jdwintx

Sorry all, this was an old post and didn't update it with the seat once it was done. Here is a picture of the seat after completion, remember it's 4 yrs and about 10K miles old. The funny thing is I'm remaking a new one now, I've included a couple of pics of that, just need to finish punching the sides and lacing it up.

Just worked up a couple of new seats

Dave, first thanks for a great tutorial, I've always admired your work. I do have a couple of clarification questions if you don't mind. 1.I understand your brief explanation about the steps outlined above but in the pictures earlier in the post you show the foam being mounted to the seat prior to the back being riveted, do you rivet the back piece first and then glue and trim the foam or vice versa? The text says one thing but the pictures and explaination shows a different process. 2. I've made my bottom pattern with tape as described and added 3/8" onto it, on the top though does your pattern only go to the edge of the top bevel and then get 3/8" added or does the pattern get created from the top prior to the beveling of the foam. I made my top pattern to the edge of the bevel and added 3/8" but it seems that it will be to small for the number of holes that the bottom piece has and as such will not match. Using about 1/4" spacing b/t holes I get 74 holes on each 1/2 of the bottom piece and with the difference in size between the top I cannot get that many on the top pattern without some running together, So my thought was that I was cutting the top pattern to small, but it matched the bevels which aren't that large. The only other difference is that I'm using 1" foam instead of 3/4" but that shouldn't affect the hole spacing.. Does this make sense? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks folks, as far as the thread, I'm using a new roll I just got from Thread Exchange (Brown), I've got a roll of black and of white as well so I can try switching thread, I'll also check the needle although it seems to have plenty of clearance when I thread it. I'll keep playing with it though and see. I appreciate the feedback

As to why I want to use 346 (which is what I assume you meant), I like the way it looks and I wanted the stitches to not only stand out but be very durable as well. As for the needle/Thread sizing my Cobra manual recommends a #25 for more than 20oz with either 277 or 346. I could bump the needle up and see but I don't want to change the thread size

Perhaps someone can help me with this issue, I'm trying to sew a bag seam consisting of 3 layers of the Tandy Highlander Chrome tanned hide (approx 8 oz per layer) on my Cobra 24 and no matter what I try the thread fray's out after a few stitches. I've adjusted my presser foot tension, thread tension, etc., I changed out the needle and checked everything else. I'm using 346 on top and 277 on the bobin and a #25 needle the total thickness is approximately 1/2". Could it be that the leather is so supple that the hole closes up and catches the thread? I'm pretty much at my wits end and I really don't want to hand stitch this if I can avoid it. Any help would be appreciated. John

Thanks, I'll try Toledo tomorrow. As far as going down in size, that's not going to give me the look I want so I may have to change my color scheme, I was going for Black and Red but maybe something else. Black and White is just so boring.

Anyone know where you can order Red thread in 346 and 277 sizes? I've searched Thread Exchange and the other online stores I'm aware of but nobody has this. Any help would be appreciated.

Here's mine, it's a vertical step design. I'm not thrilled with it after using it for a year or so. Tools tend to get lost in the maze and I'm always having to stand up and look through them to find what I want as they are hard to group together. I'm in the process of redoing my bench so I'm going to go with a horizontal rack similar to what Bruce and Bob have shown, I think that is what will work best for me. John

Cody, Personally I think it's a good idea in concept, bad in practice. At least it was for me. Here are a couple of images of my rack which is a block of mahogany angled up with 9 rows of stamps on both sides of a center block for my swivels and stuff. I also added a top rack drilled for edgers, etc. as you can see. The problem is that tools get lost in this arrangement and it is very hard to keep all of your tools of similar kinds in groups. I spend more time sometimes trying to find the veiner/beveler/etc.. in the rack than I would like. Plus I find I have to stand up to find a tool as well vs. just looking and grabbing. I'm tossing this one away and going to build a horizontal strip model that looks like a ladder that allows me to group tools better and also keeps them at eye level. JMO though, I've had this setup for about a year now and that's what I've experienced.

First I want to say welcome, you will find a lot of advice and help here to build on. As we all started from similar beginnings I wouldn't worry to much about how your first or fiftieth piece turns out as you will improve as you practice. Second, living in NYC you should be able to get almost anything you need to get started without relying on Tandy for to much. You will find if you look around you can get suppliers for everything. Case in point, the granite slab you ordered. I picked up my granite slab from a headstone maker, it was broken in shipment, paid 10 bucks for a 4"x36"x24" slab, you don't have to use granite though, any solid industrial steel plate (have to be careful that it doesn't discolor the leather so I would coat it with either contact paper, sealant or something along those lines) would work as would any of the New England heavy stones from some of the quarries. The point is that you can find the materials you need to set up a workshop without having to rely on "traditional" suppliers. As for preparing your leather, there are some excellent articles here on how to "Case" the leather. Myself I usually submerge my leather in a few drops of Dawn dishsoap, with a couple of tablespoons of Lexol conditioner and a few tablespoons of Listerine for about 30 minutes in warm water, then I wrap it in Press N Seal overnight in the fridge and the next day uncover it a few hours before I start tracing and cutting my patterns. As stated, you need to wait until the leather is almost it's original color and cool to the touch, this will take a few trial and error scenarios before you have it right for you. Also if you are tooling a large piece you can keep the section you are not working on covered in the press n seal to prevent it from drying out while you work on another section. I also keep a spray bottle with my soaking mix handy to spritz the leather in the event it does become to dry. Also, apply contact paper or tape to the back of your piece to prevent stretching if you are tooling a large amount on the leather. Another thing that worked for me is that I don't do Sheridan carving, I've practiced at it but it's not my style, so don't feel that you have to be good at Sheridan to carve effectively. The principles apply but if you are not a flower/oak leaf/acorn kind of person then find some images you can trace and do those. Myself I like skulls, dragons, celtic and mythological items so those are what I used when I started out. Just my thoughts on starting out, good luck.

Thanks David, I'll PM you with some info after the holiday.

Yes I did, it is the rough side of some goat side I had, the smooth side lines the inside of a hidden bill compartment, the snap flap protects/hides the badge and ID card

Thanks Wiz, yeah I knew about those as they are just copies of the 29 series, I meant if there were any other totally different machines with this feature, I'm guessing there's not

Here's a wallet I just finished for a friend of mine who is a motor cop. Opinions always welcome

Thanks Art - The price on the machine is just for the head ($475) nothing else. I haven't seen anything else that was a post bed for less and buying new would cost over 1K minimum. While I can afford that, I would prefer to find a used one since it will not be a daily driver. As for the 29 series, do you know of any other machines that have the rotating foot? That is the only one I know of with that feature.

Does anyone know or have experience on this machine or something similar. I found some used ones for about $500 apiece, it is a dual needle Post Bed machine that according to the Singer manual " is a drop feed, ball bearing (no Back) roller presser and long beak hook....intended for medium and heavy leather." I'm probably going to use this for deep seams on bags and bag bottoms among other things. The other machine I was considering was a 29 series Singer or one of the new clones that have the rotating foot which would work for the deep seams but not so much for the bag bottoms. Are there other machines that I should consider? Thanks as always

Try Springfield leather, they sell them there.

Welcome Dan, what part of Texas. I'm in Austin. You will find a lot of good folks here ready to help.

I think that you will find that the only sources for those types of materials are in China/India/Mexico. The majority of pig leather is split and used in automotive/furniture and garmet industries, You might speak with these folks and maybe they could point you in the right direction but even their pigskin is not the weight you are looking for nor is is Veg/Chrome tanned. http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/sides.htm

Thanks Crimson, I'll check it out. Here is the link to one of the places I was looking at though. http://gzhsmetal.en.alibaba.com/product/502161308-209784746/Fashion_Metal_Made_Bag_Ornament.html , there are literally hundreds of them though. As you can see they have basically all of the purse/bag making hardware. And on the page above you can see that they have a minimum order (although it looks like there is no MOQ for in stock) of 1000 pieces and the price ranges from 5-15 cents. So at best it would be $50 dollars and at worst $150. That is substantially cheaper than even buying at wholesale prices here from the major suppliers if you can find the items you want. The problem is that I don't think any of us need 1,000 ornaments laying around but I thought maybe if some folks were interested we could possibly do a large group order on several things and then split them up, plus if we developed a relationship with a reputable company it might help lower quantity levels. Even not when you can purchase rivets at .002 to .005 cents apiece buying several thousand of them is very inexpensive vs. paying retail or wholesale. John

I've been searching for some unique bag/purse/misc. ornaments and items such as buckles/clasps/concho's, rivets, etc. that most of us use daily. To date, there are very few suppliers of those items that I have found in the US. In my searching on the net most of the manfacturer/suppliers of those items are located in China. I was wondering if anyone has dealt with some of the companies that you can find on Alibaba.com or some other manufacturer. The majority of the companies of course deal in bulk sales, but there are some that the minimum quantities are pretty low for an order. I was wondering if some folks might be interested in possibly going in on an order or if anyone as I said has used these companies. As far as I can tell, these are the same items that Tandy, Ohio Bag and others sell and of course with their mark up.

Thanks Everyone for some great ideas, I'm sure they will help other folks as well as they did me. What I finally did was similar to what Ben did, although I built a "U" shaped jig and once I got the leather gusset wet I molded it around the inside of the "U" with the sewing edges tacked down overlapping the edges of the mold. When I let that dry it gave me the shape I needed. I then clamped and glued the gusset in place to the center divider and sewed that in once the glue had set overnight. I worked like a charm and was much easier. The upside is that I used this as a reason to purchase a Scroll saw so I could make the jigs, LOL.

I'm in the process of making some covers for Nooks/Ipads, etc. I want to use an inlay of stingray and other exotics but the issue I am having is how to finish or burnish the edges on the leather cutouts, particularly diamond shapes and other small geometrics with tight corners. I can use my wood burnisher on the drill press to do the majority of the shape but the tight corners tend to lose their angularity with any rounded burnisher. Any thoughts? How does everyone finish their inlay cutouts rather than just leave them raw.

Maybe these will help with the visuals http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1074199/clicker-dies-on-a-budget (shows the press and how it is structured) Hydraulic_Cutting_Press_ShoeSchool.pdf