AdamGadut

if you're going for hand stitching, consider getting either a "stitching Chisel" or "Pricking Iron", they make good uniform holes that'll make it easier to stitch. An awl will be good to have too..

in some ways yes. For one, the stitch wont easily unravel unlike the locked stitch in case there's a broken link. another better thing here is that, you will be able to stitch ANY thickness. The only downside is that, its many many times slower and takes some patience. You probably wont need to stitch a lot since likely the thickness of the hide will be enough in one layer for a tooled belt - that unless you want it in 2 layers. that sewing machine you have, is it a walking foot?... if yes, then it should be able to stitch most thickness you need for a leather belt.

something that's preferably thin so you can do the refined ones with folds, unless you are aiming for the simple straps goat hide - quick and easy - good for the straps with linings inside so they raise up other leathers should be ok as long as they are vegetanned, and that if you can skyve evenly

Chrome tanned leathers are too soft and pliable, they never retain any shape. Hardly even retains stamp marks.

@MichaelIT , if you can make leather goods, then you should be able to make this its just worth a try.. - one of those things you can really be proud of when you finally something in your hand thats finished. I have some more ideas i really really wanna have the real finished item in my hand. I believe you also have some ideas what combination of colors should a shoe have. @WoodysWorkshop thanks wasnt too difficult to get the two on the same size. thanks to the shoe last. The hard parts for me were 1.) the reduction in the size of the shoe last, her foot was about 1.5 CM shorter than the last but has the same width and girth, - that we did test using a mock up shoe. Since its a very curvy object, it was difficult to match the last when i was reducing the heel. and it ended up being the right side was about 3mm longer than the left. but she still liked the fit so i guess no issues there. 2.) the lasting - I had to use a technique recommended by George Koleff. was seriosly difficult to stitch when i reached the toe part. 3.) matching the patterns when i was closing the upper. the other side slightly offset from the other 4.) preparing my tools. imagine since i couldn't buy the tools online, i literally prepared my own lasting pliers and a hammer (welded, filed, and grind into shape). one tool i wasnt successful in preparing was the awl. what i created either kept breaking or was too large to be useable enough. @ryankim3612 if there's anything i can tell you, its definitely that, give it a try. First look at what you have, and be sure to be aware every step needed to complete it. - like all the details - really important, if you miss one thing, scour the web. then go give it a shot.

thanks i must state, since i am very used to stitching using pricking irons, and not so much with an Awl, there's definitely a different kind of difficulty added.

thanks man ... i believe i've read somewhere cobblers only fix shoes, cordwainer are the ones who makes shoes.

This took me several months to get started with so many many delays and a multitude of reasons. I Seriously wanted to learn how to make shoes. The very sad truth is that, there's no school around my region that teaches this, and the only two craftsman i know who makes shoes well, one of them closed his shop and is gone, the other man is about to close his shop and is not willing to teach. So i had to learn everything that is reachable from the web. The problem with this is that, not everyone tells you what you need to know, and me being so ardent jumped straight into buying the only shoe last i could find. the seller had no idea about the lasts and she thought the last was ok for me. What she didn't know is that the last is for a female shoe. But then i happened to have a girlfriend and i was needing to give her a gift. I then thought of making her shoes. This is my output. the entire shoe is handmade - handstitched and without anyone to teach me, i steered a little bit away from the orthodox methods. I dont know if its typical for womens shoes to use the goodyear welt, and since i wanted it made in a way that it wouldn't make her foot look wide. So i did the stitching like that of the Blake welt - done my hand. there's a lot to be desired on this first build. some uneven parts on the shoe and some parts which could have been done better. these will have its own laces when she starts wearing these. She selected the design from the internet and we changed it a bit with the choice of leather. Sadly I couldn't put any more linings on it since the suede is thick. and i had to put a toe stiffener on. If anyone wants to see how i got to this point, please do say so. i have some more pictures

if theres some mesh thats made out of fine threads thats embedded into the leather, then thats flat out Fake... no doubt.

i think i'm gona give this a go. That flat bed certainly gives me an idea for a DIY, the machine can become a flatbed anytime.

its sad i'll never get to afford that machine.

a link?... not sure what brand that machine is...

This will be my first walking foot sewing machine if the Almighty allows it that I own one. I don't really have a lot of choices - budget constraints and availability. So I only have two choices - its either the Chinese Shoe Patcher, or the Juki model 273. Both are walking foot, One is electric and with a flat bed, the other is manual, but is very versatile with the angles it can reach. I will possibly be using this on some bags, wallets, purses, book covers, potentially belts, rare chance for holsters, - that kinda line of items. The last satchel I made reached about 6 layers on some of its parts with some upholstery leather, but typically just about 3 layers on the majority of the sewing done. The Juki 273 is appealing - the seller isn't too far from where I am located so he's readily available in case I have issues, I believe he has some parts for this machine too... but its a flat bed... It has a top and Bottom feed, the Manual for it is here: https://www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/products_e/leather_e/cat94/tnu243_tu273.html and https://www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/download_e/catalog_e/tu273_tnu243.pdf The Chinese patcher is appealing too in a way that its very very flexible on the angles it can reach. I imagine if i'm making a messenger bag inspired by the modern designs of today, this machine will favor a lot the hard to reach places that's almost impossible for a flat bed to do. I know the machine will come clunky and it will probably need more tuning and refining - I don't mind doing that, I'm in harmony with making my tools work for me as long as it wont require me to fabricate a complicated spare part that'll need some hundred pound machinery. slight modifications are ok with me and there's a lot of youtube videos showing how everyone made theirs work. The only downside of this is that I'll have to buy it online, I won't have aftermarket support since I'm pretty far from where I'll get it. From where I'll get these machines, the Shipping plus the price of the Chinese shoe patcher will be almost equivalent to that of the Juki 273 plus shipping. So they both have the same weight for me on this aspect. I'm just a little torn which to pick... Which would you recommend? and Why?

looked like a handle for something

you may want a burnishing wheel with more varieties in the thickness it can burnish - maybe 5 in one burnisher. Two is ok if that covers everything you do though.

I can see now that the contractual way is the way to go since I believe I won't necessarily need a full production run everyday. Although I'm on another location as most of you here are, I am yet to look what conditions are present regarding contractual employment. This is a good idea. I honestly don't have enough space at home for other workers to be around. I really like that idea. hmmmmm.. now what terms did you come to agree with regarding this set up?... - like maybe to avoid him hoarding some of the raw material to source for himself? Did you have a system like, - before the raw material leaves your premise, its being weighed, so the worker should come back with the same weight of leather overall - Plus the scraps?

I have been selling my handcrafted stuff through FaceBook. I'm hardly managing my FB page as I observe just posting my progress on my own personal page has been generating more attention than an actual page.. Like if people knew its an advertisement, they go straight skip it, but if they knew I'm making it, they actually paid attention to it and appreciate the stuff. That part has been doing well. Currently this leatherwork that I'm doing is really just half a hobby and I could hardly call it business though I'm earning from it, as I still have some officework. I found several people here recommended the book "E-myth" so I looked it up for the wisdom it can offer and I have been finding myself in a similar situation on that Mary the book was referring to when she started. I am feeling that pressure of making up something big when all I can really do is as far as my attention and presence can. - like; preparing a collection of items I can sell - which I haven't completed, making sure i have a book keeping record, estimating the prices and redesigning items so they are modern and not too old in style, preparing the actual items - dyeing, cutting, stitching, packaging, and many more!. Everything is really all up to me, and that has been so heavy lately. I could hardly prepare myself well for the office work and end up deprived of sleep just everyday. People appreciated so much what I did to make everything look good - even the pictures, they all love it, but I feel its all too hard to keep up and my enthusiasm is slowly dying out. I was thinking about following what the "E-myth" book advised - like finding someone else to do for you some stuff so there's spare time/breather. My questions, 1.) How did you find your first employee?... - was it a family member? - or is a family member (or someone close) a bad idea to hire for business? Did you go around your neighborhood asking if someone wants some extra income? 2.) Did you have some funds prepared for such expansion? - if you didn't have a huge amount of funds for the expansion, what would you have done? 3.) What tasks did you delegate on your first employee?

tip 1.) pick the ones that you can punch clean consistent wholes on both sides, I dont recommend the ones with tapered prongs. - just my preference. Also - the longer prongs the better so you can use it for thick leather tip 2.) Use the most TPI's... the ones i use has a spacing of about 2.6mm - prong to prong - this is already very fine and is good for just about any small project such as wallets. It'll look neat for sure. - so two pieces of this, one with the most number of prongs you can get, and another one with only 2 prongs - for curved stitches. If you're good with DIY's and you have a dremel like tool - heck you hardly have to purchase anything, go pick a fork with some decent thickness, cut the handle and shape the teeth into slants - they all have to be evenly spaced, evenly shaped and polished - Best thing about this is that its adjustable! --- thats what i used up until now and never had to buy crazy expensive tools for making stitching holes.

a 23 hole inner and a 24 hole outer is still ok in my opinion - the extra stitch can be added to the last hole, but two extra holes in the end... hmmm i think will look sloppy.. in that position, i would cut out the last hole into a curve instead of adding a stitch to it.

i dont make hats, but i did see a youtube video on How its Made - Hats, they are using some machine that has some steam to mold the hat on shape.. a rudimentary version without the machine would be a wooden mold... a closer shape may be a small bucket. hope someone here who has done hats would shed some light. I was thinking making a hat too some time.

the templates sold online are made out of acrylic.. i use chipboard/cardboard. its cheap, and easy to make

not sure if neutralizing it would take away the effectiveness of the solution on leathers. but yes the idea was to make the baking soda absorb the odors. Maybe try a little sample to test if neutralizing it would still work, if it doesn't then don't mix it. You can put it in a separate container and have it sit beside the vinegroom - and maybe seal away these two. At home we use it on anything that has some odors like refrigerators or even carpets - it takes like a week or so, but its definitely effective.

a couple items that might help is - baking soda - not to mix it with the solution, but only have it sit with the solution, it absorbs stinge.. another one is charcoal - same way of usage.

+1 i think this is a wiser idea than getting a new machine. - that is if you only have to do a few products on wet mold..