AGreenSmudge Report post Posted October 9, 2015 Hey guys. I have a veteran friend that has had one of those thin aluminum “C” shaped bracelets for a couple of years with the names of a few friends of his that were lost in action alongside him. He had gotten tired of the aluminum by itself and cut the sides off an inch or so away from the names, drilled some holes and attached the piece onto a generic leather snap bracelet to wear. He brought it to me at a party a few weeks ago after he'd heard and seen some of the work I had done with my own projects. He asked me if I could make him a new strap to attach the piece to since this one is a little too wide and the huge snaps fall exactly where one position is too big and the other is too small. He told me once he gets a new bracelet he's happy with, he will "never take it off again". Sounds like hyperbole and it may be, but he's also a stubborn bastard and it wouldn't surprise me if he did that. So I've been sitting at my desk looking at it while I work on other things for a couple of weeks and I think I can make the bracelet just fine, but I'm not sure how to make the clasp/buckle part. He does a lot of typing, so there will be times where he will have pressure from the weight of his arm on that area of his wrist and it also needs to be somewhat flat so that it won't catch on anything. My initial thoughts are a fairly thick main strap and then cover the inside with either a layer of real thin suede that I use for other projects or some sort of fabric. This should leave a tiny bit of room to cover up the attachment hardware for the name plate and whatever I might need to hide from the closing hardware. I have been stumped though on coming up with a thin design. I’m not sure a normal style buckle will be thin enough to be comfortable. I thought about making it a closed loop with some elastic, but then that could wear out eventually. Most recently I came across some stupid strong slim rare earth magnets in a drawer and thought a hidden piece of thin steel inside one side and another thin (less powerful than what I have) magnet on the other piece would hold well and make it super adjustable to whatever size he needs. But then there’s the whole magnets near electronics issue. Does anyone have any other ideas? Also, how do I make this thing as water proof as possible without making it uncomfortable and stiff? The only real sealant I’ve got is Fiebing’s Leather Sheen that I use to pretty much protect from body sweat. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tugadude Report post Posted October 10, 2015 Take a look at Tandy's page here... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tugadude Report post Posted October 10, 2015 I have had great luck with the bracelet connector. The way I use it, I make the bracelet the same width as the connector. I cut a notch on each corner to allow a tab to slide into the connector. Makes for a smooth look and it is quite comfortable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
