Leathercrafting Creations: PYC

[Friday]

Dang, so much good stuff lately. Theblackgoat - the green is awesome.

jaw - about how big is the cxl bag?

Here's a long wallet I did for myself. The wrap-around piece was definitley a labor of love to sew.

[JAW]

Thanks for the heads up denimy. Been checkin the selling section of leather worker for a while, seems like bruce is a good resource for info.

[GriffingAve]

Black CXL.

been looking into buying a splitter, anyone got one and have recommendations or critiques? Looking as a CS Osbourne one right now.

What kind of a splitter are you looking for? I actually have a Chase Pattern 8" splitter I'm thinking of selling.

here's my experience with splitters. i started out with the tandy high tech splitter. it was ok. they can't go very wide though. also, they can have a tendency to chop your straps because there's nothing above the blade that keeps the leather from flipping up. this tends to happen when you hit a hard spot on the leather.

i then went to an 8" chase pattern pull through. this one has upper and lower rollers so the leather won't chop. they work pretty well. you have to keep the blades very sharp though. the problem is, pull throughs don't work terribly well when you get down to like 3oz thicknesses. the problem is that you're pulling on the leather which, when split down to that thickness, is a lot less strong then it was before and will have much more of a tendency to stretch.

i then went on to a 6" crank splitter. this splitter has upper and lower rollers that are powered by a hand crank that pushes the leather into a blade. the two most common makers is landis and american. this will split the leather down to 3oz thickness. i use this for making wallet interiors. it does not stretch the leather. it actually tends to scrunch up the leather a bit because it's now pushing instead of pulling the leather. when you're using veg tan leather, it's not that big a deal though because the pre-split leather usually is pretty strong. the problem is that 3oz is about as thin as i can go on this machine. although it can go thinner technically, it really doesn't have the precision to split thin stuff well. after all, this thing was made to split shoe soles and not wallet interiors.

of course, the very best thing to use for splitting wallet interiors is a belt knife splitter but those things cost at least $6k used for a decent one. i covet them but cannot afford them.

anyways, good luck with the splitter.

Andrew

Edited April 2, 2012 by GriffingAve

[GriffingAve]

Splitter for wallet insides, no relation to the bag, although it would be nice to thin leather for pockets inside bags and lining. I dont do much skiving, but have made a few card holders for friends and stuff with turned edges, but just do it by hand. I have so much 5-6 oz cxl strap, i want to be able to split it down to 3 oz for wallet insides. Also want to do full horse butt wallets etc. I was gonna bite the bullet and buy a cheap pull through one, but think id be better off dropping some doe.

Whoops. I just read this post.

Here's my experience with splitters. I started out with the Tandy high tech splitter. It was ok. They can't go very wide though. Also, they can have a tendency to chop your straps because there's nothing above the blade that keeps the leather from flipping up. This tends to happen when you hit a hard spot on the leather.

I then went to an 8" Chase pattern pull through. This one has upper and lower rollers so the leather won't chop. They work pretty well. You have to keep the blades very sharp though. The problem is, pull throughs don't work terribly well when you get down to like 3oz thicknesses. The problem is that you're pulling on the leather which, when split down to that thickness, is a lot less strong then it was before and will have much more of a tendency to stretch.

I then went on to a 6" crank splitter. This splitter has upper and lower rollers that are powered by a hand crank that pushes the leather into a blade. The two most common makers is Landis and American. This will split the leather down to 3oz thickness. I use this for making wallet interiors. It does not stretch the leather. It actually tends to scrunch up the leather a bit because it's now pushing instead of pulling the leather. When you're using veg tan leather, it's not that big a deal though because the pre-split leather usually is pretty strong. The problem is that 3oz is about as thin as I can go on this machine. Although it can go thinner technically, it really doesn't have the precision to split thin stuff well. After all, this thing was made to split shoe soles and not wallet interiors.

Of course, the very best thing to use for splitting wallet interiors is a belt knife splitter but those things cost at least $6k used for a decent one. I covet them but cannot afford them.

Anyways, good luck with the splitter.

Andrew

[corter]

all sorts of stuff going on this week. hands surprisingly don't hurt yet!

[JAW]

Thanks Griffingave for the info. I was definately thinking of a crank through style. I was originally gonna buy a pull through, but you have confirmed my suspicions that it would be tough to get it as thin as I want it. I'll have to keep looking for something in my budget.

Here's a fun one. Horse outside, calf and pigskin inside:

[JustinPHL]

what method do you guys use to square up your hide? bought my first half back and had a tough time making a straight edge (and keeping it). my belt strap come out wavy and its frustrating!

[JAW]

I use one of those sweet clear rulers that quilters use. Works as a straight edge and a right angle. They come in all different sizes. Ive got one that is 6 x 24 and one that is 6x 12.

[public denimy]

Did you purchase your leather from Tandy? I heard that if you ask them to make a clean & straight edge on one side for strap cutting, they'll do it free of charge and ship it to you. I think it was mentioned in a Tandy leather how to video on youtube.

[corter]

be careful of anything plastic on the grain side- it'll slip real easy and it's a real good way to slice your finger off. Cork back metal ruler is the safest to use.

I'm sure someone at Tandy will put an edge on a hide for you, however you should learn how to do it yourself before making belts. Can't build a house without a foundation.

There are two ways that are best- first, use a scratch awl and straight edge to get a straight line then use a round knife to cut away from you. This is safest because you don't have to work as much about knife-on-ruler injury, and the most traditional way, but takes a bit to master. Second is to just use your ruler and a heavy exacto blade. Don't try to cut belt weight leather all the way through in one slice as it's easy to loose control when you focus too much on pressure. Use a sharp blade and a few strokes.

I bought the junkiest hide I could find and just practiced putting a straight edge on and cutting super thin straps to learn control. It's $45 or $50 that will teach you a very fundamental skill.

[JustinPHL]

I got it from Wickett & Craig. Im just going to have to get to the hardware store and by a really long straight edge. Ive been trying to do this with a couple of 12" rulers and some string and its not working out great.

Edited April 3, 2012 by JustinPHL

[KevinG]

I bought a piece of aluminum stock from home depot and it works great. Watch your fingers though, especially if you use a rotary cutter (which I don't recommend). Have a few scars from that learning curve.

[zissou]

Oh, man, I remember trying to use a rotary cutter at first. Just find a 48" straight edge, and you'll be in good shape.

[KevinG]

Yea.... Needless to say I don't use a rotary cutter anymore!

[Happy Hooligan]

I sliced the tip of my finger off with a rotary last year by not paying attention to where the blade was and where my finger was... lesson learned....

[public denimy]

I've been using the cheapest exacto I could find at a crafts store. It's a plastic red handle and a screw/tightener mechanism for the blade to slide up and down. But, I have now upgraded to a Blanchard head knife. Head knives are probably one of the most recognized tools on the saddlery bench and they take time to master, but people have said that it's better to learn to use it now than later. I'd suggest corter's method.

[GriffingAve]

I bought a six foot long piece of rectangular aluminum rod and anchored the ends at the end of my 5 foot table. The table is covered in cutting board material so I can cut anywhere on the table. I slide the hide (or as much of it as I can get) under the rod and use that as my first cut to square the edge. The I use a strap cutter to cut the straps out.

Andrew

[KevinG]

For those using head knives, what make are you using?

[simontuntelder]

For those using head knives, I salute you

[Friday]

I'd be interested to know who uses a head knife as well. Any one use a Japanese cutting knife?

[ItsJustNC]

I do use the japanese knife. But mostly for skiving. Its great for skiving.

[JoeySullivan]

I can't afford a descent head knife and anyway, i don't know how to sharpen it in the propper way. So, i use this olfa knife, very popular among leatherworker and also great for skiving, N°11 Swann Morton blades for straight cut and N°12 for curves. These are SUPER sharp and durable comparing to x-acto / art supply shop blade and really cheap, about 10€ the 100 pack on Ebay.

Edited April 4, 2012 by JoeySullivan

[corter]

#2 exacto for me. Perfect for everything.

[Friday]

I do use the japanese knife. But mostly for skiving. Its great for skiving.

How's it on curves?

[JoeySullivan]

How's it on curves?

Depend of the radius. Short radius = poor, long radius = great, especially on thick leather.

[ItsJustNC]

^ i dare not say that im proficient in it, but in comparison with a head knife, this makes more sense to me. Cause its two very distinct ways of cutting, pushing vs pulling. Pulling just feels natural to me. I feel like i have more control over the blade.

Whereelse, in comparison to a 30 degree penknife blade... When tackling on curves, you have a lesser tendency to do an "undercut".

[limbo]

I was just about to post a question on knives. Thanks!

Going to visit some leather suppliers tomorrow. Can anyone tell me what types of leather these are or what terminology I should be using when asking for these types? Might just end up showing them pictures.

[JAW]

Looks like suede?

[madstaxbro]

Roughout, rough-side, wrong-side, flesh side, they should get the idea.

[Friday]

^ i dare not say that im proficient in it, but in comparison with a head knife, this makes more sense to me. Cause its two very distinct ways of cutting, pushing vs pulling. Pulling just feels natural to me. I feel like i have more control over the blade.

Whereelse, in comparison to a 30 degree penknife blade... When tackling on curves, you have a lesser tendency to do an "undercut".

Pulling does seem more natural to me as well - good point on undercutting!