Neillo

Will give it a try, thanks!

This works out to about $8 for 800M, but it's about as close to Fil Au quality I've seen and much cheaper. Only thing about it is that when threading the needle, the size 36 is a little hard to pierce sometimes even with a #4 needle; apart from that it's fantastic!

Hey David, At the moment i'm using Coats Terko Satin, it has a Polyester filament core with a Cotton outer. The thread has little stretch and sews really nicely, it also frays very slightly just like the Fil Au: I use the size 36 metric (2 cord) thread with a John James #4 needle and pure beeswax for sewing 8-12spi, that's probably about as close to .6mm and it's about halfway between V69 and V92 For lower SPI down to about 6-7, the size 20 thread will look much better; any lower and you'd be looking at size 12 I'd highly recommend it for hand sewing, though it is technically a machine thread! Best part of all, it's about $25 for 2500 Metres. Here's a link to the coats product page: http://www.coatsindustrial.com/en/products-applications/industrial-threads/terko-satin

What do you do with loose change when you buy something? I've always wondered about minimalist wallets and this issue, could you enlighten me?

Very nice work David! I love the concho, how the thread contrasts with the leather on the outside and the general simplicity and crispness of your tooling! One question: is the leather on the inside veg tan and how did you treat the edges where they meet? Keep up the good work!

They look really good actually, thanks for the link. Might check out the local leather place to see if they have those punches, 3/32 is a good size and replaceable tubes are great!

I did look into that, but gluing up to match the holes and the have to re-punch them would be a nightmare! Fibre tape might do the trick if i can't find low-stretch leather, thanks for the idea! I could make a template to mark the holes individually and punch every single one by hand, but i could never get it as accurate and consistent as the pic, some kind of multi punch would probably do in a pinch I guess but i'm not sure where to find such a thing

Hey everyone, I've been making some watch straps lately and they've been turning out nice, but I want to try my hand at making a "driving" style, perforated strap for sport use and for the hotter Australian weather (110-115 degrees!) Here's a pic of what I mean: I've thought about making the strap and then going at it with a tandy 9 in 1 punch, but i'm unsure of the punch spacing and how it'd work out; anybody have any ideas on how i could ventilate my straps like the one above? Also, on a somewhat related note; i've recently acquired a nice kangaroo skin and would like to make a few straps and other goods with it; but testing shows that the leather creases like crazy even with thinner threads and stitches up to 12SPI! I figure it's because the leather is very thin and has huge amounts of stretch but i could be wrong! Is there any material i can sandwich in between 2 layers of the kangaroo to reduce a lot of stretch? I was toying with the idea of using poly webbing but would much prefer a type of leather that has almost no stretch, any ideas? Thanks in advance guys!

The material that the armor scales are attached to looks to be leather and the scales might be buffalo hide, which is used in SCA armor pretty often in my area. If the piece isn't going to be used in any kind of combat, you could get away with using about 6oz easily and safely.

Rough and ready! The quick release clamp is a great idea, cam clamps are good too but this i like better. I really need to steam bend myself up a traditional clamp someday, now that'd be a fun project!

The block planes are a great idea if you can keep them nice and sharp, very inventive of you guys! I normally use a 19mm Pfeil Violin knife, it was lying around my workshop not being used and i'm glad i picked it up instead of buying an english paring knife. Saved me a lot of money and it slices even fuzzy grain leather very nicely! Here's a pic:

5:50 - SIA abrasives aluminium oxide sandpaper, It's only available up to 600 grit so he's probably using 400-600 grade for final finishing. 6:16 - Looks like a flat weave microfibre cloth like the ones you use to clean lenses, theyr'e smoother than the regular type of micro cloths you can get by far. 6:27 - Paraffin wax. Probably using it for final finishing because it has a melting point as low as about 40C and could be easily hand buffed (whereas beeswax melts at about 62-64C and is difficult to hand buff)

The carving and detail on the back is beautiful! Only thing is that the stitching and edging really lets it down, getting the tension of each stitch even and the angle of the holes even makes all the difference (which is why i use a stitching fork tool now.) sometimes leaving a project unedged or opting for lacing instead can make all the difference, but lacing needs the same attention to tension and spacing, looking at how the lace or thread "bites" into the leather and causes fine wrinkling is the key to good stitches if your holes are good (at least in the finer weight leathers.) Good luck with whatever you choose to do! -N

I think I understand now: the keeper closest to the buckle is skived at the ends and stitched in between the layers in the strap, which would be very annoying to stitch by machine! Looks like the stitched keeper acts as a stop to keep the other one from sliding off and bursting into flames, Nifty bit of design there! Will have to check out those books for sure, pretty sure I've seen the handbook around somewhere! Will have to tackle a band someday when I have the skills to pull off artisan grade stuff like yours (what a suckup, boooo!) In all seriousness, watching the hermes guys make them made me want to make a strap when i didn't even have a watch! Thanks for the advice cjmt!

Very nice work cjmt, love the european style bands! Couple of questions, if you have the time: 1.How do you attach the keepers to the strap? it seems like a finicky yet important detail and i'd love to know your take on it 2. Are there any books you could recommend for learning european style leatherwork? only one i've seen is all in german! Thanks mate, and again, top work on those bands!

Classy work hunio, nice design and quality leather. love the pull tabs for opening the pockets, a nice design touch!

Great carving detail Tanya, love the wolf on the inside too; it adds a lot of class to the final product! I can't imagine how hard it would have been to get a good blend between the head and the basketweave, very nice skills there indeed.

Also, just found the pics of the matching wallet I made; Same hide, same thread but whip laced with 3mm / 1/8" kangaroo lace, my own design. Been selling a few of these in the past months, people seem to really like not having to fold their notes and the wallet thickness is about 7mm thick unloaded, so it makes a fantastic dress wallet for your jacket breast pocket! Front Back

No AC/DC unfortunately, I meant that I hadn't produced any big projects in a fair while! No Better pics of the strap itself JayJay, but here's a pic of the hardware I used for it. Webbing was only 2 bucks or so a metre from memory, might make more of these straps down the line as they're very comfy at 50mm wide! Maybe a guitar strap is in order?

Hey guys n gals, I haven't posted in a fair while, was only doing sundries, belts and wallets there for a while for friends and family. That said, I've got back into the more serious work with a messenger bag comission, picked up a nice brown chrome tan hide for a good price and got to it! Bag is based on my personal one, but with some improvements across the board 1. Fully overcast and harness stitched with polyurethane braided thread 2. Solid brass hardware all round 3. 50mm red seat belt webbing strap (leather was a little too thin for a strap) 4. Leather caps to terminate webbing, captive snap buckles 5. 1 Piece accordion style pockets, much roomier than original design! 6. Added veg tan stiffener in the bottom for shape holding ~6oz 7. Slightly bigger to accommodate A4 binders. Client was unsure about the red strap option, but was ecstatic with the final product! Hope you enjoy it! Parts ready to assemble Pocket detail Brass hardware Front detail Luxurious Royal Red strap! Final product! Thanks for reading!

I know a guy that uses a very small hole punch on corners to get a better turn, seems to work well. 1/16 should do it if you can find it

Hey lace, First of all, congrats on scoring a bass player! Do you intend on using the croc/gator back as the strap, or inlaying/stitching it onto thicker leather? As for lining, I'd recommend some nice thick shearling, I don't know what kind of bass your partner plays, but mine's just a 4 string and still weighs in at about 4.5 kilos, So well padded, wide straps are great; 4-5 inches wide is a dream to wear! Another important design point is the strap button holes, due to the weight of a bass, they will stretch and sag, so make them small as they can be and maybe reinforce them if you're using thinner leather. You could go all out and get some strap locks and fit them to the strap and bass if it doesn't already have them, you can get them at most guitar shops and all you need is a screwdriver to install them!

I've used rotary cutters with some good results here's a good one with a carbide blade: http://www.olfa.com/RotaryCuttersDetail.aspx?C=20&Id=71 only issue is you have to buy new blades every now and then with these, better suited to lighter craft work unless you could find one with a sharpenable HSS blade. would cut cased leather pretty easy i think.. I have one of these at home, used to be a school guillotine, but i just tried it on some 6oz and can confirm that it cuts it pretty clean even after 15.-2 decades of school use, only compresses the leather a little bit too! Mine's a jielisi, which is an excellent japanese brand, only thing is that i'm not sure how much these type of guillotines retail for; you would probably want a beefy one for leather with a very strong hinge like Konnie's or mine and a round knife might end up being better anyway. a quality round knife would cover cuts with curves or long straight cuts that are too big for a guillotine; but you'll probably want to get a pretty good one and learn how to keep it sharp, never used one myself but have been meaning to!

Most of what clogs a strop is just the steel you polish away, shouldn't do any harm to just reapply compound over it, unless the leather is starting to tear up. Ideally you'd have 2 strops anyway for real sharp tools: 1 with a mostly aluminium oxide compound like flexcut or pfeil for fast cutting and one with chromium oxide for final polishing. I end up replacing my alox one much more often. Also, it's pretty cheap to just buy compound powders and mix them with camellia or baby oil, you can get 'em at jewellery tooling supply stores.

yeah, I've had issues with that too, you tried wiping down the leather with acetone first? Some people use airbrushes even after wiping the glaze off, but a foam brush does well too.