Bree

It takes a standard 2020 needle... say a 16/100 or an 18/100 would be fine. But don't get a leather needle... get a round point... or it will slice the zipper tape's threads. You can get the needles at any store with home sewing supplies.

There is reflective thread but it is not a substitute for large patches of retroreflective tape at night or in the rain. Ask your friend which is more important... looking cool or being alive? To me it's a no brainer. I have my Harley loaded with reflectivity for dusk, dawn, night, and rain. I use SOLAS reflective tape as well as Reflexite. These are the brightest tapes available. I have no shame about putting them on my black leather bags or other gear. They have helped keep me alive. If he is really into looks then at least get him some BLACK REFLECTIVE tape. It will light up silver when light shines on it. It isn't as bright as other tapes but something is better than nothing. It is certainly better than some reflective thread which is practically useless at distance. Here are links to various reflective products. http://www.colebrothers.com/solas/ http ://www.fabric.breflective.com/3m-scotc...ite-8910-1.php http://www.metlon.com/retroglo.htm http://www.reflectivelyyours.com/generic11...CFQdN5QodNCmpFA

Josh... You do nice work. There are some things that I would do to improve business. First, get the Glock holster off the site. It is designed for a Western style gun and is dangerous when used with a Glock. The trigger is fully exposed. The safety for the Glock is on the trigger. So the holster does NOT protect against an inadvertant snag and firing. You don't want any products displayed which can cause a negative reaction. It spills over. Next... don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use several online channels as well as ordinary direct marketing channels at the same time. Weave them together so one supports and energizes the other. Add customer testimonials talking about how good your products are and how great it is working with you. If you don't have any, get some fast. ASK for recommendations. If you don't ask, you won't get. So ask every customer to write you a recommendation. Ask customers to REFER you to other people they know who might be interested in buying your goods. Get 3-5 referrals from every customer. Be aggressive in this. Be active in getting your customers to be your #1 marketing source. They will get many sales for you if you work them. Don't wait for sales to come to you... go to the sale. You are waiting for sales to be "pushed" to you. You have to "pull" sales until your reputation and customer base generates "push". You have to SELL... not take orders. Get your product photos fixed so that they are clear and properly lit. Concentrate on the features that people want and display them with excellent photography. Bad PIX don't sell well. You certainly can do leatherworking well. You just need to touch up your marketing plan a bit, get a few details corrected, and start working the crowd so to speak. In the latter respect don't be afraid to be self-promoting! It works! Good Luck!

Trust that edge guide! It is excellent at keeping your stitch at a constant distance. The trick is to think a little bit ahead as you approach the turns. SWAG the adjustment a couple of stitches in advance so that you can hit exactly the spot where you can simply rotate the leather keeping pressure on the guide and smoothly make the turn. Your stitch line will remain at a constant distance. Don't be afraid to pull the needle out completely and slide the work a little bit here or there to get the stitch to line up to hit the target. But you have to slow down to do this. If you try to zoom zoom around the belt tip you run the real risk of screwing it up. Just go deliberately and thoughtfully and you will soon see how easy it is to get it right every time.

Real nice work! Jim is a great guy and an excellent teacher. I took a class with him and enjoyed it very much.

I have Kevlar thread and I very seldom use it. I use it when I absolutely need superior strength for structural reasons. Kevlar is very strong and kind of slippery. It doesn't hold a knot well as the knot weakens it a lot. Spectra is even worse for being slippery and hard to knot or lock down. And they are both so strong that they can slice through your fabric or even leather like a knife. For 99% of what I do, Poly or nylon are just fine.

Airbrush sealer over the water-based hi lighter to prevent the running and smearing and then continue your finishing. Very EZ fix.

Just manually adjust your stitch length as you get to the critical points. Slow down and try to keep your edge guide in play. Try to make the turn with the guide wherever you can and it will keep you in the channel. There may be a couple of very small places where you just go to stitch by stitch manual control until you get the guide back into action. but it's not hard with a little practice. I just did one this weekend and it never left the guide or the groove. You might try NOT grooving the belt. Your stitcher puts enough tension on that it in effect cuts its own grooves burying the thread deep in the leather. I often skip the grooving and I have never had anyone complain. The upside is that you aren't wiped out if you miss the groove channel. The downside is that leather purists might give you a hard time. But who cares about that... do what works for you and your customers.

This little kit works great for simple jobs like doing belts.

Some fine work there Marlon! Good job.

I got mine at Amazon.com. Here is a thread with all the info including PIX http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...mp;hl=Frog+tape It isn't for everyone but it is certainly a viable alternative to other means of edge dying.

Frog tape the grain faces... you can split a piece of Frog tape down the middle and use the 2 outer edges (where the absorbent is located) to define the edge of your dye line . Then have at it with felt or whatever you wish there will be no bleed through and a perfect line defining the black edge. Airbrush on some sealer and you are good to go.

For small businesses incorporation is not really necessary if your state allows LLC's. The LLC gives you the best of both worlds.

Great advice Jim!! I usually buy pre-split hides because I don't make saddles or armor so I don't need 14oz - 16 oz leather. I picked up these hides on a sale and figured that I would just cut em and split em as needed. It's all a learning process. Stuff never stops surprising me!

YW Josh. It is beautifully stitched... very close to the edge but not too close. I guess I was eager to see more!! LOL!

You can't see it from the grain side or the flesh side of the hide. It is a nice looking cowhide. But you sure hit the "bone" when you try to split the darn thing. I suppose maybe some of the scarring causes the tanning chemicals to not penetrate as well as they should or something. This came off the butt portion of the hide... very thick section... 14-15 oz. The shoulder and center sections split easily. Maybe the cow fell on its butt or something. This is the first time I ran into this. It's weird.

Critique all we want you said... OK. Horrible terrible!! Now send it over to my house so I can put it on my Carvin DC-400!

Wow... you have both Ryan and Steve advising you. They are both experts and dedicated to service to this community. You can't go wrong with either one of these guys or their equipment. My only advice is to buy based on your needs not your budget. Delay purchase if necessary but don't skimp on leather sewing machines. If you buy too small or a machine with less power than you need to save a little money, you will be a very unhappy camper. With leather, power is not just good... it is essential!! These guys can help you decide what you really need.

No Soldering fluid is usually a blend of various chemicals. Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid (HCL) or ordinary swimming pool acid. It is very powerful acid especially in more concentrated forms. Treat it with a lot of respect. It got the name "muriatic" because it was made from salt and sulfuric acid back in the old days. BTW Sulfuric acid is also pretty darn dangerous so treat them all with respect. A little mistake with these acids can be life-changing.

I have been brewing mine up for about a month and a half maybe 2 months. It consumed the original steel wool and nails. I gave it a recharge with a little more vinegar and several more steel wool pads and it has eaten those too. It is producing leather that is very black after a 20 or 30 second dunk. Color goes through the entire body of the leather. The longer you dunk it the deeper the effect... to a limit... once all the tannins are reacted with it won't change any further unless you add more tannin like soaking it in black tea or something. That might charge the color up more with another dunking in the 'roon. Heck I tried it on some Brazilian Imbuya wood which normally has an yellow-olive to walnut brown color. Just putting a couple of drops on the wood and smearing it around blackened it up just like ebony. Pretty cool stuff. I plan to make a bunch more. Did I say that it pretty darn inexpensive too??

Josh... That's a very sweet looking belt. Very nice work on the braiding, stitching, edging, finishing etc. The only thing that I would do differently is to terminate the braiding guide channels at the braid start/stop points or do something with them... stitch down the channels or run some lace or whatever. I think that they detract from the belt as simply naked straight cuts. The guide lines might have been part of the concept. I just felt that they were something waiting to be finished. But I like it a lot anyways.

I use an English point after the blanks are glued up. I use a 64 oz. maul to punch through the double thickness and I keep the punch very sharp. But then again... I have done it the other way too. Not sure which way is better especially if you have a sander to touch up any irregularities. 6 of one... half dozen of the other.

Rules are made to be broken!! Great job!

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