RockyAussie

The soldering iron is my preference as it allows me to iron the paint around into the hollows and I believe it makes for a tougher finish at the end. It is possible to just sand and scothbrite between layers but I find that more time consuming as it can mean more layers need to be added to fill any hollows. The wax is only used at the end to make the finish less likely to stick to itself and give further protection and shine to the job. An example if it helps is like when you paint a door and the trim and then let it close together too soon. It gets stuck and wants to pull the paint apart when you open the door. Some wax finish helps to stop it.

Looks good Mike and good to see you posting again. What sewing machines are used may I ask?

It will work fine but I may be tempted to put a fence on both sides of the strap to keep it firmly in place. Many of my punches I polish the edge but for ones in the drill press I just leave them sanded as it sort of helps like a sawing effect which is a better finish on the back side. A side benefit of doing the holes this way is that you can leave the punch spin long enough in place to give a nice burnish look to the hole at the same time. Works real well with webbing holes as well.

I know where your at on this and with a 2mm punch on the thicker stuff you are pushing it big time. The best I can offer is doing it by hand is always going to give you a lot of trouble getting it going in straight every time. Soon as you don't your punch will fold in. There are a couple of methods I use that may help, 1. put the punch into a battery drill and spin it as you push in slow. This allows the leather to heat a little and will jam up less. Still wax the punch occasionally. 2. Even better get a small drill press and do the same thing but the drill press will keep you going in straighter and also allow you to set up guides to move your holes along at a perfect distance. With this set up shown below I put in a peg that I use to put in each hole as I move along the distance I set. This set up at the moment is for going down the edge of stubby coolers but the idea will work for what ever width you want depending on where you position the peg in the first place. Last thing....it is easier if you have a clicker press even if it is just a 4 or 5 ton hand model. You just get the knives made up and a jig to hold the knife where you want.

Sounds to me like a very good move and thank you thank you and thank you. If I hit that green bar at the top will I get to see all that political crap again and then not be able to turn it back off? People outside of the USA come here regular and don't generally come to a leather working forum to see all of that stuff. The forum was great and I think will be so again if the disrespectful commenting can be kept away somewhere else. I personally have been asked by some to step in and say something and as I believe in people having the right to their opinions so I have not. This has led to them leaving unfortunately. I have a pretty thick skin myself so it does not bother me and I have advised them they should only be upset if they think that persons opinion matters. I do moderate on a couple of other forums over here in OZ and will add that I don't for a second loose any sleep on kicking out members that are not respectful and are not contributing in what those forums are set up for. CONGRATULATIONS Johanna, Wiz, Northmount and all else involved that work at keeping this forum going.

Is this a balls up ?

Thanks for that feedback @TomE.What you see in this video is along the line of how I have done edge painting for many years now ....but ...This video was done in 2014 and the paint used then they do not stock now. There is a column shown that says Shiny and the stock shows 0. That is the range that I use. I made the mistake of buying in a fairly large order from them not realising that the P on the end of the product number makes it a pretty much un ironable paint. They may be able to still order it in but I think they have to get like 20 litres at a time per colour. I get through my contacts 20 litres of the clear AR 6350 made up to which I mix in pigments (10%+ -) that I have bought from a tanning supply place over here. This way I can easily mix any colour to suit my job. May sound excessive to many but when you mostly do expensive crocodile products it keeps you ahead of the competition.

Depending on where in the world you are...Campbell Randall had it once but I think you would have to order 20 litres of it at a time if you are in the USA. In Australia here I get Ares AR 6350 which is just Fenice 6350 rebranded. It is thermo mouldable. The other Fenice range that ends in P or plus I think is more of a poly urethane type compound which is not very thermomouldable but is a very durable edge. It seems to have to be sanded more than ironed and for me too slow to use in comparison. Many have gone to using the Giardini range these days and a lot seem to like it but it needs sanding as well. I found too many problems such as shelf life and edge splitting problems with it myself but they may have improved since those trials. For black I use OMAC semi matt black 9OM 357556 which I think may be a rebranded Kenda Farben product. Most of this stuff can be found under shoe finishing products. I hope this helps some.

Just PM me here with your address details and I will get back with the costs and details.

This link should take you to my youtube channel I think - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI6HpFVNnJrEDxdAT8gma7Q This one I used there is a nubuck camel hide but a nubuck goat or roo would be fine as well. (Nubuck is just a finer sanded swede) This is just a fabric called Jacquard we import from Tabru in Italy but any thin tight weave fabric will do. (umbrella?) That of course would depend on how will you can hand skive otherwise but you can profile a thin top leather by putting in a middle filler 3to 4mm from the edges and get a good looking result. (Foam or felt is common) I am not familiar with Latigo but any leather except beady ray I can skive or split with the machines I have. I have split ostrich and croc leather down to .3mm for watch faces in the past. It is pretty much a mixture of paraffin and bees wax but if you dont have a finishing machine to polish it in with you may be able to use a shoe brush with a clear renovating polish. Apply the polish and let it dry in for awhile then polish off with the brush and then a soft cloth. Partly answered above but DO NOT BURNISH at all at any stage when applying edge paints. If you make too smooth beforehand it may peel up and if you do it in between then it will stick to the burnishing tool and make a mess. Lastly...have a look in my profile section in the about me column and you will find a lot of projects I have done and how. Follow me here if you want to keep updated.

So very very true.

Partly you may be getting close. The rounding off of the edges looks about right. When I do this sort of job I put on 2 or 3 coats first then iron it in with a temperature controlled soldering iron which flattens out all the bumps and smooth the edges down nice. I then give it a couple of more coats being careful not to get over the edges. You can do it with just sanding steps between a few coats but I prefer the heated iron method myself. These 3 things I use mostly - A sanding block, Grey scotchbright, and the soldering iron which is controlled by a light dimmer switch. This link I did awhile back should help -

I ran into a similar problem on my 331 pfaff awhile back. I ground too much off the right side of the foot and it broke so I made one up using a bit of flat metal off some machine that felt like it had a bit better than mild steel carbon to it. The piece was just a tad thicker than the foot and wide enough to do the job. This was all done using a drill for the slot hole end, a thin disc in an angle grinder, a Dremel thin cutting disc and a bit off polishing on a rag wheel with some Tripoly polishing compound. The Pfaff foot on the right has the broken foot at the back Cutting out the straight part here was the hardest part to do because you have to be careful not to go over deep. You can see here where I have made the right side thin to get my guide up closer to the needle than the standard foot allowed Here you can see it mounted on my machine. This allows me to stitch with the guide within 2.5mm from the edge. Time taken just over 2 hours but I have done a few before this one as well at other times. (Wear safety glasses)

Hey @Wizcrafts, No I didn't forget. They have 2 thicknesses, one is .2mm and the other they get water jet cut over here and is .55mm. Don't ask me what that is in thou or ounces Just out of interest I looked it up and a Bees dick is .25mm if that helps They sell them as a set for $10 over here so postage would make it near to double I guess. Same address?

Thanks for sharing @Hypomelanistic I will have a look into it.

I am curious how you do the process black oxide? That is some very nice looking work on the servo motor attachment

With a needle poke a little pva glue in the hole. Let it dry and give it a further poke if needed.

I agree I think on the top picture at the front that what you are seeing is a wipe with the heated iron. The iron reshapes and smooths out the edge paint and sometimes can run over the sides if you are not careful. This happens if you get the leatheredges too smooth or burnish it but it is not a problem if you do it correctly. This link I did awhile back making a watch band shows the technique I have been using for many years. This is how I do the belts and most edge painted finishes. This link can be found in my profile section in the about me section along with quite a few other projects I have shared.

I am not sure with all the different dealers but the Cowboy ones here come with bolts with rubber feet along with the castors. At least that is how they send them to me.

As a general rule thinner stuff will require less tension. If it is too tight top and bottom it will make the thinner weight stuff concertina together somewhat. This is most noticeable on anything 1mm or less. Over 2mm it is not so important but if the leather or fabric is soft it may need to change.

Sorry mate I just caught that one, I generally do if I don't have a camera in my other hand but I do make a practice all the same of starting off with a bit of scrap or the previous article in place which then makes it possible to not have to hold it normally. You should see the video where I am trying to show how to do the threading with a camera in one hand -

Yeah, I don't think I would like to have the weight that far forward. It would make it a fair bit more shaky I reckon. If you can get rid of the castors would be good. Lower and more stable and less clearance problems.

THAT is very true and I brought that up with them. It only takes a bit of angle tucked in under the table and that is how I believe all models will now be done . Steel at about 12mm thick. Yeah it is heavy and stable which is good I reckon. Not so great on casters with an uneven floor though. I have to get it onto the proper feet provided when I get space to move it into my factory sorry I meant studio........whatever.

This video should be checked out before thinking of using a U shaped table.

Do you have a link you can share to be able to see the video?