DavidL

Im looking at the different types of glues other than contact cement and wondering what glue do european leatherworkers working in Louis vuitton, and the luxury brands use (water based contact cement?) - . The other thing I see is heat activated contact cement in the shoe industry. The shoe is coated with some sort of heat activated cement and heat flashed in a special machine. Any one has any clue if heat activated cement is stronger or just for convenience?

A common way of sharpening is to use 2 stones and a strop for compound. One medium stone (1000 grit Japanese waterstone - around 400-600 American standard) for setting the bevel and sharpening a dull blade, one fine stone (6000 - 8000 Japanese water stone - 1200+ American standard) to refine the edge. cut till you dull the blade, strop and repeat a few times until you need to touch it up again on the fine stone (stropping eventually rounds the edge over). One stone is usually okay. Some people use up to 3-4 stones and multiple diamond paste to finish - overkill for a working knife.

You have to wear a mask because theres toxic chemicals in the cement right?? After it sets you shouldn't have trouble? How about any water based non toxic, natural glue or toxic free contact cements?

Elfita tools has one for 350 USD and shipping is something like 50 dollars if they ship it by boat. They offered me the machine at a special price of 300 USD at one point.. Shop press and heavy duty plastic boards or even a forged hammer die can work. Hope that helps

good info into the world of knifes. like you said most important is for the knife to be heat treated correctly. I did a bit of research and some personal experience the type of grind how thick the edge and above the cutting edge is and many other factors come into play to get a good knife. From what I read the consensus is the thinner the edge the better cutting performance. Also from what carter cutlery says (17th generation japanese blade smith) among the japanese blade smith community white steel #1 is the best cutting steel making the sharpest possible blade. Could be other steels that are similar, the white steel is proven good quality. to me a chisel grind or hollow grind carbon steel would work well in theory. HSS steel and stainless I dont know for sure if it can get as sharp as good carbon steel or if its practical because of long sharpening times. Cutting upholstery leather/chrome the knife needs to be razor sharp or it will pull.

I purchased a knife thats stainless, curved like a clicker knife and convex blade geometry. Found out later that its not quite suited for cutting with a ruler (edge isn't flat but convex) and was hard to sharpen a curved convex vs a v grind or chisel grind (needs special round sharpening stones). I read some of the japanese white steels become beyond sharper than other steels and sharpen up quick. My next knife will be a kiridashi - one flat edge to ride against ruler, white steel and inexpensive. Similar to what european leather factories sometimes use, a shoe makers knife. Just a thought..

the steel of the tandy blade is very low quality. Id imagine a blade thats made with tool steel (HSS) or stainless to hold the longest edge possible. I can't tell for sure but my vergez awls I'm using may be HSS steel or at very least high carbon steel, holds an edge for months before I need to remove a burr. You do need to sharpen for a few minutes on new awls to get a fine point and polish on the tip.

you only start becoming an "expert" really once you feel comfortable making anything from scratch whether its a belt, bag or wallet (from repetition and knowledge). I would suggest if you could for the first week set aside 4 hours a day to work on a different task each day, those first few hours and days are where you learn the most. Spending the cash to apprentice under a shoemaker or leather craftsman is a faster way to learn. I would try not using a pattern but actually draw something from scratch like a belt and make it as well as you can, this way you have the knowledge that you can create anything from your imagination. Doesnt look good? make another one and repeat until you have something that you would call good for a beginner. If you have a basement or a garage you can work out a table and storage for leather under it you can have a space within 40 square feet mine is a small round table and a tree stump right in my furnace room. For the pricing you could sell something for as low as 15 dollars like a key fob or 300 dollars for a wallet to 5 thousand a bag. It all depends on the quality of good you are selling and the marketing (another artform in itself) you establish.

The thing about the sending items through customs is that there aren't very tight rules. sometimes items I get from USPS are taxed + duty added and others aren't, even though they are the same price. In my experience I have bought a few things with UPS and the first 2 times I was taxed a lot for brokerage I figured it was just to do with the items I bought but I have been charged at the door byUPS 100 dollars at least twice. First time I had no idea that majority of the price was a brokerage fee (fee for them to do the paperwork). Second time the driver suggested I go to do the paperwork myself which took only a few minutes minus the trip downtown and it would knock off 80+ dollars for them to do the paperwork. However this was shipped with UPS ground which I now know to avoid cause they overcharge for brokerage. My understanding is USPS ground hand it off to Canada post, UPS doesnt do that and the shipment comes from UPS vans. I believe the flat rate for brokerage by Canada post is 5 dollars for items over 60 dollars, plus the duties and taxes if it applies. Very rarely do I get any fees even on items over 100 dollars from USPS. UPS air shipping is a bit different as they bypass the border and avoid the brokerage fee (call to get rates first as it could change) Just wanted to put this out there for canadians buying from USA or Americans shipping to Canada. Its better to go with USPS rather than UPS unless you can get UPS let you prepay. Monica - Did your husband ship UPS by airmail or does he have a business account with UPS? I have a feeling that only insured or the more expensive shipping option UPS items you can prepay as the items I received never was prepaid. The one time I got a shipment from UPS that wasn't charged taxes, duties or any fees was by Springfield leathers and it was around 200 dollars.

This would be done in my opinion before glueing. First Thing would be to go from the inside to the outside (only one needle) on the first stitch and leave a piece of thread on the inside thats 3 or 4 cm. From there make as many loops as you need and tighten them as you go. The last pass should go from outside into the inside and you can either tie a knot with the 3-4 cm thread that you started off with and finally thin down the end of the thread the same way you would to get thread to fit into a small needle (so that it doesnt bulge and adheres better.) With contact cement the leather shouldn't separate and the thread if trapped in-between two pieces of leather should stay there permanently. Now that I think about it you could use double needle regular saddle stitch and when you want to close it up take the loop that you get on the backside wrap it around the needle 2 or 3 times so that it forms a knot and it will end up in the middle. Those are the two things I would try and figure out from there. Not sure if thats clear enough to understand.

I have a flat bone folder and another thats curved like a spoon, although not an extreme curve. The curved folder I use to sometimes to slick areas down like stitching or to compress the leather for glueing instead of using my hands although the "proper tool" is one of those smooth and wide pliers or a glass slicker. For glueing I seen one (plastic?) that has a flat angle edge with the same shape as a french paring knife - Search JNK leathers on youtube for an example.

Mines nearly identical the holes are smaller on mine as its a Number 9. There are 9 Slits though in my 9 iron (9 teeth per inch) which makes it 8SPI. The stitches are angled so it becomes very close to 9 SPI, I guess because there are gaps in-between the stitching shortening the stitch length. The end results is 9SPI Im still not sure if they are TPI or SPI Officially, I'll send an email and see what they say.

Im looking for any guesses. If you know for sure that works too http://contents.louisvuitton.com/is/image/lv/1/PP_VP_L/louis-vuitton-speedy-30-monogram-canvas-handbags--M41526_PM1_Interior%20view_Louis%20Vuitton_handbag_Speedy%20Monogram.jpg How would I stitch that sort of handle (the triangle part)? Would it be possible to do it with a single thread from or two threads? 3:13

unicorn leather - do you have a tutorial available online?

I believe vergez measures using Teeth per inch the same way saw's are measured. Unless they recently changed it to Stitches per inch, or they could be defects like you said.

When I measure the Blanchard number 9 It gives me 9 Teeth per inch and 8 stitches, my number 7 dixon gives me 7 stitches. Anyone else get the same thing?

Grade 1 K-Craft matt finish is priced @ AUD$116.45/m2. Skins average around 0.6m2 in size. 1m2 = 10.8 sq feet. cost of the export paper work is under 50 dollars. One paperwork form is needed per shipment and the fee is a flat rate regardless of the amount of hides.

One thing I will add be careful what steel you buy as the type of sharpening stones needs to be able to sharpen that steel correctly. The 154cm steel (stainless steel) that knipshield uses is harder to sharpen and takes longer to sharpen than carbon steel. HSS steel like the one found in Fineleatherworking will need a ceramic or diamond stone to sharpen and takes considerably longer to sharpen as the steel is harder (longer than Stainless and carbon. Carbon steel or white steel tempered at rc 60 or above will sharpen faster and save time although the stainless and HSS will stay sharper longer in general. You may want to add a japanese utility knife made with white steel, it is very similar to the english paring knife but the steel is made by a master blade maker. The japanese blade is flat and not angled like the other knives so the skiving is slightly different. If you want some personal advice j meyers in Singapore has a shop in Chinatown, he makes watch bands with exotics. I didn't have a chance to meet up with him though as he was away from his shop when I was there. Atelier lodge also in singapore has a shop that I did get a chance to visit. He's friendly and willing to share. He also hold classes.

perfection starts to become not necessary once theres no "noticeable" difference in perceived quality, in this case machine stitch because of the extreme time it takes to make a bag. It is acceptable that its machine stitch as most luxury bags are. there are more pros to use machines than cons and the fact that they keep it secretive helps. Once they change too much and people start to notice than it hurts the handmade bag value. A majority of the quality and value is from the heritage and most likely the amount of celebrities, tv references, customer service, sending the bags to get the conditioned every few month, having the store in the high end tourist area in the best corner. The product is regarded as art by the people buying and they are reaching for emotional/status needs rather than focusing on price. Buying a bag for 100k for its features is unlikely as there are bags for 200 dollars that do the same thing. Buying a bag and regarding it as an art piece that holds social value is more likely.

You can try baker in england or sedgwick leather also in england. Needs to be split to 3.5 ounce. I think some leathers they make specifically for bridle work and another for shoemakers. Im not completely certain so it wouldn't hurt to ask if theres a difference.

All speculation. First way - I think the picture you drawn is the way nigel does it. Second way - To do it with all the sides first and then with one single piece of thread for the bottom you could probably use needles and put them in between the holes to hold the leather in place and take them out as you go along. This way is harder I would imagine if you didn't have a special jig just for the bottom piece to hold in place (needs to be made to size and something to attach it to the jig like string or rubber bands). A jig like this would help for the bottom in the second way. (The distance should be enough so an awl can fit but not too far that the leather can slouch. box jig.pdf

How much are you charging? Id sell the items to him, he probably can't make a profit/hurt your business or he just doesn't like logos on his goods. At any time you can stop selling to him because if he buys 4 or 5 its more suspicious. Overtime if he gets a lot of sales you can still make a profit being his supplier of finished goods and he would tool the belt. I believe it is common for this type of relationship although the other person would not be secretive usually.

I was referring to the mark that it makes on the leather. The portmanteau stitch would look like ///// where the mark of the iron would look like this \\\\ and the opposite is true with the regular iron. Hope that helps.

If you use portmanteau on the front side then your hole would look like this \ with reg iron like this /. If you use the same iron on face side of both pieces of leather (stitching 2 together) then you would have an X, even then a regular awl can be used and the stitches in this case look a bit more like it was machine stitched (consistency) creating a slightly less pronounced slant - this way is non traditional but it works if you need to stitch through a solid amount of leather and don't own a portmanteau and a regular iron of the same size. Whether or not is possible to stitch through 1 to 2 cm of leather without an inverse iron is hard to say as I never stitched anything that thick. Only reference I have is of a hermes Birkin bag's top line of stitching that I "think" is hand stitched and is unknown if they use an inverse and a regular iron. The thread on top is .8mm at 7spi middle stitch is .6mm at 7spi using the iron on both sides, just to show that there are different ways of doing the same thing.

i dont understand naz. Why cant you use the same awl on a portmanteau, there isn't a such thing as an inverse awl as it would look exactly the same as a reg. awl (unless I'm misunderstanding). Your stitches also completely depend on the leather you are using, low quality leather in my experience create a different stitch than kangaroo veg for instance.