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

[sbrownn]

I think too it depends on how the item will be used. Leather work stuff, like saddles for working cowboys, used recessed stitching in wear areas. Maybe like where your leg always rubs when you are riding. In a lot of those items the leather is heavy and the recessed stitch locations are not necessarily high stress locations.

[25b]

By contrast, I can't think of a valid reason to cut a stitch groove on things like Field Notes cases, for instance. So I just mark my stitch like everyone with my divider and have nice, neat, slanted, 10SPI stitches.

[club49]

I always had a problem putting a groove in my holsters, I thought that you had to do it or the stitches would wear. I messed up more than one holster by grooving, especially on the back side. I have to try one without using a groover.

[Art]

Glue and Stitch. Cut all the grooves you want in it, it ain't going anywhere. Assembly is also easier. Also you can hammer or slick your stitches down for a little extra protection. I used to groove for stitches when I started, but quickly changed over to pressing in a groove as opposed to cutting one in. When using a machine, keep in mind that it is easy to run out of a groove and it is obvious; if the groove isn't there, well it is creative license.

Art

[dikman]

As a result of this thread, I've made two holsters and a belt without grooving. I have mixed feelings about it. Personally, I think the grooved stitching looks a little neater, but there are problems when using this method on anything but nice simple lines. Freehand grooving (when stitching a pattern) is a pain to try and get it neat, it's very easy to mess it up, grooving the back of a holster can be problematic when trying to get the awl to come out in the rear groove and although I haven't tried machine stitching when grooved I had already deduced that it would be very easy to make a mistake!

I'm guessing that I may not be doing as much grooving as I first thought.