notching strap

[judejudeus]

Hello , I was wondering if anybody had a good way to notch a leather strap from 22mm down to 20mm . Will a notching tool do the trick or exacto knife. Or should I take it to the watch repairman. Help is much appreciated. Thanks
Rey:thanks

[dnslater]

Hello , I was wondering if anybody had a good way to notch a leather strap from 22mm down to 20mm . Will a notching tool do the trick or exacto knife. Or should I take it to the watch repairman. Help is much appreciated. Thanks
Rey:thanks

Suppose it depends on how much you trust your knife skills, but simply carving it out with an X-acto or razor blade works. You may expose a lighter leather than the edging of your band. You might be able to touch it up with shoe polish.

[Chronopolis]

An Exacto and a pair of steady hands should work fine.
One word of advice: cut LESS than what the measurement tells ya.
So, in this case, you should aim for 20.5mm, not 20.0000000mm as that could very easily end up as 19.5mm or worse.

[jfrago]

I need some help with notching.

I would of course use measurements but what would I use to trace on the leather strap that could be erased later?

When you make your cuts it's easy to end up with a corner that's 90 degree but I would like to have a rounded corner instead of the 90 degree - how would I get that?

I hope my last question makes sense.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

jfr

[Chronopolis]

Since the markings are going to be very small, and need to be precise, I've always found the pencil to be good enough. There is no line to see after you cut.

As for rounded corners, they sell this special leather tool for making half circles. The ones I've seen were fairly large - 0.5 inch ~ 1 inch, or bigger.
But if you don't want fully round but only want to round the corners a bit, then you could use an Exacto, and a file.

Good luck! :)

[BDSmith]

I wonder if you could use a belt hole puncher tool thingy?

[Chronopolis]

I wonder if you could use a belt hole puncher tool thingy?

Don't see why not -- if the leather is supple enough so you don't have to strain yourself. This tool IS hard to use on stiffer leather though.
Otherwise, separate hand-held punches -- to use with a mallet -- are easier to use in punching a hole through.

[David Woo]

I would like to have a rounded corner instead of the 90 degree - how would I get that?

A bit of sandpaper should do it.
DW

[Mike V]

Here is a great tutorial.

http://www.larrybiggs.net/scwf/index...&id=1152066900

[Chromejob]

In answer to a previous post, I WOULD NOT use shoe polish on a strap that's going on a watch. Blech! Use a magic marker, or better a permanent fabric marker, or better still, leather dye marker. Let dry before attaching.

That tutorial uses Krazy Glue, I think. I've used that once (once) on a band repair, for subsequent fixes I've used something that is meant for fabric or leather, like Liquid Nails glue. Trickier to work with, but more effective.