Some Bicycle Saddle Bags

[slipangle]

Hi Michele, and thank you,

By cutouts, I presume you mean these. This one I did with a half inch hole punch, and freehanded the rest.

On this one, I made a paper pattern cutout of them Motobecane "M", then attached it temporarily to the leather with rubber cement. Then used a scalpel to cut it out.

[silverwingit]

Thanks for the reply, slipangle!

One more question arises. My hole punches always leave a bit of a "chamfer" or slope to the cut edges. Do you use a special sharpening technique or perhaps you know of an especially sharp punch?

My jaw is still dropped over your super clean cutouts!

Michelle

[bigorange]

Handsome work !, I also love the classic Brooks saddle w/ rivits !

[slipangle]

Hi Michelle,

If I understand correctly, you are referring to those large holes I punched, as in that bag with the clover leaf. (logo of Colnago bicycles). Mine too have a sort of a "chamfer" to the finished hole. That is, the grain side and the flesh side exhibit not quite the same size hole. Close but, the flesh side exit hole is always is a tiny bit smaller. When the hole is punched from the grain side.

That is the nature of hole punches, Michelle. They have a bevel ground to the cutting edge. Like any cutting tool, that edge must be strong enough to withstand the force of punching and still have the edge hold up. You can, however, sharpen a hole punch with a more acute, or sharper, bevel, but the more acute angle you grind, the more you run the risk of the edge collapsing.

The bevel-shaped hole edge is more noticeable, of course, the thicker the leather. If you are working with thinner leathers, you can always make a very thin-walled punch out of steel tubing with an edge ground on to it. I've got one I made. Of course, you need various sizes of steel tubing to do that.

Hope I've understood your question correctly.

By the way, the chamfer to the hole's edge can be lessened somewhat when burnishing. Flattening it out a bit, effectively.

Although I couldn't do this much on this 8 ounce black chrome tanned. But a little.

Slip

Thanks for the reply, slipangle!

One more question arises. My hole punches always leave a bit of a "chamfer" or slope to the cut edges. Do you use a special sharpening technique or perhaps you know of an especially sharp punch?

My jaw is still dropped over your super clean cutouts!

Michelle

[silverwingit]

Yes, slip, you understood perfectly. And I understand your reply. I think I'll try to sharpen my hole punches so that they have a bit steeper bevel on their edges.

Thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful reply!

Michelle

[slipangle]

I think it's safe, Michelle, as long as you don't go too steep. And they're not subject to heavy pounding.

I just did one this morning. It's very handy to have a lathe to hold these in while filing and sanding the bevel,

But can be done by hand on a belt sander too, if you're careful.

Good luck,

Slip

[silverwingit]

Slip, I happen to have a mini lathe. I'll use it to steepen the bevel on one set of punches I have. I'll leave my other punches for heavy-duty work. I'll try to use the re-ground punches to attempt some cutouts, hoping for the kind of success you demonstrate.

Thanks much and keep up the good work.

Michelle

[pmreed]

Fine looking work! You mention Waterhouse Leather. I just found out about them, minutes ago. Being in Western MA, I'm interested in giving them a try.

[slipangle]

Thank you, PMReed. Waterhouse is a great place, run by a real nice guy. Peter Benchley. He knows his leather and has some nice stuff on his site. Pretty reasonable too, I thought.

[biglew]

looks excellent