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Adventures in strap making

  1. rob#1 Mar 23, 2020

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    Very cool, though your hairdressing implements look a tad different to mine :whistling:
     
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  2. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak Apr 9, 2020

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    F5E00038-6873-4AC3-928E-032F12AA29CF.jpeg 692F3ED2-634E-4E77-93A6-C90923AB8D43.jpeg 1970AAA6-BD93-47E3-BEA2-BA525F78230D.jpeg 8451FBB3-02B2-4F94-B5DD-81EADADCB4C7.jpeg 55A13AD5-B7A7-4863-BDCA-64D1F58F3183.jpeg ECF220CE-3A08-4E2B-A794-BC9628E56D86.jpeg 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.
     
    Edited Apr 9, 2020
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  3. Amg786s Apr 10, 2020

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    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.
     
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  4. Transitus Apr 10, 2020

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    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?
     
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  5. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak Apr 13, 2020

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    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. CECD93E7-AA92-48A2-8BF8-F6BB077FAE56.jpeg 887A20AD-AA84-40C1-83FB-64006A6989A7.jpeg B1820F82-0649-4DFC-B4F0-B60AAD9AA746.jpeg DD955FEB-2776-4FCE-91C6-937EDAAD0497.jpeg BA9CD5C1-7979-4D04-A8FF-7D93230B83A8.jpeg 0BEFFF37-7B69-4884-A7A5-4639C85145D6.jpeg
     
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  6. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Apr 13, 2020

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    Those look great! Very creative :thumbsup:

    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
     
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  7. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak Apr 13, 2020

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    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. image.jpg image.jpg
     
    Edited Apr 13, 2020
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  8. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Apr 13, 2020

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    Cool. Made to last!
     
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  9. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Apr 18, 2020

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    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 :whistling: I’d like to send it your way in exchange for your feedback on the design. Sound good?
     
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  10. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak Apr 24, 2020

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    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. AE55EFC6-5765-45DA-91F6-B03A3BA28384.jpeg 73DA399B-7C00-4EE6-947C-5B1151C09FFF.jpeg 20019CCC-E2F3-4865-AEEA-3E481F18ABBE.jpeg 20F34615-10D9-42B4-A2FF-E92475553097.jpeg 1DC20A20-DAA1-49C1-B84B-75A3994696C4.jpeg C8C56D03-F026-47B8-8FA1-775D060AD826.jpeg 9D29BBC9-A6CD-442E-AF00-D4747F2A841E.jpeg AC0C3A30-9A8C-4FF3-9A72-0A6A1AB39444.jpeg 09A8CF97-32E0-472B-9EF7-D94AC0FB029A.jpeg BB0D91A7-1762-47A4-8A1F-68A91D1ECDAC.jpeg
     
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  11. NikoMartinez_SYD Apr 24, 2020

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    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...
     
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  12. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak May 11, 2020

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    2A33F482-397B-474D-9413-830217F152DF.jpeg 22C98B32-BC9E-428B-999F-F191409F8875.jpeg 31FEE05B-7BEF-49C9-80FE-BD610D34F90A.jpeg A62F881A-DC05-4611-99A1-88B883C2B26D.jpeg F7EAB313-417D-4096-B121-C66BB99C3930.jpeg B08094E8-870C-4637-BC77-14CB00E54DA8.jpeg 8E4CEFCA-9D1F-45ED-B7B0-E24D3B188570.jpeg B5320BBB-057E-4F33-9937-E9A205695271.jpeg F5EF133B-011E-408E-99AF-D50310B96877.jpeg 1A8B15AD-A8FB-4C13-AC4A-89E331E9E089.jpeg CC86DBB4-9F60-45A5-A73A-CC39DE85760A.jpeg 671E9051-C100-4264-8523-D1CFBDD23EC1.jpeg EF1F7926-A974-4600-B96E-36BE9033BFA1.jpeg 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”...
     
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  13. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers May 11, 2020

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    Wowzers, these look great. Congrats!
     
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  14. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers May 26, 2020

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    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 :oops:. 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 :thumbsup:

    Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
     
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  15. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak May 26, 2020

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    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 9557A4A0-C3FE-4978-B577-771571D36F1C.jpeg
     
  16. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers May 26, 2020

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    Those straps are going to be great ::love:: 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 :whistling:
     
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  17. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Jun 27, 2020

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    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 :cautious:. 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 :oops:. 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

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    PS @OllieOnTheRocks , I forgot to get back to you from our earlier conversation on how to go down this rabbit hole, stay tuned
     
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  18. Duracuir1 Never Used A Kodak Jun 27, 2020

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    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. 6560EA1C-CEA6-4EA9-941E-A3031FE0D878.jpeg
     
  19. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers Jun 27, 2020

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    Ohh, one of those punches would be handy :cool:
     
  20. CJpickup57 Jun 27, 2020

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    That is gonna be one soft strap :thumbsup:
     
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