Bulk Dyeing of Edges with a Heritage Dye Box

[nycnycdesign]

Hello all,

In an effort at cutting down labor time I've been debating this Weaver tool. Has anyone had experience with it? It seems rudimentary (altho expensive) but would seem to do the trick really well. 

Anyone have any encounters with them? Does it leave a clean dye line?

https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/item-detail/65-6015/heritage-dye-box-ii/pr_9029

[AndreasB]

There is currently one for sale here:

If you are not interested in buying used, the seller might at least give you his impressions.

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by AndreasB

[nycnycdesign]

Figured I would reply here in case someone googles this machine down the line. I ended up buying it from Weaver but returned it faster than I've returned something before. It really doesnt work well at all. The build quality is below par and the wiper blades had casting marks that required filing down before it would fit under the main reservoir. Even after a decent amount of adjustments and testing it produced a very uneven dye line and was an absolute mess to work with. I don't think weaver sells many of these because the foam pads that were sent with mine were so old they had yellowed and were on the verge of crumbling. Even with replacement rollers the damn thing never managed to dye evenly. The pressure isnt equally maintained on either side so it causes the strap to twist on its axis while its pulled through making the end result even sloppier. 

Hope this helps anyone on the fence. Feel free to post here if you have any questions about the machine. It was really a let down. 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

On 4/25/2019 at 9:25 AM, nycnycdesign said:

Figured I would reply here in case someone googles this machine down the line. I ended up buying it from Weaver but returned it faster than I've returned something before. It really doesnt work well at all. The build quality is below par and the wiper blades had casting marks that required filing down before it would fit under the main reservoir. Even after a decent amount of adjustments and testing it produced a very uneven dye line and was an absolute mess to work with. I don't think weaver sells many of these because the foam pads that were sent with mine were so old they had yellowed and were on the verge of crumbling. Even with replacement rollers the damn thing never managed to dye evenly. The pressure isnt equally maintained on either side so it causes the strap to twist on its axis while its pulled through making the end result even sloppier. 

Hope this helps anyone on the fence. Feel free to post here if you have any questions about the machine. It was really a let down. 

While I have never tried that Heritage dye box, the same is true of a lot of new manufacture equipment.  It might look like a real labor saver, but in reality, it's too poorly designed and built to work.  There are very few things for this trade that I have bought new that I really felt like I got my money's worth.  The Bluegrass easy edger is one of the few, that thing is slick and I wouldn't be without it.

[bikermutt07]

17 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

While I have never tried that Heritage dye box, the same is true of a lot of new manufacture equipment.  It might look like a real labor saver, but in reality, it's too poorly designed and built to work.  There are very few things for this trade that I have bought new that I really felt like I got my money's worth.  The Bluegrass easy edger is one of the few, that thing is slick and I wouldn't be without it.

How is the adjustment on that Bluegrass edger. Is it easy to change sizes or is it saving you time because you leave it set up for one width mostly? I have just been curious about these.....

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

3 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

How is the adjustment on that Bluegrass edger. Is it easy to change sizes or is it saving you time because you leave it set up for one width mostly? I have just been curious about these.....

It's very easy to change for the width of the strap.  It takes only seconds.  Changing the blades and getting them set takes more time, and if I needed two different sizes of blades, I would just have two machines.  But, as it were, I normally only pull approximately 9oz and up through mine, as I don't use too much lighter weight leather.  

Unrelated, but possibly of interest to tool and machine geeks like myself, I recently acquired a trace trimmer.  To my knowledge, these have not been manufacturered for many decades.  I've been looking for one (reasonably priced, not collector priced) for 20 years or more.  Somewhat similar to a strap edger, the blades also true up the edges of a multi layer strap, such as a trace which is usually 2 to 3 layers thick. It is the coolest thing I've bought in a long while.  I gave it a test run on a set of traces I just finished for a custom harness, and it is "the bomb". The same week I found this functioning trace trimmer, I found another one in a guy's iron pile, minus the blades.  It's pretty badly rusted, but I'm going to try to clean it up and find or have blades made for it.  It's kind of weird that I spend two plus decades looking for one, and I find two in the same week.

[bikermutt07]

15 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

It's very easy to change for the width of the strap.  It takes only seconds.  Changing the blades and getting them set takes more time, and if I needed two different sizes of blades, I would just have two machines.  But, as it were, I normally only pull approximately 9oz and up through mine, as I don't use too much lighter weight leather.  

Unrelated, but possibly of interest to tool and machine geeks like myself, I recently acquired a trace trimmer.  To my knowledge, these have not been manufacturered for many decades.  I've been looking for one (reasonably priced, not collector priced) for 20 years or more.  Somewhat similar to a strap edger, the blades also true up the edges of a multi layer strap, such as a trace which is usually 2 to 3 layers thick. It is the coolest thing I've bought in a long while.  I gave it a test run on a set of traces I just finished for a custom harness, and it is "the bomb". The same week I found this functioning trace trimmer, I found another one in a guy's iron pile, minus the blades.  It's pretty badly rusted, but I'm going to try to clean it up and find or have blades made for it.  It's kind of weird that I spend two plus decades looking for one, and I find two in the same week.

That is cool. Can we maybe see a picture of that trace trimmer?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

8 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

That is cool. Can we maybe see a picture of that trace trimmer?

I will try, although my phone does not like loading pictures to this site.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

[JLSleather]

I don't see anything on there that assures a nice clean job, other than a steady hand.  I suppose like anything else a guy could get used to using it and get proficient at it, but I'm not seeing any real benefit from that "dye box".  Looks more than a little "gimmicky" to me.

[bikermutt07]

3 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Nice, thanks for sharing, Sioux.

[bikermutt07]

3 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Nice, thanks for sharing, Sioux.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Nice, thanks for sharing, Sioux.

You're welcome.