Stetson912

That's a great idea wrlc. I shoulda thought of that(as I do some paracord work too). It is cheaper than lace would be and comes in a ton of colors and patterns. It is confusing getting the right stuff tho. It's labeled by tensile strength usually. But 275 paracord is about 2.33 mm wide.its a few sizes down from 550 paracord which is commonly used. And being synthetic it won't deteriorate or dry out or break or crack or anything like that. You can take the inside strands out and use a low iron to flatten the cord. Use a towel or something over the paracord though, just in case the iron gets too hot the towel acts as a buffer so your cord doesn't melt and make a nasty mess. Then, once flat, you can use it exactly like lace. Man! I can't believe I didn't think of it first haha. Good going WRLC.

Hmm I'm not familiar with many brands. The stuff I have is from Tandy from a while back. It works but is brittle. The best lace you can get is kangaroo. There are many places to get it too. Kangaroo is especially prized for braiding because it is has a very high tensile strength. So, it's a lot less likely to break. And that's frustrating when you are lacing haha. The other option is to cut your own. Red hide/alum tanned/latigo is good for braiding if you can't or don't want to use kangaroo. A few places for kangaroo is knotty Linda, amazing lace, or David Morgan off the top of my head.

Well, it's really up to you and the style you like. I think lacing is attractive. But I think stitching is stronger. That isn't to say that lacing wouldn't hold it together though. Since you are only doing one side I vote for lacing. I think it'll look better than stitching in this instance. Just my opinion.

What is in the mop n glo that protects the leather?

Haha I'm familiar. Making a belt that way hehe.

Hey y'all just wanted to say happy 4th to everyone. I hope you all have a good day with your families and loved ones. A special thanks to the servicemen and women who help protect this country and it's freedoms. We are currently having a schmorgasborg of dinner. We have BBQ ribs, hamburgers and hotdogs, smoked sausage, beans, corn, potato salad, chicken wings, and then dessert later. Big ole mess of food and it was good eating. I hope everyone else can enjoy their BBQs and dinners as well. Again happy 4th!

That looks very nice. She will love it. And a thoughtful gift as well

Hehe that is true. Ahaem..."Experience" is valuable muahahahahaha! I will try it.

Lisa Sorrell sells a pen as well, it disappears with heat. You can still punch your holes if you take your time and measure from the edge. You can set dividers to the desired stitching allowance and use them as a measure for your chisels. In this case it's just setting the divider on the edge and measuring how far in they go so you can line up the end of the chisel with the divider. I hope that makes sense. Alternatively, the design looks fairly straight, you may be able to clamp or weigh down a straight edge and just punch along the edge of that. Just some ideas I had for not marking the leather.

Haha mop n glo? Hmm, well if it works it works haha. Thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated.

Thanks wrlc. I stumbled across this and have a belt project to start. The egg point looks great, so I'll go fer that one. Thank you!

Hehe, I always get the "what did you order now!?" Me:"Oh I got this tool for this reason because I'm making this thing and it requires said tool" Her:"I don't know what any of that means"

Do you use a resist? so you dyed the belt black then used lyquitex acrylic paint and rubbed that in and wiped off excess? Like you would do with gel antique?

Basting tape is a good idea. I just haven't used it. I totally butchered that belt just because I was lazy. So a I'ma do it right this time. It all works out though because it ended up being too small(bad measurements from source) If you are using an awl, you should make sure it is sharp and polished as well, that makes a huge difference. A dull awl will still Pierce the leather with some effort but it distorts the stitch lines on the back. So polish it up and it'll glide real nice through the leather and you'll get better results. It's not hard to do either, again Nigel Armitage has a video on awl sharpening too ( he goes by dangerous beans on this forum) I hope you get it figured out!

53"total length or from buckle to center hole? Looks good tho. I like how you do the letters. I know you said it's just swivel knife but how do you color it?

@Sceaden he's probably has a lot of practice lurking... With the flicking peanuts at old ladies and badger poking.... Gotta be sneaky!

Hopefully someone with more experience chimes in here, but I would think resolene or maybe even tan kote would be ok. Will the bracelets be lined? Or flesh side against the skin? Resolene waterproofs and seals the leather. Tan kote works too and is good for "sealing" the flesh side in my experience. But it is meant for providing "a protective finish to all smooth leathers" according to feibings.

@Dangerous Beans, how is the badger poking going? Does that require a special spoon? I love your videos. Very informative, thanks for the time you put into them. Much appreciated.

Are you hand stitching? It would be easier I imagine to use a machine to stitch straight. But I don't use a machine myself so I can't comment there. If you're handstitching you want to bind the edge and use some adhesive or clips or whatever you like to keep that edge straight and tacked down. Then you can mark your stitch lines with wing dividers or use a straight edge and scratch awl. Then punch your holes with a chisel or use an appropriate awl. The secret to keeping the back looking as good as the front is consistency. Check out Nigel Armitage's YouTube videos on saddle stitching. Very helpful. Anywho, I hope you get it figured out. Looks good so far.

Check out sea lemon on YouTube. She does some simple binding that can be applied to leather. I used regular printing paper. But I would agree with using heavier art paper. You can use anything you want to really. You may want to go to Michael's or hobby lobby and look around in the scrapbook section to see different papers. A paper cutter would make things easier too. And depending how you're going to bind them some book board for the cover. The one I made just had book board wrapped in leather.

Dividers is the way to go. I seldom groove anything anymore. I find the stitching recesses enough for most things. And with leather that thin it would probably be more harm than good. Also, try a light touch at first, you can always go back over it but if you use a heavy hand it adds to the stretch factor in my experience.

I have to say as a collective, I believe us leather heads are pretty down to earth people. I personally think you did a fine job on that wallet. Sometimes things don't work out the way we intend but you have to realize, most people wouldn't know something wasn't quite right unless you said something haha. The important thing is that you finished the project and learned from it. And moreso, it's a personal gift you're giving that you made. It has a part of you in it and that is something special in its own right. Keep it up. I wish ya had more time for the workbench!

I seldom make many of the same item. If it's something you'll be doing a ton of I would invest in an acrylic template. People can make custom ones for you with holes drilled out and such. And has the advantage of being clear in case you have to see the leather beneath the template for some reason. Personally, I start with paper and if I want to keep the pattern for another few uses I'll make one out of corrugated cardboard. Sometimes I'll put duct tape on the faces of the cardboard to make it a bit tougher and keep it from bending but not always. Acrylic is obviously far better but, I don't have use for it so it isn't worth the investment for me personally.

Very nice. My father in law has the judge but it's the really big one. With the ultralite trigger. I made a holster for it before but, needs replaced because I didn't know what I was doing last time haha. They are fun guns. I can see how it's useful for snakes.

It is a spartan helm. I believe it's A symbol of protection and fighting the good fight against a larger opponent but staying dedicated to the cause. Much like the spartan battle of Thermopylae.