Landis Line Finisher

[drb9298]

Hello,

I have this large green Landis Line finisher that I inherited from my father. He used to own a tack shop and made saddles and other various items. I am trying to find out what this machine is worth and maybe what model it is. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I also have an USMC Clicking machine model C and about 10 or so saddle dies. Any ideas about the worth of the machine and dies. Thanks again for any info.

[Art]

That is a really, I mean really old Finisher. I have never seen one with all the leather drive belts so it is earlier than you would see now. Because of the size and the fact that it uses cut sheets instead of grinding belts, I would think $200-$300 would be the most you might get. I have seen newer models sell for around $500, but that sale had a spare parts machine included. I can't help with the clicker as I am not familiar with the USMC clickers.

Art

[billymac814]

Unfortunately its probably worth the weight of scrap. There was once somewhere in the neighborhood of 75,000 shoe repair shops in the US, now there are 5,000. This means that 70,000 finishers got displaced and almost no one wants them unless they are a more modern version with sanding belts and a better vacuum system. I recently seen one sell at an auction and it didn't even go for scrap price, it was in perfect working order, had good blades for the trimmer and was fairly clean and had been in use up until a month or so prior.

Check on Craigslist, there are finishers that have been there for months and months, this really applies to a lot of shoe repair equipment, you can get a Landis 12 stitcher for pennies if you want one, the same with a McKay. The more modern stuff gets higher prices because its still used and there's not as much of it out there. Also other things that can be used in the leatherworking trade sells higher like the splitters, 5-1s patchers etc.

You could always just set it up and use it, they work pretty good for sanding edges as long as the drums are in good shape and don't bounce around too much.

I know nothing about the clicker machine, does it work? I'm sure quite a few of the folks here would be interested in a working or maybe non working clicker.

Edited January 29, 2013 by billymac814

[drb9298]

thanks a bunch guys! very useful information. much appreciated

[billymac814]

One other thing too, you may try to part it out if you're dedicated to selling it. The naumkeg may sell on its own or the motor as well as the drums and any other small pieces that come off. Some of them will fit newer machines(newer as in still old as dirt but newer than yours). You may even find someone to buy the leg pieces to make a table or something out of. Its hard to say really but you never know. Scraping it is alot easier for sure.

[Creativecritter]

Were are you located

[Creativecritter]

can you email me I have a question about the line finisher crittercraft@live.com

[Logans Leather]

I can't tell you what model of finisher that is, but I can tell you that I have the same one! It is a fairly simple matter to modernize it a bit by changing out the flat drive belt wheels for v belt wheels. There are lots of attachments for these machines that make them very valuable in a modern leather shop. I use mine for polishing, buffing and both edge burnishing and flesh side burnishing to flatten and smooth out the leather fibers giving a very finished look. I am even having a multi-grooved edge burnishing cylinder made for mine, and I will be producing more for sale, specifically designed to fit on 1 5/16" finisher shafts.

So don't lose heart, it's a great machine with lots of potential if you make the right changes.

The clicker, I would run screaming away from. Mechanical clickers which draw their cutting force from a spinning fly wheel like this one are potentially dangerous, and there is a good reason they are all made to use hydraulics or pneumatics now.

I might be interested in the clicker dies if you want to sell them. Send me pics.

[billymac814]

I may be interested in the burnishing wheel setup, are you planning to make them work with the thing that heats them up just like the edge irons? I have thought about making a rounded groove in some of my edge irons and using them but never got around to it since I already had a decent burnisher setup.

I have a more modern one although its still old. Mine has seperate motors for each section. I'm going to be replacing it this year for a more modern one with sanding belts.

I can't tell you what model of finisher that is, but I can tell you that I have the same one! It is a fairly simple matter to modernize it a bit by changing out the flat drive belt wheels for v belt wheels. There are lots of attachments for these machines that make them very valuable in a modern leather shop. I use mine for polishing, buffing and both edge burnishing and flesh side burnishing to flatten and smooth out the leather fibers giving a very finished look. I am even having a multi-grooved edge burnishing cylinder made for mine, and I will be producing more for sale, specifically designed to fit on 1 5/16" finisher shafts.

So don't lose heart, it's a great machine with lots of potential if you make the right changes.

The clicker, I would run screaming away from. Mechanical clickers which draw their cutting force from a spinning fly wheel like this one are potentially dangerous, and there is a good reason they are all made to use hydraulics or pneumatics now.

I might be interested in the clicker dies if you want to sell them. Send me pics.

[Logans Leather]

I'm having the burnishing cylinder turned out of steel. I plan to cover mine with canvas as per Hidepounder's set up. It occurred to me that if they are wrapped with canvas, then there is no need to make them out of wood. This way I can make them not too much bigger than the shaft itself I think my outside diameter is 2 1/8". I think I will also mount an adapter for the end of the shaft so I can mount a small diameter wood burnished for very tight inside curves.

[Creativecritter]

We currently use a 1937 Landis Line Finisher, we are in need of replacing the 9inch sanding cylinder was looking for parts

[Art]

Landis Canada might have the parts you need.

Art

[billymac814]

We currently use a 1937 Landis Line Finisher, we are in need of replacing the 9inch sanding cylinder was looking for parts

Shoe systems plus also has parts for the older Line finishers.

[billymac814]

Are you planning on having them mounted with a bayonet fitting so it can be easily removed from the end or are you planning on mounting it on the shaft? I'm guessing you're doing a bayonet fitting if you'll put an adapter on the end. Let me know when you figure out the cost, I can't say for sure if I'd want one, I'm looking at replacing this with a more modern finisher this year and I have a decent burnishing setup similar to The Weavers setup that Hidepounder uses. I'd think the bayonet fitting would fit a lot of finishers though.

I'm having the burnishing cylinder turned out of steel. I plan to cover mine with canvas as per Hidepounder's set up. It occurred to me that if they are wrapped with canvas, then there is no need to make them out of wood. This way I can make them not too much bigger than the shaft itself I think my outside diameter is 2 1/8". I think I will also mount an adapter for the end of the shaft so I can mount a small diameter wood burnished for very tight inside curves.

Are you planning on having them mounted with a bayonet fitting so it can be easily removed from the end or are you planning on mounting it on the shaft? I'm guessing you're doing a bayonet fitting if you'll put an adapter on the end. Let me know when you figure out the cost, I can't say for sure if I'd want one, I'm looking at replacing this with a more modern finisher this year and I have a decent burnishing setup similar to The Weavers setup that Hidepounder uses. I'd think the bayonet fitting would fit a lot of finishers though.

I'm having the burnishing cylinder turned out of steel. I plan to cover mine with canvas as per Hidepounder's set up. It occurred to me that if they are wrapped with canvas, then there is no need to make them out of wood. This way I can make them not too much bigger than the shaft itself I think my outside diameter is 2 1/8". I think I will also mount an adapter for the end of the shaft so I can mount a small diameter wood burnished for very tight inside curves.

[Logans Leather]

Bayonet fitting for the one on the end and the larger cylinder will slide onto the shaft and mount with 2 hex drive machine screws

[Creativecritter]

I tried landis and shoesystem plus, already they quoted me 800.00 for the adapted Bayonet cylinder. Seems like I could have one machined or find used for less than that not much money in the shoe repair business. I am trying to keep expenses down.

Thanks

[Logans Leather]

That price is crazy!!

[billymac814]

What all do you need? Just the long hinged drum or something else? The finisher isn't worth 800 bucks. I was just at an auction that had and old line finisher and it sold for a bit over 100 bucks. Some people try to ask a lot but they sit on Craigslist not going anywhere. You could probably find a whole parts machine for much less than 800 bucks. You can get a brand new finisher for 5k from Cobra Steve. That's the route I'm going, its much more compact too.

If you're not making money you're not charging enough, look at some of the price surveys and online pricing from some other shops and make adjustments. All of the supplies and equipment is up high and your prices need to reflect that. Still good to keep costs down though.

[billymac814]

If you have an iPhone or something download Craigslist Nationwide, it'll allow you to search all of Craigslist. There's a fair amount of those old finishers on there, email them and make a deal on the whole thing or parts. When I get my new one I'm probably going to part mine out and scrap it, not much of a demand for them. You can also post a wanted ad on CL and you'll find what you need. You'd be suprised at how many people have their fathers or grandfathers shoe repair equipment in their basement or garage or in storage. I posted one for something a few months back and had 10 replies in a few days and not only found what I needed but had it delivered as well. I really had very low expectations at first.

[Logans Leather]

coolness. I never knew about CL nationwide. tired of searching city by city. I find my old line finisher VERY useful, but that is because I modified it. I don't use the sanding wheels. can't stand the bumpy ride from the seam/join. I use a Burr King belt grinder for all my sanding. lots of power, very fast and easy to change belts, easy to reconfigure with different sized contact wheels or a flat grinding surface, plus very useable for woodwork and metalwork. Since I am not sanding with mine, I removed the dust collector and built in shelving down below. leaving me with lots of storage underneath a long spinning shaft on which I can mount all sorts of useful goodies. Polishing brushes, surface burnishing wheels, edge burnishing wheels, multi-groove edge burnishing cylinders, only sander I ever mount on it is a heel breast wheel. since I have that nice long shaft to mount so many options on I normally have mine configured with 3 multi-groove edge burnishing cylinders. one for black, one for browns, and one for undyed leather. Never discard something just because most folks figure it is useless or obsolete. Think about your needs and figure out if you can make it useful to you before discarding it.

[billymac814]

The nationwide Craigslist is very helpful. I wish there were a little more options like sort by distance or something like that but even without its better than checking a bunch of cities.

The landis line finishers are useful, no doubt there. They just aren't worth much as not too many people want or have room for them. I use mine as it was intended for shoe repair. The drums aren't bumpy if you have good drums. One of mine is very bumpy and I don't use that one anymore. The biggest problem is the short piece of paper wears out in no time when sanding heavy rubber soles down. The much longer belts last much longer. It'll be a joyous day when I haul this out of my shop. Ill likely give it a month or so and see if I can sell it, I don't have high hopes though even though its in very good condition. If not I can probably pull the 5 motors off of it and put those on eBay and get more than I could sell the complete machine for and I can sell the drums and other parts to people who are trying to keep theirs going and scrap the rest, its pretty heavy so Id do ok in scrapping it. Ill gain an extra 4 or 5 feet of wall space in my shop which I could use.

I could also break it down and just use a section of it so I could get something like a Jackmaster and keep the polishing section but I'd rather just get the Cobra Finisher, it looks to be a very cool design with the rotating heads.

[Creativecritter]

Logans, I would love to see a picture of your creative set up, seams like us cobblers and leather crafters can make reuse of just about anything

Thanks

[Logans Leather]

yes, I thought of cutting my first one down into just a polisher at one point. glad I didn't now. I will post pics of it as soon as I can. Pretty busy with projects right now