AlZilla
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Posts posted by AlZilla
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Yeah, that looks good. Don Gonzales has a video where he demonstrates a quilted technique. He laid the diamond pattern out, swivel knifed it, beveled with a shader and used ... I think it's called a Beader ... in the center of each tuft. It looks similar to what you have.
Nice work.
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1 hour ago, DieselTech said:think I should put something in the center panel of the wallet? Or just leave it blank?
Tough call at this point. I think I'd sooner leave it blank, if it doesn't somehow tie into the other 2. Mirrored bass left and right with the initials in the center would have been interesting.
Some kind of 2 or 3 part diptych, rather than 3 unrelated panels.
I'll be interested to see where you land with it
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Put something in the bottom left corner to balance the panel out. A ripple of the water out of which he's leaping, maybe.
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I don't know, looks like a seasoned pro to me. Clean, precise, tight. It's going to be great.
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I think the challenge in front of you is going to be matching the existing thread if you want an invisible repair.
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9 hours ago, fredk said:Hardly a 'best kept secret' but an under-used tool. Most of us have several in our tool drawers but rarely use them
Well, not a best kept secret any more. That Bruce guy went and blabbed ...
Never heard of it before now.
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10 hours ago, bruce johnson said:Wayne -
The back side stitch in a closed eye machine will almost never look as clean as the top side straight out of the machine. That is yet another reason they make overstitchers. Bringing back a picture I did several years ago here for the forum. In the example below, the double layer was sewn on my 1245. The left side is the bottom stitch immediately after sewing. The right side is the same, but has been rolled with an overstitcher that matches the stitch length. That sets the stitches, and rounds them up by pushing down into the needle holes. The production stuff didn't get rolled much but once I got past that - if it was the back stitch was visible and my name was on it then it was rolled.
Wow. I didn't know such a thing existed. Definitely one of the best kept secrets in leatherworking.
Thank you!
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Very nice work. Lucky guy that you get to make it.
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I struggled early on. Then I found that wetting the leather like when I'm stamping ended all my problems.
Also, an advocate for dip dyeing, but not the 3 to 5 minutes recommended above. Just long enough to get the desired color.
I did some larger pieces today and couldn't dip them. A wool dauber and applying the fiebings dye full strength worked fine. Wetted the leather first, of course. I applied the dye at a rate sort of like I was painting a wall - loaded the dauber and worked a section at a time.
"Dipping" doesn't mean you need 5 gallons of dye, by the way. A large shallow pan will do or a smaller container that you work the piece through work fine for me. Then return the dye to a container.
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I've only been at this leather thing a couple of years now. When I first started learning about leather types, one of the 1st things I read was that "genuine leather" and "real leather" are the lowest form of leather you can find. As above, they can be ground up leather formed into a sheet.
That said, I just bought about 20 belts from Walmart on clearance for 2 bucks each because they had nice buckles. I'll incorporate the belts into some low wear/stress function. Maybe.
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Good luck with it. The pricing is such that I could see it working for someone who wanted to spend their time tooling and finishing, especially with the free shipping over $50. I'm in the middle of punching 5 or 600 silly little holes on a project so the value of pre-punched is not lost on me...
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4 hours ago, Jaypit said:I`m helping a friend near Vancouver BC look into possibly selling an industrial sewing machine that we feel is for leather or possibly saddle making. If you are willing to help please connect with me by e-mail or text so I can share photos:
It it old, heavy duty and in good condition. Its main sticker is from a firm called Frank Friedman & Sons New York if that helps.
jaypit12@gmail.com
403-510-3586
Jeff
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33 minutes ago, DieselTech said:Thanks. Yeah nobody mentions in vids what the other 2 knobs are called & actually does/controls. The silver knob & black knob on bottom left that is.
The knob on the right, as mentioned, is a little pretension (which I suspected but kept quiet until it was confirmed). The bottom is to set your take up spring. That part I know because it looks a lot like a Singer 111 type of tension unit. The biggest difference I see is that pre-tension gizmo on the right - the Singer (and others) unit has a little flag with 3 holes to accomplish the same task.
That take-up spring can cause you trouble if it's not just right, too. On any sewing machine. It's worth double checking.
Have you tried it out on thicker leather? I thought Cobra had a pretty good reputation for sending their machines ready to sew.
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Is Mom's pen and ink? Maybe on canvas?
You should frame the 2 and hang them side by side. A hundred years from now the family might get a kick out of talking about great, great Uncle Stewart and great great Grandma's artwork.
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Definitely like the dragonfly / lily pad one.
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Post those pics here and the hive mind will tell you, and the rest of the world, exactly what you have. Right down to it's DNA sequence and a weather report for the day it was made.
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I wouldn't abandon it. Hit it with the saddle tan and I bet you'll never see it. Try it on a piece of scrap.
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I'm going to suggest you find some other leather that you don't care about to test on.
To pile on Mulesaw's comment, I recently talked to a taxidermist friend about old hides. He says tanned hides can certainly dry out to where they're just not salvageable.
I'll follow along to see how you make out.
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Assuming that you started at the top in your picture and things deteriorated after you turned the corner, how did it look when you got back to 3 layers?
Funny how it looks fine until you turn the corner headed down and then the tension looks unbalanced and gets progressively worse.
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This question got me poking around the net (as you no doubt did) and I came across a page recommending "one of Aileen’s tacky craft glues" to reglue the leather down. No clue what it is, but it may bear investigation.
Here's the page, in all it's splendor:
https://throughavintagelens.com/2010/04/restoring-vintage-cameras-iii-techniques/
I was really expecting to find that recovering the cameras would be the preferred method, but apparently not. I can understand wanting originality as a collector but if a suitable leather could be found, I don't think replacing it would be too hard.
EDIT: And here's a PDF from Kodak that says mild soap and then white glue to reattach the leather.
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So, here's a thread that should get you on the right trail. There's even a link for a close-enough manual:
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I've never bought sheepskin from these guys, but I've bought a bunch of other stuff and never been disappointed.
https://www.glacierwear.com/buckskin-leather-hides-deer-buckskin/shearling-sheepskin-leather.html
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5 hours ago, toxo said:If you're serious I can point you to everything you need.
I did do a post about a year ago detailing what you need and where to get it. You might do a search for "Rule Steel".
Got it - rule steel. I'll read up on it and make it a winter project. I have a small hydraulic press.
Thanks!
EDIT: It looks like they're bending the stuff with nothing more than a push clamp. I can fabricate something that'll do simple curves and corners. Thanks for the push!
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For me, a 441 clone set up with 277 and a 111W set up with 138 give me plenty of range. And a host of domestic machines.
Just what works for me.
Used machines?
in Leather Sewing Machines
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Welcome to the rabbit hole. The problem is that whatever machine you look at, the next one up is a "just" few hundred dollars more. But then at some point the machine becomes too big to conveniently do smaller items like wallets, bags, etc.
Keep us posted about your progress.