Spyros

Usually I can tell a machine made stitch from the tell-tale marks from the walking foot or the feed dog teeth, or the thread is just too thin for the project, or the holes are too spaced apart for any stitching chisel to have made them. Or all the above. But some times I see stitching that I know it can't possibly have been made by hand (mainly because of the price of the product), but it's so well made and with thick thread that visually I can't distinguish it from hand stitching made with a round hole chisel. Is that a matter or operator or machine? What machines produce such great quality stitching that you'd struggle to tell it apart from hand stitching?

Yeah it's a weird kind of leather, it has this unique fibre structure on the skin that makes it extremely durable even though it only comes in one thickness: very thin (usually just under 1mm). So if you need a thin and extremely durable leather you can't beat roo skins. The industry uses it for things that require durability like high end motorcycle suits, football boots and whips, and it would get a lot more use except the hides are always small so you'll never get a big piece or a long strap out of it, and the supply is limited and inconsistent. Kangaroo is actually a protected species, the way I understand it is they only harvest it by exception in places where the animals causing problems like destroying farming fences or jumping in high speed roads etc. You can still find small quantities easily in Australia but it's not abundant like bovine leather. It's kind of boring looking though, so I only really use it for reinforcements.

Thanks, I hope so. I don't want to make it again any time soon LOL The saddle post has this sort of suspension mechanism and I know this will rub against the bag, so I put a kangaroo layer just there. And tried to waterproof it as much as possible all around, but at the end of the day it is veg tan leather and eventually the rainwater will get to it. Just want it to last as much as possible. I used to have a polyester "fabric" bag that I bought from the local bike shop (not very cheap either), which was fine, but after a couple of years the straps started to fray and I just couldn't trust it anymore to hold my wallet.

I wanted to make a custom saddlebag for my bike because I couldn't really find exactly the shape and size I wanted. But man this took longer than I thought... I didn't have a pattern or anything, I was designing it as I was making it sort of thing, with my bicycle on the side and trying it on for size and shape as I went. Very thick leather, stitching was a pain with the thickest thread I have, I had to cut grooves and skive in a bunch of places to get the leather to fold, careful burnishing because I know it will see some weather and I wanted to seal it well so it lasts a few years, kangaroo reinforcements in a couple of places, sealing the flesh side with tan kote, removable straps because I know that's the first piece I'll have to replace eventually, finishing with oil and waxes etc. Happy how it turned out though

I obviously did not grow up in the US so I don't actually know, but I do get the feeling from your recounts (and from other people as well), that US made products back then were moderately priced and generally affordable for the trade person or the hobbyist. But if you look around now, there are still a bunch of US made products, and a lot of them if not most of them are laughably overpriced for what they are. I mean sure all the problems you guys are describing with foreign competition and your national industrial and external policies overtime, these are all valid concerns. But there is also a point where if someone overseas makes something and sells it for 10% your price and undercuts your sales, it's not necessarily because his cost is that much lower, but mainly because your price was like 50% higher (or more) than it needed to be in the first place. It really feels like a lot of US businesses are going for a snatch, or an exploitation of the "US made" nostalgia, rather than a long term viable commercial strategy. Industrial manufacturing globally is a 3-5% margin business, it's just how it is, I know because that's my morning job. And it's the same for Ford as it is for a Swiss or a Chinese manufacturer. So if your pricing is going for 30 or 40% profit then you're simply not gonna last very long in manufacturing. (Leatherworking is different than industrial manufacturing of course. By definition, even if you're using sewing machines, the cost in leatherworking is mostly labour. So leatherworking is by definition low volume artisan items and should be priced accordingly for a high margin, and I applaud the people who do so).

I'm not gonna comment on economic wars etc, but: from a pricing perspective, I can see there is definitely a fixation in the US market for US made "artisan" goods, I can see a bunch of people with actual measurable sales on etsy etc selling pretty basic and ridiculously overpriced items, and people actually paying it and being very happy leaving positive comments. And I'm not gonna lie, if I was in the US I would exploit the crap out of them.

The only reason I was asking is if you paid peanuts, then of course they were not gonna be good or last very long. I mean we sometimes blame the products without looking at what we actually paid.

how much did the junk Chinese tools cost?

In the world of drills the hierarchy is: high end (Hilti, Festool, Mafell) mid-range/tradie's typical choices (Dewalt, Milwaukee, Bosch (blue), Makita), entry level (Ryobi, Bosch (green), various glorious old brand names that have been bought by China Inc. like AEG, Black & Decker etc) For most people the entry level ones are perfectly fine to be honest. I have a home brand one that literally has a red sticker on the cable that says "for DIY use only" LOL

Nope, not me. My prices are always figured out based on what I can charge, which is based on the competition. I never leave money on the table, this is for people who price their stuff based on their costs. If an iphone was based on costs it would be priced $200. (I agree with everything else you said by the way, pricing is just my favourite nitpick :D )

The Chinese will make you what you pay for. We collectively have an insatiable appetite for cheap crap, so they make us cheap crap. They also make iphones, DJI drones, high speed trains and some high end industrial, telco and military equipment, if you can afford it. China has a very long history or innovation going back thousand of years, so I think they deserve some respect. Historically they were ahead of the world for a very long time and it looks like they're slowly coming back in a big way. I got some awesome stuff from Kemovan craft and Kevin Lee and it compares really well to anything you want to compare it to. It was cheap-er, but it definitely wasnt cheap. High quality products out of China are getting more expensive by the year. The world is changing.

In my experience with leather/wood/metal tools, I have concluded that IF I HAVE TO CHOOSE, I much prefer quantity over quality. To word this better, I prefer variety over quality. And to explain this even further with an example: I would rather have amateur level bandsaw, jig saw, fret saw, and scroll saw, and use the appropriate tool of the 4 for each job, rather than sink all my budget on a top quality band saw and try to put all all projects through it. I can probably do all those jobs on a bandsaw if I must, and it will probably look crap, or I will lose a finger. Having a wide range of tools so I can select the correct type of tool for the job is important for me, even if they're cheap. An extreme example from leatherworking: I'd rather have a cheap hardware benchtop press with a thousand dies and another thousand manual setters, so that I'm confident I can properly set ALL the hardware I might choose to use in the future, than have an excellent industrial floor standing electric rivet setter with only a couple of dies, and have to try and set all hardware through it. When I say amateur tools, I never go rock bottom cheapest, like IKEA drills or home brand hardware store tools, because a lot of them are just completely useless (not all of them, but some are). When I have the option I go one or two levels above that, somewhere between average price and rock bottom price. About woodworking specifically. Keep in mind that woodworking has transitioned decades ago from a professional trade to a gentleman's hobby. There are still professional carpenters and professional cabinet makers, but hardcore woodworkers (the type who cuts dovetails on a woodworking bench and makes jewelry boxes and handmade furniture) are almost exclusively amateurs with money and time. These guys are tool proud and care equally about the result and the process and how their tools look and feel and sound and smell, and are permanently in some stage of upgrading , often just for the sake of upgrading. And specialised woodworking shops sell them expensive stuff accordingly. Don't get sucked in. Now, overtime, in every craft, and with lots of use, it becomes apparent that some cheap tools just don't cut it. They have to be replaced too often, or the result is not great, or they need too much maintenance. IF and when you get to that stage, and only then, is the right time to buy a good quality tool for that specific job. But that depends what you are actually doing, and how often you're doing it. And therefore it's a different tool for everybody that you have to upgrade, and you will never know which one it is for you that you have to upgrade until you put in the hours. What Nigel Armitage says makes sense, because he's a teacher, and he knows exactly what it is that he will ask you to do, and how often, and how intensively, and what is the expected quality of the outcome. So in his students case he already knows exactly which tool it is that has to be above average. But in every other scenario you'll have to find all that out for yourself, with time and use. You might find you passion (or even your profession) in making nothing but dog collars all day, you will need a top notch strap cutter! All that is in my opinion of course, your mileage may vary

I mean you have to attach the carriers to the new belt somehow right? Probably a belt eyelet, which looks like what this is, or even a cap rivet. I'd just drill through the existing ones with a sharp drill bit, and if it happens to enlarge the hole on the carriers a little bit I'd just use a bigger eyelet.

after spending 3 minutes looking at the photo and wondering how the hell this works, I finally realised it's timber and not leather LOL It's a smart idea and beautiful, thanks

yeah I think I've bought half the stuff this guy makes, and if it wasn't for the slow shipping I'd probably buy the other half too :D (BTW excuse the dye stained fingers, I'm sure it happens to most of us LOL)

I was looking at multitool case ideas, and all the google photos had the typical square pouch, with the press snap and belt loop etc. I mean nothing wrong with all that, they just kind of look the same after a while So yesterday I had this random shape offcut in my hand about to throw it out, and I wondered if it was big enough to make something for my leatherman skeletool. So I started wrapping it around the tool, I liked what I saw, and I just stitched it as it was and cut anything that was sticking out. Added a grommet and a loop and voila :D I like it because it's not bigger than it needs to be, I find it easy with the large opening to fish the tool out when I need it, and it still "locks" when I pull the loop down and around the back. And it takes about 15 mins to make one

It was light, about 4oz. And I lined it with buffalo calf which was even thinner, about 3oz.

Thanks I've made two of those in total, one for me and one for my best friend, and believe it or not this one was actually the easy and fast one to make. For the other one my friend chose Horween Dublin leather, which I couldn't find anywhere, except for small panels at buckleguy. So I had to buy 4-5 of those and stitch them together. He also wanted real hand peened saddle rivets everywhere, and there were about 50 of those Looked good in the end though.

Yeah to be honest I had the same reaction when I first saw it. A friend saw a satchel like that at Mascon Leather's website and asked me to build him a bag with that feature, and at first I thought it was a little bit ridiculous as well. Excessive and unnecessary. But then I made it for him and somehow it all worked aesthetically. This type of friefcase can easily look too formal and classic, like a lawyer's briefcase sort of thing, and if you don't want that to be the case you need a strong visual element in the other direction. Hard to explain, but in the end I like it and most people like it

I agree, it is a royal pain though. You might already know this, but here's what I found works really work with this type of bridle and most leathers I've tried (not all of them though, so try it on an offcut first): Mix 3 parts neatsfoot oil with 1 part fiebings dye, and stir really well for a couple of minutes until you get a good consistent mixture. Do 2-3 coats of that on the flesh side with a dauber, let it soak in and dry for an hour or so, and then do an coat with fiebings tan kote, as evenly as possible. And if the flesh side is furry you can press it down with a piece of smooth glass. The tan kote looks and feels like some sort of resin so you'd think it would make the flesh side of the leather hard to the touch, but surprisingly it actually makes it pretty soft and pleasant to the touch once fully dried. That's the next best thing to lining the interior IMO. That's what I did on the newspaper pocket on the back because I slide my hand in there (usually to fish my phone out) and I want it to feel nice. And it looks great too.

Thanks again Anything you guys would do differently? Any recommendations? (or any questions if anyone wants to do something similar?)

thanks guys :}

I made this one for myself Obviously not my design, but various design details and material options from bags I've seen around and always wanted to combine. It's 16 inches wide The exterior is Sedgwick bridle, the lining is buffalo calf. I hand carved the handle out of wood and dressed it with leather. All the materials are from buckleguy except the Amy Roke cotton/linen thread.

Oh get off your high pony, people wanna talk

Yeah for sure, if you're in it mainly for the pleasure of the process then it doesn't really matter how long a table takes. Mostly people though prefer a balance between the joy of the process and the result, I'm one of them. I'm definitely positively not investing in proper dust management, it doesn't fit in my workshop, plus it's the most boring topic I've ever seen and I'm just not interested in investing the time and research. Leatherworking got me covered, I'm really happy with it When I get the occasional itch for woodworking I just roll everything outside under the carport with a big mask on, when I finish I blow everything with a leaf blower and roll it back inside.