Adventures in strap making

rob#1 · Mar 23, 2020

DaveK
A while back I was at a thrift shop and picked up this nice wood display case for a corkscrew & wine-stopper kit for $3.99. The corkscrew and wine-stoppers were of surprisingly crap quality, and went in the trash. The case though, this is what I was after, and it was easily 10x superior in quality to the contents. And this is weird, who sells a crap product but puts it in a nice box? Anyway, I’m glad they did. I got home and put the case in the freezer for a few weeks, as I do with anything else that I drag home from a thrift shop.

Wait... what 🤨

A bit of backstory. Vancouver is a lovely place, and so many people want to live here. Unfortunately, bed bugs also love it here, in vast numbers. They come for the sunsets, lattes and yoga pants, I suppose. With that, all 2nd-hand acquisitions get the deep freeze, just to be safe. 👍

Anywho, with much more spare time on my hands lately, I pulled the case out of the freezer and set to repurposing it to house my small, sharp, and pricey leather working tools. With a bit of time, a razor and some pluck-foam, I was very happy with the results 😀

Before

After

And next, a silverwear box will become home to other bits and tools

Keep entertained and healthy everyone

Very cool, though your hairdressing implements look a tad different to mine 😗

Duracuir1 · Apr 9, 2020

A couple more projects. Watch strap made from a barber’s strop. I use the strops to keep my blades sharp, but once in a while I find a thin one that works well for straps. This one is far from perfect, and leaves room for improvement. I also made a couple of matching guitar straps. One for a charity auction and one as a gift to a colleague. The wood grain is achieved on tooling leather buffed on my burnishing wheel.

Amg786s · Apr 10, 2020

How do you finish the edges of your straps? On all the ones I own they're usually covered with some kind of colour matched edge coating.

Transitus · Apr 10, 2020

Nice work. I'm interested in the practicality of using older leathers.
Not sure if it was covered earlier on in this thread and I missed it, but what do you recommend using to moisturize or restore dried out or inflexible leather?

Duracuir1 · Apr 13, 2020

A friend asked for an alternative to a watch roll. His watch roll did not fit well in his wall safe. I made the pouches and installed snaps so they can be neatly stacked. The number of pouches will depend on his needs, and the size of his safe. I made five.

DaveK · Apr 13, 2020

Those look great! Very creative 👍

Is it true then that an old Singer sewing machine will sew leather? I don’t need a walking-foot machine? This would be exciting. I have my great-grandmother’s machine around somewhere

Duracuir1 · Apr 13, 2020

DaveK
Those look great! Very creative 👍

Is it true then that an old Singer sewing machine will sew leather? I don’t need a walking-foot machine? This would be exciting. I have my great-grandmother’s machine around somewhere

Hi Dave! This is an old Singer 201. Very nice machine - not industrial but good for smaller projects. I bought this one many years ago and lucked out when I found an old cabinet for it at a garage sale. It contained the same machine! With receipt from 1949 for $252.50! I also own a circa 1913 Singer 29K15 and a mid Century Adler. The Adler is a monster. I highly recommend the 201.

DaveK · Apr 13, 2020

Cool. Made to last!

DaveK · Apr 18, 2020

Canuck
David,

That is exactly what I had in mind when I first mentioned a pocket watch lanyard done with Mystery braid! I like it!

Hi Canuck. I’ve finally finished my second version of the pocket watch lanyard - for some reason I have free time on my hands these days 😗 I’d like to send it your way in exchange for your feedback on the design. Sound good?

Duracuir1 · Apr 24, 2020

A few more projects this week. I made a « strap » by stitching leather around a copper bracelet. The bracelets were about 25 cents each at the local thrift store (months ago). I posted it in the WRUW thread. Looks and feels great. The watch that I used was rather thick and sat pretty high. May work better with an art deco Bulova or a military style watch. I also made a couple of blue straps. I used thread that will complement some of my new watches.

NikoMartinez_SYD · Apr 24, 2020

Gosh I wish I was as crafty as some people... I love the idea of repurposed old leathers. New life as a strap. Time to search around the house...

Duracuir1 · May 11, 2020

This weekend I made a baseball glove strap for an old friend. He likes BIG watches and his “genuine leather” NFW strap had paper thin leather and some kind of foamy stuff that fell apart quickly. Looks nice though with the rivets...

My friend was pleased with his strap and sent me a pic alongside a strap that I made 6 or 7 years ago. It has really held up well and inspired me to dig up the old pics of that strap and a few more made from re-purposed leather.

The pictures sometimes get shuffled when I click “insert all photos”...

DaveK · May 11, 2020

Wowzers, these look great. Congrats!

DaveK · May 26, 2020

Following a YouTube video, I recently made a paper template for a journal cover, only to realize that of all my scrap leather on hand, the piece I thought would work was 1cm too short 😬. But, in playing with a paper template (where you tape the paper template on top of a piece of leather and then cut through the template and the leather), I found that this system works well for me. I then found that you can buy downloadable paper templates, which got me to wondering. Does anyone have a good experience and source for downloadable templates? A few are on Etsy, and it is a bit hard to choose which are good. Sure, I could just trace a watch strap and make my own template, but these printable ones seem so exact and simple to use.

There are also acrylic templates that you put over your leather, scribe out the shape and then cut the leather. But these seem like they would be prone to slipping/moving. And with watch straps, every mm makes a difference. I'm willing to be swayed in either direction with compelling advice 👍

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Duracuir1 · May 26, 2020

Hi Dave. I have several of the acrylic templates and use a rotary cutter (like a pizza cutter). Works well. I have figured how to hold my leather just so it does not move. Current project...from the green chaps posted here months ago. I considered perhaps having the local blacksmith make me some punches for 18, 19 and 20 mm straps. Maybe once I retire I will look into it

DaveK · May 26, 2020

Those straps are going to be great 🥰 Yes, having a patern punch (sometimes called a clicker press I think), would be mind-altering amazing for accuracy and productivity. I'd bet on thinner leather that they would work well enough with a hammer instead of a press. I picked up a rotary cutter a while ago. super inexpensive and nice to use, I've been able to sharpen the blades on my strop as well.

I like that you have a blacksmith. I have conversations with people sometimes about my cobbler or watchmaker, and they wonder where my time machine is 😗

DaveK · Jun 27, 2020

With thanks again to @Duracuir1 for the inspiration, I gave strap making a go.

Initial thoughts, it’s maddening. Every slight imperfection takes out a full page ad to protest and mock your lack of skill 😒. It went pretty well until it came to painting the edges, which turned out to be a messy affair. And how do you end the stitching line? There is no where to hide a thread knot 😬. But, man it is rewarding!

So here is the first off of the stitching pony. 18mm made from a thrift shop leather jacket (the same that @CJpickup57 ’s watch roll was made from) and lined with vegetable tanned sheep. Later this weekend I’ll likely finish 18mm & 16mm straps made from a black leather jacket. I picked up some midnight blue scrap leather to make a strap for my champaign-dialed Seamaster, and I’ll get to that when I feel more competent. I’m still on the lookout for the grand prize, some green lizard or ostrich to make some straps for my spaceview.

Anywho, here you go

PS @OllieOnTheRocks , I forgot to get back to you from our earlier conversation on how to go down this rabbit hole, stay tuned

Duracuir1 · Jun 27, 2020

Nice work! Those edges look fantastic! My biggest challenge is lining up the holes! I bought a three hole punch (store is called Michaels) and that works well, but it is still tough to line them up.

DaveK · Jun 27, 2020

Ohh, one of those punches would be handy 😎

CJpickup57 · Jun 27, 2020

That is gonna be one soft strap 👍

Adventures in strap making

rob#1

Duracuir1

Amg786s

Transitus

Duracuir1

DaveK

Duracuir1

DaveK

DaveK

Duracuir1

NikoMartinez_SYD

Duracuir1

DaveK

DaveK

Duracuir1

DaveK

DaveK

Duracuir1

DaveK

CJpickup57

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