Dark green watch strap with black lining

[Northmount]

On 12/12/2022 at 2:40 AM, Danne said:

Yes, it's true. Often when I look at some older posts on a forum, links to photos are broken. 

Uploaded your photos and removed 3rd party links.

[Danne]

15 minutes ago, Northmount said:

Uploaded your photos and removed 3rd party links.

Ohh, really nice of you. Sorry I will try to think of this in the future. It's quick and easy to batch resize in photoshop when I do my best to correct light and such.

[Schick]

Hi. I am a beginner, and very interested in doing watch straps. I appreciate your post very much. I really like the stitching and the edge work.

 

I hope you don't mind, but as a beginner, I have a few questions I hope you might answer.

-What is the leather weight/thickness you used for the top and lining? I find skiving thin leather a bit of a challenge so far. :-)

-What chisel size did you use for the stitching holes? I have a set of 2mm and 3mm punches.

-Do you use a stencil? I bought a few acrylic stencils, but have yet to try them. Not sure how, frankly.

-Did you teach yourself how to do this? I have watched a few videos, but find some conflicting techniques. I have yet to find a book.

 

You are inspiring. Thanks for the post and images. I really want to make straps. :-)

[Danne]

6 hours ago, Schick said:

Hi. I am a beginner, and very interested in doing watch straps. I appreciate your post very much. I really like the stitching and the edge work.

 

I hope you don't mind, but as a beginner, I have a few questions I hope you might answer.

-What is the leather weight/thickness you used for the top and lining? I find skiving thin leather a bit of a challenge so far. :-)

-What chisel size did you use for the stitching holes? I have a set of 2mm and 3mm punches.

-Do you use a stencil? I bought a few acrylic stencils, but have yet to try them. Not sure how, frankly.

-Did you teach yourself how to do this? I have watched a few videos, but find some conflicting techniques. I have yet to find a book.

 

You are inspiring. Thanks for the post and images. I really want to make straps. :-)

Thank you,

This watch have quite tight clearance between spring bars and case, so I had to take that into consideration when making this strap.

Leather weights - Top layer: 0.9mm + 0.2mm velodon (dimensionally stable reinforcement material) lining: 1mm

Stitching - 3mm/9spi and 0.3mm synthetic thread (Meisi Xiange twist #35) I have irons in 2.7/10spi and 2.45/11spi, and most people would probably see them as more suitable for this thread weight, but I like this look.

Templates - I make my own templates, print them and glue to thicker card paper. I used the same template as I use for straps with thicker padding, and it's a construction where I assemble the strap oversized and flush cut it to size, which have a quite steep learning curve, especially if not using acrylic templates. (See my photo, it's the same template I used for this strap) I did actually upload some templates yesterday. 125-75mm and 18-22, with and without taper. I guess you use letter size in Canada? I haven't tried printing it in letter size since I'm from europe. But please try and update me, it should fit, it does when I show it in letter size preview in printer settings, but not sure if the dimensions will be correct. 

When you have skived the edges and folded and glued them in place, you cut an oversized lining and skive the ends (two ends on the short strap, and one end on the longer, glue in place and trim excess from the top. It can be easy to "stab" your way around with a skiving knife, and then if you are going to paint your edges, you will have to sand it so it's slightly under the final dimensions in width, how much will depend on the viscosity of your edge paint, and how many layers and such. I usually sand to around -0.2/0.3mm when using Fenice or Uniters (multiple coats with heat and sanding in between) this will probably not be the same if you use a higher viscosity edge paint with primer.

How I learned this - A lot of trial and error, and prototypes, and also analyzing other peoples work when people have shared photos on Instagram.

 

 

[Schick]

How incredibly kind and generous to provide all this information.

[CalgaryJim]

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

[MarshalWill]

It's nice to see how they go together. Thanks for that.

58 minutes ago, CalgaryJim said:

... And I see the most important supply item of all, coffee