Simple Lace Making Tool

[builderofstuff]

Since I make all of my projects from scrap leather one of the things I do with a lot of it is cut it into lace for braiding and lacing, etc. Since I make my own lace from scraps it's more often than not to thick to really be used for braiding. So I made this simple lace thinning and beveling tool today. Made from some scrap aluminum left over from a casting project, a 608 rollerblade bearing, a 5/16-18 bolt, and some 4-40 screws. The bearing end has a 20 degree angle on it and the blade is held clamped between the end piece and the main body, the other end has a 30 degree angle from top to bottom for beveling. I get tired of the cost of injector blades so I make my blades from inexpensive single edge razor blades. I clamp them between two pieces of metal and use a third, the length of the razor blade, to snap them off, making a blade the same size as the injector blades. Only takes a second to do and saves me a bunch on blades. I also use these in my tandy lace cutter.

When I make lace I start with a tandy lace cutter then use this to thin and bevel the lace.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

example of lace I made with this tool

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[dirtclod]

Neat ldeal . But i guess i'm just stupid because i don't understand exactly how it works. Can you take some pictures when you cutting and beveling something ? I think i could get it then.

[leatherman1457]

Chris. Do you sell these things or trade. I want one. I make cocobolo burnishers. I am willing to buy one or trade for one. I like your lace cutter . Gary

Edited July 29, 2010 by leatherman1457

[builderofstuff]

  On 7/29/2010 at 2:43 AM, dirtclod said:

Neat ldeal . But i guess i'm just stupid because i don't understand exactly how it works. Can you take some pictures when you cutting and beveling something ? I think i could get it then.

Nah, you're not stupid, I could see where it would be confusing not seeing it work. Basically to thin the lace you loosen the bolt through the bearing, the bearing slides towards or away from the blade, and the lace is run over the bearing and under the blade.

I'll try and get some pictures.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

  On 7/29/2010 at 3:23 AM, leatherman1457 said:

Chris. Do you sell these things or trade. I want one. I make cocobolo burnishers. I am willing to buy one or trade for one. I like your lace cutter . Gary

I had thought about making up a few to sell. Would give me more leatherworking hobby money. hahaha I'll look and see about getting some barstock into make up some. I've already got the machine code written since I used my cnc to make this one. The process would have been a lot quicker if one I hadn't been working out the design while making it, and two if I had started with a piece of barstock rather than starting with a cutoff from a casting project. But for a prototype it works well.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[albane]

BUILDEROFSTUFF,

Dig the handle.....(makes me want to say it with my THOR voice) lol

If you tool up and make some of your lace tools put me down for 2

Thanks,

[Bevan]

[

Verry similar to mine mate !!! i like the bearing idea tho , cheers for posting

Bevan

www.bwrwhips.com

Edited July 29, 2010 by Bevan

[builderofstuff]

  On 7/29/2010 at 12:10 PM, Bevan said:

[

Verry similar to mine mate !!! i like the bearing idea tho , cheers for posting

Bevan

www.bwrwhips.com

Yours was the inspiration. A friend sent me a link to a picture of yours and that's what started it. I'd been looking for a way to turn the lace I cut from scraps into usable lace, but I really don't have a lot of money to put into my leather hobby at this point. I'm self-employed at this point and don't always have a lot of extra cash for my hobby. So the one that I made was a means to an end, and was made from items and materials I had laying around in my junk pile.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[builderofstuff]

Here are some pictures to show how it's used.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[builderofstuff]

The bearing has 1" of travel, so you can use it to cut strips to different widths as well as thinning them. However, since all of it I make I use for either braiding or lacing I haven't tried thinning down anything wider than lace. Theoretically you should be able to stack several bearings on top of each other to make the rolling surface wider, what I haven't tried is to see how flexible the blade will be sticking out farther. I guess that needs to be an experiment in the near future.

[dirtclod]

Thanks for the pictures. It makes sense on how it works now.

[builderofstuff]

  On 7/29/2010 at 10:57 PM, dirtclod said:

Thanks for the pictures. It makes sense on how it works now.

No problem

Chris

[builderofstuff]

I think this week I might order up some materials to make up a batch of these lace cutters. I've redesigned it a bit to incorporate the second little tool that I cam up with for actually cutting the lace. The bearing will slide to the other end of the tool and allow you to cut the lace from a piece of scrap. Anyway I'm trying to decide how much of the materials I should order up so if you're interested in one of these lace cutting tools pm me and give me a heads up.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

[Melanie Wilfong]

  On 8/8/2010 at 4:35 PM, builderofstuff said:

I think this week I might order up some materials to make up a batch of these lace cutters. I've redesigned it a bit to incorporate the second little tool that I cam up with for actually cutting the lace. The bearing will slide to the other end of the tool and allow you to cut the lace from a piece of scrap. Anyway I'm trying to decide how much of the materials I should order up so if you're interested in one of these lace cutting tools pm me and give me a heads up.

Chris

www.builderofstuff.com

Do you have a price in mind?

[builderofstuff]

  On 2/11/2011 at 2:49 PM, Melanie Wilfong said:

Do you have a price in mind?

Not really. I haven't worked on that lacemaker in a while. I've got all of the drawings done up for it, but with business being slow this year and money being tight I haven't ordered up any materials to make a batch of them. I guess I need to do that and get some made up.

Chris