a bit by the fluff. Once cleared and all oiled its moving like Fred Astaire on an ice rink The plastic handle for the handcrank was in the accessory box. Its all ok, but I might change the handle to a wooden one. The shaft and release parts of the bobbin winder were slightly seized up. Once again, oiled and worked and its working fine. I thought of leaving it off but then there is a big ugly gap there. Come 'ere, I'll tell ye a funny one. I said there was no serial number. There is. On the main casting, just under the front lip. Each time I'd opened it up to see under I'd been putting one of my hands right over the serial number plate! big Doh!

umm, are ya gonna make an ammo pouch for them 8 shot cartyriges?

Lucky nephew with an Unc who just made him a real cowboy gun holster. He'll be all set up to catch those dastardly piggy-bank robbers

To cover the bases as it were; the belt strap just folds around that bar and the hook just hooks into the holes on the other end of the belt

Thanks guys

Righto - understand the first bit. ~Sorry, but not the bit I've embolden I have a singer 15K in my collection. Do you think this copy would take the same bobbin case? it needs a new one. And would the threading be about the same as I have the instructions for the 15K. Needles? same domestic Singer type? ~I can never get my head round to understanding thread sizes. I intend to use Gutterman 'Topstitch' thread with this, which needs a 100 or so needle.

My turn to ask questions. All help and advice gratefully received I picked this unknown machine up at Charity Shop [Thrift shop in USA] for a contribution of £10 Before I get stuck into sorting it out I'd like see if I can get some info on it. I'm guessing its a Japanese clone of a Singer. There is no serial number or maker's name on as far as first inspection can discern Front side: Rear side: Control knob on front of base: it reads; Embroidery, Silk, Normal Working end: I have the cover plate but it needs repaired; no screws to hold the spring in place. Nae prob fixin thon Stitch choice control; Question - Is the knob on the left to lock the choice lever or a reverse selection? This has a gearbox attachment on the fly wheel end. That bolt thats been fitted has a nut which restricts its turning to just under one revolution. It seems to be a 1:2 gear box, one turn of the gearbox turns the flywheel round by twice. Obviously that bolt needs changing to a handle and the gear box attachment to the main body needs fixing. The bolt and nut has been fitted and then bent to try and clear the gearbox but it shows its been rubbing on the gearbox housing for sometime use - daft, why not just back-off the nut?? All in all, it turns over freely and the mechanics underneath all look clean and oiled. PS: I'm aware this might not do much in my leatherwork, maybe manage very thin leather, however I do sew other materials as well TIA Fred

With chisel holes I prefer a 1mm thread and #17 Glover's needle or a #2 Saddler's needle

Working from the cow's backbone - spine - towards the belly; the back bone area is both the thickest, strongest and has virtually no stretch, round the sides a bit the leather is not as thick, still very strong and has a modest amount of stretch, the belly area has the most amount of stretch, not very great strength and tends to be thinner. The shoulders tend to be just slightly less than backbone and slightly more than sides of the cow. The backbone area is best for belts and straps. The sides for general purpose; wet moulding, wallet making. The belly area is good for women's purses/handbags where they like some stretch for the many things they like to carry or for back-packs. Shoulders are good for gun holsters; its strong and thick but can be modestly wet moulded As for thickness; most of the leather can be bought at many thickness - its up to the tannery how much they skive it to get to an even all over thickness. But generally backbone is 4.5 mm and thicker, sides are about 3.5mm to about 2.5mm and belly is 3mm to 0.8mm, shoulders are about 3 to 4.5mm

I just measured round my own hat; its a 56 cm head size. Around the outside of the crown is exactly 60 cm My hat bands I make are like belts with a buckle. The end with adjustment holes; 4cm to go thru the buckle and keeper is not too much. It allows a couple of extra holes at 1 cm intervals for a slightly larger diameter crown. 3 cm is too little and above 5cm looks too ungainly. On the other end for the buckle a fold around of 4cm is modest. It can be less, but at 4cm there is room for a keeper to be sandwiched Tandy sells ready cut hat-band straps. The straps are pre-punched for main fittings. They are 3/8" wide. 74 cm long and the fold around the buckle is 6cm [74 - 6 = 68cm nominal hat band]

A granite slab is of use other than stamping/tooling on. You can hold your leather on it to skive the edges - when the skive blade hits the granite neither it nor the surface are damaged. You can hold your leather on it to burnish the grain or the flesh side.

Average ladies head is about 56cm to 57 cm around; add about 4cm for hat sweat band and material thickness = 60 to 61cm. If doing a buckle joint add at least 4cm to go thru the buckle = 64 to 65cm plus your fold over for the buckle itself, maybe another 4cm = 68 to 69 cm, so around 70cm

I think; divide up your tools into similar types, eg all the punches, all the sewing items, then make tool rolls for them. Make simple drawstring bags for the rivets and tuck them into a pocket in the tool roll https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/product/1760/making-a-leather-tool-roll-by-george-hurst

Whilst many of us will do our own interpretations of many items I do not believe anyone on here, especially me, will actually make a full blown copy of an item produced by any company or individual

If the surface is sealed WD40 will remove the label sticky

There is no just right leather for anything. Thus to say 'you must use this leather for...' is wrong There is the best leather for a certain project and unsuitable leather for a certain project; it depends on that project. I've made knife sheaths [to order] out of soft 1.1mm upholstery leather, I've used 2mm, 4mm and even 6mm leather for knife sheaths, each to order, so to say 'you must only use 3.5mm leather for a knife sheath' is wrong If I'm asked by someone 'what leather should I use for this?' I'll advise according to the use of the item and what I want from the item and its finish

Did you prep your leather before dyeing? It sounds like specks of contamination like greasy dirt preventing the leather from accepting the dye. A wipe over with Fiebings Dye Prep, IPA, Methylated spirits or sometimes I use cellulose thinners to remove anything which might be unseen on the leather surface

I changed all my bulbs in my flat [apartment] to daylight LED bulbs. My power bill dropped to 35% roughly - not BY 35% but down TO 35%. I reckon the high power LED lights I use in my leather workroom are costing me about 12p [15c] per working day to run, old fashioned lights would cost 70p [85c]

Three of my son's car mechanics wear LED headlamps. Two mechanics wear them all day long, about 12 hours. They even leave them on over lunch break. The lamp units are expensive ones with a separate rechargeable battery pack. One battery pack is charging whilst the other is being worn. afaik the battery pack lasts almost a week before needing recharging I have a couple of cheapie ones out of a £1 shop [$ store]. These each take 3 AAA batteries. I don't use them a lot but at a guess I'd say they'd last about 2.5 working days, or about 20 hours work. [I'll do a test] I can buy alkaline AAA batteries 6 for £1. In my experience rechargeable batteries last only a few hours and need changing about every 6 hours. I just find it more convenient to have a few packs of fresh AAA batteries on hand, especially as I have other items which use the same batteries

I've been thinking of buying this one; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIY-Leather-Craft-Lacing-Sewing-Leather-Table-Hand-Stitch-Pony-Horse-Clamp-Tool/202436849658 My old one is a basic home made one; have to loosen a wingnut to move item, uprights fixed in one position - this one has a lever clamp and the uprights can be rotated

Most assuredly, especially if you took a tea/coffee break afterwards

Firstly; Le Prevo, Newcastle, UK does an an embossing plate service; http://www.leprevo.co.uk/embossing.htm The plates are done by photo etching and due to the nature of that process the edges of the image are not vertical as in the machined stamps but they widen out a bit as it gets near the backing Two of mine. Both machined in yellow brass by an ebay seller in China. These were actually done by two different sellers My makers mark. 3cm across by 1.8cm high One of the design stamps I had done. Stamp is 5cm across by 3.2cm high All the fine lines, eg in the grill, are nicely replicated

If only for a display piece; the only way I see of making that good is to cut away the ripped/broken bits and glue into the spaces freshly cut [& dyed[ sections of leather

That would come out ok with my stamp makers, but the landscape would be cut as deep as the sun and rays. To make it less deep I'd take a file over it and reduce it in height and maybe even leave file score marks in it for texture. At the price my maker charges I'd not fuss about doing it on a stamp from them

Won't help with your rounded edges but with the binary images like mine, simply make the background black and the image white. The machinest cuts away everything that is white