TonyRV2

Hi all...I started out as a knife maker a few years ago and making sheaths is what got me started in leather, although did a little leather work back in the 70's. Anyway, I'm finding I enjoy the leatherwork even more than the knife making an plan on expanding that part of my hobby. To that end, I'd like to branch into making handbags, hats, straps and so on, and maybe put enough together to start doing fairs and festivals. Thus the need/want for a sewing machine, as I've been hand stitching everything up to this point. So moving forward, I need a machine that does well with garment leather as well as knife sheaths. I think I've settled in on a Cobra Class 20 machine and I've found very little feedback on this model here at Leatherworker. The specs say this machine is good for up to 1/2 inches which should adequately cover the 3 layers of 7/8 oz leather that I use for sheaths, and furthermore, since this is a flat table model it will naturally be well suited to much thinner projects. So then, anyone have any experience with this particular machine, and do you think that it would be the best machine for the jobs I want to do? Thank you for your input!

In the for what its worth department, as a knifemaker (making sheaths got me into leatherwork) I own a couple 2X72" knife grinders. Not only can you purchase abrasive belts for these grinders, but they may also be fitted with a 2X72" strop. These strops are made to be put on the machine with the grain side out. In the final analysis, I personally don't believe it makes a difference if you strop on the grain side or on the flesh side. After all, after several stropping the flesh side is going to be burnished down anyways. The whole idea behind stropping is to realign all the little micro-teeth that have formed on the cutting edge as well as to apply a polish to the edge. Green jewelers rouge is my preferred stropping compound.

Good luck with your sheath. Building knife sheaths is the reason I got into leatherworking because I'm also a knifemaker. With a 9-10oz welt, you could pull that knife in and out 10,000 times and I don't care how sharp it is, your not going to bust through to the stitching. A person would really have to purposely start sawing on the welt to try to damage it to that extent. As one other poster mentioned, after you get it all glued up put your stitch line about 1/8 to 3/16 or so from the edge and make your welt about 1/2 wide. A person would have to cut through (sideways mind you) 5/16 of leather before a stitch was exposed. Very unlikely so you can relax.

Great idea....I like it!

PM sent requesting catalog, thanks.

Before you do anything else, or put any more products on this, try setting it out in the sunshine for a few days. This may lighten it up very nicely for you, I know that this works with Resolene.

I bought this glue keeper a few months ago for 14 bucks on ebay...there are many like it there and on amazon similarly priced. So far, so good, I have no complaints and its keeping the glue and brush fresh. http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Ounce-Glue-Container-with-Brush-Minimal-Vapor-Emission-Extends-Brush-Life-/222057143407?rsta=en_US(en_US)&cnac=US&mail=sys&e=op&unp_tpcid=email-receipt-auction-payment&ppid=PPX000608&calf=3e87e07622c1&calc=3e87e07622c1&pgrp=main:email&unptid=ac5a3476-6d70-11e7-b1f3-5cb90192cbb0&mchn=em&t=&s=ci&page=main:email&cal=3e87e07622c1&cust=7XC822358F881290A

We're going to have a few sunny days here in northern MI for the next few days (I'm in West Branch). Try putting those pieces outside in the sunshine for a few days. This will lighten up anything that has neatsfoot on it. In the future, when applying neatsfoot oil, apply only light coats and allow thorough drying. Too much oil on leather is actually worse than no oil at all.

I also make sheaths as well as holsters. I think most would recommend shoulders for making a sheath. This is what I use.

If your serious about sheath making, consider getting the 3 DVD instructional series done by Paul Long...a master crafter of knife sheaths. The DVD''s are a bit pricey, but when I started out they probably cut 2 or 3 years off of the learning curve, well worth it imho. Personally, I wouldn't soak a knife sheath in anything that I wouldn't want to come in contact with a knife blade. Which basically means that I wouldn't soak the sheath in anything at all. Usually I line my sheaths and find this to be enough. Also, if you produce a proper pattern for your sheath, something that Paul covers, then there is no need for any kind of molding what so ever, and to tell you the truth, I know of no sheath makers that do this, but that's just me, I'm not saying its never done.

If it were my project, I'd keep all of the original hardware and replace all of the leather, possibly keeping the best pieces of old leather for use as inserts if possible.

Yes, those bands are very expensive being that there rated to 100 meters that the gator doesn't come back to life.

Likely a reaction to some product used in the tanning or finishing process. Allergies can come on sudden like that. Try getting leather from a different source and see if you still have a reaction. Try just to eliminate one thing at a time in trying to narrow it down. Good luck.

Welcome aboard Jet...I'm about 20 miles east of Gainesville on Little Orange Lake near Hawthorne. I make knives here and do my leather crafting at my place in West Branch, MI. Since I do the snowbird thing I wondered what I might do when I was away from my knife shop, and making sheaths came to mind. That's how I started doing leather. I retired from teaching college electronics about a month ago so I'm looking forward to my new avocation. I imagine as an avionics tech, you dabbled in a little electronics yourself.

This comes from the files of "things I learned while looking up other things". I've always been fascinated with the origin of words and phrases, especially commonly used words that aren't usually given much thought....we just say them. Cobweb for instance, peaked my curiosity while I was staring at...you guessed it...a cobweb. Where did the 'cob' part come from I wondered. Turns out that its from a middle English word for spider.."coppe". The Merriam Webster article that I was reading then went on to explain that the word 'cob', which refers to corn, comes from an entirely different middle English word, 'cobbe', meaning 'head'. This word was used to describe anything with a round shape, such as a corn cob. So it seems then that we have the origin for the name of the tool that we're all familiar with, the 'head knife'. Oh....and I did finally knock down that cobweb, literally, and figuratively. ;-) Edit...sorry for the double post. I was given an error message that said it didn't post and posted again...got the error message again and turns out they both posted.

This comes from the files of "things I learned while looking up other things". I've always been fascinated with the origin of words and phrases, especially commonly used words that aren't usually given much thought....we just say them. Cobweb for instance, peaked my curiosity while I was staring at...you guessed it...a cobweb. Where did the 'cob' part come from I wondered. Turns out that its from a middle English word for spider.."coppe". The Merriam Webster article that I was reading then went on to explain that the word 'cob', which refers to corn, comes from an entirely different middle English word, 'cobbe', meaning 'head'. This word was used to describe anything with a round shape, such as a corn cob. So it seems then that we have the origin for the name of the tool that we're all familiar with, the 'head knife'. Oh....and I did finally knock down that cobweb, literally, and figuratively. ;-)

For under $3.50 shipped, this device will do the same job as long as you adjust opposite sides to the same length. (A small price to pay verses 30 bucks plus shipping for the Tandy stamping guide. An added benefit is that this tool can be used to find unknown angles as well! (its intended purpose) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V4FJ4C?ref_=ams_ad_dp_asin_1

Try a local butcher supply retailer. That's where I bought my 24 x 36 poly board....and reasonably priced I might add.

While I don't have a leather related liquid disaster to share, I do feel you pain. Once, when deciding to do a little touch up painting on a car, I filled an 8oz styrofoam cup up with some lacquer paint. Did you know that lacquer paint will eat through styrofoam in a matter of seconds?

There are too many folks in the world that confuse opinion with truth. The sooner we all learn the difference, the better off we'll all be. That said, I guess I haven't been around here long enough to experience much drama, but I know one thing...I've learned a lot from the kind folks on this forum and I'm appreciative. For every drama queen around here, I bet there's a thousand others like me that just want to learn from those that have tread down this road before us. Don't let the drama get you down. There are many, many more folks here that need your help than not, and I want to personally thank everyone on this site that chooses to convey their personal knowledge of leathercraft to those less experienced. When you share knowledge, you leave an indelible mark on the world. Please don't be discouraged by the pompous behavior of a few, just make judicial use of the ignore button. :-)

As of this morning, the issue seems to be fixed for me. Thank you!

I would be interested in the creasers and possibly the glue pot lot if it is one of those metal glue pots. Let me know, I'll meet your price for these items.

Hey Dan...just for future reference, you're right, cameras don't take 1.46MB pics. But most computers have at least rudimentary picture viewing software that will allow you to crop photos, reduce picture size, and reduce resolution. If the software is not on you computer, you can easily find a free app for that. It really is very easy to do, even a caveman (or Luddite) can do it.

Same here.