Whacha Been Up To......

I would post pics of my latest but the site is being buggy or glitchy.
 
A mix of cow and Buffalo leather sheaths headed out the door.

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For my 60th my wife got me some time with a local knife maker. My son and a good friend all made knives out of 1085 steel I believe. I forged and ground and put a handle on a knife. Pretty ugly, but wow I have a new appreciation for those who do this professionally (Horsewright). I knew it was dropped too much, but the guy only had so much time …..Anyway I made a pouch for it, followed one of Horsewright’s tutorials minus the locking potion of the welt as the knife didn’t lend itself to that. As always, I’d change a few things on it but I’m still happy with it.

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Nate’s Knives said:
Got a laser? Could you upload a file and cut it with a laser? Make it easier and more precise
Click to expand...
a friend of mine has a bed laser that he uses to make his leather goods, (very cool stuff, btw) and he's done some work for me in the past so I've used laser cut leather components. I don't hate it- but it's definitely not as precise as cutting by hand, (I dream of clicker press). No hide lays flat, so you get some small but weird distortions. There will be future projects requiring laser cut leather parts, but that will be in the 100s. Dozenses are ok by hand, although these 40 will take about two days.

Also, nesting is a problem. A lot of the leather I buy doesn't get used for sheaths because it's not consistent enough. Choosing a specific zone of leather for a specific template is kind of a 'separates the men from the boys' type sheath maker characteristic, imo. The laser eats up a lot of real estate, for example, I can cut two sides for the same sheath 2mm apart. That's sometimes the difference between be able to use a piece of leather or not.
 
I've used the laser and the hides curling is a PITA, as well as the different leathers acting differently and not cutting all the way thru! If you had something like a panel where it's all good leather, you can nest, but most of the times, by hand is actually faster and easier to align with the good parts of the leather. Laser works nicely for me for doing things like belt loops that aren't fold overs (so they are symmetrical!), generic welts, etc. But it leaves a nasty burnt smelling end that needs to be cleaned off!
 
Note to self, don't try to sew leather when sleepy after working a 3rd/1st double! Completely botched up a nice belt loop, so now I need to cut it off and do either a stand along sewn on loop instead of the fold over or put a belt clip or something there.

And of course, my extra bobbins, needles, threads, etc are all arriving today when I am working a 1st/2nd double and then back in for first tomorrow! LOL. Oh well, the paycheck will be nice!
 
Well, I learned about retiming a Weaver Cub! LOL. Got out of time a bit, so I learned how to get it back into time and sewing properly again! Once you know how to do it, it's not bad, but the shaft has only set screws and no flats to hold it in time, so if you mess up too much with it, it will go out of time. I had changed out to bonded polyester thread and then broke the check spring (already had the newer, beefier versions on hand), so I swapped that out, too.
 
Got some Cub playtime, so I made a quick sheath tonight. Messed up the tip area when I tried backstitching there and stitch up the sheath, so I pulled out the 4 messed up stitches and just straight stitches it tip to handle and left enough thread on each end to hand saddle stitch.

And yes, completely forgot to hand stitch the bottom belt loop area! LOL.

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Leather was still damp, so I got some presser feet marks, so I need to see how to adjust that tension. My sheaths are usually glued, so I want to try to back off the pressure a bit.
 
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