JHLeatherwood

Hey - while y'all are here - I'm looking up needles and threads and such. Industrial sewing machine repair guy (ISMRG) says he wouldn't go larger than 170 thread and 135 in the bobbin. Nothing againt y'all, but he's here in the flesh and I can see from his shop that he at least knows how to take them apart. Should I stock up on needles and thread from Amazon, or pay the slightly higher price and buy from ... Springifeld, Weave, Buckleguy, RMLeathersupply, etc. Does it matter?

I'll admit it here - $200 all in for the lot. Industrial sewing machine guy says he'll get it back to fully functional (including restore or replace the hook/bobbin carriage, refinish the surface rust on the plates, recoonect the reverse bar, and replace the walking foot/presser) for under $300 and two weeks, which includes the 30 minutes he spent walking me through what he was seeing. I'll probably buy a new table from him - the seaside humidity wasn't kind to the particleboard the "original" table was made of, and he has a new plywood version with the lamp and thread holder already installed for $125. I may spring for a servo motor. I know it's the most highly recommended mod out there, and for another $150 or so would probably be the difference between me loving the machine and hating life. On the other hand, that's another $150, and this machine hasn't made me any profit yet. so for about $700 all in (plus thread, needles, and other incidentals) I'll have a machine that will easily handle wallets, journal covers, and up to 7-ounce combined leather for other knick-knacks and doodads I can sell at the swap meets. I've done a couple (literally two) holsters handstitched, and I'm not sure this machine would be up that, or knife sheaths, but it'll speed my production of the smaller stuff, for sure.

Got this sweet Juki EA650 Baby Lock as part of a Craigslist bundle. Ad said it needed a little TLC ... OK, they threw that in with the real score: A Consew 332R in semi-working condition. The pulley moves (by hand), the presser foot goes up and down, the needle carriage moves, and with the drive belt removed from the pulley, the motor spins up (and takes a LONG time to spin back down). There's some rust, and a bunch of parts are missing, but there's a local industrial sewing machine repair guy who was kind enough not to buy it out from under me when he checked it out. Yeah, i t needs some work but a couple $$$ (Ok, maybe $$$$) in parts and labor and I should have a machine that will FAR exceed my ability to take advantage of it. Oh, and I got a Tandy block of 80 stamps (ok, there were two handles and two sewing-machine screwdrivers, so only 76 stamps) as part of the deal, too. Sadly, this all came with the house the CL sellers bought when the previous owner died, and it was all stored in the covered porch. Rust abounds. Photo attachment limits ... yarg

Thanks!

Buzzardbait - can you tell me more about using sheeps wool / lamb's wool for dyeing? I've seen several references to using lambs wool for applying and buffing dyes/finishes, etc, but I can't find any good tutorials about it. Even the most basic info, like (and don't laugh) should I use the fur side or the flesh side? Can I re-use the skin/wool as long as I stay with the same color/dye? Or is it a single-use consumable? How big a piece? Any prep work before use? You mention trimming, and I've seen that elsewhere - just run my beard trimmer over it, or is there a better way? How short? Or ... just go back to cheap sponges that soak up so much more dye than they put down on the workpiece. I do mostly little stuff, and I feel like I'm wasting so much dye!

There's a guy with a series of videos about these machines, including setting them up, disassembling for cleaning, top five questions, etc. Mainely Acres is the channel name