Leatherworking: it puts the lotion on its skin

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Leatherworking: it puts the lotion on its skin

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Anyone have a recommendation for buying hardware? (O-rings, buckles, snaps, etc.) I'm looking to make some suspenders, and I'm curious if someone has a supplier with decent quality that's reasonably cheap.

On a related note, anyone use Buckleguy.com much? How do they stack up in terms of price vs. quality?

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 05:25

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 14:36

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Nice. Looks very Oglaf

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 10:44

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

How do you skive straps evenly along their length? I'm making leather suspenders out of some relatively soft 8-10 oz latigo, but the flesh side is a bit fluffy for skin contact, and it's a bit thick for my rivets. I've been using a Tandy super skiver

I'll be damned if I can do it evenly to save my life. Short of buying a $300 tool from weaver, what are my options?

HolHorsejob fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Oct 9, 2021

# ¿ Oct 9, 2021 17:02

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

cloudy posted:

This might be an obvious suggestion, but did you replace the blade before starting? Gotta make sure it's fresh!
But if it's soft and squishy, some stretching might occur no matter what you do.
Maybe you have a maker space nearby that has a big motorized bell skiver? Those might be better for squishy stuff in my experience due to the rotating blade.

Also, after a cursory Google, it looks like you can find some cheaper table-mounted splitters than the weaver one. They may not be high quality but it's an option. Would definitely cause some stretching though.

Thanks. I'll shout around and see if I can find anyone with a splitter. I need to rein in my spending on hobbies.

Stretching idk what to think about it. It's pretty much inevitable with something like suspenders isn't it?

# ¿ Oct 9, 2021 23:37

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Trabant posted:

Some haphazard thoughts because I just woke up from a nap and I don't know what drat day it is:

Stretching might be reduced if the straps are lined (with a different leather or material altogether), kinda how some regular belts are. But that would require stitching a looong distance, and I wouldn't want to do that by hand.

If the flesh side of the leather is too fuzzy, I heartily recommend this approach to get it way, way smoother:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDIBTDKtyFY

If your rivets are too short, you might want to try using Chicago screws (with a dab of thread lock) since those are available in longer sizes.

But all of that basically requires starting anew or buying stuff. Skiving a long strap by hand is something I just haven't done, I'm afraid -- at that point it's basically splitting.

Yeah the options I can think of, I'm not enthralled about. Lining it with a stiff veg-tan is certainly the smart way to do it, one I'll consider if I'm feeling less lazy.

I've tried burnishing with gum trag to deal with a fuzzy flesh side in the past. Would it work well with something that's expected to be in contact with skin? With bracelets, I've found that, over time, sweat has a tendency to dry and crispify the fuzz and make it abrasive and uncomfortable.

I've got chicago screws, but just a handful of the spike & pyramid style. They do have nice long posts, though I can't say I'm thrilled about the cost of such an approach.

As far as stretching goes, stitching/lining is incredibly painful but might end up being the ticket. It does handle both the stretching and the skin contact issue. It's a lot more work than I wanted to put into this but it may end up being the best option in the end.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2021 18:11

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

How do you go about sharpening/honing a french skiver?

I got one recently from Tandy (stainless blade unfortunately) and it cuts... so-so. The geometry of the cutting edge looks like you would need a purpose-built tool to sharpen it. The bottom face is a polished radius so you can line the bevel at an angle of your choice to choose the depth of cut.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2021 05:30

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Trabant posted:

You might be able to use something like this:

to improve it. There are a number of shapes built into the base, and one of those might work. I use this to keep lino carving tools sharp.

Or you can put together a DIY solution: shape a piece of wood (or really dense foam) to fit the profile and put some superfine sandpaper over it.

None of these are truly sharpening solutions, though. It's more like polishing or stropping.

Ugh I figured it'd be something like this. I'll see what I can make happen after work today, thanks.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2021 21:28

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Explorations in toolmaking. Found a scrap of what I'm guessing is 316 stainless rod at work and took a little time to shape it into an edge honing guide on the bench grinder. I took it within a few thou of the slot's dimension, next up I'm going to grind the sides square & to dimension, then lap it flat. Strap some lapping sandpaper onto it and get a nice razor edge on this cheap skiver.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2021 05:49

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Does anyone have a good resource for learning to sew garment leather? I have a jacket I'd like to make some alterations to (add extended cuffs because I am long). I don't have much experience sewing, and I'd be sewing by hand.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2021 05:46

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Trabant posted:

The tiniest plague! (because fever)

Since you mentioned stamps: has anyone tried this laser-engraved acrylic approach to creating debossing stamps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB8QP_7LL7s

I'm going to try doing that with 1/8" acrylic. Thing is, our makerspace's laser is ludicrously overpowered at 225W so if you have any suggestions on where to start with power/speed settings, fire away

Disclaimer: I've never done 3D work in acrylic with a laser, only 2.5D stuff on a 400W Metabeam (CO2). And also some work in steel on a 3 kw fiber laser.

As far as power settings go, trial and error all the way. Make a very simple pattern, grab some scrap stock, and play with the power and feed settings till you find something that works. Check the CAM software, see if someone else at the makerspace saved a profile for acrylic engraving and start from there.

I don't know what your experience is with laser-cutting acrylic, but given this particular cut, I would hazard a guess that your biggest enemy would be warping, and I'd venture this would work better with thicker stock (1/4" or 3/8") as opposed to thinner stock. The laser heats the top and bottom unevenly (top side if you're not doing through-cuts, bottom side from the jet of flame if you're doing through-cuts). Slow, sequential, closely-spaced work dumps a lot of heat into a small area, which sounds to me like a recipe for warping. I'd recommend for your test cuts, cut your stock into small-ish blanks so that if they warp, you don't have a whole sheet warping and becoming unusable in a single botched cut.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2022 05:51

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

Pham Nuwen posted:

California, Bay Area. In-person would be great but I'm quite happy to order online -- some of those WP Standard totes look about right.

I like Jungletribe. Their styling is a bit over-the-top but I have one of their hip bags and it's fantastic. The one I have is mostly goat leather. https://www.jungletribe.shop/shop/12366185/bags-purses

Alternatively, there's West Coast Leather. Their shop is in the marina, I think. They're pricey, but their leather is good. I got a jacket from them almost 10 years ago and it's still in perfect shape.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2023 04:55

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

I. M. Gei posted:

Wazzup, leather thread!

I have a leather Torpedo Bag strap that's missing a couple of belt holes, but has marks on both sides where the holes were supposed to be punched. What's the best tool for making the holes myself? Would a drill on a low setting work, or should I use a pointed hand tool like a small knife point? Maybe expand the marks a bit on both sides with a knife and then finish with a drill?

You'd want a leather hole punch, a drill is going to leave an absolute mess of a hole. Hole punches are cheap, but lining up your punch can be tricky cause you're covering it up. I'd mark lines with chalk or something, one down the center of the strap, and one line going width-wise at each punch spot.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2024 21:41

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 14:36

HolHorsejob: Mar 14, 2020; Portrait of Cheems II of Spain by Jabona Neftman, olo pint on fird

I. M. Gei posted:

I live in Texas. There's a few people and places near me that work with leather goods.

I don't know if it matters but I'm only planning to use these holes to put Torpedo's little decorative conchos in. I don't necessarily need the holes themselves to look good since they'll be covered up by the conchos; I just need them to be centered in the right spots.

If possible I'd kinda like to punch a few extra holes equal spaces apart so I can add more conchos, and I think that'd be best done by a leatherworker or someone who knows what the gently caress they're doing better than me.

This might work. Does it need to be a plier-type punch, or would something like a regular center punch work?

Whatever tool you use, if you don't cut a clean, correctly sized hole, you're going to either cut the hole uneven/too large and the hardware won't sit right or spin in place, or you'll cut something that's more like a rip, and when you shove something through it, the leather will buckle and won't sit flat.

Do it however you're going to do it, but this sounds like one of those case where you can drive a bunch to spend $20 and have a shop do it for you, $10 for a tool off amazon that you'll use once, or $0 to use a tool you already have that will look like poo poo in the end.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2024 06:07

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