Suicide

Thanks alot!

Thanks, guys! Definitely make sense.I'll give everythng a try.

Hi, Just met the haft named "bros type" (???) which is looking pretty strange to me. I mean the part which is going to be in the palm. Please see picture attached. Does anybody know what that kind of handle is usually using for? Or is it just a regular shape to be hold by hand?

Thanks for reply, Luke. Rotary cutter (or roller knife) is quite useless in my case because of size of remnants, that way I could cut the only 20-25cm laces Do you mean there is no way to turn such remnants into descent length laces rather than take a scissors and spend another 4 hours trying to shred all stuff down?

Hi folks, Last day I ran into nasty issue with Tandy's lace maker tool http://www.tandyleat...?countryid=1004 So far I cut mainly deerskins of quite firm cowhide and this tool run through such a leather like a piece of cake. But yesterday I got 2 types of remnants to cut : very soft and stretcheable , less than 1 mm thick calf and the same pig skins offcuts. OMFG, I was I spent about 4 hours processing about 25 pieces of 25x15 mm and HALF of them end up with the trash can and no lace off.... What actually happened is that a) it was very hard to init the cut from the round hole. Leather just stretched nuch if I tried to go by edge and no cut started. b ) then cut finally started and I was able to grab the lace off the tool and started to pull it out, the piece either got jamed right on its the first rotation or lace end just cut off and I had to start over to init the cut. DOH! Do you guys know any tips and hints on using that tool on such soft, stretcheable and quite thin leather? Or did I just get the wrong type of remnants for my exercises? Thanks in advance!

Thumb up! Great idea for quick Christmas gift to make! Thanks for sharing!

Great "socks"! What the leather have you used for them? Looks like a deerskin or calf about 2 oz.

Hi Phil, What did you mean saying "don't match"? If you mean what circumference (perimeter) of sole and top are not the same, then it is ok for that sort of pattern. Sole should be a bit bigger by design as it is going to go a bit off the floor line and up . When I assembled mocs using first pattern show on your pictures, I met no any issues. Boots came out in appearance exactly as they pictured on the cover. Or did you mean something else?

Yes, thanks alot! It is what exactly I was looking for.

Just my $0.02: it is ABSOLUTELY NOT NECESSARY to make a circle to start with Tandy's lace maker. That tool can follow ANY of edge you use against. Thus you can cut laces from any shape of ... even pulling it along the skin's edge (for instance like you usually suppose to do with another lace tools - Aussie for ex). Yep, it is better to cut laces using circle as starting shape (because of stretching leather's ability), but not essential. The only thing this tool doesn't like is any kinf of angles and sharp turns of the edge, but anyway, if you pass such point slowly and gracefully , you'll get a jackpot.

Hi guys, The easiest and _almost_ 100% working method is to draw your originall pattern in the any of graphics editor (I used either Photoshop or Illustrator - both working just fine for it) and then scale it to required size. The rough way I was proposed by someone who has experience in garment sewing was just cut sole along its "middle lines" (vertical and horisontal) - you'll get 4 pieces, then move them apart and away from the point where these lines originally crossed. You'll get sole shape scaled pretty ok this way. But problems come with the tops: you need do the same with the them. And this is something tricky as you need constantly tracking where which part is going and how far. That gal was doing such tricks for jacket/trousers pattern almost automatically, but can't suggest anything for boots/mocs. So I went on hi-tech side And in any way after scaling I would suggest to make the test boot from any of old jeans or any other fabrics which won't stretch much and try it on or at least see if everything aligned as it should. I also was told what scaling pattern down is more prefferable than scaling it up (eg you'll most likely get something awkward by scaling kid's boot patterm into adult size). Hope it helps

Well-processed soft and pliable sheepskin can be stretched pretty well. I tried 2 types of sheep lining : a ) cut exactly the same as bison/deer pattern, glued it on top of each part and finally sewed all together in a quite "normal way". Got pretty ok results. b )cut it reduced by upper sew allowances and in a bit another way to reduce amount of stitches for actually have the only 2 seams - at the heel and on top of the foot (pretty much as turn over moccasins). sewed outer and inner separately, then put sheep into outer. Results : LOOKED pretty nicely, but completely unusalbe as sheep had trend to slip inside the mocx, tried to turn around the foot etc. I had to disassemble these and glue in the sheepskin, this way got over it, but I doubt I would ever go this way once again. So my opinion: the first way brings less problems even if you won't glue sheepskin (although I would recommend it to reduce load onto sheepskin while walking).

Thanks! Make a lot of sence.

Thanks, guys! Yes, I will. It is my main weak currenly. I just ALWAYS very afraid of these final decorative cuts to made as there is seem no much room for mistakes what can ruin the whole the previous work down.

Nice job! Funny, but first time look at these shots I thought that belt is bond around the edges

Thats correct. You are talking about the jaws ends, right? But I asked about the cube shaped block right in between of them at the bottom (please see the original pic from the very first post in this thread). The screw which is approx half way between in 80% of cases prevents leather to touch this block. But as I see on that shot, there is square piece of leather covered top of that block.

Great job! Just going to make the same for myself Question: Why did you put also leather cover onto bottom woodblock (in between of "jaws") ?