Production project update:
(progress hampered by paying jobs in the shop...knife work done in fits and spurts)
So I have been working with leather for months(fits and spurts...lol)....as many of you know my goal is to make production knives in limited quantities. It has proved more challenging than I thought it would be....even though I have many years of experience doing production manufacturing.
So months of testing leather finishes, thicknesses, dyes, assembly.... I've come close to throwing in the towel on this project...and I'm only on my first production design...lol. I have about 5 more right behind this one....sigh. The things I am learning on the first one will definitely cross-over to the rest.
Here is a sample of a leather test for "curb appeal". No welt. The dye is my own mix because the browns I have tried are all too brown...this has red and yellow added but so little you probably wouldn't notice if I didn't tell you. I've gotten pretty good at saddle stitching but don't think it's viable for production. The rivets have stood up well but I think saddle stitching is superior....my solution? many rivets. I let my son set the last three rivets and he garfed the last one.
I bought some little edge burnishers for a dremel and they run out so much that they 'bounce"....I was thinking That if I made threaded shafts that go on a grinder with the different burnishing radiuses...that would still allow you to mount buffing wheels, it would be a win/win...no extra grinder $$. I tested the steel burnisher idaea on my lathe and that is the finish I ended up with on this little test sheath.
Over-all I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel...but way more hand work involved than I had hoped to hit the price I wanted to sell at....Oh well...I want them to be nice.
