RockyAussie

@Rockoboy yes mostly it is like working with timber and sands nicely and I just finish of with tripoli polish and a rag wheel. I make a lot of our slickers from them as well and they work as well or better I think than bone. Thank you. Remember to use a good mask and look after your lungs if you decide to give it a go.

Arm first is my advise....they are way more versatile.

I had just the same problem awhile back and decided to go with cow horn. Not the best picture I'm sorry but should give you the general idea. Lovely work BTW

Just check that you are getting enough foot pressure down. If you have been mostly doing fabrics the foot pressure may be lighter than what that leather needs. If the leather is veg I would expect to see some at least light pressure marks on your sample piece. Just look and see if the leather comes up a tad when the needle is on its way out ....if it does your knots will form on the bottom.

I think the lack off throat clearance for that sort of work let alone the price value should be a no go.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/441-walking-foot-sewing-machine-leather-kydex-/152843756069

I would consider this machine to be a good in between machine. Can do pretty heavy but fairly light as well and has a good narrowed cylinder edge that would allow tighter gussets and such than the bigger machines. Needle not over long and thus less needle deflection problems as well. http://www.solar-leather.com/cowboy-cb341/ I don't see it mentioned much and I'm not sure why? The price looks bloody good to me as well.... Only goes to 138 thread it says though.

NO VIDEO needed this time UWE ....please....I guess it would get a lot of sharing around though

Here is a picture of the feet set up and on the machine in action. As I said that edge could be ground down and give you the wider surface contact area. As you can see both feet would give close to twice as much contact area as the standard feet in the next picture.

As the 2 feet are interconnected the pressure applies to both so the only solutions that I can think of are to let the leather dry more fully before stitching or get a wider middle foot which may then mean getting both feet as a set to allow the wider space needed. Recently I bought from UWE a full set of feet and a narrow throat plate and dog foot set as well and I would say if you got this foot set and ground off the step down on the middle foot you would have what you need to avoid that problem. I think UWE is getting some more of these in quite soon. Regards Brian.

Is this a hair on hide or suede or full grain and what is an average thickness you would have to deal with? A pic or 2 might help.

Nice looking work there. It will take a bit of practice to learn how to make the machine stop and start just in the right point on your turns and on that point I'd say to put in some pin hole marks where you want the needle to go first and consider opening up a slot in your front foot as well cos that'll make it easier to see. Another thing that I found helpful is in this link

Ditto as Gary said. Just be sure if your thinking about the 3200 that, has it the foot lift you want for the product you may want to make? A 4500 is a bit more $ but has a lot more thickness height if you need it. Holsters and pouches can get awfully thick at times and sometimes that is the way you want it. Check out this post I did a while back. I doubt the 3200 could do this job. Brian

I agree that does look better. The stacked straps have an advantage in one way in that both pieces of leather give strength at where the buckle tongue goes through. The disadvantage is that the raw straps can chew up a fair amount of time in getting them edge painted satisfactorily.

I just checked your other posting and if this is as you said -- I'm using a size 18 triangle point needle and size 92 bonded nylon thread on a combined weight of 4-5 oz kidskin --- I think you should have a look at a thinner weight thread top and bottom. In Australia the 92 would be called a 30 metric. Mostly ladies shoe strap use a 40 metric with 60 bobbin (size 100/16 needle)or a 60 metric with 60 bobbin (size 90/14 needle). This may not be the look you want though in this case but I just though I should mention this. This attached pdf file may help Brian

That is looking like you are getting there alright. Do you not have an edge guide? It is a little hard to say but I think your bobbin thread could go a weight smaller. I would tighten your top tension 1/2 a turn for the folded strap if using the thread you have used here. What machine are you using?

Missed that last time......your welcome I guess. Merry Christmas and a very Happy new year to all.

@Mark842 I would be surprised if the moulds you show were actually cast as they would seem unnecessarily expensive. These could easily be laser cut from a proper cad drawing and some would weld/braze or even just screw bolt together. Are your plastic moulds done from Cad drawings to start with? If so are they 2d for cutting or 3d for CNC or printing? You can get the 3d printed in metal from the 3d drawings if you want. If going from scratch testing the block in plastic first then getting it printed in metal is way way cheaper than years ago getting mould made. If you want to get a bit more understanding have a look into the Shapeways - 3d printing service.https://www.shapeways.com/ You can even see how much it would cost if you know how to get your weight sorted out, on more different metals and materials than I would care to mention here. If you haven't seen it before here is a link that within it shows a bit on some mould that i printed for handcuff pouches. http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/77677-how-to-make-a-press-for-moulding-leather-pouches-and-such/?page=3 The cad drawing for this gets converted into an STL file and from that you can get your Mould made. Let me know if you need any more help. Brian

Wow ......Wow that was quick for a first time around and the results are better than I expected even from you. Don't think I've had to use this emoticon before. PS. PM me your dads address before you come next and I'll shoot down a few more bits for you to practice on. Not that it looks like you need much more practice to me.

Looking good and on the right track so far for a deployment type. @YinTx thanks for the compliment and I do likewise admire both yours and motocouture's abilities and willingness to share as well. Like you I am excited to see the end results. I do think they are a lot more effort to get right than people think. Brian

Nice looking idea. Knowing how heavy clicker presses work and how even massively webbed top plates warp I have to say that you will need a lot of webbing added front and back. I would be surprised that you do not have an upward tilt a little already at the edges from where you have welded already. Honestly I would be tempted to cut a v groove about 1/8" deep right up the middle from left to right on the bottom and then weld the full length back in. This should make the plate come down a bit front and back. This I would do before adding any webbing as I would be trying to keep a little of that bow for as long as possible. May sound crazy now but you will see why later. Note also that as your top deforms up so do your long cutting knives until they become banana shaped useless. Another idea if you prefer is to put 4 heavy wall box pieces on top of your channel and put some bolts into the ends in order to be able to screw them down tighter at the edge ends occasionally. This should allow an occasional re straightening. Regards Brian

Apple watch and coffee stirrer all in one.......what will they come up with next???

If its not to late I have to say on croc or ostrich leg or similar I usually do one of 2 things where the strap folds over the pin that connects to the watch. I do not know the thickness of an apple Stouch lug so one method may not work. The cotton wool ear buds you get have a plastic tube that normally fits nicely over a normal spring pin (not all)and I have found them an easy one to fold the skin over and glue on to. Cut over long to start then trim down to size after. You can cut through the skin and it if you like as well. The other method is to put a very thin (.5mm) veg strip onto the croc at the pin fold area. This is normally about 3/4" long and thinned at the ends to hold the croc shape better and to support the weakest area that is normally the area that fails on a watch band. I generally give this a tight curl when I stick it down to avoid any wrinkling as much as possible. because of the depth of the grooves in the scale areas they tend to break away on a watch band quite easily if you go with croc alone. The veg or the plastic tube help to take the drag of of the croc skin. I prefer the tube method when I can use it. Brian

3oz=1.2mm and 4oz=1.6mm