chrisash

I have often wondered about the requirement of heavy thread on items like holsters or any other heavy use items, without considering cosmetics My question is is the strength of say #138 at 22 pound breaking strain, (bonded nylon) on say a 10cm length of stitched leather, at a nominal stitch interval, likely to break down at 22 pound applied pressure, or is the pressure divided by the number of adjoining stitches, and therefore require a far heavier pressure to break, i.e. each single stitch would break at 22 pounds but is the load shared by other stitches The second question is, if you have glued the leather as well as sewn, what do the experts expect to give way first Presumably someone must have done some real life tests in the past, or is it in reality just a case of always been overengineered and people just followed tradition

One other thing, you have to be able to sell, but that does not mean it must be to the end customer If say you enjoy making holsters (which seem to be the american thing) then work with your local gun shops, they tell you whats popular and buy what you make for them to sell on. this can be you give them a discounted price, so they can still make a good profit, or you supply them with a number of products which they sell and you give them a commission (no risk to the shop owner) Washing and repairing Horse blankets may be a good way into repairing tack or selling your own tack if you have the skills required

There is no one answer to your questions Most leather workers who make money have chosen a niche product range and spent money marketing their goods , just like any other business Some will make well made items for others to sell, Brian in Australia appears to make goods especially for a well known outlet selling high value goods with gator leather among other things and produce the same item in quite large numbers gaining the advantage of small mass production Others may concentrate on Holsters or tooling, but whatever you do you need to identify your market and investigate how you will get sales from that market. Hermes does not sell in small town shops as a rule but concentrates on high value stores where their customers are, alternatively your split leather cheap belts will be found in every low cost clothing store Tiny one man bands often find it hard to identify their market and dont have the money to advertise, but just put up a very basic website and hope for the best. Customers got to shows or country fairs for many reasons not necessary to buy goods, but depending on the audience impulse buys can be high or low value goods, but high value are normally thought about products rather than impulse buy Some leather workers don't want to keep making the same product day in day out others find it rewarding, the only rule is Time must be spent efficiently

I understand that a cooper apprentice spend most of their apprenticeship just repairing broken barrels as they were to valued to not repair. Also some smaller casks for use onboard ships would have far greater concave than the larger barrels like used for beer as they were often of a flatter design

In the UK we see many secondhand industrial sewing machines for sale at silly (very high) money, yet the prices of some of the new starter machines have come down in price quite a lot over the last few years, for example you may pay about £600+ for a singer 111 that has seen many users or a brand new Jack with its "fit for purpose" protection at about the same price though only walking foot https://www.directsewingmachines.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&manufacturer_id=38&product_id=647 I am not saying they are equal machines but for many worth consideration, at the other end the Juki 441 clones seem to keep their very high prices, i guess by slow demand compared to the more general purpose machines You can see the machines of many owners in their signature on this forum which gives a good indication of what is popular and WIZ has a great review of what is required of a sewing machine for leatherwork on this forum

I would suggest nylon would be light and strong

I am looking at getting some of these with removable blades, so if a blade brakes you can just replace them and also turn them 180 degrees for reverse pattern at UK £108 a set they seem unbeatable in versability and the way i guess all pricking irons will go in the future as replacement blades a lot cheaper than replacement tool https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32924186429.html?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.6.754162e93kV5ZY

Price is probably the largest difference

Agree with Fred its split leather, The top surface is cut off and then the remaining is painted with a mixture of ingredients to make any surface you require. Some are only suitable for items that the leather is not going to be flexible in use

Try Solent they used to be the sailrite people https://shop.solentsew.co.uk/thread/invincible-thread-v69-1oz-400m.html

Many thanks, a lot to chose from and great prices

29x3 & 29x4 are available online from many places at least in the UK

I buy Tyvek from a arts and crafts store in london, it feels like paper buy incredibly strong and will not tear so needs cutting and comes in A1 sheets. Tyvek is also used a lot for those white coveralls used in dirty area's by workmen. It also sticks to leather very well I use evo stik contact adhesive but no doubt will work with any other , and using it for hidden pockets in a wallet had no problems after about 2 years and realistically don't expect any as only slight pressure when you insert the cards Hope this helps see https://store.bookbinding.co.uk/store/category/92/163/Tyvek-Spun-Polyester-Paper/

I like that belt design, is it available commercially, I am looking for a floral design without the flowers and already have Oak leaves but all craftaid ones don't seem to fit the bill

The only main thing missing for the Table is the boiler room and steam engine to provide the belt power There must have been massive risk with large factories and breaking belts flying around

Needle size 230 is equal to thread size 207 = tkt size 15 giving a thread diameter of .0231 of a inch or 0.586 mm see https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

On the needle bar, the lower screw holds the needle in tight and just above that is another screw which when released allows the needle to be moved sideways so you can look at the hook and adjust the needle either closer or away from the hook. there is a item in the manual about changing its position Were you using the correct size needle for the thread this site may be of assistance https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

0.655 mm or 0.0258 inch

First I would work out the leather cost including delivery to you quite a few Sq Foot used in those coasters Then the time taken to make the coasters and base After that you need to allow for advertising and profit I would imagine you would also need to smooth and treat the edges and inside plus seal them against liquid spillage

Is the seiko gear driven or belt driven, never done it but understand replacing a belt is a skilled job

I did look at the Jack machines but they don'd seem very good at specifications so hard to know for instance if they sew 138 thread or just 69, they obviously have a good guarantee and the UK fit for purpose over expected life gives even better protection along with spares The seiko is a great machine by all reports, though at the same price area, it could be well worn so would need good checking Best advice is to take a sample of the leather you intend to use and also the tread and get a demo on both I assume the Jack will also have a servo motor where the seiko may have the traditional clutch motor

With the popularity of goat in Africa, I am surprised there is no export market to Africa Find the whole idea of killing the young animals just for tender meat rather repugnant and killing newborn disgusting

This company may assist you http://www.upintan.com/

Sorry Fred Not you but poor @TestTube who got that pile of crap leather in his picture

Feel for you that was crap leather offcuts and not a good advert for the company, If I received that I would send in a complaint, you dont expect perfect leather but you should expect to be able to use what they supply