Best Edge

[brettra]

Hello everyone. I am making a bag out of Stoned Oiled cowhide. I have tried skiving and folding and don't believe I will have much luck with this method . Of course burnishing is out.

Looking for some tips on what people believe would be the best method of finishing the edges. The majority of the bag will be sewn inside so mode the edges will not be exposed except the flap and the inside edge.

Anyway, I'm thinking a strip of 2oz calfskin wrapped over the edge and sewn on would make a nice edge. Is this the best way? Any other thoughts or ideas.

Once again, thanks to the community for any support or ideas.

Scott

[Ferg]

I have used the 2oz calf skin for the wrapped edge. Looks absolutely beautiful if you keep your stitches perfectly aligned. I like a slightly different shade of dye on the wrap than body of bag.

ferg

Hello everyone. I am making a bag out of Stoned Oiled cowhide. I have tried skiving and folding and don't believe I will have much luck with this method . Of course burnishing is out.

Looking for some tips on what people believe would be the best method of finishing the edges. The majority of the bag will be sewn inside so mode the edges will not be exposed except the flap and the inside edge.

Anyway, I'm thinking a strip of 2oz calfskin wrapped over the edge and sewn on would make a nice edge. Is this the best way? Any other thoughts or ideas.

Once again, thanks to the community for any support or ideas.

Scott

[brettra]

Thanks Ferg,

Are there any particular tricks that work well for edging with calf skin and the line-up of the stitches. I'm thinking that an oversized piece trimmed after stitching may be best. Also, I'm guessing a sewing awl and reel may be the best to work in a lock-stitch.

I had a brain fart moment also and figured a double loop lacing may be a nice finish. Brain fart moment as I just finished lacing a belt this way

I'll try a test on a strip with some 2oz calf and see if I can achieve the clean stitching needed. I appreciate the input

Edited August 14, 2011 by brettra

[rickeyfro]

Check out Kevin Kings Wallet Binding tutorial. Its under the Purses, Wallets & Belts Section of the forum. Heres a link. Rick http://leatherworker...p?showtopic=836

Thanks Ferg,

Are there any particular tricks that work well for edging with calf skin and the line-up of the stitches. I'm thinking that an oversized piece trimmed after stitching may be best. Also, I'm guessing a sewing awl and reel may be the best to work in a lock-stitch.

I had a brain fart moment also and figured a double loop lacing may be a nice finish. Brain fart moment as I just finished lacing a belt this way

I'll try a test on a strip with some 2oz calf and see if I can achieve the clean stitching needed. I appreciate the input

Edited August 14, 2011 by rickeyfro

[brettra]

Rick,

Thank you. I had seen this before but could not find it. This was the idea I had in mind bout would not have figured it out without reference. I'm not sure how well I'd manage this with hand stitching so I'm starting to gear towards some lace but I think I'll try my practice piece.

Again, great help and assistance. Thank you both for taking the time to respond.

Scott

[rickeyfro]

Scott, Id do just that, if you need to turn out a product use some braid but start practicing with the handstitching, it never looks perfect the first few times but from my experience the thing that helps most with handstitching is practice along with just go slow and concentrate on precision, carefully get your holes marked straight and even and get your awl work down and punch all your holes the same. Ive also found some good tools help alot, a good quality awl (Bob Douglas) and some good stitch markers. That and some kind of stitching pony or horse. I got pretty good pretty quickly and even after getting a sewing machine I still really prefer handstitching sometimes, I find it relaxing if you can believe that.

tte name='brettra' timestamp='1313295469' post='209530']

Rick,

Thank you. I had seen this before but could not find it. This was the idea I had in mind bout would not have figured it out without reference. I'm not sure how well I'd manage this with hand stitching so I'm starting to gear towards some lace but I think I'll try my practice piece.

Again, great help and assistance. Thank you both for taking the time to respond.

Scott

[dbusarow]

Rick,

Thank you. I had seen this before but could not find it. This was the idea I had in mind bout would not have figured it out without reference. I'm not sure how well I'd manage this with hand stitching so I'm starting to gear towards some lace but I think I'll try my practice piece.

Again, great help and assistance. Thank you both for taking the time to respond.

Scott

If you are hand stitching the rest of it you'll do fine. I've only used this technique with a machine but the only downside to hand stitching is that you have to go over the length twice, so it is a lot of stitches. But then you are only stitching 2 layers, one very thin the other fairly thin, so stabbing should be easy. I say hand stitch it and post the results!

Dan

[brettra]

I'm sewing the inside of the bag with a whip stitch right now..... about as relaxed as I can get

I've rushed few projects so now when I get frustrated or tired. The work stops. I've been finding things coming out better that way. Lots of practice in the works. Great having people to bounce ideas and questions off of though.. .it's really made a difference in actually completing some projects.

Thanks all,

Scott

[Leather Bum]

One of my least favorite steps in a project is edge burnishing; it pretty much never comes out as nice as I would like -- especially on chrome-tanned leathers (or other non-vegetable tanned leathers). I've managed to run an edge bind similar to Kevin King's except without stitching twice (with one of the stitch lines hidden). I'm not sure it's nearly as classy as KK's, but it's the closest I've come up with so far, as I don't have a sewing machine either. . .

Here's a closeup of the edge of a book cover (unfortunately, the inside looks even less neat):

[Ferg]

I think you done a very good job on the edge, especially since you hand stitched.

Nice color choice on the leather and thread.

ferg

One of my least favorite steps in a project is edge burnishing; it pretty much never comes out as nice as I would like -- especially on chrome-tanned leathers (or other non-vegetable tanned leathers). I've managed to run an edge bind similar to Kevin King's except without stitching twice (with one of the stitch lines hidden). I'm not sure it's nearly as classy as KK's, but it's the closest I've come up with so far, as I don't have a sewing machine either. . .

Here's a closeup of the edge of a book cover (unfortunately, the inside looks even less neat):

[brettra]

How are you burnishing the chrome tan? Extra steps or differences in burnishing veggie?

My understanding is that it is extremely difficult.

Thanks,

Scott

One of my least favorite steps in a project is edge burnishing; it pretty much never comes out as nice as I would like -- especially on chrome-tanned leathers (or other non-vegetable tanned leathers). I've managed to run an edge bind similar to Kevin King's except without stitching twice (with one of the stitch lines hidden). I'm not sure it's nearly as classy as KK's, but it's the closest I've come up with so far, as I don't have a sewing machine either. . .

Here's a closeup of the edge of a book cover (unfortunately, the inside looks even less neat):

[Leather Bum]

My understanding is that it is extremely difficult.

Yes, that's what I've found to be true, too. The chrome-tanned leather doesn't usually burnish with water like veg-tanned leather, so extra (and different) steps are usually necessary for me, as I don't really have a power burnisher like the Fantastic Leather Burnisher (which apparently can slick the edges of leathers such as latigo). What I end up doing is sanding the edges with finer and finer grits (so time consuming!), but it still seems too rough. So I might try using gum tragacanth or Leather Sheen to stiffen the leather fibers; that way the sand paper can actually smooth the edge instead of just continually roughing up the fibers. This doesn't always seem to work, though, and I'll still end up with an unevenly smoothed edge or a highly visible seam because one layer of leather might compress more when sanding than another layer. . . And burnishing with wax does not always fix the look either.

If anyone else has a method to successfully slick chrome-tanned leather edges, I would definitely be interested to learn how to as well! Then again, many times I am not satisfied with the way some veg-tanned leathers slick either. . .

Micah

Edited August 16, 2011 by Leather Bum