tomsmith85717

I recently learned a style of attaching uppers to the sole. It involves making two parallel lines with a stitching groover and then running a french edger in between the the groover cuts. this allows a place for the rolled over upper to sit flush in the bottom of the shoe. So I am looking for professional tools to do professional work. Here is my question, I am looking for good professional versions of the tools. I like to use them with a reverse grip and pulling towards my body, so they should be usable ambidextrously. I am torn with several ideas getting 2 cheap handles and fitting good replacement blades from high end groovers into them that way I never have to adjust them as you are always setting on at 1/4" and the other is at the width of the french skiver. getting a Ron's tools groover (how deep can it groove into the leather? i need about an 1/8 of an inch depth) getting something like a barry king groover... who is making really good french skivers in the 1/4" width these days. I have large but not abnormal sized hands.

Well... maybe not the plastic part.

Lets be real they really just wanted a dremel...excuses help some people sleep at night. Also I was dicking about with my dremel ... a tapered diamond bit makes wicked holes for rivets/ Chicago screws in areas where punches are less than ideal.

this! 1000x this! Hell get an Olfa snap knife and strop the blade you will get a similar enough result. If you knife isnt cutting smoothly it isnt sharp enough. I also like to mirror my sheilds. I feel like the double thick looks more substantial and it has to be more secure than a single rivet. I cut, place my ring glue and clamp then stick it to the leather, and stitch it down. Quick rarely means good. Good is rarely quick.

If you are planning on using upholstery leather, I would suggest an upholstery machine. The weight of what you are wanting to stitch needs to be matched to the ideal range of the machine. Get leather too thick and your machine wont be able to handle it: get am machine designed for stitching saddles and try to stitch upholstery leather it will eat your leather and make bad stitches. My advice, buy the best machine you can afford to purchase, outfit and maintain. Older machines can get pricey with replacement parts and labor quickly. If you are not very mechanically adept or have loads of time to repair an old machine, buy a new clone from a place that can answer your questions get you parts or even fix problems. If you are somewhat mechanically adept get a slightly older model flagship with an assload of youtube how to fix... videos. If you are a mechanical wizard buy the cheapest machine and become a part time sewing machine mechanic, you could even turn that hobby into its own business (I'm looking at you Uwe).

I dont know why I never thought that someone has to make those kinds of things. I am glad to know its a weirdo like me who makes such tings. keep up the good work.

I went to the university surplus place and got a stool it isnt perfect its too short, it was made in 1997 (doesnt look a day over 10 though) its built like a tank had to have cost them like $600 new... but at $25 USD I will gladly try to mod it into a great stool, I will also swing by that place on the semi regular as they have some cool and weird shit at garage sale prices. Honestly if you needed a cheap sturdy work bench they had old lab tables and ridiculous desks for like $20

I have not forgotten about that I am just not holding my breath until i find one i could afford.

How many out there use the back on the stool? Every time I try to sew with a chair with a back I find that I am leaning forward enough that I am not even putting any weight on the back section. I cant tell if this is good or bad posture. I will see if the university near me is selling any stools. Definitely a good tip.

Tall does it go? I am going to need one that is about 30"+- off the ground.

Ok I cant figure out where to put this topic as it isnt a sewing machine question per se, but it totally is. I need to find a stool /chair for sewing at. I have a cobra class 26 on their pedestal stand. I was using a craptacular IKEA stool with a piano stool like adjustability, but the damn thing just cant handle daily use. I have bounced between the stand to sew and stool to sew but I just added a foot pedal to the sewing machine to control reverse (because it seemed easier than growing a third arm) so unless I can master the whole hovering by yogic mental powers alone I need a better stool. Any suggestions?

You want a glue that has a decent bond and is flexible. super glue is way to hard and brittle. If you use epoxy then you want one with a low psi rating. If in doubt try barge.

Former glass blower here it is real hard to make a flat bottom and straight sides with out a mold and glass molds are a fairly recent thing. but if you get a rounded bottom heat it evenly and then push up with a punty stick it will push fairly evenly leaving you a smaller surface to try to flatten with out bulging and even if you didnt try to flatten the ring it would still sit more evenly

That is what incognito windows are for.

Any country that doesnt employ near slave labor is going to mean expensive boots. The number of man hours involved in making boots of any quality is at least 5 with really specialized equipment that costs more than a house, or 10-20 man hours with normal standard industrial leather working equipment. If you were to pay someone minimum wage there is between $50 and 200 in labor just for them and that doesnt count insurance or social security. IF the person has any skill what so ever they need to be paid $25-30 per hour to keep them at your shop and if they are working for themselves they really need to be charging $40 to $60. If you can get American made boots for less than $200 you are stealing them if they are custom and less than $300 they are working for the exposure alone. OR you can buy shoes made by slaves or shoes made with inferior components. Shoes that cost less than $100 means someone didnt eat or you are getting plastic that has been glued together. I will get off my soap box now.

Sorry for yet another post, I was making coffee and I was reminded of a screening of a documentary I watched Called "Tim's Vermeer", which was about a man named Tim who reinvented Vermeer's (one of a few dutch master painters whom are belived to have used camera obsuras in creating their works) camera obscura and went through all the steps to recreate one of his famous paintings 1 for 1 using the rediscovered techniques and technology . It was a screening hosted by the University of Arizona's art school. Part of the screening was a discussion about the use of camera obsucra and what did it mean if that many of the dutch masters who used them mean that they did not "paint" their paintings rather than simply copy what they could see through the camera obscura? While it did reduce the skill needed to get photo realistic results it did not change the skill in making/mixing the paint setting the composition... and all the other aspects of making art/paintings. As I see it Hand stitching is is just that stitching done entirely by hand, however does one need to say that they used a pricking iron or a stitching chisel? I use great skill and my hands to control a machine that interlocks the threads that I use to create a stitch in the leather. To me this COULD be considered "hand made," it is unquestionably hand crafted. If I used a Tippman boss or a patcher with a hand wheel would or should it change how I should define my work? It would be hard to call it anything else other than hand made even by the most narrow of definitions. More over without a generally accepted definition of "hand made" should It even matter what one calls as long as there are no deceptions being made? (I know it does as we have gotten to several pages worth of posts on this subject) Thank your Robs456 for bringing up such a question. It really has made me think about my work (in both noun and verb forms) in profound and meaningful ways.

Most machines use ink and not paint. Paint is both a noun and a verb. So is Painting they occupy 2 distinct spaces that are vastly different. One is to do something and the other is a result or a medium in which to work. If you seek a simple definition you seek a legal, ethical, moral, normative, or a usable definition. I am a sure a guild would create a different definition than a taxation agency or even someone outside of the guild but who is operating in the craft might make another distinction. So what distinction are you seeking and why? I am not simply asking asking to Rob5 I am asking anyone who reads this & has a reaction. For with out a strong guild or government definition it seems to be up to the individual maker to decide if the use of which machines allows or keeps something from being called hand made. Being that this forum is the closest thing to a guild i have come across, I am truly curious as to what definition we settle on as a whole. Or at least a reason why It matters to us as a group. As I have said this is something I have struggled with. I think it has more to do with the production philosophy than the tools and techniques. Hand made by a slave is not going to be a s good as something machine made by a craftsman.

So then, no if any non hand tool is used it cant be hand made. Its that cut and dry. Or at least that is where any argument begins... anything after that just justifies ego and technicalities. Unless some government out there has codified a quantifiable number, but if another government comes out with a different number then what? But what is hand made other than a value added proposition or something to say to make someone feel good? If it isnt a legal distinction? I should point out I am sick with the flu, cant sleep and really enjoying the philosophy in action.

BAck off the big open tubular thing on the top of the head ... I am not going to take a picture. I am sure you can figure it out. Or call cobra steve.

And how you can authentically make beautiful things that help live better. I truly think that most people who are searching "hand made" things are really looking for things made to last that are also made with integrity and intention. When you see jeans for less than $30 you have to think who didnt get to eat so that I could get these at this price... sames goes for leather goods. If our paths cross, I too would buy you a drink and offer an chat.

N No, they made digital art. but what you are really asking is their effort less valuable than someone who put brush to canvas and moved paint around. Hand made is an inefficient thing of the past but what, where & how do we find the true value in our skill and craft then translate that into a way for the customer to understand... that is the real crux of the question as anything else is just quantification of a buzz word.

If our paths cross let me offer to buy you a drink and have a chat. I struggle with this my self. I will absolutely say I hand craft everything I do. but I machine stitch which deters me from saying hand made. I dont think that my lack of hand stitching degrades my product. in fact it probably makes it better. I still have a hard time between hand made and machine stitched. Where I do see a clear line is between slave/coerced labor and that of an artisan. I dont make mine to simply meet a piece rate. I make mine to fulfill my vision in the way I want it to be constructed . Could I farm my stuff out to India and say I design them my self sure but I couldnt sleep at night knowing what i did. I really think this is only a leather worker problem or at least a leather snob problem. What if I laser cut everything either laser cut slits or pricking marks and then stitched them It would double the time could i double my price would I be able to live off of them... I dont want to try or find out. I think I will stick to the term hand crafted.

Or better yet do both.

Any force hard enough to hurt basically any strap attachments are going to damage the instrument inside the case. So dont over think it. That said I second d rings.

I used to carry a wallet not that different than that for years I found the best way to keep it closed was to keep it in my pocket.. Seriously I never had it open up in my pocket. dropping it on the floor that is a whole different story.