Hello  I would be really grateful for some help from anyone on here who makes watch strap please. I am trying to design my own templates for watch straps and I am struggling as how get an accurate sizing guide.

I have looked at a few other makers sites to view their sizing guides and to see how they have come up with the sizes of the straps from that of a wrist measurement but I cant quite seem to work out how this is done.

For this example I am going to use a wrist measurement 17.5 cm which in the extract of one particular makers size guide would indicate that the wrist measure is comfortably in the size range for a 115/75 strap and a lug to lug measurement of 40 mm.

Wrist Size Strap Size

(16.5 - 18.5 cm)  Regular length (115 - 75) when suitable with watch…

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine is getting married, and he has decided to gift a pair of trouser suspenders (or braces, for my friends in the UK) to each of his groomsmen. The're made mainly of fabric, but have a small leather patch. (Picture attached.)

He has already purchased them, and he has asked me if I could emboss a set of initials onto each of them. (To personalize them for each of his groomsmen.)

I have a stamping machine - from Dream Factory - that I often use, and which I've found to be reliable. Here's the problem: The surface that needs to be stamped is quite uneven. I thought about padding the uneven sections, so as to create a relatively flat and even surface, but it's quite risky and I don't want to destroy too many pairs with failed attempts.

Has anyone encountered this (or something similar)…

Hey everyone.

As you may have noticed, the forum looks a little different now.

Our website providers WIX have just put out a major update to the forum app. This wasn't a voluntary update by me, the old forum app has now been discontinued.

While it may look quite different, the updates should improve functionality, such as navigation, uploading media and spam protection.

Obviously, as with any new software, there may be glitches here and there. So feel free to reach out to me with any issues or suggestions you may have. philip@leathercraftmasterclass.com

Also, all the posts and comments from the old forum have been transferred over to the new one, so you can still access historical content.

Hey Guys, how do you keep your workshops clean from all the leather chips? I currently use a standard house vacuum cleaner but its cumbersome to move around the shop. I'm thinking about maybe a handheld battery operated vacuum cleaner. Do you guys use anything in particular? A small random tip from the bench: to make your leather stick to the surface during skiving or cutting use 0.5mm silicone VMQ sheets inbetween the leather and the surface. The grip is not as tacky as Phil's method with PVA glue, but it is a reasonable option.

Took a while, but I finally finished the zip wallet from the Intermediate course... picked up some ostrich remnants from buyleatheronline (wish I would have picked up a few more bundles at the price...) and thought it would be good to practice with... It was my first time doing a zip, but it went pretty well... Can't imagine attempting a project like this without the videos to fall back on... 🙂

JH

In planning for some storage solutions, I'm interested in utilizing wall mounted magnetic strips in the typical wood veneered style. In consideration (read over-thinking) I've become curious if this storage method will introduce any negative challenges when it comes to the magnetization of the tool, specifically blades, as it relates to sharpening. I typically dress with a strop during regular use, and will hone on water stones as needed. Conventional logic would suggest that the slurry produced including fine metal particles would have a natural tendency to remain magnetically attracted to the tool being sharpened. I would expect that this may introduce some challenges or undesirable outcomes as it relates to the sharpening process. Has anybody had any any experience with this either in leather tools or storing kitchen knives in a similar fashion and care to share their thoughts?

Hello all,

I was just wondering, what colors of thread was mostly used traditionally?

I and a lot of other leathermakers use a big variaty of color in our threads, but was was used traditionally for brown, tan and black leather?

What say you, Phil, you have read a lot of litterature and old book about leathercraft. What does the books say about thread and leather colors?

I've been trying to make some more generic but customizable projects that aren't egregiously time consuming to make, so I took the bottom half of the solid leather box project and decided on its own when made rather shallow it would be a desk tray. After taking a ride on the struggle bus when attempting to cut the 45 degree angles via Phil's method, I decided to use some math, the edge of my granite slab as an index, and a skiving style approach to cut those 45's and was met with a significantly higher success rate.

Also I ordered a die cutter in the shape of the Helldivers 2 skull, a video game I have played absolutely too much of, and used an arbor press to punch the skull out of yellow to give it some nice design elements. Challenge 2: A 1 ton arbor press does not d…

Just finished my first run through of the bifold wallet build. Really loved this one given how surprisingly challenging it was. First a question (so you don't have to read through my "post build" notes).

Given buttero's stiffness, I'm wondering if I could do away with some of the reinforcement particularly the canvas on the exterior lining and the thinner reinforcement used on the folded double partition? Not sure it matters since it's not adding much thickness but curious anyway.

Here's a few notes from this build The center partition was supposed to be the same color but I sliced it while attempting to thin it down a bit. I didn't have enough Burgundy colored leather left so my only option was a piece of 1.2mm chestnut.

Getting this piece thin enough was tricky until I realized I could use my woodworking block plane to do most of the heavy…