FDC

You’d just have to show me that holster and my hands would be in the air!

Of course I did this on the hottest day of the week! I’ve seen some of that engine repair work that you mention, intense to say the least. I pre-heated with a torch and post heated with a heat gun set up. No fatal “tink” heard. Yet…

Thanks! I certainly have had welds not turn out as sweetly. A lathe and a knee mill will get you a lot of places won’t they? I’m fortunate to have this one for sure.

Had to have on of these to go with my refurbished Model 12 F. The chassis casting was broken. I repaired it using a broken cast piece from an ancient Taylor spot welder then I welded it using cast iron rod and my TIG welder. It came out better than I deserved. It’s in prime as of this evening. Excited to have it all together. Have to make a couple springs for it still… Will I ever work leather? Not if I keep buying cool vintage iron machines! Half the fun is the acquisition and road trip to pick up these gems.

Hi, I’m looking for a Landis 25 in good to great shape, good being “complete”. I don’t mind restoring a tired looking unit. I am willing to travel to pick it up depending on the distance from Ontario Canada. US machines would be fine with me, I like road trips. Chris

It is so easy and inexpensive to just screw a vacuum port to the bottom of an 801 skiver and have what you want. Took me 10 minutes and I use my shop extractor as a vacuum. I would never pay for a vacuum unit when shop vacs and extractors are around us everywhere!

Great solution and outcome!

I have done this to my Techsew skiver. I have a shop with a central cyclone extraction system that has 5” flexible hose at the end of each line. I simply put a 5” plastic fitting up under the bottom of the skiver table where the leather drops out, hook up the extractor and good bye leather scraps. It was dead simple. You can utilize what you have but keep the port mouth as big as possible. A good shop vacuum would work.

I’ve used an ultrasonic cleaner. It takes a few cycles and it needs to be hot.

Hi Tas, Dumb mistakes? Yeah, buying and restoring this machine! I likely have 150 hours into it now. Ouch. Money wise maybe $300 USD in total including thread, thread lube, needles, awls round drive belting, pulleys plus the cost of the machine which was about $400 USD. I had to replace the leather clutch friction plate, round drive belt and I changed the two pulleys on the motor drive to slow it down a bit. Disassembly was clunky the first time round at the very end of the process. I didn’t think my way though the process perfectly. I started left to right and removing the stitch length mechanism allows for a super easy tear down of the last two cams. Going back together is simply reversed but figuring it out was a head scratcher. I took almost 100 pictures. There is no detail too small to capture! Particular attention to the gear racks and their timing is a good thing but if you have a good knowledge of how the machine operates you can really just go to town as the cam wheels kinda dictate assembly. You will not regret having too many pictures from every angle! My advice is this: if the machine was used with hot wax just accept the fact that it needs to be torn down. Be careful to keep the cam rollers with their respective levers and cams. Move slowly and think twice about everything before you commit to action. I felt like you do, once you start this job you have to get to the finish line ASAP as it’s best to keep it fresh in your memory. I put my shop on hold once I started the refurb. When I get it singing I’ll post a video for sure! I’m now onto some furniture projects that need to be finished so the Landis is just eye candy for a while.

To be honest with you that’s a big part of why I restored it. Eye candy!

Thanks! Everything you say is 100% true. I’ve worked on all sorts of equipment and motorbikes over the years but this Landis probably takes the cake for complicated.

Nice problem solving! I too am trying to get my Techsew SK-4 801 skiving heavier leather than it is intended for. Veg tan to boot. I have added the serrated drive wheel but maybe the best modification is a speed reducer in the drive train. Plenty of grunt now. Thanks to Andrew at Skyline Leather for his fine video about this! And there is no question that a freshly sharpened blade is critical when pushing the performance envelope on this skiver. I have had success with 9/10 oz leather to date and that was my goal. It’s not an everyday requirement but occasionally I need it.

New to leather work and really want to make my own boots. I’ve been aware of the curved needle outsole stitchers for several years and know that I don’t need one so of course I bought one. It was in a shop and oily, perfect. I thought that I would be able to tidy it up and use it but that turned out not to be true as 70 years of hot wax and filth were a deal breaker so apart it came and I rebuilt it from the ground up. A bit intimidating to say the least but with a lot of photos and time it is back together and I’m in the fine tuning phase of things. I have it stitching unsatisfactorily and am working away at it. I have begun to understand how this machine actually works by taking it entirely apart and trying to get it back to proper operation. Brilliant, frustrating and gorgeous! I used #207 bonded polyester thread and crazy glue to make my new round drive belt joint, works like a charm!

Gateway Machinery in Illinois.