Repairing a leather strap

[Angrybear]

3 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Brilliant Andy , i didn't spot them earlier when i was looking

I thought 210 was too tight after accounting for the lug folds.

I'll  be making templates tomorrow

If you have a look at the straps you have in your first photo, you will see that the long end of the strap is not made out of a single long  piece of leather. The hole for the pin bars is made by folding over a cm or 2 of leather and skiving it so it blends into the rest of the piece.

Here is a very simple strap I made for a Panerai with no edge paint so you can see the construction of the loop. It was just made for myself so its a bit rough around the edges!

The tools that are most used. If I can find time ill explain each one and why I use it.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Angrybear
spell check

[Neverenoughwatches]

59 minutes ago, Angrybear said:

If you have a look at the straps you have in your first photo, you will see that the long end of the strap is not made out of a single long  piece of leather. The hole for the pin bars is made by folding over a cm or 2 of leather and skiving it so it blends into the rest of the piece.

Here is a very simple strap I made for a Panerai with no edge paint so you can see the construction of the loop. It was just made for myself so its a bit rough around the edges!

The tools that are most used. If I can find time ill explain each one and why I use it.

Hi thanks Angrybear, ive been reading and watching videos all day . What i was meaning, its not possible to get 1 two piece strap from a length of 210mm leather ( strips off A5 and A4 sheets ), which is a shame Straps measure around 190mm then there are two lugs folds and the fold for the strap keeper to add which is another 50mm tight , total needed for 1 strap is a minimum of 260mm. I have some tools on the way, certainly not as nice as your ebony ? Rosewood ? Handles. The stitching punches have 4mm centers spacings , any good ? Seems a bit big , i think you or Andy mentioned 3mm .Thanks for all the info, you and Andy have been most helpful today, treat yourselves to fruit scones tonight

[Angrybear]

30 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Hi thanks Angrybear, ive been reading and watching videos all day . What i was meaning, its not possible to get 1 two piece strap from a length of 210mm leather ( strips off A5 and A4 sheets ), which is a shame Straps measure around 190mm then there are two lugs folds and the fold for the strap keeper to add which is another 50mm tight , total needed for 1 strap is a minimum of 260mm. I have some tools on the way, certainly not as nice as your ebony ? Rosewood ? Handles. The stitching punches have 4mm centers spacings , any good ? Seems a bit big , i think you or Andy mentioned 3mm .Thanks for all the info, you and Andy have been most helpful today, treat yourselves to fruit scones tonight

LOL! If only I wasn't gluten intolerant!

I can normally get a couple of straps out of 1 sheet of A5. The straps I usually make are 120/80 or maybe 125/75. For the tail end of the strap (the longest section), the longest bit of leather I need is about 150mm length - (125mm for the strap, and about 25mm to fold over and skive to make the loop for the spring bar). For the buckle end of the strap it will be 75mm for the body of the strap, 25mm for the fold over at the lug, and 35mm for the fold over at the buckle - so about 135mm total length. 

If you are going to make the straps using the pattern in one of your images you need to be careful. If you make the tail of the strap by folding in half one very long strip of leather you can run into problems when trying to fit it to the watch - you may find there is not enough clearance between the spring bar and the watch head. Hope this makes sense.

Ps 4mm stitch width should be ok to start with but it can look a bit chunky on a smaller watch. Straps for large watches such as panerai I use 3.5mm. Normal watches I use 3mm, and for vintage watches I normally use 2.5mm.

4mm is good to learn saddle stitching with tho. Good luck mate - strap making is a massive rabbit hole - don't even get me started on creating the ultimate burnished edges!

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 10/1/2024 at 7:57 PM, Angrybear said:

LOL! If only I wasn't gluten intolerant!

I can normally get a couple of straps out of 1 sheet of A5. The straps I usually make are 120/80 or maybe 125/75. For the tail end of the strap (the longest section), the longest bit of leather I need is about 150mm length - (125mm for the strap, and about 25mm to fold over and skive to make the loop for the spring bar). For the buckle end of the strap it will be 75mm for the body of the strap, 25mm for the fold over at the lug, and 35mm for the fold over at the buckle - so about 135mm total length. 

If you are going to make the straps using the pattern in one of your images you need to be careful. If you make the tail of the strap by folding in half one very long strip of leather you can run into problems when trying to fit it to the watch - you may find there is not enough clearance between the spring bar and the watch head. Hope this makes sense.

Ps 4mm stitch width should be ok to start with but it can look a bit chunky on a smaller watch. Straps for large watches such as panerai I use 3.5mm. Normal watches I use 3mm, and for vintage watches I normally use 2.5mm.

4mm is good to learn saddle stitching with tho. Good luck mate - strap making is a massive rabbit hole - don't even get me started on creating the ultimate burnished edges!

Thanks again Angrybear, i honestly dont believe your profile name suits you, i would say you're more of a friendly helpful type of bear......something like Bungle ( for all you non UK members google Playschool uk tv ) whereas i'm more of an obnoxious Zippy type character ....in fact this warped face looks not dissimilar to mine . Shame about the gluten issue my missus makes amazing cherry scones though not as good as my walnut-fruit loaf, we dont tell her that though or my recent Leatherforcraft purchase will probably mysteriously go missing. Fortunately she was out when the CWT of strap buckles from Cousins arrived. Leatherworking tools arriving sometime this afternoon.......I'm sooo excciiitted

[tomh207]

10 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Thanks again Angrybear, i honestly dont believe your profile name suits you, i would say you're more of a friendly helpful type of bear......something like Bungle ( for all you non UK members google Playschool uk tv ) whereas i'm more of an obnoxious Zippy type character ....in fact this warped face looks not dissimilar to mine . Shame about the gluten issue my missus makes amazing cherry scones though not as good as my walnut-fruit loaf, we dont tell her that though or my recent Leatherforcraft purchase will probably mysteriously go missing. Fortunately she was out when the CWT of strap buckles from Cousins arrived. Leatherworking tools arriving sometime this afternoon.......I'm sooo excciiitted

Not seen anyone using a hundredweight as a measure for ever such a long time Rich, thanks for the memory 

 

Tom

[Neverenoughwatches]

37 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

Not seen anyone using a hundredweight as a measure for ever such a long time Rich, thanks for the memory 

 

Tom

Old school tradesman, when i started work bags of cement weighed  1 - CWT which equates to 50 kg- 8 stone or there abouts, i think i weighted about 9 stome at the time , 16 years old