timesofplenty

Here's one of my latest watch straps from 71 year old reclaimed leather:

Super, thank you. I'll do as suggested, hopefully sometime before the weekend.

Thank you. That was the problem when I got it, but I did fifure that out. The set-screw is now properly in place and the bottom roller is always turning, but the workpiece doesn't always feed through.

Howdy, last week I got a Champion 10 splitter. When I got it home, the knurled roller wasn't turning and the old old grease was pretty dried out. I took it 1/2-way apart, cleaned, lubed, reassembled and evewrything was turning as it should. I printed the instruction sheet for the Landis and set-up the blade. Ran a test piece through it and it split, but very very thin. If I raised the top roller, the material wouldn't feed. I adjusted the top roller higher, and (I think) added tension to the springs, and was able to get a few splits ~1.40mm-2.00mm. However, I'm still having a very tough time getting the material to feed through the machine. I'm starting with pieces that are ~3mm thick, and they won't feed through most of the time. Is there not enough tension on the springs? The leather is not soft, and the blade is very sharp. I'd like to be able to set the machine for ~1.60mm and leave it. Any pointers on how to get this going? thank you, Scott

looking for one in good working condition. I have a 1 3/4" landis crank skiver with new blade for trade if it helps. thank you, Scott

I haven't posted in a while so thought I'd share my latest strap:

Thanks Russ! I've found out that what I have is a skiver, not a splitter...any out there for sale?

Hello, I bought a used Landis splitter, can't find the model #, but will get a pic posted tomorrow. The blade appears to be a replacement, but I don't know for sure. I can't get the splitter to work well, can anyone suggest a site for parts and/or service? thank you!

Thank you! all hand-stitched

Here's some of my latest watch straps. I've been using leather from old military equipment: pouches, etc, in addition to new leather:

Thanks! Let's make it $16.75 shipping included. Scott

Thank you, Kate! I tried it with green and brown eco-flo, and it worked great! thanks so much, Scott

I'd like to find out if I can buy dye in "army green" or olive drab, or if someone can tell me how to mix it with Fiebings or Eco-Flo, thanks!

A few years ago I bought 2 entire rolls of ToughTek rubberized, waterproof, anti-slip material at a local auction. This is a very high-quality product, used for backing many items, very versatile. I've heard of people backing motorcycle bags with it so they don't slip, and using it for the bottom of bags, straps, in gloves, etc. I have one complete roll left, it is 5' wide and very long, I don't know exactly how long. This is expensive to buy "new", but I have all I'll ever use with the first roll, so I'd like to offer some of it here and maybe reclaim a shelf in the garage. Below are pictures of the front and back, it is 1mm thick. Not sure what to ask, so I'll start at $25/yd, shipping included. You can email me at scott at upforbids.com or PM, thank you, Scott

Made this one this AM, whadya think? getting better at stitching, so I tried it on this one:

Howdy, I'm very new to leatherworking, so I hope you'll excuse my lack of knowledge regarding specialized vocabulary. I've been practicing making watch straps over the last 2 weeks, and I'm really enjoying it. I've found that hand-skiving the overlap with a Tandy safety-beveler is time consuming and produces inconsistent results. Looking for consistency and efficiency, I bought a pre-owned Osborne 86 splitter which arrived yesterday. I set it up on a sturdy bench, but I haven't been able to operate it as quickly and smoothly as I had hoped. It may be that the blade is not sharp enough, but even so it seems to require an awful lot of force to pull the workpiece through. I've tried varying depths, and starting it through with the lever raised a bit to reduce strain, but I've not experienced suitable results I'm sure there is operator error/inexperience involved here, but I'm not sure this tool will do what I'd like it to. I need something that will quickly produce a lap in 2oz-4oz, ideally with an angle, sort of like a ramp. I like the idea of a crank, and it seems that would produce a fairly repeatable result, more likely than that of the (more) technique-dependent manual type. My question is: will any of the hand-crank splitters produce a low angle, ~30mm-40mm long? If not, can I run the piece through to a point, then back it out, and cut off 1/2 of the split to create a lap? I'd sure like to resolve this issue, as it seems to be the main thing holding me up (for now lol!). Thank you! Scott

Thank you! SA

Getting started and would like to find a good used small bench-top splitter/skiver. 6"-8" capacity would work for me. thank you, scott@upforbids.com

Thanks, Chris! I've never worked with leather before last week, so bear with me: I'm not up on terminology, sizes/weights, etc. I think the alligator grain is ~2oz? The strap is 24mm at the lug end and tapers to 22mm at the buckle, so it isn't as small as one might think. I don't have anything to compare to, so can't say that it was more or less difficult than anything else! Thanks, Luke! The buckle came from an online watchband store....dunno if I can state the name...PM? SA

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I started making watch straps last week, here are pics of #7. I need to finish the holes a bit today: