Perforating A Watch Strap/ Working With Kangaroo

[Neillo]

Hey everyone,

I've been making some watch straps lately and they've been turning out nice, but I want to try my hand at making a "driving" style, perforated strap for sport use and for the hotter Australian weather (110-115 degrees!)

Here's a pic of what I mean:

I've thought about making the strap and then going at it with a tandy 9 in 1 punch, but i'm unsure of the punch spacing and how it'd work out; anybody have any ideas on how i could ventilate my straps like the one above?

Also, on a somewhat related note; i've recently acquired a nice kangaroo skin and would like to make a few straps and other goods with it; but testing shows that the leather creases like crazy even with thinner threads and stitches up to 12SPI! I figure it's because the leather is very thin and has huge amounts of stretch but i could be wrong!

Is there any material i can sandwich in between 2 layers of the kangaroo to reduce a lot of stretch? I was toying with the idea of using poly webbing but would much prefer a type of leather that has almost no stretch, any ideas?

Thanks in advance guys!

Edited March 20, 2014 by Neillo

[Tree Reaper]

Do a search on eBay, you can buy perforated leather.

Fiberglass tape may solve the other problem.

[WScott]

That would be a cool project

Sorry I have nothing intelligent to add to help, but I would love to see you post the project as it moves along!

[Neillo]

Do a search on eBay, you can buy perforated leather.

Fiberglass tape may solve the other problem.

I did look into that, but gluing up to match the holes and the have to re-punch them would be a nightmare!

Fibre tape might do the trick if i can't find low-stretch leather, thanks for the idea!

I could make a template to mark the holes individually and punch every single one by hand, but i could never get it as accurate and consistent as the pic, some kind of multi punch would probably do in a pinch I guess but i'm not sure where to find such a thing

[Tree Reaper]

I thought you were only going to have one layer on top with the holes and a solid colour underneath.

For more than one layer you could use a jig with dowels and just drop the glued strap on top of the first one, that way all the holes line up.

To punch through more than one layer, one complete strap at a time you could purchase the tubes and make your own punch from a block of wood or plastic, the only other option would be to have a shop make it for you.

If you purchased the tubes a machine shop would likely charge you a hundred bucks or so to lay out a block and mill it.

Another option would be a drill press, make your layout , center punch each + and then drill each one.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Tree Reaper

[Tree Reaper]

Have you looked at this lacing punch ?

http://springfieldleather.com/29097/Punch%2C4-in-1%2CLacing-Hole/

[Neillo]

Have you looked at this lacing punch ?

http://springfieldleather.com/29097/Punch%2C4-in-1%2CLacing-Hole/

They look really good actually, thanks for the link.

Might check out the local leather place to see if they have those punches, 3/32 is a good size and replaceable tubes are great!