Stitch Groover!

[Kezo2006]

Can anybody recommend a good stich groover? I hate the design on my current one.

[electrathon]

Bob Douglas. I have one, it is very nice, I almost never grove. Seems silly to cut off the strongest part of the leather to try to improve your sewing.

[Kezo2006]

Thanks for the advice, I never even thought about that.

[smirak]

I'm new here and I bought a groover. I don't think I've used it. I usually just use my wing dividers to make a line and use that.

[dikman]

As I understand it, electrathon, the main idea behind grooving is to recess the stitches to reduce possible wear. When I first read that, it sounded fairly logical. But is it really necessary? Does it really do any good?

I'm asking 'cos I don't know much about anything and am wondering if I'm wasting my time doing it.

[electrathon]

Dikman, yes that is the prevailing logic. But people sew all the time with stitches laying on the surface. Car interiors, jackets, tents and the list goes on and on. Very few times does it even possibly matter about surface friction wear. It defies common sense and logic, but hand sewers keep doing it. What it does do it weaken the leather. You cut away about 15% of the leather, strongest part, in an attempt to make it stronger. The solution is to take a stylus and press a line into the surface to follow.

[ChriJ]

You can depress a groove into the leather leaving the top layer intact for sewing using a dull swivel knife blade or a modeling spoon.

Chris

[Red Cent]

I now use this. I crease.

http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/department/tools/88081-00.aspx

One can, after sewing, wet one or both sides of the leather and use this to flatten the stitches. I do the back side. Prominent stitches on a holster looks good to me.

https://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/department/tools/8080-00.aspx

They make wooden rollers and at half the price (somewhere).

Edited August 2, 2015 by Red Cent

[snubbyfan]

Sometimes I'll groove, sometimes I'll just leave it. Depends on the look I'm going for.

I'll always groove inside stitches, like inside a knife sheath or a holster.

On outside stitches, I'll wack the finished stitch line with a mallet, whether or not it's grooved.

[dikman]

What you're saying makes sense, electrathon. When I started (not very long ago) the guy at the leather place where I bought the leather said that's how to do it. Lots of videos and articles say the same thing, but I did wonder about the fact that I was cutting into the leather itself to do it. It does seem that, like many things, it's not set in stone, so I think I'll try using a creaser to give me my stitching lines.

One of the issues that I've had using a groover is that if there's the slightest variation while dragging it along it makes it difficult to correct the "glitches", 'cos it's actually cut into the leather.

Red Cent, I've already made my own roller (cost = $0) from a piece of aluminium stock that was the right diameter and already had a hole through the middle, bent up a frame and turned a handle down. Works fine for flattening stitches etc.

Edited August 3, 2015 by dikman