SPB

I made a project with black dye for the first time last week. I noticed after that there were fine fibers in the surface due to the white t-shirt scrap I used to apply the TanKote. I had never noticed this before because it isn't obvious when working with brown and tan finishes. Is there a trick to eliminating lint? I know many people like using sheepskin for finishing. Does it leave visible hairs in the TanKote? Is sheepskin significantly better than knitted cotton cloth? As a beginner I'm using cotton because its basically free to me as I learn. Are there other alternatives?

I've never used BagKote, but I do find minor streaks with TanKote. (You have to hold it in the light just right to see.) After the second application of TanKote, I let the project sit overnight and then buff it with Aussie Leather Conditioner and this seems to hide any imperfections.

After a little cleaning I got to testing my new Chinese Patcher machine. Everything seems to work, more or less out of the box. However, I find that I need to bypass the upper tensioner. Is there a reason that I need to use two (upper and lower) tensioners? I haven't yet tuned up any of the settings on the machine - I just ran a quick test to see if everything was working. Maybe after some fiddling the upper tensioner will loosen up a bit, but right now it seems to be very stiff.

I'm buying my first machine (Chinese patcher) and am curious if waxed thread can be used with machines. I purchased a spool of nylon thread. For my hand sewing I use hemp thread that I manually wax with bees wax.

The bobbin came right out with a magnet, but the bobbin case required a pliers and wiggling. The bobbin case holder, which connects to the Pitman rod, is not coming out. I think I'll need to adjust the Pitman rod. (I assume the timing isn't going to work in this fashion, but maybe I'm wrong.)

I got the bobbin case out with some effort. After work today I'll look at the machine again. It came with thread, a pack of needles, 4 bobbins, 2 shuttle (bobbin case), and two shuttle bearers.

I'm new here and I've recently purchased my first "dirt cheap" sewing machine which seems to be called a "Shoe-Mending Machine". (See photo.) (1) When writing about it, what is it called on this forum? I assume that I'll be having multiple posts about it as I learn. Does it have a formal name to describe it? There seem to be tons of YouTube channels that refer to it as the $115 leather sewing machine. It is a knock-off of an antique Singer. (2) When it arrived, there seems to be a pool of oil in the bottom of the box. I assume this is "normal" for this ultra-low-budget machine. Thanks,