esantoro

I'm curious to find out if my problem with skipped stitches is due to my machine or my stirrup plate. Is anyone willing to swap stirrup plates for a maximum of two days? You take mine for two days and see how well it works on your Artisan machine, and I take your Artisan stirrup plate for two days and see how well it works on my machine, which is a 441 clone but not from artisan. I'll cover all postage costs. Ed

I should add that I don't need the stirrup plate at all when I'm stitching only one gusset to a flat panel. Ed

I have a stirrup plate. But my 441 seems to miss a lot of stitches with it when I stitch the middle seam, which is two gussets coming together against a flat panel. Now I use the flat slotted plate with a special left side toe. I use the material guide stitch down each side stopping about an inch before the bottom corner, leaving enough thread to hand stitch the remaining inch and a half or so around the gusset corner and back stitching the same distance. I put on the stirrup plate to punch the holes around the corner. The blanket foot with protruding feed dog makes all this more difficult. Ed

Thanks, Pete. I do have the chocolate, as per on of your posts many moons ago. I'll give it a try. So far I've been trying the browns, med and dark. ed

Do you know if your box/bag supplier has this kind of bag in something about 20" by 30"? Thanks, Ed

Does anyone know what the difference is between Fiebing's Edge Kote and Edge Enamel? Is Edge Enamel better for chrome tanned edges, while Edge Kote is better on veg tan? One source said that Edge Enamel is less viscous, which allows the pigments to seep deeper into leather, which might be nice on chrome tan. I think I'm going to see if I can buy a bit of Reliable burnishing wax ink from a shoe repair shop to see how well it works before I invest in a variety of colors. Ed

Beautiful bag. Get the 4000R with slotted, feeddogless needleplates, center groover, and a rt. side presser foot. You will not be sorry. Ed

I like using these sponges from Country Supply: http://www.horse.com/products/sku-BPS20.html

RDB, How is the selection of oiled chrome tan and bridle leather at Zack White's? Ed

Just finished burnishing Edge Kote with beeswax. I like it but am now wondering how well Reliable will work. Will the Reliable Wax do a good job of dying the edge as well as filling in cracks and burnishing? Thanks, ed

very nice. Did you stitch up the bag yourself. What kind of material is that? Ed

I'd like to try some of this Reliable wax burnishing ink. Here's a link where you can get a good variety of browns and a black: http://www.peasandcornco.com/shoeandleathe...inkwaxstain.asp What is the consistency of the liquid that is applied. I'm only familiar with Edge Kote. Would you say it's thicker or thinner than Edge Kote? Thanks, Ed

I was thinking the same thing and just wanted to get black and a few different shades of brown, but the folks at LCI insisted I send swatches. Fiebings Reliable burnishing wax ink seems to have this kind of color selection, which I would also like to try. Ed

Hi Dale, LCI probably has hundreds if not thousands of color formulas already made up. If one of their colors already matches the swatches I send in, the one-time $35 custom color formula fee will not be necessary. I tried to get them to tell me what similar colors they already have, but they wouldn't budge. They wanted me to send in the swatches. Ed

RDB, How are Zack White's wholesale prices? Would you say about 15 to 25 percent less than retail? Ed

While I'm waiting to hear back from LCI regarding their edge finish, I thought I might try a few things from Zack White's, especially since I can get 4 oz bottles. A good educated guess seems to suggest that Zack White's Edge Ink is the same as LCI's. I'll call tomorrow to find out more. I thought I'd also like to try Fiebing's Edge Enamel. Anyone have experience with this relative to Fiebing's Edge Kote, which is what I'm currently using. Ed

RDB, Thanks for pointing me to Zack White. I had known about the place, but was poking around the site even more. I'd like to try out some of their suedes and chrome tans. Are you at all familiar with their 5/7, 6/7 oz chrome tans, which they call oil tans? This Fiebing's Reliable seems as if it wold be good to have on hand. I like that you can get it in black and gradations of brown. Ed

RDB, were you referring to Fiebings Edge Enamel or Zack's manual edge ink as being better than Fiebings Edge Kote? ed

Thanks, David. This will help in asking LCI for exactly what I want. ed

I'm skimming the Internet for information on mixing colors to get the exact color decided. I'm working on putting in an order with LCI in TExas for self burnishing edge finish. I'll be sending LCI swatches from Wickett & Craig (I'll post pics of the color swatches later) : Black, Dark brown, burgundy, medium brown, chestnut, and tan. If they have these colors in stock, no problem. If not, they will customize the color formula for an extra $35, which they will then have in stock for future orders. My question is this. I'm thinking about getting all the colors I would need to mix my own browns and blacks. This might be too vague a question, but I'm wondering how many primary, secondary, and tertiary colors I'd need to mix for my own browns, blacks, tan, beiges? I may just get all the premixed colors I need from LCI, as well as the individual colors for mixing. Thanks for any suggestions. Ed

Hi, I would love to have them. I could use about 30 of the 4 or 6 oz. jars. Of course, I'll pay shipping to Brooklyn, NY 11221. Thanks, Ed

LCI in Texas seems to be a good supplier that many of us don't know about. I meant to put in an order with them last week, but they want me to send swatches of the leather I'm using and a description of my needs. I'll put it all together this week. They have something called water free. Don't know if it's the same as the water proofer that DYO had. Maybe David can fill us in here. I'll call LCI this week and ask. If it sounds good, I'll add it to my order. Ed

Sounds like you have the Model 5. File those teeth half way down. You'll see some improvement. You may also want to stitch much more slowly and try helping feed the leather more by hand. Ed

Ha, ha.ha. That's pretty clever. I went back to the original to see why had missed the nuance and realized that was the bit that was added. I found the original distracting and not coming across clearly. David's revised version certainly is building up a theme. Ed

I called Texas Custom Dies to ask what it would cost to get a punch of the specific dimensions I'll need: $30 for the die and $20 for them to weld on a handle. I had called around several months ago and the best price I had found was around $250. You'll need to give them the exact dimensions you need. ed my mistake. you wanted the oblong slot punch not the bigger oval to which I was referring.