Handstitched

.......or you could just trim your nails @tstan47 I always use neatsfoot oil on my belts and some other products before I dye them, but with brown or lighter coloured belt & products , I use a thin oil similar to ' Armorall' for car upholstery, as it dries mostly clear and doesn't darken the leather like neatsfoot does. HS

Well, just to throw a spanner in the works. I dont use the ' traditional ' diamond awl, I use sewing machine needles in sewing awl hafts. Have done for the past 15 years This works just fiiiine for me, and may never work for anyone else .., it may not be ' traditional' ...but it works . Here are my awls. The one on the far left is the one I use all the time ,at the end on the haft, theres a tiny hole that I use to help push the needle through. However, depending on the job, and needs a heavier thread, I use the one in the middle or the one on the * right. ( *its actually a needle from ' Brutus' , my saddle machine ) . The sewing needles I use are ' John James Egg Eyed Harness needles # 1, or # 1/0 . The bit of wood on the far right, is a piece of soft ' MDF', so I have something to push against, mainly because my hands do have the usual aches & pains ( and maybe a bit of arthritis) and the wood helps, and doesn't damage the needles. I do sometimes pre-punch the holes , and sometimes do one hole at at time, however, I cant always hold both the needle & the haft in the same hand, my hands aren't big enough . I have used a pricking iron on occasion, and even used my saddle machine to make holes as well because my hands are so sore. . My preferences vary from one job to the next. . The bag is just one example of the end result , using the awl on the left, and a pair of JJ 1/0 needles. Each to his or her own. Everyone here is different . Just do what works for you. Thats my 2 cents worth . HS

Well,I have 5 machines x4 industrial x 1 domestic , but heres my faves, the machines that get used frequently . The first is a Juki 144 clone, made by ' Q Stitch' of Queensland Australia( they no longer do these any more) . Its called ' Brutus' , and does all the medium & heavy stuff from belts , tool cases, & heavy leather to heavy webbing.Took me yonks to choose it. The model is called ' Colt' , the one up from that is called ' Stallion' . I bought it....um?? a long time ago , its also a declared asset for taxation purposes ( AU) , its also due for a service The second is a Pfaff 60 ( simply ' Mum's old machine ' ) and does all the light stuff like thin leather , wallets etc. I call it an ' industrial machine' but it is in fact a very well made German cast iron domestic . My mother used to make our clothes on it , amongst the 'gazzilion' clothing alterations as we were growing up when we were kids back in the late 50's & 60's ...onwards , so theres sentimental value as well.My Mum brought it with us when we moved to Australia, only some minor damage to the wood case. . She even made me a sheep skin vest on it when I was a wee lad. You can easily & simply replace the bushes on the motor from the out side. It has a new life now. A basic simple machine, and so well designed, it takes industrial threads I use for horse rugs, and gets a lot of love . Apart from the odd broken needle & belt, it goes great to this day. The third machine is a ' Seiko STW 28-B , ( ' Stewart' ) my ' bread & butter machine' , especially during the quiet leather/market months in Winter . Its does all my horse rug repairs, and medium weight leathers. Its 53 years old ( I checked) Its originally a twin needle, but I only use a single needle. A friend of mine moved, when she was having a ' cleanout' before moving, she was going to just give it to me for free, but I knew the value of it and bought it from her . Its cleaned and serviced frequently, as some horse rugs can be a bit dirty. The forth pic , are the needles from the 'Pfaff' , Seiko' and the Colt. HS

If its of any help, according to the instructions for the S & J staple gun, the minimum pressure is 60 PSI, max of 100 PSI . I had it set to around 65 PSI . I might put it up a bit higher, to about 70, but I don't see the need. If I have time , I'll take a few pics of my ' test piece' of wood so you can see the difference. It may be of some help to someone else in the future. HS

@tagfan I second that, I quite like it as it is , looks great, lovely colour too HS

That reminds me of an old leather shop that closed in the Perth CBD ( WA) some years ago . It was on 3 levels. All the big machines presses etc. were on the basement floor. Over the 40 years it was there, the rear doors to the basement were blocked off, so the only way to get the machines out were through the front window by removing it, on the shop / street level , using an industrial crane . Hope to hear some good news about your machine soon. Don't give up . I haven't given up on mine, I've had mine for around ten years , still confident I will one day use it, just waiting to win lotto to buy a 3 ph generator. It will happen. HS

Well, like a kid with a new toy at Christmas, I just had to try out my new staple gun today , admittedly only on wood, not a M/C seat but it worked great , compared the electric one, the staples went in effortlessly and much deeper . Even on wood like pine , the electric one struggled a bit , the staples either bent or simply didn't go in very far. The air stapler pushed the staples in just a fraction below the wood surface. Wow !! I just need to do another M/C seat to do a full review, but I do feel confident that it will do the job so much better than the electric. HS

G'Day and thanks RB Your opinion doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, however, unlike shovels etc. this tool is pneumatically powered so I'm hoping it will do the job well. I'll just have to try it out for myself and see. I bought it from ' M10' , mainly to spite the big ' B ' , apart from the fact that are no ' Big B's out my way. My last staple gun is an Ozito, Ok on soft ( flat) woods....and thats it. I told the helpful assistant at M10 that I'll be using it with a GMC compressor, he went a bit green with envy. Seems they are much sort after. Some of my other power tools are GMC , and to this day ( touchwood) they all work well. HS

G'Day, I've been doing a few more upholstery jobs lately, mostly on M/C seats, and perhaps a few more jobs on the way, but using the " other stuff" ....that isn't leather ..... as per clients request. I've just recently purchased a ' Spear & Jackson' pneumatic stapler. http://www.spearandjackson.com.au/products/PA-8016K Does anyone have one of these and are they any good ? I did try searching on here for info, and also product reviews before buying, but nothing on the S&P . The last stapler was electric, and it was useless. Good on soft woods like pine etc. but no good for hard formed plastic M/C seat profiles . Thanks, HS

@turbotexas Is that valves ( tubes ) that I can see ? The machine is how old ? I used to restore vintage radios in another life so they look familiar. Check those, pull them out and put them back in, contacts can tarnish. If they're white on the tops, they'ye stuffed. If a radio didn't come to life, I checked the primary & secondary voltages on the coil. And paper capacitors were notorious for drying out . Old resistors can have dry or broken contacts, fractures etc. But as mark842 mentioned , rats love wire ' nom nom ' , they could well be the culprit. http://www.robinsandberg.nl/hydraulicpressmachines/tag/usm-clicker-press This is like mine, but not new, mine is about mid 1980's vintage, and 3 phase. RRP at the time $7,500, I bought mine from a former leather worker for $500- But just waiting to win lotto to buy a 3ph generator, theres no 3ph power in my street, and single phase conversion is about $1200+....DOH !!! Hope you get your machine working well HS

If it was me, it'll be a good ' excuse' to get creative and cover it up .I've restored old leather bags doing that to cover up scratches, marks , old or poor tooling, monograms etc. I once made a spelling boo boo on a belt. So , I got a separate piece of leather just slightly narrower and shorter than than the belt, punched out some holes and did a nice braid, and then sewed the whole piece to the offending belt,covering my mistake, only to find it sold really quickly.So I made a few more, they too sold quickly. HS

Off topic: P.S. , I forgot to mention, that too much Fosters causes a bloke to be....um ...... under performing in the bedroom, aka the ' Fosters Flop ' . HS

@robs456 yes, there are snakes everywhere, but the skins are not readily available . Thanks for the offer of a Fosters, but Fosters tastes like sh* t, its very rarely sold here, thats why it sold in the UK, cos' no-one else in their right mind would drink it !!! . HS

G'Day , Just a quick update. I received my tin of Toluene recently, and already its worked. ( But as soon as I opened the tin, the smell immediately brought back memories of my fibreglass pool days, I don't miss it ) I put a little into the tin in the morning , sealed it, and by the arvo, it had already turned 'the almost solid lump' of adhesive into something I can use. Over time this will hopefully save me a lot of $$$ in expensive adhesive. Yey , I like it when stuff works Thanks for all your advice and input . HS

@AA3JW Although its a different brand, and ingredients maybe different, I have used acetone with ( Selleys Kwip Grip ( Au) contact adhesive, in the hope it will thin it out.........it didn't . It just went a bit ' gluggy' , and useless. MEKP = Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide , aka catalyst for resin , like fibreglass etc. Not sure if MEK and MEKP are the same ? Geez, we've gone from leather crafters to chemical freaks.... nah , just kidding HS

@dikman two of those chemicals, acteone & toluene I used frequently ' back in my fibreglass pool days' . Both are to be treated with respect, especially toluene, just one minute drop of that in your eye makes you turn into Hussein Bolt...to the wash room. We did have a 240ltr drum of industrial strength Methylene chloride in the factory, , I kept my distance from that and never used it , it had ' skull & cross bones' on the label I am hoping a small investment in some toluene may save me money in the long term , by not wasting so much adhesive and making it stretch further. Any cost savings in business during challenging times is a plus HS I agree. Our old hardware shop does have its historic value to the locals too. If they don't have what you want, they can get it. HS

G'Day , @chuck123wapati They do eat Cane Toads in Qld. and across the top end in the NT ....apparently, but only the back legs , the rest is very toxic .But I've never tried them never will. I better not go too far off topic or we'll be exchanging recipes next....' a bit of salt, pepper, garlic.... or perhaps a nice dipping sauce...? ' HS

Tastes like chicken no doubt ? In that case, does chicken tastes like snake? So it seems to be better to have the scales removed. , and think carefully how to cut them according to the markings, colours and patterns on the skin ( all going in the same direction ? ) , so , you wouldn't want to make too many mistakes either . I do the same with Cane Toad skins. @Rockoboy I've had these fish skins for some years. A customer just came to me and asked me if I'd like some...yep. 2 weeks later, a large envelope arrived choc full of fish skins, assorted sizes & colours. I'll make something nice one day, been saying that for years HS

G'Day and thank you once again for your help. I've just ordered 1 ltr of ' Diggers Toluene Contact Adhesive Thinner' from my local hardware shop . Its $16.00 Au . My local hardware doesn't keep it , understandably , as its not very nice stuff if you don't know what you're doing with it. P.S. (a bit off topic, Our local hardware shop is one of those 'ye olde' ones , with old creaky wood floorboards, one on one service, and where you know where everything is....not like those hardware chains where it takes a better part of an afternoon just to find a packet of screws and no-one to help you ) HS

G'Day , yes, I did look into it further. But this was at the back of my mind the whole time , 'Toluene' . The product is ' Diggers Toluene Contact Adhesive Thinner' ( Australia) . I know all about this stuff, I worked with Toluene for over ten years + in my fibreglass pool days . HS

G'Day and thank you so much for your replies @RockyAussie I take it thats the same thinners you use for spray painting? @hwinbermuda I might try that,thanks I use either ' Selleys' Kwik Grip or ' Parfix ' ' . I have found they both do the job quite well. Now, this bit may seem odd, but, the remaining adhesive in the Parfix tin was going off, so, I poured a little bit of the 'good' ' Kwik Grip' into the Parfix tin and sealed it well and left it for a few days . , that seemed to have softened it up a bit. I didn't know that there are specific thinners for adhesives,( we learn something new every day eh ) so you've all been very helpful. This I will look into further. Thanks HS

G'Day, Out of some of the challenges in leather work, one is just an annoyance .Contact adhesives going off in the tin before its all used. Doesn't matter what brand. This is due the frequent opening and closing of the tin, and while I ensure the tops and edges of the tins are clean and tap the lid down firmly after each use , over time they go off with still some left. ( summer is a real *&^%tch for adhesives ) I only buy 500ml tins ( the smallest available here) because of this. I was buying 1litre tins, but I was wasting too much and it was costly. Is there any way of thinning / rejuvenating/ softening contact adhesives using a particular ( and available) chemical ?( not acetone, I've tried it) Alternatively, I could contact the manufacturer/s for advice. Thank for any help. HS

An answer to your first question, I'd been doing leather work for many years before I decided on buying a sewing machine, to help speed up the process, and because my ' hobby' turned into a registered business. But the process of choosing a machine took months before I finally decided on a machine that suited my needs . The machine I bought was the one pictured. Its a ' Q Stitch Colt' , from Queensland, Australia , a Juki clone , very powerful, sews everything I want it to. I chose it because it can sew a multitude of materials , leather, canvas, webbing etc. , with the right dogs and feet, but leather mostly. And yes, I'm very happy with it. For business / taxation purposes ( Australia) I declared it as an asset , depreciation etc. But like myself, most leather workers have more than one machine for different applications . I have 4 machines. Some have more. As for your second question, cutting stuff out , pricking irons etc. I do all that by hand, including hand stitching. No presses , just me . No noise, ......except when I injure myself , ha ha HS

I think we all have our own way of doing things when it comes to making belts ( or anything else for that matter ) . But purely from observation, I have seen waist lines increase over the years. I used to make 34" - 36" belts, but these days, they're too short.While I still make the ' shorties' , most of my belts now range anywhere from 37" upwards . Some are even 50" ++ . I now put 6 holes on my belts, have done for yonks, because, with 5 holes, I can bet a dollar that the customer would ask me to add an extra hole, so I now put 6 holes. 6 holes = 6 sizes. my measurements go from the 3rd hole back from the tip. For example, a 37" belt ( 3rd hole) would extend to 39" , and going the other way ,down to 34" . You can see my template in the pic. Hope all this info helps HS

@chrisash I agree entirely , but it doesn't answer the question I'd like to know too, as I have never worked with snake skins, mainly because they're so expensive here in Oz, and not always east to find. I do have some fish skins that I will one day try working with. HS