Trimming Excess Or Made To Exact Size?

[DavidL]

Which way do you prefer, trimming excess or to cut the piece to exact size and glue?

What I'm talking about is when you are making a handle or anything that has to match up and be glued flesh to flesh seamlessly which way do you do it and why do you prefer that way?

There are 3 ways of achieving a flush edge as far as I know

For a handle.

1. cut to the pattern and fold over if its a one piece handle and glue where the pieces lay flush. sand pieces flush.

2. make the part that needs to be flush larger on both pieces and scribe a line to mark where the edge needs to be. Cut the scribed line. sand pieces flush.

3. Same as number two but cut one half of the pattern to size and the other leave excess. Glue the larger piece to the one cut to size and trim around the edge of the smaller piece. sand pieces flush.

4. most consistent way I seen is to get two pieces glue them flesh to flesh and use a clicker die.

Please share the way you do these type of things so I can get a few different perspectives.

[Basically Bob]

I use 1 and 3, depending on the application. 3 for molded cases, 1 for pretty much everything else. Suggest you refer to Al Stohlman's: the Art of Making Cases Volume 2 for handle construction and finishing.

[BDAZ]

For making cases I will cut slightly large, decorate and then glue top to bottom, trim then stitch,

Cya!

Bob

[DavidL]

thanks for the suggestions.

[Dwight]

I'm pretty much a "cut the other one big, . . . you can always trim it" type of guy. Holsters, belts, sheaths, . . . whatever. If gluing is involved, . . . there is always the risk of bad position ruining a project, . . . sanding or cutting off a bit of extra leather is a whole bunch easier and cheaper than trying to "cut to fit", . . . in my opinion.

May God bless,

Dwight

[chiefjason]

Cut long, glue, trim, sand. Especially handy on welted knife sheaths. The one thing worse than lining up 2 pieces of leather is lining up 3 or 4.

[DS STRAPS]

_{I have been wondering about this lately as I have been attempting to get into using patterns for wallets and bags. I have been looking at all these designs with curves in them and wondering how I would glue 3 layers, with each piece having a different curve cut, because even though you use the same pattern I can't imagine the pieces will be exactly the same. Unless everyone is just that good at cutting out pieces}

[unicornleather]

In the saddlery trade we cut off excess and never cut to size. Leather is a natural product with lots of variables and cutting it to size is a bit of a gamble if one part of the hide is denser than the other you are stitching it to and the two sides can move slightly even if glued or tacked. It's far easier to trim off the excess then work the leather to gain the desired end result.

Oz (English country Saddler)

[Craftsman Made]

I'm with unicorn couldn't agree more. Stitch and trim is how I do it.