Whacha Been Up To......

[Horsewright]

A few I made, I borrowed the quilted pattern from a pic I saw here, Thank you!
James

Good job.

 

[Lorien]

I finally got this belt all stitched up, looks like I'll have it ready for xmas, (for Mrs. Loriendesign). Been 'working on it' for awhile, lol

 

[Horsewright]

I finally got this belt all stitched up, looks like I'll have it ready for xmas, (for Mrs. Loriendesign). Been 'working on it' for awhile, lol

Thats cool. Tough trimming job or ya gonna leave it like that? Looks kinda uniform.

And so it starts. We've been working 12 hour days for some time now and am bumping up to 14-16 hour days. I think that there needs to be a national drive to alert everyone that Christmas will happen again next year and the year after etc. Ya don't have to wait till the first week of Dec to order! Here's some shots of some of the five scabbards I've been working on. All but one has shipped and we sold an in stock one we had too. Kinda a rifle scabbard year, this year. All five orders came in on 11/28-11/29.

Two plain roughouts and a smoothout one with tooling for a Henry Mare's Leg. First time I'd ever done one for one of those:

Another roughout one with carlos border stamping and a tooled and dyed brand:

All scabbards are Wicket and Craig 8/10 oz and the strapping is water buffalo. I've been running into some really great sides of Wickett and Craig leather lately. I got all four of these scabbards, a pair of saddle bags (they chew up a big chunk of a side) and about 12-15 pancake sheaths out of one side! Thats crazy.

Then was out cutting some firewood Sun afternoon and Nichole tells me to shut the saw down and come over here. She shows me this:

For ya city folk thats a bear track. For everybody thats a HUGE bear track!

I'm 6' 3" and about 230lbs. Got pretty big paws my ownself!

 

[Lorien]

Thats cool. Tough trimming job or ya gonna leave it like that? Looks kinda uniform.

And so it starts. We've been working 12 hour days for some time now and am bumping up to 14-16 hour days. I think that there needs to be a national drive to alert everyone that Christmas will happen again next year and the year after etc. Ya don't have to wait till the first week of Dec to order! Here's some shots of some of the five scabbards I've been working on. All but one has shipped and we sold an in stock one we had too. Kinda a rifle scabbard year, this year. All five orders came in on 11/28-11/29.

Two plain roughouts and a smoothout one with tooling for a Henry Mare's Leg. First time I'd ever done one for one of those:

Another roughout one with carlos border stamping and a tooled and dyed brand:

All scabbards are Wicket and Craig 8/10 oz and the strapping is water buffalo. I've been running into some really great sides of Wickett and Craig leather lately. I got all four of these scabbards, a pair of saddle bags (they chew up a big chunk of a side) and about 12-15 pancake sheaths out of one side! Thats crazy.

Then was out cutting some firewood Sun afternoon and Nichole tells me to shut the saw down and come over here. She shows me this:

For ya city folk thats a bear track. For everybody thats a HUGE bear track!

I'm 6' 3" and about 230lbs. Got pretty big paws my ownself!

trimming the deer skin and then finishing all the edges next

pretty big kittycat around those parts

 

[duramax]

Thats cool. Tough trimming job or ya gonna leave it like that? Looks kinda uniform.

And so it starts. We've been working 12 hour days for some time now and am bumping up to 14-16 hour days. I think that there needs to be a national drive to alert everyone that Christmas will happen again next year and the year after etc. Ya don't have to wait till the first week of Dec to order! Here's some shots of some of the five scabbards I've been working on. All but one has shipped and we sold an in stock one we had too. Kinda a rifle scabbard year, this year. All five orders came in on 11/28-11/29.

Two plain roughouts and a smoothout one with tooling for a Henry Mare's Leg. First time I'd ever done one for one of those:

Another roughout one with carlos border stamping and a tooled and dyed brand:

All scabbards are Wicket and Craig 8/10 oz and the strapping is water buffalo. I've been running into some really great sides of Wickett and Craig leather lately. I got all four of these scabbards, a pair of saddle bags (they chew up a big chunk of a side) and about 12-15 pancake sheaths out of one side! Thats crazy.

Then was out cutting some firewood Sun afternoon and Nichole tells me to shut the saw down and come over here. She shows me this:

For ya city folk thats a bear track. For everybody thats a HUGE bear track!

I'm 6' 3" and about 230lbs. Got pretty big paws my ownself!

Awesome work !!!!! And yes that would be some amazing sides to make all that !!! Or maybe the guy using the knife is that good !!

Might be time for some trail cameras ? Unless you already have them up

 

[Horsewright]

trimming the deer skin and then finishing all the edges next

pretty big kittycat around those parts

Can I make a suggestion on the next belt?

Awesome work !!!!! And yes that would be some amazing sides to make all that !!! Or maybe the guy using the knife is that good !!

Might be time for some trail cameras ? Unless you already have them up

Thanks! Good big usable sides. Yes sir we knew there was a bear in the area. Meet Smokey, we've got several pictures of him:

Smokey is a nice size bear but he's not that bear! What about Bob? Well we got Bob too.

We'd installed the camera where it could catch a lot of activity as we'd been suffering a lot of break ins and trespassing problems. The first thing the police ask these days is do you have any cameras, any pics? My response is "Dude, we don't even have an address and ya want cameras?" So now we got a camera, still don't have an address. They were cutting the fence on a roadway and driving in and cutting down live trees for some reason, and then leaving them. Makes no sense, passing by lots of deadfall they could of cut up for firewood, but they cut up live trees and then left them. Why? Chainsaw practice? Looked to me like they were coming in at night as we followed their tracks from the fence up Spring Canyon where they cut the wood, which is also where we were cutting the deadfall Sunday and found the huge bear track. Their tracks were all over the road and off it often so they were probably driving without headlights. We got a call from our partner Steve about a hole in the fence he'd found. But we were a couple hours at least out to come help fix it. Being a formal Naval officer, Steve used one piece of rope to hold it till we got there:

He also knows how to bribe Nichole, Smirnoffs and a certain tortilla chip she really likes. Here's some of the damage done. East side of the canyon.

West side, two trees here:

The police also asked the value of the oak trees. I don't know, ya talking $, ya talking the part they play in creating oxygen to breath, ya talking shelter and food for wildlife? Whats the value of a living oak tree? I told em $1550.55. This was the second time in a few weeks that the fence had been cut in the same place and they'd come on and had chainsaw practice. So we got us a trail cam.

Ya remember our daughter Alyssa (or Smoke, or Ally or Rudy or Rudykins, she answers to a lot of names), here working our booth with Nichole:

Well besides coming up and helping me in the shop and working in the ER down the hill, and going to school, and planning her wedding, she started her own business. 3C Candles. She doesn't quite have our 30,000 followers on Instagram yet but she probably will. I never realized that candle making was so technical. She insists on the candle being as close to perfect before she'll sell it. She's looking for clean burning, excellent scent, no bubbles in the wax, all kinds of things I never thought of.

Well she's got her first show on Sat, so mom will be going down for a few hours to give her a hand, like she has for us. Me I'll be in the shop. I'm shaping the handles today on a batch of knives so if all goes well I'll be making sheaths Saturday.

Got this pic from our son, Logan. He's zipping down the zipper on his Horsewright shotgun chaps. They do help to keep ya warm which is a good thing as it was 8 degrees that morning. He's working on a new ranch in north east Nev. Just a little place, 1.2 million acres! Bigger than the state of Rhode Island and the same size as the state of Delaware!

Meanwhile back at our rancho. Nichole has these ready to ship to Brazil:

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Nice Dave, looking at all your photos, it reminds me of those long ago days when you had to LOAD a camera with FILM...shoot only what was in the roll, then...TAKE it into town or mail it to a place to PROCESS the film and HOPE that everything looked ok when you got the prints back, prints...lol remember what those are? We just had our third grandson and I told my youngest daughter to start actually printing out the photos and put them into a scrap book.

While we gain so much with progress, we seem to lose a great deal too, that we take for granted. Like writing a letter...by hand...on paper and mailing it via snail mail to a friend. Almost unheard of these days, but it is something we should try to bring back too.

Oops back to the thread at hand.
here's a slip sheath I made for a small folder, I picked up some MILLED leather from Tandy up in Syracuse, never heard of such a thing, but it's fairly flexible and takes an embossing and dye. I like my slip sheaths to be form fitting, so they are not generic, just that OCD in me I suppose.

G2

 

[Lorien]

Can I make a suggestion on the next belt?


Thanks! Good biog usable sides. Yes sir we knew there was a bear in the area. Meet Smokey, we've got several pictures of him:

Smokey is a nice size bear but he's not that bear! What about Bob? Well we got Bob too.

We'd installed the camera where it could catch a lot of activity as we'd been suffering a lot of break ins and trespassing problems. The first thing the police ask these days is do you have any cameras, any pics? My response is "Dude, we don't even have an address and ya want cameras?" So now we got a camera, still don't have an address. They were cutting the fence on a roadway and driving in and cutting down live trees for some reason, and then leaving them. Makes no sense, passing by lots of deadfall they could of cut up for firewood, but they cut up live trees and then left them. Why? Chainsaw practice? Looked to me like they were coming in at night as we followed their tracks from the fence up Spring Canyon where they cut the wood, which is also where we were cutting the deadfall Sunday and found the huge bear track. Their tracks were all over the road and off it often so they were probably driving without headlights. We got a call from our partner Steve about a hole in the fence he'd found. But we were a couple hours at least out to come help fix it. Being a formal Naval officer, Steve used one piece of rope to hold it till we got there:

He also knows how to bribe Nichole, Smirnoffs and a certain tortilla chip she really likes. Here's some of the damage done. East side of the canyon.

West side, two trees here:

The police also asked the value of the oak trees. I don't know, ya talking $, ya talking the part they play in creating oxygen to breath, ya talking shelter and food for wildlife? Whats the value of a living oak tree? I told em $1550.55. This was the second time in a few weeks that the fence had been cut in the same place and they'd come on and had chainsaw practice. So we got us a trail cam.

Ya remember our daughter Alyssa (or Smoke, or Ally or Rudy or Rudykins, she answers to a lot of names), here working our booth with Nichole:

Well besides coming up and helping me in the shop and working in the ER down the hill, and going to school, and planning her wedding, she started her own business. 3C Candles. She doesn't quite have our 30,000 followers on Instagram yet but she probably will. I never realized that candle making was so technical. She insists on the candle being as close to perfect before she'll sell it. She's looking for clean burning, excellent scent, no bubbles in the wax, all kinds of things I never thought of.

Well she's got her first show on Sat, so mom will be going down for a few hours to give her a hand, like she has for us. Me I'll be in the shop. I'm shaping the handles today on a batch of knives so if all goes well I'll be making sheaths Saturday.

Got this pic from our son, Logan. He's zipping down the zipper on his Horsewright shotgun chaps. They do help to keep ya warm which is a good thing as it was 8 degrees that morning. He's working on a new ranch in north east Nev. Just a little place, 1.2 million acres! Bigger than the state of Rhode Island and the same size as the state of Delaware!

Meanwhile back at our rancho. Nichole has these ready to ship to Brazil:

yes, please, I'd appreciate your advice and feedback.
This was my first go at making a belt, and there are several things I learned- primarily that I do not want to hand stitch another one ever again!

 

[Horsewright]

yes, please, I'd appreciate your advice and feedback.
This was my first go at making a belt, and there are several things I learned- primarily that I do not want to hand stitch another one ever again!

Well, buddy I learned some of this the hard way too. How ya built this belt is very similar to the first couple of dog collars I ever did. And I was sure cussing and discussing how I could do em better and easier. Think of the D ring on a dog collar taking the place of the keeper on your belt and I was faced with the same situations. Trimming the full lining evenly is gonna be difficult due to the keeper and the buckle. Finishing the edges well, will be downright herculean, again due to the keeper and the buckle. So here's my thoughts on keeping your sanity on the next one.

Does this belt really need a keeper? With the type of buckle that you used where the tail tucks in after the tongue engages the hole in the belt, ya usually don't. This is the type of buckle we use as a standard on our belts and only on a customer's request will we add a keeper. When they do request one, like one that just shipped a couple of days ago, they mostly have a different buckle that they want to use and we didn't even send a buckle. We do a keeper for every couple of hundred of belts. Really just not necessary for that buckle.

Stop your lining before the buckle fold. This will give you an unobstructed lining to trim after sewing. Will sure make finishing the edges easier too and for the same reason, won't have the keeper and the buckle in the way. In this pic the inside row of stitching will all be all on the lining the outside row will only be on the lining for its longitudinal run down and back. Going across, the outside row is not on the lining. We make our fold about 3"s long from the center of the slot to the end of the belt where it is folded underneath.

If you do use a buckle that needs a keeper, there's plenty of room between the Chicago screw holes to place the keeper. I can only recall one order, for dress belts, for an office worker, where he wanted keepers with our standard buckle:

We use Chicago screws to fasten the buckle and or keeper in place. This allows the keeper to be placed in position after the belt is made, saving your sanity. Also, in the western world anyways, the standard buckles we use will often get replaced with a trophy buckle.

A person might have several buckles and want to swap em around on the same belt which is why we don't sew or use rivets to secure a buckle.

I have several customers that collect handmade buckles. When I make a belt for a handmade buckle I do require the buckle to be sent to me. Often times these handmade buckles are not a true measurement. So it might fit a belt of an inch and almost a half but not a standard inch and a half belt. Or it will fit on a 1.5 inch belt but then the space for the tip to pass through sure won't fit a 1.5 belt. Handmade buckles, have them suckers on hand, something else about belt making I've learned the hard way.

This one required some very special fitting to fit the buckle. Standard 1.5" belt but the tip area was shaved by sanding a few hairs so that it would pass back through the buckle. If ya stare at the pic long enough ya can see the taper. I get it fitting the buckle first, then do all your stitching grooves, tooling etc.

Same with a three piece buckle set. HAVE them on hand to build that belt. Seldom are the keeper and tip standard sizes or even the same size with in the set!

Ya can see on this one that the keepers are a different size than the buckle.

And tips are even worse sometimes. Ya can see in this pic how the tip is a different size than the keeper and the buckle. See how much I had to taper the end to even get it in the tip and this is suppose to be a set.

This one was for a 3/4" buckle without a keeper or tip so I made him a keeper too. I buy keepers pre made from Weaver.

Yeah I could see not wanting to hand stitch belts:

 

[duramax]

Horsewright

Hey sorry to here about the trespassers and loss of your trees. Kinda odd to just randomly cut a fence to cut trees for no reason ??? Back in the day around here, that be a sure sign for future young people party spot. Nowadays I’d have no clue.
The camera thing mad me chuckle and remember. Back in my day when asked for a camera , I carried this lol


Yes that’s dust covering it lol. But I knew exactly where it was

Truly great pics and awesome leather work !!! Where / when will those candles be available for online sales ??? They’d make great Christmas gifts !!

 

[Lorien]

Well, buddy I learned some of this the hard way too. How ya built this belt is very similar to the first couple of dog collars I ever did. And I was sure cussing and discussing how I could do em better and easier. Think of the D ring on a dog collar taking the place of the keeper on your belt and I was faced with the same situations. Trimming the full lining evenly is gonna be difficult due to the keeper and the buckle. Finishing the edges well, will be downright herculean, again due to the keeper and the buckle. So here's my thoughts on keeping your sanity on the next one.

Does this belt really need a keeper? With the type of buckle that you used where the tail tucks in after the tongue engages the hole in the belt, ya usually don't. This is the type of buckle we use as a standard on our belts and only on a customer's request will we add a keeper. When they do request one, like one that just shipped a couple of days ago, they mostly have a different buckle that they want to use and we didn't even send a buckle. We do a keeper for every couple of hundred of belts. Really just not necessary for that buckle.

Stop your lining before the buckle fold. This will give you an unobstructed lining to trim after sewing. Will sure make finishing the edges easier too and for the same reason, won't have the keeper and the buckle in the way. In this pic the inside row of stitching will all be all on the lining the outside row will only be on the lining for its longitudinal run down and back. Going across, the outside row is not on the lining. We make our fold about 3"s long from the center of the slot to the end of the belt where it is folded underneath.

If you do use a buckle that needs a keeper, there's plenty of room between the Chicago screw holes to place the keeper. I can only recall one order, for dress belts, for an office worker, where he wanted keepers with our standard buckle:

We use Chicago screws to fasten the buckle and or keeper in place. This allows the keeper to be placed in position after the belt is made, saving your sanity. Also, in the western world anyways, the standard buckles we use will often get replaced with a trophy buckle.

A person might have several buckles and want to swap em around on the same belt which is why we don't sew or use rivets to secure a buckle.

I have several customers that collect handmade buckles. When I make a belt for a handmade buckle I do require the buckle to be sent to me. Often times these handmade buckles are not a true measurement. So it might fit a belt of an inch and almost a half but not a standard inch and a half belt. Or it will fit on a 1.5 inch belt but then the space for the tip to pass through sure won't fit a 1.5 belt. Handmade buckles, have them suckers on hand, something else about belt making I've learned the hard way.

This one required some very special fitting to fit the buckle. Standard 1.5" belt but the tip area was shaved by sanding a few hairs so that it would pass back through the buckle. If ya stare at the pic long enough ya can see the taper. I get it fitting the buckle first, then do all your stitching grooves, tooling etc.

Same with a three piece buckle set. HAVE them on hand to build that belt. Seldom are the keeper and tip standard sizes or even the same size with in the set!

Ya can see on this one that the keepers are a different size than the buckle.

And tips are even worse sometimes. Ya can see in this pic how the tip is a different size than the keeper and the buckle. See how much I had to taper the end to even get it in the tip and this is suppose to be a set.

This one was for a 3/4" buckle without a keeper or tip so I made him a keeper too. I buy keepers pre made from Weaver.

Yeah I could see not wanting to hand stitch belts:

you laid down some solid nuggets, Dave- thanks!
you cowboys and your belt buckles! Lol

I got the belt I'm working on ready for dye. Note to self; punch holes before the dye! No big deal, rookie error

a little sloppy looking, which is one reason I like dye haha

 

[Horsewright]

Horsewright

Hey sorry to here about the trespassers and loss of your trees. Kinda odd to just randomly cut a fence to cut trees for no reason ??? Back in the day around here, that be a sure sign for future young people party spot. Nowadays I’d have no clue.
The camera thing mad me chuckle and remember. Back in my day when asked for a camera , I carried this lol
View attachment 1699126

Yes that’s dust covering it lol. But I knew exactly where it was

Truly great pics and awesome leather work !!! Where / when will those candles be available for online sales ??? They’d make great Christmas gifts !!

Very cool!

Ya can contact her @threeccandles on Instagram or email her at threecandles@gmail.com (she thought that might be best as she could give ya the low down on the different scents) or call her directly at (661) 491-0574. This is her business line.

you laid down some solid nuggets, Dave- thanks!
you cowboys and your belt buckles! Lol

I got the belt I'm working on ready for dye. Note to self; punch holes before the dye! No big deal, rookie error

a little sloppy looking, which is one reason I like dye haha

Pain trimming that wasn't it. Came out good though.

 

[Lorien]

Very cool!

Ya can contact her @threeccandles on Instagram or email her at threecandles@gmail.com (she thought that might be best as she could give ya the low down on the different scents) or call her directly at (661) 491-0574. This is her business line.

Pain trimming that wasn't it. Came out good though.

trimming was super easy, I used a rotary cutter

 

[Horsewright]

trimming was super easy, I used a rotary cutter

Agreed on the holes. I'll punch those even before oiling. On the trimming (I use a rotary cutter too) I was talking about getting the lining evenly trimmed due to the keeper and then being able to finish the edge. I do like the "outside the box" stitching technique for securing the keeper. Curious as to how the deerskin lining finishes up. Bet its comfy though.

 

[Lorien]

the keeper's skived, glued and sewn together at the ends, attached to the belt with stainless rivets, which I realize is blasphemous. Those extra stitches are there to keep the lining from peeling off and were an afterthought, like- hey wait a minute, that's gonna fall apart, kind of afterthought. I didn't think it through well enough/didn't research the right way to do it. On the upside, I learned never to do it that way again lol! The lining is as soft and as supple as you could ever want, you, (well not 'you') could wear it naked.

The next belt I make will be for me, and it'll be a doozy. Lots of new things to try out- including your expert recommendations!

 

[Lorien]

this sheath is almost done. A little detailing and still have to design the mounting system, but it's just about there now

 

[Horsewright]

this sheath is almost done. A little detailing and still have to design the mounting system, but it's just about there now

Heck for stout and thats for sure!

you cowboys and your belt buckles!

Yeah its a thing!

Here's a tip that might help some on future lining projects. I've found that using a larger size edger on the lining side of a project helps keep the edge from getting caught and wanting to pull away even if its sewn down. Heck I even due it in reverse. Take this overlaid sheath for example:

The throat where the knife goes is sewn before construction obviously and the edge done. On the veg tan side I will use a #2 edger. On the soft water buffalo side I use a #4. This gets that soft leather beveled back further and gives less of a sharp edge to catch and want to pull away. Once the sheath is constructed I do the veg tan side with a #4 and the water buffalo side witha #5 and would probably use a #6 if I had one! This little trick really makes a difference and I will do it on any project (like belts for instance) where ya have a softer leather married up at an edge with a firmer leather.

Nice Dave, looking at all your photos, it reminds me of those long ago days when you had to LOAD a camera with FILM...shoot only what was in the roll, then...TAKE it into town or mail it to a place to PROCESS the film and HOPE that everything looked ok when you got the prints back, prints...lol remember what those are? We just had our third grandson and I told my youngest daughter to start actually printing out the photos and put them into a scrap book.

While we gain so much with progress, we seem to lose a great deal too, that we take for granted. Like writing a letter...by hand...on paper and mailing it via snail mail to a friend. Almost unheard of these days, but it is something we should try to bring back too.

Oops back to the thread at hand.
here's a slip sheath I made for a small folder, I picked up some MILLED leather from Tandy up in Syracuse, never heard of such a thing, but it's fairly flexible and takes an embossing and dye. I like my slip sheaths to be form fitting, so they are not generic, just that OCD in me I suppose.

G2

Yes sir I do remember those days. I did quite a bit of freelance phototogging in college and after. Use to shoot so much that I bought film (Agfa and Fujicolor) in bulk and loaded it in my own 35mm cartridges! Wasn't it great paying for all the shots that didn't come out too! I shot mostly slides, not a lot of prints. Even today I shoot multiples of every shot and Nichole always asks why. Cause I learned the hard way in the good old days.

There is a Western singer, Adrian Brannan that once a year puts out a message for youngsters to become pen pals with her. I've met her a couple of times when she's been in our booth at different shows. Every couple of months she sends out handwritten cards and notes to all the "kiddos" on her list, even when she is on the road. Kind of a cool deal. Ya can look her up at ADRIANBBRANNAN on Instagram. Look for one of her recent posts where she's sitting on a porch with a dog. She gives her contact info in that post if some of your older grand kids might be interested. She's famous in the western world cause she got kicked off of that singing show by Blake Shelton, he wouldn't take her. She turned around and released an album and it went straight to the top and beat his new release out by a bunch. Wasn't even close. That karma thing I guess.

Speaking of youngsters our daughter had her first show yesterday with her candle deal. Grossed bout $700 between sales and new orders taken which is Wow! The show was at a local church down the hill where she lives and was only a few hours from like 9 to 2 or something. Thats some great sales for that situation.

Here she is with her fiancée Dave:

Besides running back and forth up and down the hill Nichole has been busy:

All leather tote with brand and lined in canvas:

Finishing off 14 sheaths myself today. She uses three different sewing machines to sew up one of these. And she's got a Cobra bell skiver and a burnisher on order. Stuck in the supply chain deal.

 

[Ken H>]

Dave, what size thread do you use for sewing sheats? Your sheats look GREAT, but I've only sewn sheaths by hand using a waxed thread or artificial sinew.

 

[Horsewright]

Howdy Ken
I saw your post last night and meant to answer it this morning but it slipped out of my rusty trap of a brain.

I run 207 top and bottom on my Cobra 4 with size 200/25 needles. The only time I'll switch out needles is when Nichole uses it for the top stitch around the top of her totes. Then I go down to a 180. Outside of that for everything, I do I use the 207 thread and the 200/25 needles.

Recently a pretty well know leather maker bought one of my knives and sheaths. He messaged me and said he was in awe of the stitching on the sheath. He asked what sticher I was using. Well turned out he had a Cobra 4 too. Then he asked about needle and thread and he was using much heavier stuff and just wasn't getting the as clean of stitching as he was hoping for. Unless you are building absolute battleship tank like sheaths like Duramax, I don't see any reason to go heavier than 207. I often get old stuff in for repair and or replacement and I can tell ya this stuff is used:

I would say that the 207 thread is lasting the life of the product and I can't see where a heavier thread would add any to the durability.

 

[Ken H>]

Thanks for the info Dave - I was thinking #207 thread was really needed. As mentioned I've got #138 thread sewing using a 120/19 universal needle. I've even used the #207 on bottom, but I don't have a needle large enough for #207. I need a Flat Shank 15X1 HAX1 130/705H needle to fit the machine I've got (cheap Chinese walking foot shoemaker machine https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087F7KMQG). I know a Cowboy or Cobra would be MUCH better machine but since I'll make very few sheaths per year I didn't see enough reason to spend the big bucks.

I've found the 200/25 needle a couple of places but not in the 130/705H to fit my machine. I'm told it needs the flat shank also (HA indication?). I've got some size 21 needles that should fit and be here Tuesday.

Thanks again for your help,

Ken H>