LOM

@Heartless thank you for the suggestion. I'm leaning toward the stiffener route, so the tips are good. thank you! Any reason you would not try sewing in addition to the gluing? Lol, I'm always worried that gluing alone won't do the trick! @fredk thank you! Yeah, I was able to find the long Chicago screws - unfortunately Calumet on Cherry has closed. :*(

Hello, I was asked to make a leather-covered album/portfolio - the kind that have the screw posts at the bindings. Does anyone have suggestions on where to get the guts/internal hardware for this and/or a tutorial? I'm thinking if I can get some sewable card board, like a texon, I can perhaps sew the leather right to the portfolio guts? I am hoping it will be firm. Any suggestions welcome! Thank you! (see attached for example)

This is great, thank you! has any one tried metals reinforcements? Like a thin sheet metal that could be attached by rivet? I’ve seen that in cheaper vinyl , leather lookalike blotters and wondering if that’s worth trying. @fredk interesting! I may give this a shot!

This is great, thank you! has any one tried metals reinforcements? Like a thin sheet metal that could be attached by rivet? I’ve seen that in cheaper vinyl , leather lookalike blotters and wondering if that’s worth trying.

Good thought!

I am trying to make a desk blotter that has a small lip on the end, at a right angle, to protect the desk edge. I used about a 7oz veg tan that I wet and bent over a piece of 90degree smooth quartz that I found at a remnant store. Clipped down another piece of smooth quartz on top of it about a week. initially it had a good right angle but over time it’s flattening out. what did I do wrong?

Thanks so much for the reference, @jimi! :)

@toxo it still skiver if I hold the lever down with my hand. So I don’t think it’s the tension, unfortunately. @jimi I’m going to try them tomorrow but I believer it’s about 5 months out of warranty (of course!)

Help!! The presser foot lifter on my skiver will not stay down. It feels like the spring is shooting it back up whenever I try to skive. I have taken apart my consew dcs-s4 skiver 3 times to try to figure this out but cannot. The instruction manual is really only a parts catalog and doesn’t offer help. The spring inside looks fine. The rare occasion I get the handle to stay in the down position, it will skive for a moment the the handle shoots up and releases the presser foot so it doesn’t skive anything off. I bought it from a sewing shop that recently started carrying skivers for the pandemic demands so they aren’t very familiar with skivers and cannot offer much help. 66285906847__CB624500-FA42-4BA4-A712-97BE830DE189.MOV

@brmax and @Wizcrafts since you both seem to have a good deal of experience with machines or this machine. I have been considering a Pfaff 345 that I found for sale but want to see what your opinion is on using to sew 4-5 oz leather. I mostly make bags, so I'm sewing gussets and such on a juki flatbed and really hoping a post or cylinder arm could make my life easier. Would the Pfaff 345 be too lightweight?

Fair point. Yeah, I have used a few cobra machines and never had complaints. Thanks for your input and happy creatin'!

Thanks for the insight, @Kcstott ! I have heard good things about the class 4 and 26 for sure. I never really go much more than 3 to maybe 4 widths of 3oz leather but I do tend to use 138 thread. Glad to hear a good endorsement of the class 4 and 26. What kinds of things are you normally sewing?

Thanks, @Uwe! I would love to stick in the Juki family if I can afford it, so I'll keep my eye out. or save up! Appreciate the rec. I'll search the forums, but also wondering if there's a preference of a post arm to a cylinder arm. I've only had experience with cylinder arms and flatbeds, so I don't know the perks of the post. For reference, here's gussets would be sewing (currently all on a flatbed).

I've been using my Juki 1541 W for gusset sewing, and though I've muscled through, I'd love to start working on a cylinder arm to make corners easier. What are people's favorite machines to look out for? I've been combing through facebook and other formums to find something used. It'll be my first one so I'd rather not pay for something brand new while I get adjusted. I generally use 3-4oz leather and mostly for bags, always veg tanned. Thanks! (or if anyone has tips on making gusset sewing easier on a juki, I'm all ears!)