Reegesc

A few days ago I was admiring (lusting over) Nigel Armstrong’s vintage dividers he uses in his sewing videos and I resolved to upgrade my crappy pair, but not for vintage or Osborne prices — $20 bucks was my budget. Right off I found the pair on the left (Shinwa 6” Dividers - $15) — high quality, Japanese Company, low cost. Perfect! EXCEPT where’s the adjusting/setting assembly? How do you keep them stable? Long research story short, the deciding factor was “It’s-Just-$15-Bucks-Ya-Idiot!” Glad I did. Adjusting/setting is not a problem with these guys — they do not move AT ALL after you spread them. I’m also glad I opted for the smaller 6” model — fits and feels just right in the hand. I scribed a few practice lines and circles — very stable. Extremely sharp points ( I might dull these a bit). The ones on the right? $7 Springfield specials. Not picking on Springfield per se but man those are some crappy dividers. Thin gauge, wobbly project killers is what they really are (now safely stored in the garbage bin and trash day is tomorrow! ). So, there ya go. A real bargain at $15 (free ship to boot). I won’t bother with a link ( it’ll be broken in a month). Just search Shinwa dividers. Amazon and eBay both have them for about the same price.

Damn....that's nice.

Just thought of something else that is probably easier and maybe even cooler. Instead of sheet brass for the sides, use brass wire instead. Easier to lay down three pieces of wire than cut, file, and exactly set a small strip. Plus you get an interesting "serrated" visual effect with the wire. Like I said, so many ideas, so little time...

Howdy neighbor (just noticed you're in Allen). Right. My pic accentuates/distorts the thickness of the leather in relation to the brass, plus it's thicker leather than I would use if I were to make a set. But yes, the leather on my prototype does not lay even with the brass. That said, you should be able to use a thin enough layer of leather to where it is indiscernible. But pondering this a bit more, you could get it to even pretty easily by soldering side strips of brass with a thinner gauge. In my prototype is used 12 ga brass. So adding say 18 or 20 ga would do the trick. Now that I think about even more, what would be really cool is to also add a middle strip of brass or perhaps bronze or copper. That would really would really make it stand out as a unique treatment. In any case, you're right, haven't seen anything quite like this. Very cool indeed. So many ideas, so little time.... Oh, one other thing, be sure to use E6000 glue to attach the leather. Works great. Post a pic of what you come up with.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I ended up putting together a fairly comprehensive tutorial on this and am happy to share. Just send me an email -- clyde.seeger@gmail.com. Just mentioning it again, a little clearer this time, as some weren't sure if it was just a one off for the person who originally asked. i also have a request on DIY coin conchos and will be posting a short video on that soon. It's really easy and inexpensive to make your own cool conchos like the one on these flops and more. If you would like to have a heads up on that as well, pm me and I'll let you know when it's available. Stay tuned and thanks for the interest.

Sure, not prob. Email me - clyde.seeger@gmail.com - and I'll send you a general template and instructions PDF.

A pair of flops for a friend

Like this

Those are cool looking. Seems like it would be easy enough to make your own though. Cut a strip from sheet brass, curl it, glue leather to it, crimp it.

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about:

I use coin conchos a lot my myself and one thing you can do to add a little pizzaz is to dome the coins. Harbor Freight sells a really nice doming block set for $49. Professional looking conchos are a breeze with this set. I saw that you punched the coins and I thought ewwww....but it looks cool with the copper rivet I must admit. I solder rivets and Chicago screws to the back of my domed coins, then antique, polish, and varnish them (looks terrific on the Indian Heads). Very easy to do. PM me if you're interested in how do that.

Por Favor...Gracious

This book helped me out a lot when I first started: "Leathercraft Tools: How to Use Them, How To Sharpen Them" by Al Stohlman (leatherworker Saint and possible Diety). As the title suggests, Al describes the proper usage and the intended function of practically every leather working tool there is plus shows you how to make a few of them yourself. In addition to bering a terrific reference (I still turn to it regularly for sharpening tips) it's also a good primer on leather working and will give you a leg up on the learning curve of trial and error.

Gorgeous!

I'm posting this to make it easier for those searching on the following terms as well as share my own recipe and experience using it on tooled veg tan leather: oxalic acid alternatives cleaning substitutes Barkeeper's mixing recipe Barkeeper mixing recipe Bar Keeper mixing recipe Mix: ==== 1 Tablespoon of Barkeeper's Friend to 1 pint of water. Result ===== I used this mix on a heavily soiled veg tan piece (hand oils, sweat, grime) that I had just tooled. I dipped a clean rag in the solution and briskly rubbed the piece with plenty of saturation. It couldn't tell if it was working when it was wet so I just gave it a good scrub. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, but once dry it was clean as a whistle. In fact, it came out cleaner than it was on the roll when I first cut it. There's a comment on another thread stating that Barkeeper's Friend is an inferior substitute because it only contains 5% per volume of oxalic acid (MSDS sheet says 5-10%) and you would have to use an entire can in a paste form for it do anything. That's about as absurd a statement as I've read in these forums, and there are some doozies. All I can say is it worked great for me. Barkeepers is cheap and easy to find in the cleaning section of your grocery store. I use it mainly to clean copper and brass on my metal projects. Works great on that too.

Hey Shorts, I'm a little last to the party with this, but maybe somebody else. Or, perhaps somebody will explain my little DIY discovery is not so wonderful after all. Its all good... I'm making a combination wallet/tobacco pouch and had the same question on the pouch lining. I ended up making my own liner after buying a cheap fabric pouch from a tobacco shop for reverse engineering ideas and to use as a liner. Once home and dissected, it was nothing more than some really ugly fabric with a thin sheet of plastic on one side -- the kind of material that you might find used on a kid's raincoat. Looked easy enough to DIY, so I did. I took some 6 mil visqueen and sandwiched it between two layers of faux tooled upholstery fabric (~ 1oz) and I think it turned out great. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=19280 First of all it looks cool. But does it perform? Indeed it does. It's flexible, returns to shape, and is stiff enough to be manageable in a one-handed rolling situation (an unexpected benefit). No crinkling sound from the visqueen nor any odors. Did I mention it's reversible? You betcha it is. Now that I think about it, I could see an occasion where you might have a need to store something other than tobacco and didn't want to taint the taste of either -- two pouches in one. All that, and it's still thin enough to be used as a liner if you want. Why it's a dang modern marvel is what its! Durability, not a problem. Last as long as the skin does. Ok, it's not leather. You got me on that one.

I was tempted to say that myself (bet everyone else was too). So....now that the lid is off the Critique Can-o-Worms, I'll add that the backside needs work as well. Just skiving and/or sanding would have produced a more finished look. From there you could have stained and/or lined (suede would be my preference). Burnishing the backside is not an option as it would be too slick and your phone would inadvertently slip out. Yeah, you'll have to take it apart to do that, but then you have an opportunity to fix any stitching errors. :-) Or you can just leave it as is (I would) and make another one. Has anyone here ever been 100% satisfied with a completed project of their own? Be sure to hang on to this first project as your personal HRP (Humility Reference Point) and keep out for public display in your workshop. Right now it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen and you're proud of it (and rightly so). A year from now you'll wonder why you thought it was so wonderful. Two years from now you will cringe every time you look at it. Three years from now you'll want to throw it away. Five years from now (if it's still around) it will be a quaint anachronism of where you started, how much you've you grown, and that every project could have been better. Btw, just curious, are you a Smithy?

Impressive. Looks like you're on the fast track. Good job.