A thank you and a few suggestions ~

[pa.bluesman]

My thanks to the member that once posted about using a drill press to stamp his work. I have used this method for a good while now and have had excellent results. It's much more accurate and uniform, with no mis-strikes.

Another thing I have found the drillpress useful for is burnishing the edges of my work. I use an old wooden spool from a spool of thread. I use a bolt as a mounting arbor for the spool. The wood is just the right surface for giving a nice burnished edge. Even the lip at the top and bottom of the spool help you get all the surface.

No matter how carefully I would clean my rubber topped work surface of old stain from the previous project, I would sometimes soil a new project by accident. Could be just a touch of stain hidden in a knife mark in the rubber ~ Even wiping down with denatured alcohol couldn't guarantee a perfectly clean surface. I recently started using a piece of wax paper to lay on my bench before using stain, glue, conditioner, etc. It works great!

Reading through some of the posts here, I came across some mentions for different sewing machines. I had recently invested in a Tippmann Boss and had great results. As my business increased and I had ideas for new kinds of products, I thought a motorized machine might be worth the investment. I tried a trusty old Singer model 1591, but that could only sew very light leather, not what I need to use. I looked at used machines locally, I scoured the internet, then I saw someone here mention a Toro 3000.
When I called Artisan Sewing, I spoke with Steve. A nicer, more upbeat, helpful, patient guy would be hard to find anywhere. After a few weeks of comtemplation and a few phone calls to patient Steve, I ordered one. All I can say is WOW ! I love this thing! It can sew through about 3/4"s of leather, comes with a servo controlled motor which means you can get very precise control of the speed of the machine with the treadle quite easily, and can go  v e r y  slowly. It has reverse, a bright halogen light, a bobin winding attachment, a heavy metal pedestal base on castors and it's height adjustable. Shipping alone from California to Pa. was $200, but all in all, well worth it. I'll try and post a photo or two here of one of my first Toro projects ~

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks for the information and feedback, PB. That machine does a good job, for sure. It's a good one to remember. I like the guitar strap. Nice clean look and certainly looks like it would be comfortable. Thanks for the post. Hope to see more of you around here.