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Everything posted by billybopp
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What kind of stitching to use for a leather bag?
billybopp replied to CraftyNick's topic in Sewing Leather
I think you've probably made the right decision. The box stitch is a bitch, and probably best tackled after you've got some experience under your belt. It also tends to work best for thicker leathers, probably thicker than you'd want for a bag. I use the same technique you've referenced above in Nigel Armitages video to make several messenger bags and it works well. If you're looking for a more square bottom corner for your bag, check out Ian Atkinson's messenger bag video. Bill -
I don't know how the Tandy awls are sized. Sorry! Best thing to do there, tho, is to get ahold of threads of different sizes (just a couple of yards will do) and try them to see what works best for you! The Seiwa #2 and .8mm thread works well for the way that I sew, and the leather kind and thickness, and type of thread I'm using(mostly the chinese spools from ebay). I tend to use a pricking iron with not stitch groove. But if any of those variables is different it may not work for you. Experimentation is the thing! (Oh, and keep notes on what works best in what combinations). Bill
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+1 for a deadblow hammer. For that sort of punch, the heavier the better ( as long as you can swing it and control it). Deadblow hammers also seem to transfer more of the force into the punch. Just a note, if you find that the deadblow face is deforming (some of 'em are pretty soft), you might want to glue on a piece of leather to help spread out the force across the face. Billl
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Not only are there different lengths and widths of awls, there are also different blade shapes to sort through. Below, you'll see a few different awls, presented over a thick double layer of leather edge on, as you'd have is you were sewing it. On blade profile: The left one is a piece of crap expensive Tandy 4 in 1. It is the classic saddler's awl shape, which to me looks like a spear point. Mine is probably sharpened a little pointier than the classic, but as you can see in the picture it will make a bigger hole on the side that you poke from(front side) than on the back side. Because of the shape, you also must be very careful about the depth you use in order to get the hole size consistent. In other words, it's pretty darn difficult to use. You'll see a lot of these out there that are the same shape, but much better tools than the Tandy version. The next three are Seiwa awls in three sizes. The point is broader, and the sides are straight after the initial point. This will give you a hole that is the same size front and back of the hole. To me, they look like a broadsword. These are my go-to awls. You choose the blade size that suits the thread that you are using, and I usually use #2 with .8mm thread. Another advantage of these, and the spear point awls is that if you are using a pricking iron the tip of the awl will settle nicely into the slit that the iron creates and will really help you to get the angle right. The one on the right is an Osborne awl, and as you can see, it's pointier sort of like a rapier. It does work well, but requires a little more care to get the angle correct. I find them a bit hard to use for that reason. A lot of people will snip the tip off this type of awl to give it a broader tip. It is also tapered, but not nearly so much as the spear point awl, and will give a slightly bigger hole on the front side than on the back, but not nearly so drastic as the spear point. On Length: I prefer to use a shorter awl rather than longer where possible. As you hold the awl in your hand, a shorter awl tip will move around less than will a longer one as you move your wrist, making it easier to get the holes just where you want them, and easier to get the holes straight front to back. On handles: The Seiwa awls come with flat sides on the handles. This helps to keep them from rolling around, but more importantly, you can feel the flat in your hand and know that you have the blade in the right orientation without having to look (at least after awhile). they also fit my hand nicely. If your handle is round, don't hesitate to modify it to suit your hands and flat-side it to help orient the blade! You also may want to put a little leather washer at the base of the blade so that if you push a little too hard and go deeper than intended it will cushion the leather and not leave a bezel shaped impression on your work! On care: Many blades are plain ol' steel. As such, they will rust if you're not careful. A little bit of wax can help prevent rust, and some find that it helps the awl slide through the leather. They will also stab you when you reach into your storage space to grab 'em. A wine cork makes a great blade guard, and can also be helpful as a backer when you're sewing the thin stuff. Not to mention the pleasure of getting the cork in the first place. On sharpening and polishing: The awl needs to be sharp, sharp, sharp and polished like a mirror to help them just glide through leather. You should be able to go through a half inch of leather and halfway through your finger before you even notice it (as most everybody does a time or two). I'd like to tell you that I've mastered the art of sharpening, but I haven't. I'm getting there, tho! If you have good stones, use them. If not, sandpaper on a glass surface works pretty well! Nigel Armitage has a pretty good video on sharpening an awl. Bear in mind that as you sharpen and polish, you are to some extent also forming the blade profile. Not a problem, just be aware of what you're doing as you work! Hope that all helps! Bill
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If you're stropping a straight razor, you may want more than one strop. That edge has to be very very sharp AND polished for a good comfortable shave. A strop with a bit of mild polishing compound on it can be a help when the edge is lacking a bit but not really in need of a full-blown sharpening yet. It will remove some metal. But after that, and for everyday use, a plain smooth piece of leather will polish without removing any appreciable amount of metal. The smoother that leather is, the smoother it can make the polish on the blade. Boning, or slicking would help to make that leather as smooth as possible. You might also take a look at jacked leather for a strop. It's more or less slicked when you get it. Bill
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First off, I want to say thanks for posting this. It's awesome to see a project progress from beginning to end, and can't wait to see the end product! Whatever you use to skive with has to be really REALLY sharp, probably moreso than with any other thing you do in leatherwork. It becomes even more important when skiving thin or stretchy leather. There are a lot of different tools that you can use to skive, and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. The "safety skivers" that you get that use razor blades have the advantage of being really cheap and possibly a bit safer than an exposed cutting edge. That's about it. The French skiver works well for many things, but it's advantage AND disadvantage is with the lip at the edge. That lip helps to make it easier to follow the edge of the leather, but at the same time it makes it very difficult to get that edge really thin since it holds the cutting edge up off of the surface some distance. That makes a bit more bulk at the edge than you might want. For some things that IS what you want, but on a wallet it could make the edge a bit bulkier than you'd like. What I've done with my cheap little Tandy French skiver is to take the right side lip mostly off so that there is now a much smaller lip there to let me get much thinner at the edge. I don't mind modifying that skiver, but I ain't touching the antique ones! Some folks like to use a round knife to skive with, but I find them pretty hard to use that way. They work best for heavier leather as far as I can tell. There are a number of types of skiving knives, but I find that a knife that has the cutting edge at the tip easiest to use and best for getting a thin edge. Mine are straight ended and single beveled with a very long bevel, and are SHARP! They work well on both thick and thin leather allowing me to get down to a really thin edge. I also like the end-edged skiving knives that are angled and single beveled, but find that I need one a righty and lefty for different situations with those since they seem easier to use with the beveled side down. I don't have any that are double-beveled, but they would be usable right or left. Check out these videos to find a little more info: LWN member gmace99 showing the use of a French skiver. LWN sponsor Lisa Sorrell shows using a skiving knife. Hope that helps! Bill
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You might find that a skiving knife works better and easier for what you're doing than a French edger does. But no matter what tool, skiving takes some practice. Bill
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Pretty sure that if you don't bleed a bit here and there .. once in awhile ... while doing leather work, you just ain't trying hard enough. I keep a first aid kit and paper towels close by when working, and some bigger gauze pads & tape in the bathroom, which I thankfully have not yet needed for leather work so far. Bill
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When airbrushing, one thing that can be helpful is to filter your resolene/mix before you use it. It gets a little gloopy on the surface around the inside of the bottle and also around the neck of the bottle where there's a bit of exposure to air. You do not want those gloopy bits getting into your airbrush. I just use a little piece of pantyhose across the top of the paint bottle/cup when filling it and it does often catch some bits. I do the same with dyes, although there is rarely any gloop there. It makes me feel better to be certain! Oh .. And have to add ... When clearing your airbrush as JLS suggested .. You're lucky if you ONLY get old faithful. Usually, the paint bottle fits onto the airbrush by friction alone, and when blowing back it can pop right out, drop to the floor and break if it's glass. Don't ask about that big stained patch of concrete on my back porch. Bill
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Maybe its bison that got caught in some flooding. Just sayin'.
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American Leather Direct or other sources for American leather
billybopp replied to CraftyNick's topic in All About Leather
ALD's website says that they sell Chahin leather, which is from a tannery in Mexico. Weaver leather also sells the brand. I've never used it, so can't give an opinion on it. Bill -
Nice lookin' tool! And quite useful. Keeping letters centered can be a bitch! Bill
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Really nice work, as always, Chief!! Bill
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Leather dyes, paints and finishes can indeed be a complex maze to navigate. There are a lot of products and ways to apply them all with different properties. Combine them in differing combinations and the number of results can be astounding. The best thing that you can do when working on a project, until you learn what works best for you, is to experiment on a scrap piece of leather from your project. A few general pointers, tho .. With all dyes and paints in leather, some colors cover better than others .. you mostly have to experiment to find what works best there. There are essentially two types of dyes, which mostly soak into the leather. Spirit (alcohol) based such as Fiebings dye and fiebings pro, and water based such as eco-flo. The spirit based dyes penetrate a little bit better and can be thinned with alcohol, and will yield nice colors, although generally a bit muted. Water based dyes tend to be somewhat brighter, and can be thinned with water if necessary. Paints are almost all water based acrylics. They adhere to the leather and mostly sit on the surface, and will yield the most vibrant colors. Acrylics made for leather tend to adhere better than those not made for leather. I've done some work with liquitex artist acrylics, and they don't stick as well as the stuff that's designed for leather .. but they do stick well when used atop the leather acrylics. To get really bright colors, you sometimes need to put a coat of white on before the colors, although some folks suggest mixing white with the color that you're using. Yellows, for example, are almost always translucent so have to have an undercoat to show well. Sometimes, you can use that translucent quality to your advantage too! I don't know anything about antique stain since I've never used it, but the antique gel and paste are mostly meant to fill in low spots to give a sort of two tone .. .well .. antique look! It can really bring out the 3-D quality of tooling. The Tandy antique gel does a nice job as a regular dye, and does tend to color at least the acrylic finishes a little, which can be used to your advantage. Fiebings antique paste has only slight effect as a dye, and mostly just settles into low spots .. Sometimes including pores in the leather. To confuse things even further, there are Hi-lighters, which are very thin and will flow into low spots, but I haven't really used them yet. Where finishes are concerned, you've experimented with mostly acrylics as finish and resist. They mostly work well as both, are water based, and can be thinned with either water or with some a thinning medium. Note that matte finishes have a little bit of "grit" in them to scatter light giving that matte look. That grit also can give a slightly (microscopic) bumpy finish, which antiques and other things will stick to, and may darken a bit more than shiny finishes. There are also other classes of finish/resist which are lacquer based. Many folks like the lacquer based finishes such as ClearLac/NeatLac, etc, but I haven't really used them yet. Acrylics tend to be best when you do multiple coats, leaving just a several minutes between so that they will bond together while still not completely dry. When using as a resist, I tend to let them dry at least overnight. If you need a COMPLETE resist, liquid latex over an acrylic can work quite nicely. You could write books on this subject, but above are a few highlights. Remember that the leather itself is also part of these techniques, so best practice is to try what you think will work on a similarly tooled piece of scrap from the project that you are working on! Also .. if you would, please clarify .. Did you try the antique gel on Angelus? If so, it looks like that might be a really good resist for gel! (if that's what you need). Hope that helps Bill
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It occurs to me that W&C might be willing to sell you some. Since they split to order for customers and some of those probably do not want their splits , they likely have some that they'd be glad to be rid of .. and probably cheaply. Bill
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Dip Dye Method
billybopp replied to TomG's topic in Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.
The voice of experience, I take it? -
I have the Craftool double-ended hair tool too. The blades on mine are removable standard size, and I bought a few really cheap swivel knives on ebay that they fit perfectly. Bill
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Pretty ingenious use of materials! And darned nice looking results.
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Lookin' pretty darned good, Colt! I'm always a bit jealous when I see folks making cool stuff like this on here in their workshop .. since I live in a city row house and don't have room for one! (even leatherwork is primarily done in my living room, when the other half lets me). It occurs to me that making your own maul, you have a great opportunity to do some experimentation with materials, designs, and techniques. You could make interchangeable heads to experiment with round vs. varying degrees of taper. While it might mess a bit with balance, you may be able to make some "add-on" weights to fit under the brass end cap (or possibly different weight caps).. and possibly some way to weight the butt-end of the handle to help balance. Just a thought! Bill
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Dip dying
billybopp replied to ffjdh's topic in Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.
Dilute the dye and submerge longer. -
Dip dying
billybopp replied to ffjdh's topic in Dyes, Antiques, Stains, Glues, Waxes, Finishes and Conditioners.
How much you dilute kinda depends on the dye and the result that you're looking for.50/50 is a good starting point, tho. You do not need to submerge the whole thing at once. Just get the item under the surface and pull it through relatively slowly .. Maybe 3-4 seconds submerged time for any one section. This way, you can use a relatively small container to dip items. I lay items out flat on a cut open trash bag for a short time to let them dry as evenly as possible. Some like to put belts up on edge, and then flip them after a few minutes. I have wiped items if I see dye pooling in an area. Hope that helps. -
Sheath for a Viking seax
billybopp replied to Harry Marinakis's topic in Gun Holsters, Rifle Slings and Knife Sheathes
It might have been easier getting in and out of a boat, sitting and rowing that way. -
Its not ... And it doesn't do accents well at all.
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If you REALLY want to know what's being said ... Do not try to use the youtube closed captioning feature. But if you want a good giggle, try it! Bill