Members Sheilajeanne Posted January 10, 2017 Members Report Posted January 10, 2017 I've reached the point where I'm now trying to cut my own projects, rather than relying on kits. I decided the Tandy cellphone kit I bought needed a window in it, so I could answer the phone without taking it out of the case. This means cutting an inside corner, and making that darn box knife do a nice corner is REALLY REALLY hard! My first efforts at a window were so bad, I decided to do the project over completely, and started fresh with a new piece of leather. Cutting the pattern out didn't go too badly, but doing the window in the case is causing me problems. I've tried several different thing - using a sheep's foot jacknife blade, and using a box cutter with a smaller blade. Neither one has worked very well. On the one corner, I cut into the good leather a small distance, and on another, multiple cuts wound up producing a very fuzzy, ugly corner. I also managed to cut one side of the window slightly narrower than the other. I am fixing this by using a beveler on both sides of the leather, then sanding. It's too small a difference (about 2 mm.) to be able to cut it with a knife. I've almost got that mistake fixed... :D Anyway, looking for some suggestions to make things easier, and and get a cleaner cut. In this case, since I'm cutting a window in leather that's part of the project, there's NO room for mistakes! I do have a Tandy plastic corner pattern, which was a big help in showing me where I need to cut, and getting all 4 corners looking the same. Quote
Members Dwight Posted January 10, 2017 Members Report Posted January 10, 2017 Shielajeanne, . . . find a friend who is an electrical contractor, . . . tell him / her you need several short pieces of 1/2 and 3/4 inch EMT, ElectoMetallicTubing, . . . or conduit as it is commonly known. Cut them about 6 or 7 inches long. Here comes the fun, . . . very gently, . . . very slowly, . . . take your time, . . . be very deliberate, . . . and keep a pan of water close by to dip it in every 4 or 5 seconds. Take a couple of those pieces to a disc or belt sander with something between 120 and 200 grit sand paper on it. Bevel the edge all away around at about a 60 degree angle, . . . be careful not to burn the steel, . . . go slow and keep dipping it. GET IT SHARP, by grinding until you have a really good edge on it. Next take a hack saw and come up about 1 inch, . . . cut the tube about half way through, . . . make the final cut starting on your sharpened edge, . . . going down to where you made your cross cut. You wind up with a tool that will cut a beautiful half circle with some light tapping of a mallet. Dampen your leather first, . . . they go through like hot butter. For your window you want to cut (inside corners) you cut away half of the half circle, . . . leaving only a 1/4 circle, . . . and again they work wonderfully. The below pictures show some of the ones I have made, . . . and use on pretty much a daily basis. The top left hand corner is a 3/4 inch tool for cutting really nice rounded ends on 3/4 inch straps. Clockwise from it is a 1/2 inch hole puncher and all the way on the right hand side is the 3/4 inch hole puncher. The bottom left tool makes beautiful half round cuts, 3/4 inch size, . . . the lower right tool makes your corner cuts, . . . it's also 3/4 inch in size. May God bless, Dwight Quote If you can breathe, . . . thank God. If you can read, . . . thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, . . . thank a veteran. www.dwightsgunleather.com
Members Sheilajeanne Posted January 11, 2017 Author Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 Afraid that's not going to work for me. I don't have access to a belt sander. I have to do all my sanding by hand. Must be another way of doing it... Quote
bikermutt07 Posted January 11, 2017 Report Posted January 11, 2017 Ent is not very hard steel. You could do it by hand. Quote I'm not paying 80 bucks for a belt!!! It's a strip of leather. How hard could it be? 4 years and 3 grand later.... I have a belt I can finally live with. Stitching is like gravy, it's only great if you make it every day. From Texas but in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Members flerg777 Posted January 11, 2017 Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 If you have a hole punch about the diameter of the corner, you can just punch a hole in each corner, then connect the corners with straight cuts. Quote "Stuff is eaten by dogs, broken by family and friends, sanded down by the wind, frozen by the mountains, lost by the prairie, burnt off by the sun, washed away by the rain. So you are left with dogs, family, friends, sun, rain, wind, prairie and mountains. What more do you want?" Federico Calboli.
Members Bonecross Posted January 11, 2017 Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) I used to cut them out by hand, but now have corner stamps. In attachment some rounded stamps from Amazon and a corner stamp from Zelikovitz Leather's out of Toronto. The Actual corner stamp is >90 degrees and works very well. Edited January 11, 2017 by Bonecross Quote
Members Sheilajeanne Posted January 11, 2017 Author Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 (edited) I knew there had to be a tool I could buy somewhere! I'm very close to Toronto, too! Thank you! Edit: can't find the corner cutting tool. It looks like they no longer stock it. Edited January 11, 2017 by Sheilajeanne Quote
Members Dwight Posted January 11, 2017 Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 Here you are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Crafted-Leather-Rounded-Corner-Strap-End-U-Punch-for-Leathercraft-Small-/121515468390?hash=item1c4ae2e666:g:JyQAAOSw9r1WA2uD May God bless, Dwight Quote If you can breathe, . . . thank God. If you can read, . . . thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, . . . thank a veteran. www.dwightsgunleather.com
Members Bonecross Posted January 11, 2017 Members Report Posted January 11, 2017 They still make this product: https://www.zelistore.com/products/zelis-corner-punch-3-sizes Quote
Contributing Member JLSleather Posted January 11, 2017 Contributing Member Report Posted January 11, 2017 If you have a fixed size window you need to cut out, I'd just order a die made. One "stamp" and the whole window is cut out.. done. With a little planning, you could probably make it so the cut out piece can also be used as-is. Quote "Observation is 9/10 of the law." IF what you do is something that ANYBODY can do, then don't be surprised when ANYBODY does.
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