ClaimedVacancy

Update #7: I filled and redrilled the moveable arm in order to reset the placement of it with the stationary arm. Much better now. The cam also makes 80% contact on the bearing surface inside. I also mounted the structure to a slab of cherry i had. Its fantastic. Doesn't move, doesn’t ask for permission. I used 1/4 x 20 pitch stainless inserts (EZ Lok) and a few long wood screws going into the plywood areas. Next actions will be the jaws. Im going to use some vintage phenolic blocks glued in. I tested it with wood glue and it worked great. It just tore the wood fibers instead of disbonding. This will hold leather very well and resist lots of wear.

The only scaled drawings i have are the templates i posted earlier. Everything else has been in the moment, and it mainly boils down to what can i free hand and what can i not. So the do not free hands are the arms, two side panels, the cam, and all of the placement holes minus the screws that go into the fixed arm. There is a fairly high amount of drilling on structure depending on how square all the wood is! For me i didn't square the two side panels, and what i’ve noticed is I’m off about 1/16” or less. I think the reason is because i went off the template and not on structure when drilling and that tends to go bad sometimes. If i had squared the arms to the side panels, and used the template holes as a guideline i wouldn’t be off anywhere. The stationary arm bolt hole is also off by 1/16 to 1/8”. This is causing the jaw misalignment. Best advice at this stage is SQUARE your parts to each other, but separately first. Overall, it’s inconsequential and can be alleviated. Mainly talking about the jaws. What ill end up doing is cutting the jaws while closed until i have an imaginary square. Ill then glue in a harder block of wood. Cut right through the center of that, and finally shape the two blocks to match the contours. For progress report #6: I got many of the screw and bolt holes drilled and fixtured. The base is square now, and next will be jaws and getting the dowels installed to hold the upper spring. Spring will be installed after the jaws are fixed. Somewhere in between ill get the base plate squared away and fixed to the body. You can see that the cam is off as well inside. This is because the movable arm bolt hole is off, and some of that is under shaping on one side. Ill fix that later.

My thoughts too. It’s a lot of money for such a device, and ya know, for those that need it and don’t want to make it, fine. I mean I’ve made all of this with only a handful of pictures, and doing the best to match contours and ratios that I can find. And it’s taken a good while to get here! I think I’m only in this project about $150 dollars at this rate. The most expensive part is the wood, and Baltic birch is not cheap anymore. If i had used poplar for everything I probably could’ve saved a few. Hardware is the next most expensive thing. But if you want to be real conscious of money, go to estate sales over a month every week and collect hardware and wood. I have so much antique hardware from those sales, and the sells would’ve thrown it all out had I not grabbed it!

@dikman try this one. It’s still on there! https://shop.leder-louis.ch/en/sewing-and-stitching-tools/stitching-ponies-and-clamps/sattler-naehzange-schweizer-modell./090-007-01 For today’s update, more sanding in the crotch areas of the yoke cam as well as small areas of the arm. I also installed the bushing and got some precision holes drilled. Then i put it temporarily together. I did decided to give it one more layer of wood on the arms. I chose 1/4” plain maple so that it would match the ambrosia maple cover plates and be flush with them. Before the additional maple it was about a quarter shy of the edge of the cover plates. One thing to note; the use of bronze or beryllium bushings is a must in my opinion for the cam and the moveable arm. No friction points and very very smooth operation. I used 1/4” ID 3/8”s OD and im happy with that. For the bolts i just used some grade 8 smooth shank bolts. The cam is a grade bolt with the threads and head cut off and the ends polished. The jaws will need work once it is screwed and bolted together. But thats for another time. I did trim them today but thats it. I very well may cut them quite a bit further and use some cocobolo to bolster that area back since i have some.

@dikman man! Are those still up for sale on marketplace? Yeah those are ones that are still for sale on the site i posted at the beginning of the thread! I certainly haven't found out any info on them either. I did study that particular one though. In fact, I’m going to model the locking device. Here is update #4 for today: All the parts are 90% shaped and sanded. So far so good.

Update #3. Ive got all the parts that need gluing, glued up at this point. I did readjust the geometry for the trajectory of the swinging arm so that it would nest in the yoke (cam foot lever). This will work much better. I also took some shots with my hand for reference. I have fairly large hands if that helps. Next will be trimming, shaping and lots of sanding followed by precise cutting at the bottom of the arms for mounting to a slab of hardwood. And finally, after those parts, the locking device for the foot lever cam yoke.

Certainly, regarding getting stuck by the awls. But i can just turn them down and the problem is gone! Im working on resharpening them so i place them down once finished.

Hi everyone. Made a thing for all of my needles and awls blades. Happened to have space for the awl hafts also. So far it works great. When needing a different awl haft, awl, or needle, it is all in one place. Though I do all hand stitching work, I’m sure this could be adapted for machine applications. It’s practically a horizontal reduced version that a lot of folks keep their tooling tools in. And, made in American elm!

Hey @Trox, is that something you would be willing to share? I would certainly appreciate it. I kinda want this thread to be an archive for the build if anyone ever wants to make one on their own. @fredk haha I’ve had this kicking around for a few years. And then life happened for a few years, and now it’s alive again. Glad you’re here now though. Here is another update for today: All the arm ply pieces have been cut. I’m now starting to glue the arms up. I’m also using tulip poplar for the outer parts of the arm. it’s looking to be about 4.5 inches in width. Was shooting for 6 but that may be overkill. Im thinking the geometry of the cam is off. But I’ll need to get further along to test it. Over all, so far so good.

Update: Template has been cut out. Now to cut pieces of birch ply, glue, shape and trim, drill and fixture together. Hopefully everything beds well, but i expect some geometry to be out a bit. Im expecting to use some beryllium bushings for the pivot points such as the right arm and foot lever. That way i can get muchhhh greater life out of the working holes. The left arm is stationary, and the cover plates will affix to them accordingly. Ill need to create the friction lock trip. Ill be making that out of mild steel. Flat stock and just bent at the appropriate areas for the piece on lever. The guide rail at the foot lever ill have to create a mount for that, but its straight forward. The spring at the top, also straight forward. Ill drill holes for a small nub on each arm where the spring will rest. This is what will push the right arm open when the friction lock is disengaged

@Dwight Looks like I might have inspired ya huh? So the size of the one I posted is 16” long, 11” tall, and 4” deep. Only problem is that it’s not an available template since I had to create it. This book https://archive.org/details/leatherworkingha0000mich/page/128/mode/2up by Valerie Michael has a template in the advanced section that is close to the same size if that interests you. And with the online archive you can just borrow the book versus buying it. If you would rather the Swiss type, you can get one for $50 and take it apart to create your own, or! Just use it as is. This is BY FAR the best price for these bags. Most still have a ton of life left in them too. I’ve purchase from Teskey for years, and they are just down the road from me. https://teskeys.com/collections/salebarn-tack/products/used-vintage-german-leather-saddle-bag-copy-3 This one would be a lot more simple, and it’s about 13-14” long, 9-10” tall, 3-4” deep. I have one and it is fantastic. https://teskeys.com/collections/salebarn-tack/products/used-vintage-german-leather-saddle-bag-copy-1 Take a look on their barn sale page.

@revilop Just adding my two-sense since you’ve acquired some of the tools to get you going. Leather working is a life long pursuit for many of us, and growing never stops. Books are fantastic, but which ones you may ask? Here are two: - Leathercraft: Traditional Handcrafted Leatherwork Skills and Projects https://a.co/d/7IBDi6Q -The Leatherworking Handbook: A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of Techniques and Projects https://a.co/d/g1cVSHy If you need more, say, in the video format I can’t recommend Nigel Armitage enough. https://secretsfromtheworkshop.com After all of that, PRACTICE. And more of that. You’ll shock yourself how far you can get in just a few years with diligent, disciplined practice.

@MarshalWill Thank you for the suggestion! I very much so like what you did there. I have experienced some discomfort with the handle at the edge even with it beveled to a #3 beveler. So fortunately i can make the adjustment to it. For the design, it’s fantastic. Once i made all the minor adjustments on the template to account for various lengths of parts, stitching edge distance, etc, it just kinda fell together. The way the Swiss designed this is a huge testament to their craftsmanship. I have three more Swiss bags that I'm working the templates out. All various shapes and designs. I’ll be sure to post once completed.

Very clean, and consistent. I wont comment on thread since its been touched on. Very good and neat edge distance. Your thread slant is correct so you’re stitching appropriately with the slant of the hole slit. Apply the same technique to any (most) items such as bags or belts and it will turn out well!

I had a very similar experience leaving the military; internship at a wood shop making furniture, while still being paid by the government (legitimate program!). It works great if the company is great to work for, but i was free labor and made a lot of pretty stuff at no cost to them. of course there is wayyy more vetting of companies now than there was then to prevent that. I learned more about what i don’t want versus what i do, and ended back in my original field of expertise post service. And fortunately it worked out very well. But my path was trades first then college. So a bit in reverse. Best of luck out there! There’s an opportunity out there. PS, we’re experiencing the same problem in the US with applying and being rejected in respective fields. Its became a major problem, and hiring appears to be stonewalled out by some entity (AI usage on both ends?). It’s a weird time that i hope will loosen.