Bree

I forgot his name. Somehow Bernie comes to my mind. Anyhoo... he tuned a couple of my Singer 29's and did a great job. He knows them quite well. He repairs industrial machines and has more work than Carter has liver pills. The K class machines have a different shuttle housing and gearing. They are designed to be more easily tuned precisely because the 29-4's were much harder to work on. I think that I have a service manual for the K's somewhere but not for the 29-4's so I am not sure it would be of any help to you.

I think it's a great looking bag! I love the contrast. The size is very nice too. Heck you can sling that bag around your neck and down one side, put your .45 in there along with whatever goodies you want to carry and you have a nice concealed carry bag for hot days when you are running around in shorts at the beach and can't find a place to stow your gun. It looks a lot nicer than a Fatboy Versipack, it doesn't scream "Shoot me first", and a guy probably wouldn't or at least shouldn't feel sissyish toting it.

Hey Tom when you make your bracers do you try to fit them so that the inner edges come together or fit snugly together or do you allow space between the edges? I see that you are using grommets so these would be fastened with lace. The forearm is an oddly shaped thing. It is not exactly cylindrical and I have found that it can be difficult to mate the edges for some people. It makes life a lot easier to cut off of a pattern a bit smaller than the forearm and let the inner edges "breathe" so that you don't have to tweak them with ad hoc cuts to get the angle right. Does that make any sense?? Not sure if I expressed myself very well.

Hi Susan. What do you consider to be "reasonable"? What is the sewing condition of the machine? Is it in use now? If so, in what capacity? Any PIX of the stitches it creates? Do you have the manual and any spare parts to go with it?

Sell your stuff in the Robb Report or other rich kid mags and there is no limit to how much you can charge! Heck I got a catalog from JL Powell with a belt for $15,000. Here it is on their website for only $4,375... shameless opportunists tripling the price in their printed catalog versus the more competitive website. Make hay while the sun is shining... as they say!!

Sounds like your timing got knocked out of whack somehow since you are jamming when the needle brings thread to the shuttle. If you have another shuttle/hook that you know is good, try replacing the shuttle and see if it still happens. If it works, then your hook is probably messed up. If it doesn't work, then you may need a timing adjustment. Do you any thread fraying at the needle??? Make sure that your upper tension is not too tight and that there is nothing obstructing the free flow of thread under proper tension through the top tensioners and needle bar assembly. Make certain that your needle is in good condition and set correctly in the needle bar. Make sure it is pushed all the way up and that there is nothing obstructing it from going all the way up. If something blocks it from going all the way up, the needle will not present the thread to the hook properly and you will get breakage. You can fiddle with the position of the needle in the needle bar to see if that helps. Also check your two stitches that you are getting... Does your top thread lie flat on the leather or is the lockstitch joined in the middle of the leather? If it lies flat then you have a top tension problem because the top tension is too tight. 29-4's are not easy to adjust relative to timing and the like. The 29K's and U's are much easier to work on. The guy at MG Sewing in Chicago is quite expert with 29's. He might be willing to help you. He is a very very, busy old guy so you will have more luck with sugar than with vinegar. M G Sewing Machine Co 3830 W Irving Park Rd Chicago, IL 60618-3122 (773) 588-3944

No I haven't! I think I will ask him to have some PIX taken with the vambraces on as he drives his locomotive. But I don't think it will be a steamer! More like a GE Dash 8-40C engine built by General Electric for Union Pacific! If I get some PIX I will post them.

There is no such thing as "obscenely high". The object of business is to make money. You can always give your work away... but then you aren't in business... you are in philanthropy. You charge as much as you can get away with consistent with the volume needed to meet your financial commitments and goals. If you can sell your products for 8X... great! If you can sell your product for 80X that's even better. 800X is a big winner if you can get it. Customers will always try to get the lowest price no matter what the consequences are to you as a seller. You will do the opposite and try to get the highest price... without regard to the consequences to the customer. When the smoke clears, the conflict of interests between buyer and seller... the market dialectic... will result in your collecting close to the market rate for similar goods. That is the way it works. So aim high but don't be surprised if you have to settle for less. But if you never aim high you will never hit the big win... only mediocrity of profits. If you enter business with a customer's mentality and not a businessman's mentality, you are very likely to fail within the first three to five years. Never ever feel sorry or guilty for making a profit!! That is a suicidal behavior pattern as far as business is concerned.

I don't use any on my machine belts. I remember before I got a servo motor when I used to slow down my clutch motor by grabbing the flywheel and getting the belt to slip. Dressing would have been the last thing in the world that I would have wanted then!! The only reason I might use some is if my belts started to squeak. The leather treadle belts for my Singer 29's all squeak a little but that is part of their charm. And it is hard to hear them squeak over the clatter of the machines themseloves. The belts aren't very expensive so I don't mind replacing them periodically. Fact is that they do last a long time. I just bought a new one which is being shipped now. I could have fixed the old one but it was easier to just get a fresh one.

I want one too!!

You have certainly been a busy beaver!!

Nice job! I like the design and the shape. I am eager to see what you do with those Viking braces. The last ones I did were kind of a Viking theme with berber fleece lining extending out beyond the leather. I did them for a train engineer as a birthday present. I thought they would look cool on an engineer driving a big locomotive.

Wow! This place is like a veritable fountain of information. Thanks so much for the comments and explanations of the lack of supply. I simply had no idea. Personally, I see no difference whatsoever between a horse, a pig, a sheep, a lamb, a cow or any of the other creatures that we slaughter for various human purposes. I respect the animals and decry any inhumane treatment. But I am not a vivisectionist or animal rights advocate. We raise these animals as farmers do plants. We need them for the purposes of human life. I sit on a large sheepskin when I ride my motorcycle. It protects me from heat and cold. I have many times said a little prayer thanking the sheep for giving me its coat. I try to care for it with a little reverence for its past owner. That said, the world marches on and we do what we need to do to live. It is unfortunate that we treat horses differently than cattle. It denies people of truly excellent and valuable products for the sake of something... some value... that escapes me.

Do you folks have a good supplier for horse leather? I know that Seigel of Ca has some small butts. Seems like there are few if any domestic sources. I know it is available in India. I can't find any US suppliers!!

Google has a new Patent Search site in Beta. There aren't a million gun holster patents so you can browse through them fairly easily. Patent lifespans can be complex. If the patent was applied for after June 7, 1995, the expiration date is 20 years from the filing date. If the filing date was up to June 7, 1995 and issued before June 8, 1978, the patent expires 17 years from issuance. If the filing date is up to June 7, 1995 and issued after June 7, 1978, the expiration is the latter of 17 years from issuance or 20 years from filing. This applies to utility and plant patents. Design patents expire 14 years from the date of issuance. Here is a more detailed discussion. http://www.lectlaw.com/files/inp03.htm I was talking to my gunsmith yesterday. He told me that his friend Lou Alessi who has a gunleather business here in the Buffalo area got sued for patent infringement. Apparently, it cost Lou a good bit of money. I think he said that Lou got whacked by Bianchi over paddle holsters. That is not first hand info so take it for what it is worth. But the message is that you can get sued and you can lose!! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Be careful! Check out the existing patents before you do anything that you aren't certain is not protected. As far as professional courtesy is concerned... I think that's a great idea and support it. But be aware that in the gun business, people cabbage unprotected designs every day. The new Ruger LCP is a clone of the existing Keltec P3AT... and Keltec cabbaged their design from someone else! All the 1911's are cabbaged from John Moses Browning's original design. So there is nothing new about gracing an unprotected design with the compliment of copying it! Some might say that as a matter of principle one should never innovate when you can steal what works for someone else!!

First class. I love it and wish I had one like it on my bike!! Edit... Hot Dayum!! I just saw the finished piece... unreal! AWESOME!!

+1 Lignum Vitae is inexpensive and easy to get. It is hard as can be and is used as the sole of wood planes among other things. It is an excellent choice. If you have a local Rockler's or Woodcraft store you can get yourself a small turning square and create your own. You really don't even need a lathe. With a little time you can use a scraper and sandpaper to make your coves. You could ask the store staff if they could use one of their lathes for turning classes to round out the square for you when nobody is looking! It would take them about a minute or two to do so.

Biker's gonna like that when it's done! I sure like it. Post PIX when finished please.

Rare earth magnets have the kind of power that you are talking about. A neodymium disk 1/8" wide and 3" in diameter will pull 40 pounds. A 3"x1" disk will pull 255 pounds. That is some huge magnetic power. I would not get a rare earth magnet anywhere near electronic components unless you are certain that a powerful magnetic field will not affect the component. Better to be safe than sorry with these things.

I agree. If that machine isn't cracked or bent out of shape from a drop, it is almost certainly recoverable. It is probably just out of adjustment. The manual will show you how to adjust the components. Make sure that you have a manual for a 29K58/29K62. These models have a rack box which works somewhat differently than the gearing of the older technology 29-4's. Your manual should have a section at the rear called "Instructions for Adjusters and Mechanics". I think you can pull a manual down from Singer's Industrial site. The Smithsonian may have one as well. Good luck!

Rare earth magnets like Neodymium and Samarium Cobalt are extremely powerful. Be aware that they are pretty fragile. They tend to be very brittle and subject to chip or crack especially if you drop them or if they pull something hard to them too quickly. When it comes to power, they put ordinary magnets to shame. A very small neodymium will outperform traditional magnets many times their size.

Sure... as long as you are not going into real thick leather (over 1/2") that would require a harness stitcher. Go on EBay and find yourself an old Singer 15-91 or even a Featherweight. A White Rotary would work and there are a lot of other old machines that can serve you. These are usually all home sewing machines but they are made of all metal components. They are heavy duty pieces of equipment... many driven by foot power on a treadle. Wayback when... Mom used to sew leather on her machine because kids wore leather and it was a common material. Sewing machines could handle it. Today Mom often doesn't even know how to sew. Everything is sewn overseas and is throwaway. Home sewing machines are made of plastic and the needles break at the first doubled seam they encounter. But it wasn't always that way. Just step back in history and you will find what you seek. Heck you can pick up a good 29-4 patcher for $300 or so with a treadle stand. $20 for a belt, bobbins, and needles and you are good to go up to 3/8" thickness. Old is good!!

Not sure that will help. It might hurt. Unless you can keep moisture out completely you may just stop the breathing of the leather and cause damage inside because it can't dry out. I have found it VERY difficult to keep moisture out of my toolbags. I just ash canned one which was made of heavy leather and had braid all around the bag. The braid on the round ends caused so many holes that the leather tore once it started to rot. The weight of the tools was a stress that the seams simply could not bear over the long term. The rot came from moisture trapped on the inside of the bag. I am thinking of putting drip holes on my next one with a little shield to prevent water from coming in but it will allow it to escape. I have to protect my tools from moisture, encasing them in something that is waterproof, because I have never been able to keep that tool bag sealed on the front forks. The y get wet and rust. The protection may exacerbate the problem. So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. At least if you do any riding in the rain!!

I have made several pairs of gauntlets and half chaps with Berber fleece (synthetic) overhanging as you are talking about... the Viking look. I don't rely on glue anymore. If I did it would be a strong flexible contact cement. I always sew the fleece in. I have had glued fleece simply peel right off the leather in the course of its normal wear and tear. I had to redo a job because of it and I vowed never to have to do that again. I will use contact cement or 3M High Strength 90 spray adhesive applied to both the leather and the fleece to bond it in the unsewn areas but thread always holds mine together. I sew it with a walking foot machine.

Gas has never phased my tank bib. It evaporates so fast that it never really sets in there for long. I have a big sheepskin on my seats and often get fuel on the leather. That leather has no treatment other than its tannage. The fuel doesn't seem to bother it. So I wouldn't worry about it. Just finish in your normal way. The worst than can happen is that you have to make him another one!