Ostrich belts

[patricweill]

hello guys,

I have found a stock of nice ostrich necks, and I am proceeding in making belts, I can get 2 belts per neck in the best ones.

My problem is in gluing the ostrich skin to the blank. The flesh side of the ostrich is very messy, a lot of loose or almost loose fibers , and therefore the edge of the belt sometime has a tendency to lift up. any tricks that I need to know ?

Thanks in advanche

a sample

[rickybobby]

Patricweill,

I have not worked with ostrich yet, so I am not sure how to direct you for the problem, but I wanted to say how nice the belt is that you posted!

Beautiful job!

I did not know you could use the neck skin.

Welcome to the Forum, I wish I knew the answer but someone here will know.

Rick J.

[Rawhide]

can you sand the back with sandpaper? I know this is what could be done on cow, but I've never worked with ostrich before.

Marlon.

[Bob]

Thats an interesting problem you have there. I know ostrich necks are thin and loose in grain. The only thing I would consider is using the best glue technique possible. I use two light coats of contact cement and allow complete drying. Then sew closer to the edge, then use a bisenette edger to trim the edges back right next to the thread.

One more note. when glueing the liner down to the ostrich. put the ostrich face down and glue the liner on from the top. Trim the ostrich off the liner after glueing. This should give you a nice clean edge for sewing. Try angleing your knife when trimming off the ostrich, cutting it back from the edge somewhat, that may help with sewing close to the edge.

hope this helps you out.

[badLoveLeather]

The aligator I work with is like this. You have to trim those hairs of flesh with scissors and get as many off as possible. I use barge glue and that will hold almost anything down.

Where are you gettin tanned neck?

[Hennessy]

The aligator I work with is like this. You have to trim those hairs of flesh with scissors and get as many off as possible. I use barge glue and that will hold almost anything down.

Where are you gettin tanned neck?

sometimes i get good results by burning fluff off stuff with a bic lighter.peter john

[swivelsphinx]

I'm a self-taught leather worker who has been fortunate to get advice from professionally trained folks who make everything from shoes to cartridge belts.

The nice thing about ostrich necks and legs, is that the leather is fairly thick and durable (at least in comparison to snake). I treat it like doing overlay with deer or elk.

If you have a fairly long piece, you can cut the longer/larger hangy bits on the back with something like a cuticle scissor. Then, you may want to "break the finish" of the topgrain belt leather *and* make the back of the ostrich more consistant. I use a palm sander with medium to rough sandpaper. They only need a few passes. You want the texture to be slightly rough on the top grain, and then just somewhat consistant on the ostrich. I give them both a little wipedown with a slightly damp shop rag to get rid of any dust, then apply barge to both pieces. I tend to edge things like belts *after* the two pieces have adhered properly with a smaller sized edger, then touch up the edge with a dye or an antique. People who are picky about such things also may choose to sew the two layers together. I do my punching *after* assembly, but some people don't care for that method, and prefer to puch them then line them up for gluing.

If the pieces are smaller than the sander, you can sand by hand, or use a 'rougher. I use a file brush (used to clean files) for littler pieces. For roughing really narrow bits of leather such as for "frames", I get out the Dremel with a course grain barrel. One or two passes should do it.

swivelsphinx

[kevinhopkins]

Hi...Swivelsphinx is on the right track! Joining ostrich, especially the neck, can be a bit tedious. You do have to sand it on the back, and sand the other pc on the top. You'll need to be working with a razor sharp exacto, (it's what Bo and I use) or something similar. just make sure that your glue is thinned properly, and glue it down. You should have one of those little all purpose erasers that will take contact cement off of finished leather. If you don't, you'll have to be more careful than I can be. (those erasers are worth their weight in gold) With a bit of practice, you can splice so that no one will be able to see it..... especially if they're over 50.

Kevin Hopkins