Interfacing Leather?

[sbrownn]

21 minutes ago, MtlBiker said:

Gee, you're real lucky!  MY clients (few and far between so far) are way more critical than I am.    They all want perfection but for bargain basement prices.

My clients (few and far between) are way less critical than I am.  They all want less quality to match their price point but I'm not interested in degrading my quality, I'm trying to improve it!  

If I make something that I think I could have done better I just give it away.

[RockyAussie]

18 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

Gosh your bags are beautiful!  (But what is strawboard?)

Thanks for the compliment. Strawboard is just a pliable cardboard I get from a printing supply place over here. It is very similar to your typical cornflakes/cereal cardboard but i can get it  various thicknesses. Bontex and Texon board are better except that they are hard to get under 3mm (1/8") over here. Most of the bags made 40+ years back used strawboard for stiffening. Used correctly it holds up fine. I believe you will get yourself a bell skiver one day.. I think you have good talent and are one of the sort of people I like to help if I can.

[MtlBiker]

8 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Thanks for the compliment. Strawboard is just a pliable cardboard I get from a printing supply place over here. It is very similar to your typical cornflakes/cereal cardboard but i can get it  various thicknesses. Bontex and Texon board are better except that they are hard to get under 3mm (1/8") over here. Most of the bags made 40+ years back used strawboard for stiffening. Used correctly it holds up fine. I believe you will get yourself a bell skiver one day.. I think you have good talent and are one of the sort of people I like to help if I can.

You're a gentleman!  Thanks for the kind words.

I'm in the picture framing (and art gallery) business and we have all kinds of boards, but I'd never heard the term strawboard before.

For the moment I think I will try my next bag using the leather backed with a glued on foam, with the foam being smaller than the stitch line plus maybe 1/4" or so.  I did a test with Lepage's Heavy Duty Contact Cement and my foam and it holds really well.  I hope the smell of the cement disappears soon because now maybe 6 hours later, the smell overpowers the wonderful leather smell.  And Lepage's smells much much less than Barge's.

I'm looking into bell skivers and you are probably right that there's one in my near future.  Is it even worth looking at the small mechanical ones like Tandy Leather sells (or from Amazon)?  They're about $250 Canadian, compared with a Techsew (new) at $1,800.  I am just a beginner after all, and this is more of a hobbyist thing than a business.  If I get a lot more serious and do a lot more leather, well, I'd spend the $1,800 but it might be a bit premature for me.  I'd started another thread asking advice about this but so far haven't had any responses.

Cheers!
 

 

 

[RockyAussie]

On 1/14/2022 at 4:30 AM, MtlBiker said:

Is it even worth looking at the small mechanical ones like Tandy Leather sells (or from Amazon)?  They're about $250 Canadian, compared with a Techsew (new) at $1,800.  I am just a beginner after all, and this is more of a hobbyist thing than a business.  If I get a lot more serious and do a lot more leather, well, I'd spend the $1,800 but it might be a bit premature for me.  I'd started another thread asking advice about this but so far haven't had any responses.

For the type of work like this I believe the small mechanical ones are a waste of money. I would keep my eyes open for a good second hand Fortuna or F.A.V. with an attached aspirator (suction device). Hard to get but very easy to sell if you find that you don't want it any more. You will. This is a Techsew with the vacuum suction - https://www.techsew.com/en/catalog/product/view/id/1164/s/techsew-sk-4-leather-skiving-machine-with-vacuum-suction-device/