blank leather coasters

[acewoodturner]

First post so if its been answered elsewhere, please forgive but I have searched without luck.

I run a small one person business making wooden gifts which are laser-engraved or cut out on the laser. Sometimes they are engraved and then cut out. Currently I am making around about 5000 90mm dia circular coasters which are laser-engraved. There is a lot of work involved in making these , particularly with reference to the sanding, most of which is done by hand. I am struggling to keep up with the quantities required and I don't want to get into RSI in my hands.

I do a fair amount of Welsh slate coasters and hope to increase the amount of these I sell.

I am looking to buy in some 4mm veg tan leather coasters, 90mm in diameter or thereabouts.

I bought some in from Tandy thinking the UK shop would be supplying them and was surprised to get an email telling me they were coming in from the US. They are 2.7mm thick which is too thin for my liking but will do for practice engraving. With Brexit/no Brexit on the horizon I would prefer not to have to import them

Can anybody suggest a UK supplier who can sell me wholesale supplies of coasters. There is the possibility in the next year or two if the leather coasters take off I might buy a clicker press and start cutting them out myself and save a few quid that way.

Many thanks

Mike

 

 

[mikesc]

Fredk's experience importing from Tandy in the USA recently seems to suggest that you'd have no problems dealing with Tandy USA..

btw..Brexit doesn't / will not affect the imports from the USA at all..HMCE might ( definitely will ) get "backed up" is all..

IIWY..I'd get a clicker and be making my own leather coaster blanks already if I had 5K to do, save a lot of money that way.

Certainly easier than cutting rounds out of Welsh slate :)..When I lived in the UK I used to buy mine in from Blaenau Ffestiniog, and then screen print them with my own designs..

Pad printer might well be easier to use..the kind that does the insides ( bottoms ) of mugs.

interesting..my speelchucker thinks Blaenau Ffestiniog is completely incorrect..and even Google ( France ) thought Blaenau was incorrect ..

The slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog is the most impressive place to be when a thunderstorm is raging..used to ride my motorcycle over to it ( 80 or so kms each way ) every time I had the chance when thunderstorms were predicted for that part of Wales..

Edited May 22, 2019 by mikesc

[RockyAussie]

34 minutes ago, acewoodturner said:

They are 2.7mm thick which is too thin for my liking but will do for practice engraving

You could consider putting some thin cork on the back like the flooring type. Also if you transition to leather I would consider just stamping the designs in as against the laser and the associated cleaning up and sealing etc. There is where the clicker press may come in handy as well. That can go at about 30 seconds per stamping per piece.

[mikesc]

Come to think of it..
When I was making Welsh slate coasters..( back in 78 / 79 / 80..) I was backing them with glued on thick felt. Cheaper than leather, and easy to get rounds at the sort of size you need..
I just had a look around and found a 15cm one that I kept ( complete with Welsh Dragon ) it has a red felt disc stuck on the back.

[fredk]

9 hours ago, acewoodturner said:

Can anybody suggest a UK supplier who can sell me wholesale supplies of coasters. There is the possibility in the next year or two if the leather coasters take off I might buy a clicker press and start cutting them out myself and save a few quid that way.

For the quantities you want I would ask Le Prevo Leather in Newcastle.

They sell pre-cut leather items and do leather fabrication as well as selling raw leather. They might work with you in cutting the discs and supplying them to you. No harm in asking. . . .  http://www.leprevo.co.uk/

[Rockoboy]

I am pretty sure Abbey England also do some pre-cut items, such as the circles you are looking for. I have found them very easy to deal with, and I am about 12,000kms away.

[acewoodturner]

Just thought I would update this post as its been a few months and progress has been made.

A couple of weeks ago on a well known auction site an Atom SE15 clicker press ad appeared with a buy it now and I got it for £700. Its going to cost me a couple of hundred quid to get a machinery co it to stick it on a pallet and move it to the door. That's happening next Tuesday and on the Wednesday its getting picked up and then delivered to me on Friday. Its had very light use over the 20 years it been in the company cutting out thin hardboard shapes and its lain unused for about 5 years. Its even comes with a used board and an unused board so I am pretty pleased with that.

It looks pretty clean and well looked after by the small business that used it and they are going to include all their cutters in the off chance I may be able to use them. Just need to order up my own cutter for the leather coasters and buy in the leather and I am in business.

As a ps I did buy in some packets of coasters from Tandy and the speed of the delivery is very good. The downside is that they are all varying thickness which I don't like and now I will be able to get them all the thickness I want all the time.

[DrmCa]

Funny how this is the 2nd thread in a couple days that I am suggesting Tandy bellies. They are inexpensive and thick enough.

[RockyAussie]

3 hours ago, acewoodturner said:

Just thought I would update this post as its been a few months and progress has been made.

A couple of weeks ago on a well known auction site an Atom SE15 clicker press ad appeared with a buy it now and I got it for £700. Its going to cost me a couple of hundred quid to get a machinery co it to stick it on a pallet and move it to the door. That's happening next Tuesday and on the Wednesday its getting picked up and then delivered to me on Friday. Its had very light use over the 20 years it been in the company cutting out thin hardboard shapes and its lain unused for about 5 years. Its even comes with a used board and an unused board so I am pretty pleased with that.

It looks pretty clean and well looked after by the small business that used it and they are going to include all their cutters in the off chance I may be able to use them. Just need to order up my own cutter for the leather coasters and buy in the leather and I am in business.

As a ps I did buy in some packets of coasters from Tandy and the speed of the delivery is very good. The downside is that they are all varying thickness which I don't like and now I will be able to get them all the thickness I want all the time.

Good move and congratulations. You might be needing 3 pieces of pipe maybe 3' long x1 1/2" or 2" dia and a crow bar. They are really heavy and hard to move around. Watch for the oil reservoir and any spillage.

[Matt S]

12 hours ago, acewoodturner said:

Just thought I would update this post as its been a few months and progress has been made.

A couple of weeks ago on a well known auction site an Atom SE15 clicker press ad appeared with a buy it now and I got it for £700. Its going to cost me a couple of hundred quid to get a machinery co it to stick it on a pallet and move it to the door. That's happening next Tuesday and on the Wednesday its getting picked up and then delivered to me on Friday. Its had very light use over the 20 years it been in the company cutting out thin hardboard shapes and its lain unused for about 5 years. Its even comes with a used board and an unused board so I am pretty pleased with that.

It looks pretty clean and well looked after by the small business that used it and they are going to include all their cutters in the off chance I may be able to use them. Just need to order up my own cutter for the leather coasters and buy in the leather and I am in business.

As a ps I did buy in some packets of coasters from Tandy and the speed of the delivery is very good. The downside is that they are all varying thickness which I don't like and now I will be able to get them all the thickness I want all the time.

Congrats on the score -- I think that's the ideal solution.

If you would like to get your Tandy coasters all the same thickness,, I have a band-knife splitter which is very consistent and accurate. We could deal by post.

[acewoodturner]

Hi Matt

Its not that critical. I will sell them off cheaply or give them away at Christmas time.

Thank you for your kind offer though.

[Matt S]

2 hours ago, acewoodturner said:

Hi Matt

Its not that critical. I will sell them off cheaply or give them away at Christmas time.

Thank you for your kind offer though.

No problem Mike. Really jealous of your clicker -- I can't fit any but the very smallest powered ones through my shed door, and that's too small to do what I want! So I'm stuck with my handraulic machine.

[acewoodturner]

Thought I would update this thread as I have been using the clicker press for 2 weeks now.

I bought 3 big rotating caster wheels as I need to be able to move it about in the workshop. At 625Kg I had fun getting it off the pallet and the wheels on but I managed it on my own without ending up in A&E.

I got my 2 x 90mm cutters in an acrylic sheet from Arrow Cutters and ordered in my first 10 oz hide from J Wood Leathers which was 28 square feet. As someone who is used to working with wood which is a rigid structure, working with a hide which is malleable and floppy is a bit of a novelty.

The last photo is a coaster after being engraved with one of my lasers. Its is very sharp and looks excellent. I give it a brush with a small nylon brush before spraying with Fiebing's Resolene. I did try putting this on with a cloth but found spraying it gave a far better result.

The speed at which I can make 250 coasters out of this one hide, as compared to making them out of wood as usual, is about 5% of the time taken. Think I am going to enjoy using it!

 

[RockyAussie]

Excellent outcome. Got to say that's the first time I ever saw a clicker press on caster wheels.I love the coasters and glad to see you've done a double cut straight from the start.

[mikesc]

If the weight of that thing is 625kg, that is over 200 kg per caster ..What are they rated for ?

Make sure that you never get caught in it's way if it starts moving..great job

Love the acrylic knife boards..when I was a lad, they were always plywood..yours look cool .

Edited September 19, 2019 by mikesc

[acewoodturner]

The workshop is only 900 square feet and when I moved in there was a wall down the middle dividing it in 2. I have quite a lot of machinery and timber in it so everything has to be mobile in order to be moved into place and then out of the way. The floor is very level and it doesn't move of its own accord. The casters are rated at 250Kg each so there is no danger of them breaking up. Next year I am getting rid of my timber drying kiln as I will be no longer planking up trees with the chainsaw mill and then using the kiln to dry the timber. That will free up a good bit of space so I should be able to leave machinery where I want to use it.

The double cutter is great. I had to drill a 40mm dia hole so I could poke my finger through to get the leather out. I specifically asked for it to be acrylic so I could see easily where the cutters were being placed and I could avoid marks etc on the leather.

Edited September 20, 2019 by acewoodturner

[RockyAussie]

I should have thought to say earlier that with knives/dies you can generally get them supplied with an ejection rubber which is a little similar to a rubber thong material. Sometimes you may have to add a little to it in thickness and sometimes sand some off depending on what thickness you are normally running. This saves you having to waste time poking them out as they stay on the board until you want to remove the waste leather and then scoop them all up together. When you have to add some to the rubber you just cut out some leather and put it up above the rubber.

[WoodysWorkshop]

I cut leather glove parts for about 4 years for Wolverine in late 70's early 80s.

Our dies were thick carbon steel (not these thin cheep things they put out now) with the cut out part side vertical and the exterior at an angle.

The polyurethane blocks were rough from being chopped up by the dies and the cut outs would stick until you picked them up.

Not sure how much stretch you can get out of the thickness your cutting, but I made a lot of extra money stretching the pig skin before cutting it.

I was allowed so many sq ft to cut so many dozen pairs of parts. I got paid for every sq ft I didn't use.

From stretching that pig skin for 8 hours a day, I had one hell of a grip.

My press machine weighed 2-1/2 tons. Cutting block was 30x48 inches and the press head was 18"x 36" and swiveled on a 12" cylinder ram.

Took less than 1/2 second to travel 1/2" and back.

I also cut full and 1/2 hide bovine skins. Those didn't stretch so easy, but I always made extra for saving leather.

I just can't fathom a die being made of plastic! It would have been pulverized the first strike of the press head.