- Joined
- May 23, 2017
- Messages
- 1,268
I've had an old razor strop hanging up on the wall for ages, but I've never used it as someone cut the handles off it long before I got it. I'll start with a warning that this is far from a good example of my leather work. I used to do saddle and harness repair, this is killing time while waiting for the coffee to work.
Anyways, here is the strop, with the replacement handles I cut from some 12oz brown harness leather. My small sewing machine could have easily managed, but purely for personal enjoyment I pulled out my big Pearson.
Oiled her up, and installed a fresh Torrington #5 needle along with a new spool of 277 nylon thread. She'll sew an inch of saddle skirting like its fabric, by far the most wonderful sewing machine I've ever encountered.
Remember what I said about this not being my best work? Yeah..... In my not paying attention I stitched it on crooked....
It'll work though, so I can't complain all that much
Now onto the leather belt. I've been wanting one for a while, but could never be bothered coughing up the cash for one. I decided to make one for my 1x42 Kalamazoo to see how I like it. Started with a 7/8 wide strip of 9oz Herman oak. It's a bit narrow and probably a bit thick, but I had it laying around as leftover from making some tack and couldn't really be bothered cutting a new one.
I cut it 44" long to make room for the skive. Now you could cut the skive by hand, but one of these Landis 3in1 machines makes it perfect in seconds.
Make sure you don't cut the skives on the same side of the belt, otherwise you'll need to start over.
I used two coats of contact cement on the joint, and after pounding it together as usual I stuck it in a vise for a while, just to insure it gets a real good bond.
In an hour or so I'll clean up the joint, and post as to whether it works perfectly or breaks right away
Anyways, here is the strop, with the replacement handles I cut from some 12oz brown harness leather. My small sewing machine could have easily managed, but purely for personal enjoyment I pulled out my big Pearson.
Oiled her up, and installed a fresh Torrington #5 needle along with a new spool of 277 nylon thread. She'll sew an inch of saddle skirting like its fabric, by far the most wonderful sewing machine I've ever encountered.
Remember what I said about this not being my best work? Yeah..... In my not paying attention I stitched it on crooked....
It'll work though, so I can't complain all that much
Now onto the leather belt. I've been wanting one for a while, but could never be bothered coughing up the cash for one. I decided to make one for my 1x42 Kalamazoo to see how I like it. Started with a 7/8 wide strip of 9oz Herman oak. It's a bit narrow and probably a bit thick, but I had it laying around as leftover from making some tack and couldn't really be bothered cutting a new one.
I cut it 44" long to make room for the skive. Now you could cut the skive by hand, but one of these Landis 3in1 machines makes it perfect in seconds.
Make sure you don't cut the skives on the same side of the belt, otherwise you'll need to start over.
I used two coats of contact cement on the joint, and after pounding it together as usual I stuck it in a vise for a while, just to insure it gets a real good bond.
In an hour or so I'll clean up the joint, and post as to whether it works perfectly or breaks right away
