Making Rounds For Bag Handles

[lranger]

Here's a pic of the one I made.

[CustomDoug]

Wouldn't these do the same thing? : http://tooltown.com/shop-by-category/clamps/8-sheet-metal-clamp-vise-grip-style/

I saw these at Harbor Freight too, they look very similar but I'm not sure either one locks.. maybe some kind of a strong rubber band strap doubled over a couple of times would work to "lock" them, for a cheap alternative? :

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-jaw-straight-sheet-metal-seamer-98728.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-flat-jaw-welding-pliers-93062.html

Doug C

Edited November 19, 2014 by CustomDoug

[billybopp]

I think the trick with these is that the jaws need to be parallel. If you look at the tool town vise grips, the jaws meet only at the very tips, and any material would have to be pretty thick to make them truly parallel. Those would likely mark the leather. The harbor freight ones are harder to tell, since they are pictured in the open position. The then again, at $7 and $15, I'm sure a body could make 'em work even if they aren't exactly right!

Bill

[lranger]

I have a pair of the sheet metal claps. They definitely mark the leather bad. The new type of vice grips that billybopp is talking about, which I also have, are better, technically, because the jaws stay parallel. But, I didn't want to use my "good" vice grips. The ones I made in the picture work fine. They do leave some marks, but they are minimal if you don't gorilla grip 'em down. The leather is really wet when you use them for going around a cantle and the horn, so any marks that are made can easily be rubbed out. Usually, the clamped area is not going to be visable in the finished product anyway. If the leather is dry, like in making these rolled handles, they don't leave a mark. I used them on the handbag pictured in my thread "First Attempt at Handbags. It costs virtually nothing to make them, and the ones you can buy start at about $75.00. Your choice.