Lacing - getting started

[Johanna]

I use a thonging chisel to punch the holes. You put the last tine in the last hole you punched and everything stays even. I use a chisel one size smaller than the lace I plan to use. I like it to look tight- and I don't want to see any light through it. I personally can't stand two pronged needles- some people swear by them. I like the Life Eyes (tubular brass) and I sharpen them. The trick to lacing is never let go of your needle(s). You want to keep the lace from getting twisted. If you do get a twist, take the needle off and use a modeling tool or a fid to yank it out. Double up going around corners for an even look. Always start and finish in the back of a project, even though if you do it right, you will never be able to tell where you started and stopped. It is better to splice than it is to drag too much lace through the holes. Too many passes through the holes will make the lacing ragged on the edges. A good rule of thumb is to hold the spool and pull off enough lace equal to a little but longer than your arm. When you are finished, beat it down with a smooth cobblers hammer or the butt of your mallet on your stone.

Hope this helps a little,

Johanna

[UKRay]

More good, helpful advice - thank you kindly Pete, Marlon and Johanna. The trouble is each answer raises more questions so I hope you still have some patience left.

I definitely like the idea of starting at the back (or bottom I guess?) - every time I have started out there is an ugly tangled mess at the beginning as I try to stop the thong pulling through the hole by 'backstitching' or simply tying a knot - this can't be right, so how should I start out a run of lacing? Is there a 'best' way to do this?

I use a three pronged thonging chisel, Johanna, and I do put the prong in the last hole as you suggest but it gets very difficult going round corners. I have a single tine punch but no matter how careful I am, my spacing doesn't seem to match the fork. Is this just a lack of practice or is there a trick to getting this right?

Although I had looked a lot of thong laced work before starting this project I hadn't realised just how many variables there are. I simply put a line of lacing holes along the edge of my belt and got stuck in - I didn't realise that the holes/slots could have been angled, smaller than the lace, punched holes or whatever - I just assumed it was a straightforward process... I won't be doing that again any time soon...

This whole needle business is a bit of a bother to me too. I now have a two pronged needle, which as Marlon so rightly says, makes it easier to keep the thong where it belongs. The trick of punching the holes with a scratch awl works well too, so thanks for that one.

I have tried using the hollow needle and it works - up to a point. Which makes me think I'm still doing something wrong. To start with, it is much harder to push the hollow needle through the slits than the two pronged needle. Having said that, I noticed that you sharpen your needles, Johanna. Do you literally have at them with a file and take them to a point or is this a more subtle thing?

The other issue I have with the hollow needle is that the thonging does pull out of the hollow end very easily. I have twisted it round and round till my fingers are sore but can't seem to make a connection with the threaded bit... any thoughts? I wondered if it would work better if the thonging was wet but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

Splicing is another fun sounding exercise... do you literally skive the leather and then glue the thinned ends together? What glue works best?

[Rawhide]

More good, helpful advice - thank you kindly Pete, Marlon and Johanna. The trouble is each answer raises more questions so I hope you still have some patience left.

I definitely like the idea of starting at the back (or bottom I guess?) - every time I have started out there is an ugly tangled mess at the beginning as I try to stop the thong pulling through the hole by 'backstitching' or simply tying a knot - this can't be right, so how should I start out a run of lacing? Is there a 'best' way to do this?

I use a three pronged thonging chisel, Johanna, and I do put the prong in the last hole as you suggest but it gets very difficult going round corners. I have a single tine punch but no matter how careful I am, my spacing doesn't seem to match the fork. Is this just a lack of practice or is there a trick to getting this right?

Although I had looked a lot of thong laced work before starting this project I hadn't realised just how many variables there are. I simply put a line of lacing holes along the edge of my belt and got stuck in - I didn't realise that the holes/slots could have been angled, smaller than the lace, punched holes or whatever - I just assumed it was a straightforward process... I won't be doing that again any time soon...

This whole needle business is a bit of a bother to me too. I now have a two pronged needle, which as Marlon so rightly says, makes it easier to keep the thong where it belongs. The trick of punching the holes with a scratch awl works well too, so thanks for that one.

I have tried using the hollow needle and it works - up to a point. Which makes me think I'm still doing something wrong. To start with, it is much harder to push the hollow needle through the slits than the two pronged needle. Having said that, I noticed that you sharpen your needles, Johanna. Do you literally have at them with a file and take them to a point or is this a more subtle thing?

The other issue I have with the hollow needle is that the thonging does pull out of the hollow end very easily. I have twisted it round and round till my fingers are sore but can't seem to make a connection with the threaded bit... any thoughts? I wondered if it would work better if the thonging was wet but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

Splicing is another fun sounding exercise... do you literally skive the leather and then glue the thinned ends together? What glue works best?

Ray,

Lots of these questions are answered in that book I mentioned and it's kinda hard to explain them in words, but I'll try.

There is a method to ending a laced project back at the point you started, but it's definitely a watch learn and try process. ( may see if I can put a youtube video together to explain it)

For going around corners, the trick is to start there. Punch all your corner holes first and fill in between with the prong chisel.

Trick for using the hollow needle is to skive the end and taper it to a point and thread this into the needle until it stops, If it breaks on you during lacing, you'll need to burn it out. (Use pliers to hold it and heat the end until the lace comes out.)

The splicing you described is called wet splicing, and I don't like to do it. sometimes there's almost no choice. For glue, use either PVA or contact cement. The book explains wet splicing and dry splicing, which is what I use. There's no glue involved.

Hope this helps Ray.

Marlon

[TwinOaks]

Ray, I'd like to address the issue of the needle coming off the lace. If you're doing it right, it'll never happen. You shouldn't be pulling with the needle- it's only a hard straight tool to point the lace through tight spots like holes, and over/under patterns. If the needle and lace won't pass easily through the hole/slit, you need to wallow it out with the needle or back the needle out and use the fid.

[UKRay]

What would I do without you guys - now I understand why you need the fid... its to open the hole up to poke the needle through. Obvious to everyone in the world but me. I somehow thought I had to 'sew' with the thing and was tugging away like an idiot and breaking the lace every couple of minutes. Cheers, Mike!

I have ordered the book, Marlon. Hopefully it will get me on track quickly as I don't cope well with failure! LOL

[MADMAX22]

Well guess I can throw my experience out there as more of a beginner with alot less time under my belt (about 9months or so). When I first started lacing a project or two I punched holes and used the hollow needles. It worked ok but I had issues.

Since then I have swayed more to the split lock needles like Marlin uses because I find them easy to use, they are really cheap compared to the round hollow needles and I think IMO they tend to go thru the slits easier.

I have changed from punching holes to usiing slits for most of my projects. I think for somethings I will still punch holes but who knows, for now its the slits with a angle to them not straight up and down. Helps make the lace lay down nice and good.

Started hammering down the lace job as well as directed by everyone here and it vastly improves the look of the lacing.

Two grand words of wisdom that I have gotten here WAX your lace lol. That makes a world of difference. And as stated keep track of which way you pull it thru so you dont have to try and roll your lace over because you pulled it thru the wrong way.

Im still learning but am improving and must say this site is a great resource and if you can get ahold of it that book Marlin directed you too is great also.

[TwinOaks]

+1 to Johanna's remark about shorter lace. Not only does the edge get ratty, but repeated pulling of the lace through the 'holes' tends to kill the finish on the lace. You end up with lace that's nice and shiney at the beginning, and dull at the end. Also think about lacing something like a photo album, with a perimeter measurement of ~3 feet (or a meter for our non-US members). Calculate how much lace you'd need to wrap it with a round braid, and imagine pulling that much lace through every hole....twice. Now that you're wincing at the agony of the thought, would you like to have one of my cats?

[8thsinner]

Yes indeed.

Mexican round braid edge lacing is about 8-9 times length needed.

[Beaverslayer]

Well, this is a topic that has and will always have a lot of different opinions. I myself have over the years, pretty much tried them all and have found that, with a little bit of modification to the "Perma Loc" needle (that's the round one) they work far better than the ones Marlon has mentioned.

What I do, is take a file and round the end to a smooth point, taking away the flat tip they have when purchased. This way they will enter a hole, slit or between two laces. Personally, I will only use the round needles.

On the topic of round holes or slits. This all depends on the type of lacing you are doing. For wallets and belt edges, the slits are the best way to go, but if you are going to be lacing the edges of a bike seat, or a garment like I do, then the round holes are the way to go. Sorry Marlon, but I and I believe a whole lot of others would argue the fact that "Round holes look unprofessional". I'm pretty sure you will agree that the lacing I do on one of my vests, is very professional looking.

Depending on the width of lace I am going to use, I will punch my holes 1 size smaller than the lace width. This way, when I'm done the seam and rolled it with a roller, not pounded it with a mallet, the holes are not visible any longer.

I have never used any wax on my lace either. I will, as Johanna has mentioned, only lace with a piece of lace about an arms length, then splice as I go along. If I see the lace getting frayed or wearing faster than normal, I will splice it at that point. Splicing takes practice to master, but once you've got it, you will never be able to see where the splice is.

When I first started out in leather and took up the tedious task of lacing EVERYTHING I make together, (sewing machines scare me) I spent countless hours trying different things to learn how to start and finish the lace. I read all the books, studied all the pictures, got real confused a lot of times. So what I did was to take a bunch of pieces of poster board, punch holes in it, then practice with that. This way I could just rip the lace out of the poster board and start again if I made a mistake or wanted to try a different method. It really saved on lace to practice with.

If you go to the main page of Leatherworker.net, there are 2 tutorials I did on a vest and a hat, each shows how to start, splice and finish lace.

Also, one more point on the round hole over slits debate, round holes will not rip if you try to pull oversized lace through them, as a slit, can and will at times tear open, and then my friends you have a whole new adventure on your hands.

Hope this helps you out.

Ken

Edited December 2, 2008 by Beaverslayer

[UKRay]

Most helpful thanks, Ken. Your tutorials were especially useful and the tip about practicing on card makes good sense too.

The hole v slit debate is interesting for someone new to lacing. I was looking for some kind of indicator - in other words: slits are used for cases and holes are used for garments but it doesn't work like that does it? Ken obviously uses holes all the time for everything and by the sound of it Marlon always uses slits - is this all about ease of use or the way you were taught or what?