builderofstuff

I've been needing a new case for my cell phone and I finally got around to making one. I didn't pattern this case, though now I kind of wish I had. hahaha At least now I can go back to carrying the phone on my belt instead of in my pocket. After looking over some of the other projects folks have posted in the last couple of days I was a bit apprehensive about posting this, but as a beginner feedback only helps me get better. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

That is very cool. I've been trying to read up on how to make shoes and sandals and it was really cool to see someone use those skills. I'd also like a copy of that pdf file if you get one put together. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Very cool. I really dig leather armor. I spent 2 years stationed in England and loved visiting the different castles and museums and looking at the armor they used to wear. One of these days I would love to try making a set of leather armor, just to see if I could. Chris

absolutely beautiful Chris

Incredible work. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Yep, North Central. I'm about 2 1/2 hours from St. Louis. I almost ordered up enough material to make up 7 of them yesterday, but I didn't for fear that no one would want to buy one and then I'd be stuck with them. I mean there's only so many lace making tools a guy needs. hahaha Chris

Yeah I'm one of those people that just can't leave well enough alone. hahaha I've already gone back and added this feature into my lace making tool design, the next version I make will be able to do it all, cut the lace, thin the lace, and bevel the lace. Chris

So I've been really happy with the performance of my lace thinning and beveling tool and that got me to wondering if I could do something similar to cut the lace in the first place instead of using my Tandy lace cutter. Now, I'm pretty happy with the Tandy lace cutter, but the size range is a bit limited. So I whipped up a quick prototype using some clear acrylic and another one of the 608 rollerblade bearings. This one is in a fixed position, but I'm thinking about integrating this into my other lace making tool design so that it's adjustable for cutting different widths of lace. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

what the blade? Chris

Glad you found it helpful. I also tried breaking them with pliers, just doesn't work very well. Chris

No problem Chris

I hope it helps folks out. If you're like me and you don't have a tandy store nearby, or can't find them at a local store, it can be a real savings to make them yourself. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

The bearing has 1" of travel, so you can use it to cut strips to different widths as well as thinning them. However, since all of it I make I use for either braiding or lacing I haven't tried thinning down anything wider than lace. Theoretically you should be able to stack several bearings on top of each other to make the rolling surface wider, what I haven't tried is to see how flexible the blade will be sticking out farther. I guess that needs to be an experiment in the near future.

Here are some pictures to show how it's used. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

A lot of the tools seem to use the injector style blades, things such as the lace maker, strap cutter, etc etc. And I'm sure you all know that they can get pricey if you go through a number of them. What I've been doing is making my own blades for those tools from cheap single edge razor blades. I think they are something like a few bucks for 200 them from harbor freight. Anyway since I've made reference to this in several other posts I thought I'd make a post here showing how I make them. I take two pieces of aluminum and sandwich the razor blade between them, I clamp that in my bench vise, then take another piece of aluminum and put it up against the blade that's sticking out, then give it a quick whack with the hammer and they snap off nice and clean. Viola! a cheap alternative to the injector blades for your tools. So far they seem to work fine in every application I've tried them in. Chris www.builderofstuff.com more pics

Here are some pictures I took of how I make injector blade sized blades from cheap single edge razor blades. Chris www.builderofstuff..com few more pics Chris

I'm new to the group but wanted to reply. I've got one of the Tandy lace cutters and I've cut a lot of lace with it. The trick seems to be a fresh blade, which if you're cheap like me is an issue. So what I started doing instead of buying the injector type blades was I got a package of single edge razor blades cheap from harbor freight and what I do is take a blade, clamp it between two pieces of aluminum, then take a third piece and put it against the blade, whack with a hammer and you have a blade that is the same width as the injector blades, but a lot cheaper. What seems to work best for me is to place the blade between the two pieces of aluminum (1/4" thick I believe) then I clamp that in my bench vise. The third piece of aluminum is the same width as the blade is long. So you clamp as much of the blade between the metal as you want the width to be when you snap it off. works great for me, nice clean break, and very inexpensive. Sure you have to put in some effort to do it, but it takes no time at all to make up a batch of 10 of them and put them in a container for later use. Just make up several at a time. If my description is confusing let me know and I'll try and post some pictures of what I'm talking about. Chris www.builderofstuff..com

Thank you for the compliments, as a newb I really appreciate it because it keeps me motivated to keep trying to improve. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Yours was the inspiration. A friend sent me a link to a picture of yours and that's what started it. I'd been looking for a way to turn the lace I cut from scraps into usable lace, but I really don't have a lot of money to put into my leather hobby at this point. I'm self-employed at this point and don't always have a lot of extra cash for my hobby. So the one that I made was a means to an end, and was made from items and materials I had laying around in my junk pile. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Thank you very much for the compliments. I really appreciate it. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Thanks. I posted a couple in the show off section. I thought it would be better to post them there. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Nah, you're not stupid, I could see where it would be confusing not seeing it work. Basically to thin the lace you loosen the bolt through the bearing, the bearing slides towards or away from the blade, and the lace is run over the bearing and under the blade. I'll try and get some pictures. Chris www.builderofstuff.com I had thought about making up a few to sell. Would give me more leatherworking hobby money. hahaha I'll look and see about getting some barstock into make up some. I've already got the machine code written since I used my cnc to make this one. The process would have been a lot quicker if one I hadn't been working out the design while making it, and two if I had started with a piece of barstock rather than starting with a cutoff from a casting project. But for a prototype it works well. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

Since I make all of my projects from scrap leather one of the things I do with a lot of it is cut it into lace for braiding and lacing, etc. Since I make my own lace from scraps it's more often than not to thick to really be used for braiding. So I made this simple lace thinning and beveling tool today. Made from some scrap aluminum left over from a casting project, a 608 rollerblade bearing, a 5/16-18 bolt, and some 4-40 screws. The bearing end has a 20 degree angle on it and the blade is held clamped between the end piece and the main body, the other end has a 30 degree angle from top to bottom for beveling. I get tired of the cost of injector blades so I make my blades from inexpensive single edge razor blades. I clamp them between two pieces of metal and use a third, the length of the razor blade, to snap them off, making a blade the same size as the injector blades. Only takes a second to do and saves me a bunch on blades. I also use these in my tandy lace cutter. When I make lace I start with a tandy lace cutter then use this to thin and bevel the lace. Chris www.builderofstuff.com example of lace I made with this tool Chris www.builderofstuff.com

This is my first attempt at making a simple holster for one of my .22 pistols. Again, another project made from leather scraps. Chris www.builderofstuff.com

I'm new to the group as well as leatherworking. I've only been doing it for a matter of months. My most recent project was a simple little purse design for my 8 year old Niece. Made from scraps given to me by a friend of mine. The strap is a six strand flat braid and I cut the lace from the same leather that I made the purse from. It was the only way I could come up with a strap since all of my pieces of leather were pretty small. The purse was also hand stitched. Chris www.builderofstuff.com