MikeF

Is there anyone out there making and selling a punch or a clicker die for these wallet thumbholes? (Bain of Civilization)...for me cleanly cutting these out by hand is an exercise in futility. A real bonus would one that beads the edge after making the cut. Hoping someone already sells one before I break out the CAD software. r/Mike

Jay...I run into this in a couple of different ways on cases I make...I suppose as many cases as there are, that's how many challenges can come up getting a rivet set sometimes. I don't have any parts cut right now but I tried to show it in the following photos ...this is the simplest of utility "holders" I run into this issue on...I call it a crucifix case...just two pieces of strap riveted together...I marked where I would put rivets, inside and out, and tried to show the "throat depth" issue for you ("a" is what I need; "b" is the max you can get before the interference between case and anvil...basically the top of the case hits the base of the anvil before you can effectively rest the impact area on the flat face of the anvil...you can get a little more throat depth using the horn end of the anvil, "c"...but not enough for all the cases I make and besides...its like trying to set a rivet on a rolling pin...more bent rivet removals and ugliness that goes with that than its worth. As for the cantilevered flat bar...probably best idea...I would need to reinforce a table for that and I was hoping for a more modern "slicker" setter...I've seen some hand presses that might work if I raise the base but those are spendy...also saw some hand setters used for pop rivets that would be slick if you could find some variety in the dies you could use, so you could use different rivets but I don't see that yet...I've thought about just using the pop rivets backed with washers...did that decades ago...we used to get this green colored veg tan in the military and at sea, because our resources were pretty limited (and so was our money---tough economic decisions in those days--beer in a foreign port or fancy rivets and burrs for our leather stuff)..anyway, I used to use pop rivets at sea to make weight lifting belts for the guys. Anyway...thanks for all the comments and thoughts...still looking, but may have to break out the buzz box and get dirty with the angle iron and flat bar. I do want to look at that cobbler's last idea a little closer though...thanks again

I set rivets by hand with hammer...not by choice but by economic imperative...but I need some kind of solution for setting rivets in 4 to 6 inches. My little hobby anvil only gives about 2 inches or so throat depth. Looking for any solution, specialty anvil or press/setter that will give me 6 inches or so throat depth. Wishful or practical? To clarify...this is for small utility cases with one end already closed, so throat depth is an issue.

And finally...the down and dirty, quick and easy...hopefully...enough here today to get you started. r/ mike

Heres a "start"...also, there's easier ways to do the holsters than what I show here...you can make them with a "crucifix" style arrangement of two pieces of strap...2.5 - 4 inches wide depending on the radio you are trying to fit and what graphics you want to use, that just punches the rivets through the front of the case...I don't use it that much because I need the "canvas" area for the toolings I do...but I sure like making them that way when I can, because...its easy.

Here's a broader look...you can get a sense of what hardware you need and how to go forward if your not into the correspondence thing...this one is slightly different holster design using rivets through the back...pretty standard utility case type construction.

Just saw this...looks like a wildland rig Dwight posted...Mark...if you were looking for something for a structural guy, I can probably help you out with a few ideas...let me know how to contact you via email and I'll start funneling some patterns and ideas to you...here is one I did a few years ago...both my boys are in the fire service, so I've been making these for quite a few years...I've got firefighters strapped from Iowa to Oregon and a few points in between.

Help...sourcing case and bag "ornaments"...I don't even know what they are called but already burned a day on the internet trying to figure it out...project is a hip bag for a martial artist and I'm trying to dress up the Dee shields as shown in the pictures. Something rivet backed would be ideal but at this point I'll adapt a small door knocker if i can find it!

Appreciate the response... I usually get HO from Weaver and Springfield...usually I will buy a side or two in the sizes I need...last order I bought 2 wide rolls the length of a side (I think from Springfield)...thinking I didn't want any belly (sound you hear is hand slapping forehead)...then I strip the strap size I need from the backs. Straps I'm making I pretty much need the entire length of the back. I've also bought a bucket load of pre-cut HO straps...most are pretty stiff though they do soften up with a little oil and time...they make marginal shoulder straps for my application...and if I line them they make marginal fence posts...and if I put six of them side by side they would probably make a marginal cattle guard. <grin> Thanks for the thoughts...and the descriptor...I'll give it a try.

Not quite sure how to even describe or illustrate my need...so the photo...shows two similarly sized straps....one (on the left) is stiff and the other on the right is...less stiff. I need to specify and source veg tan leather tempered to give me the "less stiff". I can't even describe it so I don't know how or where to get it...I'm getting some complaints from a couple of clients that the shoulder straps I'm providing are too stiff and uncomfortable. I would like to get too a much more pliable/less stiff strap that I can double (half as lining) and stitch and still achieve a comfortable shoulder strap. Appreciate any help...how can I specify what I'm looking (temper/hardness) and where can I get it? Is there a "shore hardness scale" for leather or other way to specify (soft, medium soft, medium, hard, etc.) Thanks.

So I got confused looking over this and would appreciate more insight if avaiailable...I just finished a project using 50/50 resolene for the first time and first question out of the customer was about care and conditioning...fortunately, it was an email question so I can dance a little, 'cause I don't know and Mr. Wizard ain't around...I usually use TanKote and would unhesitatingly recommend saddle soap and NFO or virgin Olive or lexol or motor oil (just kidding), pretty much whatever conditioner was lying around without much fear ...but I don't know what I'd use 6 months or a year from now on a resolene finished product...I would have like to tell the guys " clean it with some saddle soap and light coat with some Lexol or NFO...but I don't know if that would be a waste of time or not with a resolene finish. Also thinking maybe just one-step it with some Farnam Glycerin Saddle Soap. Can anyone help me out? P.S. I did pre-condition with NFO, sitting overnight, before applying 50/50 Resolene (3 light coats)

I've always been treated right by Springfield...if I could I would probably trade exclusively with them, just to make life easier...but they just don't "have it all" in the shape and form I need. I have ordered craft pieces (nice clean 12 x 24) and been satisfied with dimensional fidelity and quality. That said...I would say make sure you manage your expectations...I recently ordered two square feet of english bridle as a test piece for a new product...expecting a nice clean 12 x 24...that did not happen...I got an oddball cut from somewhere on the perimeter of the hide (shoulder or belly...not really sure...just see a lot of unusable wrinkle)...that measured pretty close to 247 sq. inches (versus 288 for a nice 12 x 24) of which about 20 % is effectively unusable because of the wrinkle and a pretty nasty wire cut. So, lesson learned, when you order cuts or pieces, expect some defects and nominal as opposed to actual dimension...I don't think I will order by the square foot again, but my thinking is in the future, call first and see what you are going to get...I've always had good response to phone questions from Springfield. Probably say the same for just about any vendor...I guess until the start making square cows, this is what we get.

Yep, somethings afoot...I placed an order over a week ago, sent a message to cancel before it shipped...never heard back and a week later get a message that the cancelled order shipped...sent another message asking why the order shipped...nothin but crickets. Just took a look at their website...ALL their large Machinery tools are on close out...even the new stitch master. Death rattle sounds like to me.

I'm halfway through a large bottle of Wyo Slik...I haven't been happy with the results...I've read some gushing positive reviews here on the product from a few years ago...so my knee jerk reaction is I've got something wonky in the process...but I thought I'd check and see what the contemporary experience is with the stuff... My primary disappointment is: Seems like I a get a great glassy edge in process, which is basically, sand with wet/dry (maybe), smear it on with a dauber, burnish with a stick, burnish some more with nasty 20 year old piece of saddle soaped duck cloth, dye (maybe), then burnish some more with a stick and "Nasty Cloth". When I come back in a day or so,when everything is dried out though, it seems the edge has lost its burnish and glassy texture...basically looks and feels like I'd just finished sanding. So I do it all over again...and same result. Not impressive... What am I missing?

Actually...efficiency starts falling off after the first 4 or so hours so it actually took about 8.5 hours...lot of time to think up new questions and dream about machines though...I thought you were hanging up leather Bob. So, one more related question...I appreciated the education on leather density...in selecting a machine then, for my projects, is there any such thing as a medium density veg tan tooling leather? If so, where do you get it?

Thank you Wizcrafts...that was among the most comprehensive and informative answers I've ever received, on/in any forum. I'll find that pinned topic and go through that soon as I finish this project...seems I underestimated the stitching...it's not 21 feet...its more like a touch over 30 feet of hand stitching...and at about 4 foot an hour, I've got a long day ahead of me.

I am staring at a project I need to ship by Friday...I am looking at better than 21 feet of hand stitching that has to be done, as well as some other assembly work, in order for that to happen...so, as happens every time I get to this place in a project like this (yes...I have hand stitched that much and more, more times than I care to remember in the last 15 years)...I stop work and start shopping for a powered stitcher...it is my go to procrastination move. Toledo, Springfield, Weaver, Cobra, Sailrite, Craiglist, Ebay, Senior Times, Home Depot...and on and on...I haunt them all. I know you guys get tired of hearing this question I'm about to ask...so let me say this...I am among the smallest of the small businesses...but I have a market and it seems to be growing. I am terrible at pricing my product (might explain the growing market) so much so, that my son laughingly (seven rolling on the floor, laughing, crying emojis level laughingly) calculated that I am going to make about 64 cents an hour on this project...he suggested I move to Vietnam and make tennis shoes with the rest of the kids...I would make more money. What I'm saying is, I have yet to make enough, or even forecast that I will make enough to invest in machinery from business proceeds alone...it always comes down to "owner's capital", which means money out of my fixed retirement income...So here's the question: What is, in the collective experience, the best all around, does-most-everything-in-a-one-man-band affordable from the perspective of a small guy, doesn't need a forklift to offload LEATHER STITCHER for a small but hardworking shop. I need to stitch, 90 percent of the time, two pieces of 9-10 oz veg tan together...in my wildest imagination, I might need to add a 4-5 oz spacer piece, less than 1% of the time, and less than that, I might need to wrap that edge (sans spacer) with some bias tape (probably total of 4 oz thick). I'd love to be able to go up to 207 thread, and whatever needle system that takes...would love to be able to mount a roller foot and do some pretty straight forward inlay, from time to time...that's gonna leave about 8 or 7 percent of the time I might have to do something my imaginary machine can't handle...and I'd be happy to hand stitch THAT. So, I have a little money to buy a machine..but I had money 15 years ago too, when I spent $1500 on this really underwhelming unicorn of a do-everything machine, that actually doesn't do a very good job even on wallet liners...much less anything I'm doing now...unfortunately, I fell prey to a very very good salesperson in my ignorance back then. Suffice it to say, I have a real mental block when it comes to pulling the trigger on a machine. And, I don't have that much money (hence the lurking around Craigslist, Ebay, Senior Times, and Home Depot, after concluding I can't afford anything new from the dealers). If anyone has the magic answer I would be deeply indebted...if no magic answer, can someone (maybe one of the machine makers) please tell me what "medium density" leather is...seems all the machines in my price range are only capable of stitching up to "medium density" leather...does that mean 20 ounces of Herman Oak Veg Tan, tooled, dyed, and finished? Maybe this question is already out there...if so I apologize, I have not seen the thread that answers this specific question, best all around entry level least expensive machine that does most of what advanced hobbiest and side hustle small business could afford, without attacting the attention of the wife. Thanks for reading through this windy missive. r/ Mike

What do you use to thin Fiebings low voc? Dye Reducer? Trying to get value range in one color.

So...took a look at the outlaw...what I could find online...interested but can't really find price and availability...I admit, I'm to used to just clicking on the "buy, check out now" button and never talking to a human...didn't see that on the web anywhere...can someone point to a bona fide dealer or direct sales rep. Not popping up on Tandy site so I guess they aren't carrying it yet. Basically, how much and who do you have to see to buy one.

Appreciate the comments...didn't even know Cowboy made a hand-powered model so I will check that out...also looking at the Master Tools Cub (a Luberto) over at Weaver...interesting but spendy. NE WY hunh? I played a lot of football up there...against...Hulette, Upton, Moorcroft, Sundance...some basketball in Newcastle. Many many years ago...we were just a few generations away from leather helmets when I played...that is to say, the heros I grew up reading about, did wear leather. Thanks again.

Just went to the Tandy web page to look (again) at the Boss...gone...nada...did Tandy stop carrying Tippman Boss? (Also saw Tippman themselves dropped the price--slightly--market hiccup?

So, Pastor Dwight and anyone who will weigh in... Do you match up the liner to the belt blank as best possible then sew...or do you sew two blanks together then trim to get the smoothest edge possible? I know I'm not describing this right but...I want to line the straps I make (not necessarily belts) and get the finest edge possible for finish...if I was making a case or notebook (something like that) I would likely make everything up, cemented, over size, and trim to size before I stitch up for a fine edge. I've never figured that out for strap work...I see folks with beautifully lined belts, with decorative finger cuts on the inside liner, but I never could get there because I was ashamed of my finished edge... I know I'm a little off topic so feel free to scold and redirect...I'm desperate for an answer to this question...bugged me for quite awhile. And since I'm off topic...I wouldn't mind knowing how to whip stitch a belt edge with lace edges tight like I see on Peter Main's belts...but could never figure out how to get the spacing right...go ahead and yell but please point me in the right direction. Looks like all beltmakers here so I figure someone will help. Thanks...prayers for us all. Mike

Not to say a bag of those dang things won't set you back a week's pay too, though...'specially if you rely on this business for your money.

I feel your pain...I have drawers full of tools that ended up being one trick (or no trick) ponies...my latest was that hand held lace cutter from tandy...what a piece of junk. Sadly, though, I am cursed with a warped sense of humor...and for that I apologize to you in advance... With that said... "Semi-automatic edge dyeing machine for quick and accurate edging application. Compatible with major edge paint brands and suitable to paint the edges of handbags, wallets, watch straps, belts and other leather accessories."