Splicing- A Lot Of Leather Straps

[benology]

Hi all,

I've come across leather straps in various trim stores that have been seamlessly spliced together and then rolled into large rolls (similar to binding in the garment industry). My goal is to figure out the best way to splice HUNDREDS of straps in the most EFFICIENT way possible. The leather i'm using is fairly soft 2 oz. cow hide and the straps are 1/2". Right now, I cut the straps using a belt cutter so all of the straps are straight. I've tried hand tools to splice but that process is far too slow, and i've tried the machines with the circular blade but the leather is too soft and does not cut cleanly. My products are primarily hand woven leather bags, and i'm currently losing a lot of leather because i can't joint the pieces. If i was able to joint them, i could cut them to the exact size prior to weaving.

I need an efficient "industrial" splicing technique, and a list of the proper machines to do the job.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...and i'd be happy to send you free bags in return if i can solve this problem.

-Ben.

PS. I've attached a simple sketch of the lap skiving for you visual folks.

[rcsaddles]

I'm not seeing the attachment. If you can retry that it would help me.

[benology]

Here are the pictures. If you look closely you can see where it's joined on the front and back. I've found companies who do this service here in Los Angeles but they don't want to give up their secret, understandable so. Thanks! -Ben

[Southtexas]

Here are the pictures. If you look closely you can see where it's joined on the front and back. I've found companies who do this service here in Los Angeles but they don't want to give up their secret, understandable so. Thanks! -Ben

You might want to do a search on http://www.freepatentsonline.com for "splicing leather belts". A quick look showed several listings. If you find the patent that pertains to your project, you can look up the patent holder for info on availability.

Or you can glean some ideas for a way to do it yourself...

[Southtexas]

Here are the pictures. If you look closely you can see where it's joined on the front and back. I've found companies who do this service here in Los Angeles but they don't want to give up their secret, understandable so. Thanks! -Ben

http://www.freepaten...com/3858244.pdf appears to be the patent for the product you show. Might be worth contacting the patent holder.

[benology]

Hi everyone. It's been a while but i'm back.... still trying to figure this issue out. Any suggestions would help a lot. I've tried to skive the ends of 1/2" wide traps on a traditional skiver but it just eats up the strap end, leaving a less than perfect skive. There's probably not enough mass to feed it across blade.

[electrathon]

My idea would be to get a tapered jig made. Put your strap in a channel, there are tapered guides on the sides. Push a skiving knife, round knife or razer blade down the guides and you have a perfectly tapered skive. Should take about 3 seconds each.

[Tree Reaper]

A belt sander and a jig would probably do a few at a time, taking only seconds.

[Cyberthrasher]

reading through that patent, it actually looks like they patented the process itself. But, I'm new to reading patents, so I could be wrong.

[Les No6]

Here are the pictures. If you look closely you can see where it's joined on the front and back. I've found companies who do this service here in Los Angeles but they don't want to give up their secret, understandable so. Thanks! -Ben

You want a skiver used in book binding these are for the thiner softer leathers and called paring machines you need to start with much broader strips of leather broad enough to pull through the skiver then glue these together with good contact adhesive when dry cut into widths that you want. Here's one in use and can be found at book binding suppliers.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=KPvDZOf-O98&feature=related