CalgaryJim

Good to know about the dog collars, thanks. The Cordovan calf is more expensive than other leathers I’ve bought but not nearly as expensive as shell cordovan. I have straps made from Shinki Shell Cordovan, I quite like their finish. The Cordovan calf so far looks very similar. I don’t use much leather to make watch straps so the price is fine for me…even with my two failures using it so far. Hopefully my current attempt, gluing the Velodon with two layers of Barge cement, holds. And I’m skipping the padding too.

In order to have the strap conform properly to then stitch, from every video I’ve seen, you need to press the leather down with a bone first. But maybe clamping the sides would work also. I just realized what you are see is Salpa, it’s on top of the Microfibra, I added it because the latter didn’t provide enough thickness. I could try Salpa only though, or use natural veg tan leather which I tried once before with some success. I also bought some Saba but it’s very soft, I don’t think it would have the body I would like. The leathers I use are 1.0mm thick, not sure what that translates to in ounces. The Cordovan calf leather is quite strong, that’s likely why I couldn’t get it to form, maybe I should try making the straps much wider, then form and stitch, then trim to shape. Or just make padded straps with softer veg tan leathers. I don’t want to have it thinner than 1.0mm though for concern about strength.

I am having a heck of a time trying to make padded watch straps. I’ve used natural veg tan as padding, and just now I received some Luigi Carnevali - Microfibra Reinforcement from RMLS, I made it narrower than the straps but can’t get the leather to conform (flatten) enough at the sides in order to stitch the top layer and lining together. I’m using a stainless steel bone too. Maybe I need to use a thinner leather on top, or softer leather than the Minerva or Cordovan calf that I’ve tried. Any and all tips are welcomed.

Thank you so much! This wick has no weave at all. Now where to source one. Google is bringing up lots for oil lamps, fibreglass weaved, cotton weaved too. Is one material better than the other?

When I use my alcohol lamp, it gives off smoke which blackens the creaser. The wick that came with it from WUTA is some synthetic fabric. What am I doing wrong?

“..saddery@ gmail”, or “saddlery”?

I hadn’t been able to find anyone selling acrylic templates in a 20/16mm taper so contacted Buzzard Brain Leather on Etsy and the owner Will was kind enough to design a one off for me in that taper and length of 105 and 65mm. Same cost as his ready made sizes too. They arrived within a week from Louisiana to Alberta and they are very well made, unlike some Ali Express ones I received in the past (20/18 and 18/16 regular length.There is enough overhang for the spring bar and buckle flaps that I’ll be able to cut 110 and 70mm lengths as well.

Thank you,

I found someone who was willing to make me an acrylic template set for 20/16 taper, 105mm and 65mm long, Buzzard Brain Leather on Etsy. He had to make them from scratch as he didn’t have a set of drawings he could use. I’m happy to report they turned out quite well and he only charged me the same price as his regular templates.

Thanks for the info. I’ve been using Zermatt leather for lining but I’ll have to order some Alran sully next. Did you colour it yourself?

Here's one of the negative reviews, with a lot of details: "Abraham B 2.0 out of 5 stars Ruined fabric, failed to hold plastic to plastic, drying slowly--disappointed shopper Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2018 Number of Items: 1Verified Purchase We bought this to try out in our community theater--sticking fabric to plastic and plastic to plastic. Before I ordered, I called Aleene's using the CS number their rep shared in several of the questions posted here. The young woman who answered the phone was surprisingly curt. Maybe their CS center, which answers the line under another company and then tells you they handle Aleene's, too, is a large generic center. Anyway, I told the rep what I was looking for a glue for and she seemed disinterested in what I was saying. Desperate for a glue that would work, I still ordered the product. It arrived today & we rushed over to the center to try it out. First, when wet it's a white Elmer-like glue. I thought it dried quickly. I was wrong. We left the glue to "dry" for over 3 hours, but it remained white and liquid. We tried using it as it is on pieces we want to stay together indefinitely. It "bled" though our fabrics, staining them but not holding pieces together. And it made our plastics sticky without holding plastic to plastic. As I write this, nearly 11:30PM, I'm still waiting for the glue to dry (turn clear...). All in all, I'll continue looking for a better product. We don't have time to wait half a day or longer for this glue to solidify/dry. And it turned out to be as messy as the old-fashioned Elmer's glue we stopped using millennia ago. When I was in school and we put on a show, we used "liquid cement" that was thick but clear and gelled very quickly (under half an hour) into a stable matrix. I wish I could find that product here on Amazon. I guess we'll keep the Aleene's for paper-on-paper glue needs, but other than that, we're very disappointed in this product. We had such high hopes. UPDATE NEXT MORNING The glue STILL hasn't set. It's still white and liquid. It's puddled along the base of the set pieces we used it on, creating a sticky, ugly mess. We tried vegetable oil then 85% alcohol to get the mess off. Then we tried extra-strength detergent. We finally got rid of most of the white liquid mess, but now our set pieces are ruined--fabric and plastic. And our hands are, of course, sticky and messy. This product didn't work for us at all. The only things it stuck to was our hands and the outside of surfaces it slobbered down. 6 people found this helpful."

Beautiful strap including colour combinations. What type of leather is the orange leather?

Thank you for this level of detail! And I see the most important supply item of all, coffee

Excellent stitch work!

I'm 6 months into making my own leather watch straps. Before that, 18 months buying straps from various sources. Cheap straps (ie, under $20 US) feel cheap and will stay feeling cheap, because poor quality leather such as 'genuine leather' or even no leather at all. If you buy straps made with high quality leather, for example: Buttero, Minerva, Pueblo, these are all made by Italian tanneries; Zermatt leather by french tannery Haas, it's likely to feel comfortable right away or within a few wears. Firmer leathers will feel stiffer as mentioned above, ie, Buttero. Also, the thickness of these leathers affects their stiffness and break-in time. Many straps will have a layer(s) of reinforcement to reduce or prevent the leather from stretching over time, this could be Velodon (very thing synthetic fiber) or bonded leather such as brand names Salamander or Salpa. Bonded leather reinforcement will keep the leather feeling stiffer than Velodon because it's a lot thicker (ie, 0.4mm versus 0.05mm). I own a strap by Colareb in Italy, it's about 2mm thick, single layer, smooth on the backside. It's quite supple. I don't wear it regularly but it's definitely stretching out in a way lined straps don't. High quality supple leather lined with Zermatt and using Velodon will feel the most comfortable from the start. I use Salpa when I need the added thickness between my top leather and Zermatt lining. Otherwise it's Velodon.

Thanks, I'll definitely check this out.

Thanks. It's actually some chrome tan leather from a leather store remnants bin. Too soft to be useful.

I have Olfa $10 cutters and like them too. The pricking irons are Since brand, 2.7mm. the Maine 0.02" thread works well with those. Here's a picture for you. My fav thread though for appearance is Fil au Chinois 832, it's about 0.4mm thick, looks beautiful. Thanks for the Belgium tip!

$1,400 CAD is about $1,000 US when you convert at retail and take into account transaction fee credit cards charge. So you're able to do it for tools. But then supplies cost me another a few hundred believe it or not. And then there's the leather of course You'll have money in shipping from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply to within the US of that's where you live. Free shipping on orders over $100 there, and no Duty or Brokerage fees either. Those three costs have cost me a lot of money being in Canada. If I get ambitious I'll update my spreadsheet to indicate what not to buy but it won't knock a lot off the $2,500 CAD ($1,500 US) I've spent so far. Tandy prices in the US may be better too than their stores in Canada.

Thanks, I'll have to check it out.

These are all in Canadian dollars but I bought a $50 Weaver 24mm Japanese skiving knife, it works well for me, a $95 Tandy Pro 35mm skiving knife that is very hard metal so I'll have to really work at sharpening it, a $40 35mm skiving knife from Japan (leathercrafttools.com) which works well enough, a $20 adjustable width creaser from Tandy, a $150 very nice quarter round knife from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply which I use for cutting but not skiving, a $20 edge groover which I don't use anymore because I've heard it's not a good idea, you expose the unprotected leather, $100 Tandy Pro French pricking irons (6 and 2 prong set), Tandy poundo board, Tandy folding self-healing cutting mat, Tandy 6x6" granite slab, edge bevelers ($50 Tandy Pro and $20 Weaver), wing divider, a $25 round hollow hole multi-hole punch from Wuta Leather, plus some other tools. Actually, although not entirely updated, this pdf document shows over $1,400 CAD when you include the multitude of small dollar items. As per my first paragraph, some I don't use anymore as they aren't good quality or aren't needed for me making watch straps. I see some Maine thread is miscategorized as tools, should be supplies. Spreadsheet of Leather Tools.pdf

Thanks, much appreciated suggestions. I'm finding getting sturdy templates, ie, acrylic, for my wrist size, 65mm for the short strap and 105 or 110 for the long strap, so far, impossible. Paper templates are okay if I'm super careful with cutting but I'm not yet there and get nervous using paper templates as I've already cut into them so many times.

I hear you, my tool costs have gone up though as I try to make something I'd actually wear. I've been keeping track of my expenses, by now I could have bought about 50 straps or more from the Vietnamese strapmakers, lol. A not insignifcant part of that cost is shipping and customs/brokerage fees, there is a Tandy Leather store here I buy from but for better tools and especially leathers, I am importing to Canada, mostly from RMLS. I agree, there is the pride of DIY. I'm not there yet though, I'm hoping within another 6 months I'll be at a level where the straps I make are good enough that I would otherwise buy them.

Thanks Mablung, you are right, there are. Problem for me is finding them, when I do multiple word searches, whether I use 'AND' or "watch straps", etc, I get threads that don't follow the search rules I used. And they are located in some many different sub-forums. You are right about your observations, although I base that only on what I've heard from others, I haven't tried making anything else from leather so I don't have a comparison myself. And my interest is entirely focused on watch straps, it's an off-shoot of my watch collecting hobby.

I got into trying to make my own leather watch straps about 5 months ago after spending what I thought was a lot of money on straps, even though I had started buying straps from Tuns in Vietnam. They worked out to $35 to $50 USD for most of the leather types, with a 15% discount on two or more straps, and only about $5 USD for shipping. I figured, two or three hundred dollars on equipment and I can learn to make straps 'just like those YouTubers, lol. Well not I'm well into it with tools, some good, some bad, various leather types, and threads, inexpensive to expensive (Fil au Chinois). I soon realized that a) the good strap-makers on YouTube are probably doing it eight hours a day, full-time; b) some of them are terrible; and c) it's a heck of a lot harder than I could have imagined, I'm spending 2 or 3 hours a day leatherworking and almost as much time watching videos and reading forums like this one. So, not quite a full-time hobby, but my days do seem to revolve around it. I'm finding this forum probably the best site for me to learn about leatherwork, along with YouTube I do use the r/leathercraft forum, facebook much less so. I didn't see a dedicated sub-forum here for strap-making so thought I'd create this one to make it easier going forward for me and others to find information, especially current information as many websites selling leather and tools/supplies are no longer in existence. Looking forward to your contributions, both what you have made or are making, and tips/tricks, as well as general knowledge sharing. Oops, I thought I was creating new category under Other Specialties. I'll ask the Administrator if they can do that.