RockyAussie

How I would tackle it is in the following link. should help

Looks good jakc3. The handles turned out very well and the double line stitching to attach them worked out very nice as well.I presume it was all stitched by hand? Outer edge zip stitch with machine would be easier and easier to keep out any wobbles in my opinion for whatever that is worth. Hope to see more of your work in the future.

Hi Dickman If you want to pm me your address I'll send down a part roll of Strongbond for you to try if you have not already. I know it will work unless your machine is wrong. If you want more then I could arrange for them to ship to you on my acc. Regards Brian

Very good edging for colour white Victor. I do not normally take pictures as I go if at all but here are a couple. One is done for a prototype watch and this was the first leather band I did before the crocodile ones. The other is just black croc with thick inner padding.

What Gary recommended should be ok but for about many years I've been using Ares (Italia) S.r.l. For black mosty LC/ZCD and The clear I mix my pigment in to give me the colour range I need I use AR 6350 Neutro denso lucido. (see link)http://www.aresitalia.info/ares/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=136&Itemid=172&lang=enThese are I believe the same as the Fenice paints as available from Campbell Randall in the US. They also have a temperature control soldering iron I think. I have used a 80 watt soldering iron with a groove I ground into the tip for about 20 or more years. This is just something I worked out for myself as I had not seen or heard of these filituse things until recently. I have always just used a light dimmer switch that I build into a wooden box to temperature control. They last for generally 5 to 10 years at a time. My method roughly goes depending on the thickness and leather etc like so. Get the shape sanded in first and sometimes heat away the fuzzy bits with a paint stripper gun. 2- Two coats of edging. If really rough sand a bit with foam sanding block.3 - Run the iron groove down the down the edge pulling in toward the centre from both sides and one down the middle to get rid of any peaking or grooves. 4 - Give a grey scotch brite wipe over if still a little rough. 5 - Finish of with 2 or three coats of edging. 5 wax polish. When the edge is thick it will take more work and more coats and when thin less.

Fantastic work Aika and I checked out your belt making also. There is going to be one hell of a lucky man out there for you I reckon. Maybe there's one in Australia. There is certainly a job waiting.

Bangle sanding pics as promised. 1st pic stiff and not sanded - 2nd pic setting for thickness-3rd sanding the croc - 4th results after sanding - 5th check for size - 6+7th stitched up - 8 ready to be glued up. Thankfully the matt ones I can split ok and they are twice as fast to fold and glue down. That's all for now I still gotta do another 50 or so yet. Regards Brian

I am Looking for 1.75"(45mm) buckles that are well finished for my belts. If you can get samples I am wanting around 100 per month. 200 at a time 100 Nkl and 100 polished brass. Let me know if a goer. Brian

Are you talking to someone JLS? ..........Ha Ha That's all the point on coming to this forum.

Yes it is please see the link and if you check it should lead to where in the US it can be bought. You would need to lathe back the back drive wheel outer rim in order to make the belt removal possible if you want to shroud it as I have done. http://www.multitoolaustralia.com/products.html Regards Brian

Hi Fat Dog Leather again I just found this post. Splitting on glaze skin will often be difficult and Still leaves the skin stiff and curly. I have to do a stack of bangles at the moment and I prefur to run them through the sander as it tends to break the tension and leave it in the end more flexible and able to conform to shapes better. I'll do a few pics of and send some tomorrow. Coming to skiving on edges - once it has been sanded and the tension broken you will find the skiving better. Do you have a roller foot on the skiver? I believe it is essential when working with glaze. With regards to the Cobra splitter I haven't seen or heard of one that is a band knife splitter. Have you got a picture of it you could post? Regards for now Brian.

Thanks for link on buckles Yuri. The Akubra looks a good fit indeed. The off-cuts of the croc belts above often go to Akubra for hatbands. I will pass on your regards for sure. See croc hat-band with croc teeth below. Oh yeah the braided belt with rings are generally done with Kangaroo lace and very common and popular here. Plaiting is one area I have not done much of myself, I mostly stick with crocodile and it doesn't plait well. Best regards for now Brian.

Thanks for that answer. If you come across any good buckle suppliers in that size range please let me know. I have done up knife patterns today and I will post some pics hopefully in 2 or 3 weeks. Funny thing and no bull I made up a 50mm double tongue belt for this fellow in Amazon Singapore a few months back and he emailed me today wanting a couple more. Horrible buckle but he likes it. What do you think?

Just a thought Red Cent I think if I had to do this I would make the elastic onto a clip strip that could then be replaced as a unit by itself. Advantage way cheaper to have spare wear part replaced. Elastic down on to webbing I'd say.

Never mind Victor you will get better... Ha Ha I'm not too sure how. Good to see someone else gets some interesting challenges with watch bands.I'll try and dig out some of my jobs and swap notes with you. Regards Brian

Looks good and interesting design Yuri. Surprised to see the lining done as you have. Have you found any trouble getting that 44mm through the pants loops? I am thinking of doing some backstrap crocodile belts in this size due to having so many too large to fit into my 38mm size width. Nice looking brass or stainless buckles for 44/45mm belts are also another problem. BTW nice work on the belt holder as well.

Maybe check your local shoe repair shops.

Your already there Eric. Not sure about your padlock cover on imgur. Some dabblers there will be happy to work with you and I doubt I can offer much advice other than be confident.

Hey Trevor I'm just wondering did you get my P.M.?

I must admit it's been years since I bought needles. By to expensive do you mean parts or the machines. I would have thought the machines would have been pretty cheap to pick up.

Hi Wizcrafts, The pic of the Gritzner by jimi above sound more like the machine you're after. This is very similar to the Frobana outsole stitcher which when I was doing shoe repairing was my favorite. I think I still have 3 or 4 floating around here somewhere but they are the full on cast stand versions.. Parts are a bit hard to get here.The presser foot above tends to wear off on an angle and is the only main problem I ever had. Regards Brian

Thanks catstamp, I hope to do a few more soon, maybe watch bands or bangles next.

Why not keep it and knock up some sandles YinTx? Easier than bags.

Can you get a 3 prong puller over the middle of the 12358.Use leather or something to protect the paint. If so I"D use some WD 40 and leave overnight then try pulling next day when warmed up a bit.Mostly I think the grub screws would have burred up the shaft.

Yes QLD Rocky is right. Backstraps not much problems I've got about 2 to 3 thousand here ,but belly skin nearly impossible. I mostly just contract make for most of the croc farms and they want the products for their own sales... There's a cold one ready waiting for you see below. Regards Brian