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BobtheSkunk

Explain The Advantage Of A Cut Groove Over A Crease For Subflush Stitches

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Noob question. The last time I fabricated anything from leather was in the '70's and that project was uninhibited by knowing anything about the right tools or methods. I still have that holster.

I've been watching videos and reading several threads here. I'm about to sew a new holster and I want it to look and "be" right. But I'm not going to buy a pile of tools, I'll probably either adapt something I have or make what I can without much drama.

So, to get to the point, I have to wonder if I can't crease a groove deep enough to protect the stitches, instead of cutting a groove with one of the commercial tools. Does this method come with traps?

I also have to wonder why I couldn't cut the groove with a razor sharp miniature veiner for carving wood, or a sharpened adjustable divider.

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If hand sewing, I groove the top and bottom. When machine sewing, I only groove the top. In the John Bianchi videos, he creases the leather with a divider.

I think grooving would allow you to have the stitching deeper into the leather, providing better protection of the thread.

Jeff C.

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If you could control the veiner's depth sufficiently, go for it. "Sharpened dividers" would just scratch a line. Useful for some things, but not for grooving. Tools called compass racers exist where one leg of a pair of dividers is forged and ground into a small U-shaped cutter. I think there is a different name in Americanese for this tool.

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Personally i don't think theirs any need of cutting a groove to stitch in. Now if your going to be rubbing up against something 8 hours a day then that's different. On the other hand if it's getting that much abuse the leathers not going to last anyway. 99.99 % of people are never going to wear through the stitches. It's like i used to have people come into my shop and tell they had ( any brand of boots you want to name ) and say i have had these boots for 20 plus years and look how good the sole has wore. I would tell them their not going to wear setting in a closet. It's the same with a holster or anything else.

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I make harness and a groove is need to keep the thread from wearing thru. My Landis # 1 has a channler blade that mounts in the needle plate to groove the bottom, the presser foot with the over stitch points and the high thread tension set the top thread below the surface of the leather. Tugs sewn this way last decades, if the leather is cared for the threads never wear.

Edited by pcox

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I've been experimenting on a piece of scrap the last couple of days to find out whether I could form a deep and persistent crease without much drama. I used a stubby screwdriver and a punch with a flat end. For now, I'm going to proceed with a crease made with a layout gage to set the edge distance.

I also stamped a few decorations with various tools from my box and started thinking through how I can make stamps by carving and embossing the ends of the tools, or by using pieces from cheap Chicom needle files. I have a book that I bought around 1970 with various articles about gun work, and one of those articles is about making a revolver holster decorated with home shop fabricated stamps.

My intention is to keep this simple by avoiding carving. I need a few holsters and I have a full time job besides all the other interesting distractions interrupted by work.

Thanks for the comments. I'll probably make the first pattern this weekend.

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