Bree

I wanted to try a new product I ran into in one of my woodworking magazines. It is called FROG Tape. It is a fairly tacky masking tape similar to blue tape. But it has a twist that is significant for working leather. The edges of FROG tape are coated with an expanding absorbant. It is designed to seal the edge against water-based paint running under the tape. Leather is not a smooth surface. It has hills and valleys when looked at very closeup. So a product that can expand to block any wicking of dye under some masking tape interested me very much. If it works it can assure me of razor sharp perfect edges on a belt with little or no risk of the black dye ruining a natural colored blank. I ordered some FROG Tape and it arrived today. So I took a piece of strap about 1 1/4" or so and ran a piece of 1" FROG Tape up the middle of the blank taking care to create a nice straight line parallel to the edge. I gave it a quick run thru the burnisher. Then I took some water-based Fiebings Edge Kote and with a foam brush just schlepped it on the blank... both edges. I noted that there was a depression in the leather at one point and the FROG Tape could not make a perfect bond with it. If it was going to fail, this would be the place. I let it dry for a few hours and then peeled the FROG Tape off and took a good look at the results. Judge for yourselves. The FROG Tape did a fabulous job. I am thrilled with its performance. I am giving away a secret even before it has become a secret! Check it out. Pretty darn good edge line if you ask me... a lot better than I can put on with either a brush or piece of felt.

Keep it out of the sunlight and it will be fine.

The drying of the thin first layer tends tyo block out the subsequent layers. Have you tried applying a first coat with a brush or wipe to let it soak in deeply and then cleaning up the streaks or blotches with the airbrush layers? That might help if you need a lot of depth.

Good question!! It isn't easy. The first thing I did was to clear away from my work area anything that could contaminate the natural blank. The black one didn't concern me as much. I added some loops to allow me to hang the blanks from the rafters on a dowel. That way they could dry and cure away from any dust or contamination. I sealed the face of the natural blank first thing so it would be hard for anything to get absorbed by the leather. If you use solvent based dye, you can destroy the natural blank if you get any on it so keep the natural blank away from the black solvent dye!! I used water-based black edge coat and the first thing I did was to have a cup of water handy as well as some tissue and a little firm sponge like a makeup sponge. As I applied the edge coat, if it didn't go on right I could quickly swipe the error and get it off the natural part. Water-based is good for that. The sealer over the natural leather helps a lot too. The biggest problem came with trying to seal the edge coat. It is water-based and the sealer was water-based and the sealer caused the edge coat to run and contaminate the blank. I had to quickly swab off the runny part and then recoat the edge where it ran. That was very time consuming. It was bad and poor technique by me. I finally realized that the best way to retain the edge coat without running was to get successive very light coats of sealer on there. The best way to do that was with an airbrush. I got a small compressor at Harbor Freight and loaded my airbrush with sealer and sprayed... voila!! Problem solved. But I am still not happy with the line the felt produced. It has some irregularity. So I am trying something entirely new. In fact, I just received a package from Amazon with 3 rolls of FROG Tape. This stuff is kind of unique and may help solve the problem that you raise. It is masking tape with an expanding absorbent on the edges. It prevents bleed through. So if I tape the body up to the edge and it works as advertised, I can run my dye applicator across the edge without worrying about maintaining the line on the natural blank. Once it is done, the line will be there perfectly straight with no bleed through because of the FROG Tape. The airbrush will take care of sealing it and hopefully I will have perfect straight edge lines on the natural blank. I don't know if it works but I have the tape now and I will be trying it out soon!! Stay tuned!

I now use Novolene and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's one of the boards they use for clickers. It's not expensive and it's practically indestructible. Doesn't dull my punches or blades either. http://www.leathersupply.com/downloads/cat...amp;Setters.pdf

Dayum Troy I love that seat!! Simple and sweet.

Yeah... that's a frakkin winner! Good job!

I got my newsletter from Tippmann yesterday and they have something new on needles and thread. Here is the link. Check it out. http://www.tippmannindustrial.com/needlean...a44ba76d85105a8

LOL!! I expected you to fail. I failed. Most people will fail at it. It isn't easy. It LOOKS easy but the looking and the doing are two different things. But now you know and every time you try it you will get a little better. You get the "feel" of sewing. You learn when you can speed up and when you have to slow down. You learn when the action of the feet and/or feed dogs will give you trouble and how to adjust. You will be learning stuff every time you sew. So Sewing 101 never really stops. Why don't you post PIX of your exercise piece and show where you had trouble so others can see it?

It will run fine. I wouldn't give it a second thought. The machine will let you know if it's thirsty for lube. I suspect that most of the lubrication is accomplished through wicking rather than the force of the machine. If you are uncertain, call TacSew. They will give you the definitive answer.

Jack... The topic was clearly marked (Political Content). The initial post was simply an evaluation of the speech and wishing the President well. Why are you posting to the thread and posting something controversial, if you object to politics here? That seems inconsistent to me. In any case, the thread was not started as an argument or to elicit argument.

You could certainly do that. Put some felt in the tray, run the thread across or even through a couple of layers, put the tensioner down and pour in some lube. Easy to do. OR Simply lube the thread with your fingers just before you get to the spot giving you trouble. That way you don't have lube on all the thread if you want to keep it free of the lube. I have done both and have no preference personally.

Let me say that I gave $$$ to the McCain Campaign during the election. Still I give credit where credit is due. I thought that today's Inaugural Address by our new President was excellent. I hope the country listens carefully to his words. I wish him well!!

That guy is pretty toxic! Great job!

The seat is scrumptious. Nuf said.

Welcome Jennifer! You joined on my birthday!! That's special! It is ohhh... so tempting for small businesspeople to save time by delegating business functions to others willing to do them. The problem is that you no longer control your business. If you delegate control, then you must be 100% certain that what you need to have done will get done and that there is some method to remedy deviations from the service agreement. For my part, I try to shift the risk to the buyer whenever possible. I want all the money up front. If someone convinces me to split payments, I want rock solid guarantees or I won't commence work.

Thanks Troy! Isn't that the truth. This simple belt wasn't simple at all... at least not for me it wasn't. I was surprised by just how much work it took. I suppose that is because its the first one like it that I did. Nevertheless, there are many hours in there. When you look at one of Hidepounder's creations, you realize there is a huge investment of time and effort in that little belt. And just think about when it goes to stitching... if you screw up a stitch line, you toast all that work. Frightening. The next one will go faster and be more exciting!

It is cheaper to put a servo motor on it than it is to buy a treadle in most cases. If you can score a good deal on a treadle it will certainly work. I think that machine will run on a small sewing machine motor with a variable speed control. If you are stitching leather the servo motor is the best bet because it has more power.

Doug... Try lubricating the thread with silicon thread lubricant. That will help reduce the friction and in may just help the hook pick up the loop. The barge cement may very well be part of the problem. You might try leaving the stitch line uncemented. I used to contact cement patches on and the 29K60 would sometimes pick up the glue as it passed thru. I would have to actually pull the glue off the needle at times. If the needle goes thru any kind of glue there is a chance of a problem especially if the glue is not bonded... active glue will stick to the needle and even the thread causing trouble. This would happen to me frequently if I was in a hurry and didn't allow the cement to fully dry.

You are most welcome. I don't often donate to forums. I have done so three times. In each case, the forum was a best of class forum and I had received much valuable information and wanted to give back. I will say that this is the fastest time for me from Subscription to Donation. I suppose that is because this forum provides more information in a more concentrated form than the others. Actually when I made the donation I felt like I was simply paying for a tool that I had been using on approval. You have my email address. If you need something Photoshopped or some kind of page building/design help just let me know. If I can help, I will help.

Beautiful job. very professional.

Kick em, beat em, abuse em.

Kate awhile back I posted some PIX of this Rubbermaid Edge Paint dispenser that would also be a great contender given the criteria you mentioned. I was thinking about using it for edging belts. But with water and casing solution it would do everything you asked and more!

Yes. I had Weaver cut the blanks and skive them. They did an excellent job. I skived the billets because I wanted them gradient skived. The original weight was 8-9oz. The leather from Weaver was really outstanding with beautiful color, grain, and heft. It was just about flawless and perfectly skived. I was very happy with what they sent me. I also got a nice price after all was said and done. Weaver often has higher prices on things than other folks but in this case they had a great price. I got good lengths though I could have gotten some really long ones if I had purchased sides rather than shoulders. I have several sides that I can cut and skive myself so I guess it doesn't matter. I dyed the two blanks separately before glueing them up. When the edge coating was applied there was some black that got on the natural side but that was intended. I used a 1/2 felt on a clip to apply the edge coating. I hung the belt (now bonded) from the ceiling and just ran it down the length of the belt on both sides and let it dry. Naturally I had to touch up some areas I didn't like which was a pain in the butt. Using water-based edge coat makes touch ups possible but then you get trouble sealing it. I went over to Harbor Freight and both a little airbrush compressor. I airbrushed the top coat and it worked like a charm! I put several very light coats on everything, assembled the billet and then punched out 7 oval holes and she was done. My friend is gonna like it because he has a holster that looks very similar. They will match up very nicely. I didn't do any carving or the like on this belt because I don't think this guy would have appreciated it and he didn't rate that kind of investment of work and effort. I will be making more of these and I will probably carve some though I am not as good as these folks around here. I might carve one up for myself as I am MUCH more forgiving of my own mistakes than others!! I was very happy with the stitching because I just fixed my machine today. I had to grind out the arm of my sewing machine and that made me very nervous. But I got a good line and very tight to the edge. That makes this belt very strong and durable. The problem I was having was that my roller guide couldn't make it close enough to the needle to get a nice tight line near the edge. That is now solved.

Yes I did see them. I think for lots of people they will work very well. But I needed more light. I also wanted light coming in at different angles. I wanted both backlighting and front lighting. I would love to have lighting from back, front, left, right and above if I could. But I will settle for front and back for now. That nice little Rockler gooseneck light has several very bright LEDs and they focus a sharp spot. The nice thing is that I can move it anywhere I want on the Toro 4000 because it is all metal. The magnetic base sticks to everything. So I can orient it to any place that I need light. You can also get an LED rimmed magnifying glass which is about 4" in diameter. I almost bought one this weekend but I am going to wait til I can get a sale price.