Tools of the Trade

[dw]

Paul,

You need to post a photo of it. What you are describing could be a Star Welt knife which is depicted on the opening page of "topics." the curved blade part could be a shank trimmer...some of the welt knives came with them.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[halfpint23]

To all of you (who know so much more than I)

Please bear with me as you laugh your collective butts off - I'm a holster maker and a mender and creator of horse apparel, but am here to learn.

Can someone please be so kind as to tell me just what five functions a Landis "Five in One" does? I can't tell anything from the pictures I've seen, and have never gotten my mitts on one of them to fiddle with and discover for myself.

If there are any vendors who still have in stock blades for the Landis 30 splitter, or for a very old American skiver, I'd really like to find those, too.

Thanks in advance for your kind replies,

Kate
Kate's Custom Gunleather

[dw]

Kate,

First off...if it hasn't been said before...welcome to the Crispin Colloquy. One of the board members of the HCC and one of the moderators of the forum is a harness maker at Colonial Williamsburg.

With regard to the five-in-one...

No one is laughing, I fear. This question has plagued shoemakers since time out of mind.

The five functions...as I understand it...of the Five-in-one are as follows: 1] leather splitter (limited to straps mostly), 2] strap cutter (it used to come with an adjustable guide that slid inside the arm), 3] sole cutter, 4] sole skiver, and 5] welt press.

That's my story and (I've actually seen the strap cutting guide mounted on a five-in-one) I'm sticking to it....

Pilgrim Shoe Machinery should have blades for the five-in-one, the Landis 30 and probably the American splitter, as well. do a "keyword" search for Pilgrim and the address and phone number will pop up somewhere in ther. (I don't have it handy...sorry.)

Hope this helps...

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[erickgeer]

Kate,
I just bought a bunch of used equipment and it came with the sales literature for the Landis products - I've finaly learned what constitutes 5 when there are only three working bits:

The rotery cutter is a sole cutter AND and edge trimmer (2)

The Skiver is for skiving Half-soles AND beveling edges (2)

And finaly there's the Welt Roller (1)

I second DW's recomendation of Pilgrim Shoe Machine, here is their 800 number: 1 (800) 341-2266

Good luck,
Erick

[halfpint23]

Wow, thanks guys! talk about instant gratification.

Erick, that paper stuff is hard to find these days - I also collect old (OOOOLD) sewing machines, and much of the factory literature and records are long gone - leaving those few who are fascinated by the machinery to try to figure out a lot of stuff for ourselves.

I've taken to scanning the crumbling pages to printable files, so as not to lose what could be the last copy, forever. Even the advertising holds little morsels of knowledge, sometimes. I preserve machine manuals and instruction sheets at all costs!

To wit, I have a lovely and near pristine original manual for my Landis #1 stitcher, if anyone has a need for a copy. Lord knows I could not have lived with the machine without it!

Thanks you again,
Kate
Kate's Custom Gunleather

[shoestring]

Question:
I have several old inseamming awl blades marked
"NRA & NCO" some are about 2 1/4" in length shaft to blade tip.Can anybody put some light on them,I have been holding on to these for about 14 yrs.and they were old when I got them.Thanks in advance.
Ed

[dw]

Ed,

You are very lucky! Those awls were supposed to have been disposed of by the Oak Ridge Energy Commission back in the early 50's. NRA stands for Niobium Radiation Accumulate and NCO stands for Nitro-Carbon Oxalosuccinate...which is a highly dangerous acid formed during the Krebs cycle. Just having them in your house can cause birth defects and arthritis and wrinkled skin.

Unfortunately, The ORC was shut down by the Nixon administration and the facilities to dispose of such lethal by-products were auctioned off.

Fortunately...for you...my father, who was a metallurgical engineer for the US Bureau of Mines and specialized in experimental ore processing, developed a small scale, high temperature kiln for just this purpose. I inherited that equipment when he died about 15 years ago.

If you send me those awls...along with a small fee of $143.00...I will put on the old asbestos gloves and the flare mask and get rid of these dangerous materials for you.

Do it soon though, Ed. You can't be too safe!!

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[djulan]

Kate, Ed, DW,

Always questioning, I thought there must be a creative way to open a beer bottle on a 5in1 and that was one of the 5 uses (though I never did try). But that Oak Ridge thing - wow- I visited as a youngster (in the Nixon admin.), and now hope none of my ailments are a result, I'll soon send any suspiciously marked awls for disposal. Thanks for the tip!

David

[tomo]

DW,
that's priceless. well done!
More power to y'awl.
T.

[Tom Mickel]

Yes, you can open a beer bottle on a 5 in 1. If you place the cap in at an angle in the long slot where the leather slides in to the rt. of the cutting blade and slide the bottle all the way to the rt. to stabilize the bottle against the end of the slot then pry the cap off by tilting the bottom of the bottle upward.

DISCLAIMER: I've personally never tried this but I'm pretty sure it will work!

Also, there's this certain spot on my truck bumper that can remove a bottle cap.

But my question to you is "why don't you just use your teeth like everyone else"?

[dkc]

I would like to find a manual on the care and feeding of an American 5 in 1 machine. Could anyone direct me to a source where I might aquire one?
I have been lurking here for the last 6 months but due to the fact that I am a novice, at least on the boot making end I am afraid that I don't have a lot to contribute.

Kent Cannon

[frank_jones]

Kent Cannon

Welcome to the Crispin Colloquy. Please do not be afraid of asking questions. I have been in this business over 45 years and I am still learning. There are many other people out there who also want to know the answers.

We are very lucky to have a such a collection of people prepared to share their know-how. Although I do try to answer the odd question, like you I also learn SO, SO much here.

So welcome again and keep those questions coming.

Frank Jones
frank.jones@shoemaking.com

[dmcharg]

As for myself, I'm keeping my NRA awls, for the simple reason that when there's a black out in our little town, I can keep working by the GREEN GLOW!

Cheers
Duncan (Ol' Three Eyes) McHarg

[dw]

Duncan,

Do you think I am too subtle? Too believable? Too innocent looking to be guilty of tongue in cheek?

Maybe my sense of humour is just too weird to be appreciated.

Either it wasn't funny or more people took it at face value than I ever expected. Probably more the former...mutter, mutter...



Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[halfpint23]

.........WELL...... oops. hollering again....

Ahem. I speak as one of the Downwind People, we who do verily glow in the dark - raised in SW Utah during those infamous days of yesteryear when above-ground testing was at its height - so to speak. Still walking around well over half a century later, though some lesser souls aren't.

I got the joke, and I did think it was funny - though a tad off-center, but then, considering the source....... no insult intended!!! Anyhow, quit that infernal muttering, you sound just like my husband!

Kate
Kate's Custom Gunleather
Monroe, WA USA

[halfpint23]

Jeez, is that's what double speak is???? Server problems here, kept bouncing me to a time out - sorry for the double.

ANYHOW, my Landis #1 is up on that auction site, if anybody cares to take a look. Somebody posted a Want it Now for a heavy stitcher, hand crankable, which it definitely is. Search for "Landis leather sewing" and it will come up.

Kate
Kate's Custom Gunleather
Monroe, WA USA

[tomo]

Hey Kate,
I've never seen a Landis No.1 before. They're amazingly similar to a pearson No.6, the first of these was made by Pearson in Leeds (UK?) in 1867. My beloved No.6 was used by a company here in NZ to make equipment for soldiers that fought in the Boar war in south Africa.
Good luck with the sale. You could also mention it on the Proleptic site... just a thought.
More power to y'awl
T.

[shoestring]

Question,
can someone describe the use of a "Star Welt Knife"
& a "Pegging Wheel".Thanks in advance


Ed

[dw]

Ed,

One way that a Star Welt knife can be used is to trim the rhan/rand. This is the bootside edge of the sole around the heel-stiffener/counter cover. That edge needs to be leveled and the glue (if any) removed. This tool seems to have replaced the old style "S" shaped Rhan knife or welt knife...primarily because it had a "guard" and an adjustable (and replacable) blade.

I hold the knife (either knife) in my right hand, palm up, with the cutting head to the left. With the boot on my knee, I push the knife around the rhan.

The pegging wheel is pretty straight-forward. It generally has a guide (sometimes adjustable) that is run along the edge of the sole and a spiked wheel (sometimes doubled) to make "dimples" which then, in turn, are the points at which a peg is to driven.

I have a lovely old pegging wheel that has brass fixtures and is adjustable for distance from the edge and has a double marking wheel set to 10 to the inch--just perfect.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[meaculpa]

Good morning and hello to all,

I am currently making belts and am having some issues with lack of experience with the best materials to use.

Question 1 - Burnishing edges.

I tried using the Fiebing's Edge Kote on the edges of my belts, but even with buffing, it rubs off on surfaces when some moisture is present. Sometimes those surfaces happen to be white shirts, which is a big problem. I've seen some belts with an almost rubbery edge on them, like a polyurethane, but that almost seems cheap to me. Am I mistaken?

When I tried using things like the Edge Kote it seemed like it was nothing more than a simple dye. Am I just not burnishing the edges enough?

Question 2 - Sealers

I see some of you use hand-painting techniques in your cordwaining, especially on cowboy boots. What do you use to ensure that paint does not rub off. I have obtained two kinds of acrylic "sealer" but I haven't yet had a chance to test it out. Would something like this work on top of a waxed surface?

Should I be exploring another possibility? This is essentially for the very purpose of painting on a leather and then ensuring it never (or at least, not soon) rubs off.

Thank you all for taking the time!

Regards,

Dimitri

[Other Volken]

Dear Dimitri,

All depends on the leather. I presume you are using veg tan leather. In that case moisten the edge with a sponge and rub always in the same direction with a corse rag (denim is best). After that apply carefully some Fiebigs alcohol dye and buff the edge wit a soft cloth. It is important to do the buffing while the dye hasn't dried entirely. You will get a shiny edge that you can protect with a thin cote of shellac or similar. I made very good experience with furniture polish containing shellac. The edge cote works wonderfully but you can't apply it directly to a rough edge. Moisten the edges and buff them up before, so that there isn't any fibres sticking up and the edge is somewhat slick enough.

That reminds me of an apprentice I had years ago. I let the poor girl buff the dry belt edges for some hours and she worked very hard with not much results. When I finally showed her to moisten the edges and she saw how easy it worked, she gave me mean looks and sayd : "And why didn't you tell me that before?" My reply was : "Hey, when I started, I dry-buffed those edges for a year or two before it dawned on me to get them wet so you could do it at least for one afternoon ;O)."

As to question 2
1st you need to pay attention to apply very a thin cote of acrylics. Better 2 or 3 thin ones than a thick layer. Any acrylic-based laquer on top should do. Fiebings sells a product calls Resolene. If you want the tougher varnish then try neat lac or tan-cote. But no matter how well you will do your job, it never will be as resistant as industrially dyed or coloured leather.

Have fun with your belts

O.V.

[tomo]

Hey Dimitri,

Other's right about the burnishing, we don't get a lot of Fiebigs here and so I can't comment on it to any great extent.
The acrylic edge stains don't lend themselves to being burnished, ie they peel off or go crappy. They were developed to fill the edges of leather and colour them at the same time without the need for burnishing, hence the saving in labour, time and therefore money.

In the belt factory I was involved with, the boss (owner) made a wooden cylinder with grooves in it to burnish the edges of belts, but it in my opinion the finish was less than suitable as the cylinder would scorch the leather ie it got too hot. I would burnish up to several hundred belts at a time with a light canvas rub cloth - denim is fine and the finish was way superior, cloth or brown paper is the traditional saddler's method. The edge of the leather is usually moistened, but try using a damp cloth... even a piece of old bed sheet folded up and wet then squeezed out.

As for edge stain, we have one here that www.leathersmiths.co.nz produce and is derived from casein (milk) and is water soluable. We mixed it up ourselves to the volume and colour we wanted, it consists of about 3 components as well as the water and didn't need a sealer on top.

One saddler I worked for used an edge stain then went over the edge with a leather sealer to finish off.

Also try Weavers, www.weaverleather.com and look at the Gum Tragacanth, this is also an old method, in fact you could order their catalogue on line.

More power to y'awl.
T.

[esecarnal]

Hello everyone..I have a Landis L outsole stitcher. I bought it only a short time ago, and set out to clean it thoroughly. When I received it I did not have the instruction manual. Now it is back together and operating. I finally received a manual (though it is for a model K). It seems that I threaded it properly, and that I did the right thing by cleaning it. The thing that troubles me is that the instruction manual tells me it must be kept HOT. And, there is no heating unit. Parts of the machine were covered in wax (as was my Mckay stitcher when I got it.) But, the Mckay does not require heating. Does the L stitcher REQUIRE heating to operate succesfully? Or, was that phased out after the model K? Most important, will I damage the machine if I use it without heat? Please help. Thank you, EC

[dw]

Donovan,

Welcome to the Crispin Colloquy.

I have an "F"--older than either the "K" or the "L". I stripped off the heating elements long ago. I use Sellari's liquid wax and don't worry about it. I don't think I know anyone still running hot wax.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

[esecarnal]

Whew! When you think about it, it makes sense. I've only seen liquid wax. Still, the precaution in the manual really made it seem like a grave issue. And I wanted to be sure. Thank you very much for the quick clear-up. I'm very glad for this community.