mrtreat32

I don't have a splitter and the leather I was wanting to use is horse strip which I think only comes in weights around 5-7oz. If I did have another leather in 3oz or so I could use that but I feel it would look weird wight he inside of the belt also being grain side showing? maybe not?

I have heard this from a few people that they prefer the cheaper wooden one to a metal draw gauge.

damn that looks nice. Let me know if you get anymore info. Do you happen to know what the shipping would be? Im looking for box calf as well and the best price I can currently find is around $18sf

Yup. Ken Chapman sells them as well as a bunch of great leather. boothandco.com Went up to Boston to visit family last week and found out there was a Dixon tool dealer outside of the city so I took a drive to pick a few things up. This is where I learned about the dixon slim line of pricking irons that have teeth the same size as my Vergez. He had most of the tools on hand but can order pretty much anything from the catalog he said. Ken was super helpful in answering any questions. Tell him Paul sent you.

Going to make my first belt this evening and the leather that I was going to use is Chromexcel horse strip. It isn't as stretchy as cowhide chromexcel so I think in that regard its good. Question is the thickness seems to be a bit thin for a belt... Think its about 6oz or so. I am going to be making 1"-1.25" width belts so I don't want or need them to be quite as thick as a lot of Veg tan belts Ive been seeing but Im concerned the 6oz is just a tad on the thin side. I have dressy belts made by alden etc that aren't super thick but look to be about 8oz. Im guessing my best bet would be to line the belt with another leather? And if so I would need to stitch it all the way across and not just at the buckle and keeper portion? Also looking for recommendations on a thinner leather that you would suggest lining it with to add some strength but without making it too thick. So maybe a total go 8-9oz. Only thing I have on hand is some thin mission pig but it feels a bit plasticky and afraid it wont flex smoothly with a belt. So Im looking for any suggestions or tips on using thinner leather for belts. Have some goat that should be arriving soon but it was a bit pricey to use as lining. thanks guys!

Going to have my first attempt at making rolled handles this week and a few leather books I have mention the use of rope to form the leather around and to keep the shape of the handle. I looked through my ohio travel bag catalogue and online but dont seem to find any sites selling filler for handles. Is regular old rope from the hardware store what people are using? Do I need a specific kind that is coated or what should I look for specifically. thanks

Im not sure I understand where you glue the card to keep the leather against the frame better but the strap cutter I purchased came with a small booklet of modifications people make on them to fit certain tasks. It also mentions that some adjustments were left out so they could keep the price down and the customer could DIY.

I got the wood one since I did some research and a lot of people seem to prefer it over more pricey ones. I dont know if there are a lot of different versions of the wood one but this particular model is made in the USA. Maybe Ill try a Dixon or Vergez draw guage in the near future if I get a lot of use out of this modei The one I purchased has a guide/ruler facing the front so you can adjust it to the corresponding width. I figured they all had that on the front.

thanks. I am using barge cement already as I roll them up. With certain types of leather the barge alone doesnt seem like it will be strong enough to hold it over time. Whenever I use barge on chrome tan it doesnt stick super strong but its usually not a problem since its a temporary hold until I sew it.

Started making tassels for a few designs Im working on and was wondering if anyone has ways to secure the loop and the part you roll without stitching straight through the top. Problem is they are so thick its hard to get the awl straight through the piece in a straight line. A lot of online tutorials just seem to glue and roll them but Im worried they will come apart like that. Here is a link to demonstrate something similar to what Im making. https://img1.etsystatic.com/038/0/6259315/il_340x270.625685547_megv.jpg

Placed a order with ohio travel bag 2 weeks ago and decided to add a strap cutter to my cart since I want to start working on belts in the near future. Just took it out tonight to put the blade in and try it out and had a idea that I havent really heard mentioned in the past although Im sure its been done. After doing a test strip of 1" and looking at the ruler guide I realized the strap cutter goes up to about 5"wide. I was thinking since I work on mostly small leather goods that it might save me a lot of time and even edges if I used the strap cutter to cut long strips of sizes I often use. For example I have a few card wallets and other designs that use pockets a little over 4 inches and others that are 3.5". If I cut a long strip in that size I could later cut it vertical depending on what I need to make that particular design. I dont see why this wouldnt work for watch straps as well since you could cut a strip off whatever size you need and than punch or cut the end to whatever shape you are making. Obviously for curved objects this doesnt help at all but seems like it can save a lot of time for certain items. Is there some reason Im missing out on why this wouldnt be a time saver for certain items. BTW this strap cutter so far is one of those tools where I wasnt sure I wanted or needed one but now Im not sure I could do without! Glue pot is another! thanks for any informative feedback guys!

interesting. I have never heard of it done like that but I will give it a try on some scrap leather.

Let me know how it turns out. Like someone else in this thread mentioned the only time it doesn't work is on soft or very thin leather in my experience. For some reason when I cast the thread it makes the front stitching go straight if the leather is very soft. I don't find that it needs to be thick as long as it has some firmness on the grain side. The goat that I have stitched on briefly is very thin but the stitching looks great because it feels firm which seems to hold the stitches in place. Let me know how it turns out. Like someone else in this thread mentioned the only time it doesn't work is on soft or very thin leather in my experience. For some reason when I cast the thread it makes the front stitching go straight if the leather is very soft. I don't find that it needs to be thick as long as it has some firmness on the grain side. The goat that I have stitched on briefly is very thin but the stitching looks great because it feels firm which seems to hold the stitches in place.

Bought these on ebay this week. Haven't tried to restore any old tools in the past but I used a dremel with some red and green compound to clean them up which I later read is bad since the dremel creates heat that can damage tools. The creaser is a single line creaser which I have never used before and I actually prefer it to my newer Adjustable creaser since the impression it makes seems to be thinner which I like better on smaller work. With the single line creaser I have been running it along a ruler since there is no guide for the edge. Im assuming that is how they are used? The 2 edgers work but don't cut super smooth so Im gonna read some tutorials tonight and try to sharpen them up a bit more. Anyway here are a few pics.

Im going to be in MA this week visiting my family and I happened to find out that there is a Dixon dealer in the area. Was thinking about picking up a pricking iron and maybe another tool while Im over that way. I have read some comparisons in the past about different irons and Dixon compared to Blanchard ... most of what I have read states that the Dixons make bigger holes and that seems to be the downside in some peoples opinions. I had the company forward me a brochure and a price list which lists all of the pricking irons in standard size and also "slim line". Was wondering if anyone has used a Blanchard and a Slimline Dixon and how they compare? Im thinking the slimline will be closer to what the blanchard offers? Have a Blanchard now and really like it but want to expand the spi sizes available to me and at a third of the price this seems like the best alternative. I also noticed the pricking irons pictured in this catalog are black and silver. Other retailers that I have searched online they appear to be all silver in color? Any differences that anyone is aware of? Most people say that vintage tools are far superior but it seems some tools by these modern makers are still of decent quality. Is there anything else in the Dixon catalog that people feel is still a good quality tool that I should pick up. I could use a skiving knife if anyone has used theirs and recommends as well as a french edger. thanks

Don't the vintage landis hand crank machines do both? I see them pop up on ebay from time to time Im starting to do some research on the subject myself and this came up when I did a search. If anyone has used one of these I would be interested in hearing your opinions. Especially if they work well with thin leather and chrome tanned.

Yes that makes sense. Im trying to find a tutorial for this sort of thing. From what youre saying it sounds like its constructed similar to a canvas tote that I have. Im looking at the inside of the tote now to get a idea but wondering what would need to be done differently for a leather version if anything. thanks

I have that book! Its probably my favorite leather working resource so far but that section is limited to one page. I get the general idea of what she is saying but its hard to put into use. Any other resource you can think of that goes more in depth on the topic?

Im gonna give my first attempts at bag making this week after I receive a new shipment of leather. I have been reading a ton of stuff online and books trying to wrap my head around the subject and getting this right but Im still a bit confused on properly constructing gussets. Is there any resource online that you think most clearly shows the construction of a tote type bag or any other style. I want to hopefully walk into this project with some level of confidence. The art of making cases by al stohlman shows the use of a french edger when connecting seams but other tutorials I find don't seem to mention this. Im also a bit confused who the holes are lined up from each section since they are punched separately from one another. Most of the gusset designs I have seen in books are 2 and 3 piece style but I see a lot of bags constructed like this online. http://www.teranishibrand.com/products/day-tripper It appears that besides the handles the main body is just 2 large pieces folded in on each other and sewn on the inside. Is this as easy as it looks and is there any other prep that needs to go into the construction of this style of bag besides maybe skiving the 2 ends that meet if using thick leather. Im thinking this might be the best style to try first or does anyone recommend a style of bag that they think is best for someone new to this area of leather work.

Do you have smaller sizes besides 1mm

Agree. But I want to se if the difference is night and day or if the 2nds are fairly close to the Tannery Row stuff. Im sure it will vary from side to side but are some marked down maybe because they have a few random holes or is the whole side not of good quality. If its for some random holes or small marks on the leather that might be fine for my current uses where I can cut around those pieces or use them for pockets that are covered. Large items like bags would be harder to cut around imperfections. Im sure the main colors like black, brown, and burgundy are 2nd run since those are very popular and they woudlnt mark them down for no reason but some of the other sides seem to be like they could be first quality but were custom colors and such that were made for a larger company and not the exact color they wanted or extra leather left over after production. Im not sure that this is the case but it seems like a possibility. The lapis blue that you posted pictures of looks great! Looks like a shade of blue that maybe didnt come out exactly how the customer wanted so they changed whatever needed and that one got sent off to the seconds list even though it would normally pass as a first. Just a thought. But you worked with it directly so you would have a much better idea.

thanks. that makes sense. I have seen some other splitters on ebay that claim to be both skivers/splitters. That would be ideal but Im assuming the machines that do both probably dont work as well. I would be mostly skiving down just the edges of leather to reduce thickness when working with multiple layers (wallets mostly). There are some old vintage ones "Landis" is the brand that I have been seeing online. I was thinking of holding off on this type of purchase but if they work fairly well it would pay for itself quickly if I was able to buy leather from Maverick at whatever weight was available and split it down in size. 3-4 sides at Mavericks price compared to ordering from Tannery Row would probably cover the differecne in cost on one of these machines. Assuming they can be found in the $400-600 dollar range. thanks

All those edges look pretty good. Although that is on veg tan which burnishes nicely. You have used it on other types of leather as well? ( the soldering iron) I have a wood dremel burnisher as well but I was under the impression the last one I posted from ebay was meant to be connected to a soldering iron. That way you can heat treat the edges of the piece like the other tools posted. Not sure the spinning metal would have much effect although I could be wrong.

http://imgur.com/WLtRSmv http://imgur.com/XbMvqlH http://imgur.com/Pmq20JA http://imgur.com/g9wwato http://imgur.com/cDRVSqi http://imgur.com/P0yNZ2c http://imgur.com/hwcVRNB

Ahh makes sense. I thought you could split it from either side. haha So I got my samples today from Tannery Row and they are VERY nice. I have chromexcel shoes but have never worked with their leather before so I wasnt sure what to expect. Shelley sent me a bunch of chromexcel samples, cavalier, and a new leather she said they just started producing called LEGACY.. which feels and looks very nice as well. Im pretty sure she also mentioned on the phone that they will send single sides of that leather at the lower price rate since they are trying to get the word out. I think they would still charge the $30 handling fee and all that but thought I would mention it if anyone was interested. I cut a small piece off the brown aniline chromexcel sample as well as the horsefront and glued them together to sew it and get a feel of what it would be like to work with. I thought it would be hard to sew since it is softer than veg tan and I had trouble getting my stitching looking good on softer leather about a month back. After a few stitches I got the feel of it down and was pretty happy with the results on the little bit I tried. Next was the biggest surprise of all. I have been reading tips on burnishing chromexcel and most people agree its very hard or it doesnt work at all. I have read about people having to turn the edges on projects or ordering heating irons similar to what hermes uses to get the edges slick with layers of special paint. Maybe it was because I was expecting the worse but I wanted to see what it was all about so I started going through my normal burnishing procedure which still needs plenty of improving but I found the edge to burnish decent really quickly. Maybe the samples she sent me react a bit different or was the fact that half of the piece was horse front chromexcel. I dont think it came out perfect but it was a lot better than I expected after all the stuff I had read. Its probably going to be a bit before I can order direct from Tannery Row but I should be receiving my horween leather from Maverick this week to hold me over in the meantime.