TimeTechTalk.com Home

TimeTechTalk.com > Time Tech Talk > Straps and Watch Accessories > When you become too addicted to aftermarket straps...

Welcome to 3T! Please take the time to register and join in on the friendly,knowledgeable watch talk.Please note that not all registrations will receive an immediate activation e-mail.Those who do not receive an immediate notification will be activated manually within 48hrs. by an admin. without an e-mail activation url sent to you,you may then sign in using your username and password,if you feel there is a problem please e-mail us at timetechtalk@hotmail.com and include your name and username and we activate your account.Thank You!

 Moderated by: 3T
New Topic Reply Printer Friendly
When you become too addicted to aftermarket straps...  Rate Topic 
AuthorPost
 Posted: Wed Sep 15th, 2010 11:35 am
  PM Quote Reply
1st Post
GX9901
3T WIS


Joined: Sun Jul 12th, 2009
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota USA
Posts: 230
Status: 
Offline
...you end up making some yourself.  At least I did.  LOL!subtlelaugh.gif mistake.gif

I've been buying straps for my PAM312 like a madman.  After reaching 9 new straps in a matter of 2 months, I decided that I'll make an attempt at a baseball glove strap since I've always wanted one but they don't come up for sale very often and when they do they're not always what I wanted.  So I read up on strap making on the internet and gathered some tools I needed and an old glove and went to work.

I first practiced on an old belt.  It was very simple with minimal stitching.  I don't even remember where the belt came from but I think it's probably some low grade leather.  The finished strap looked OK so I proceeded to work on the old glove.  Here's the result:



This strap is probably too soft as both the glove and backing leather are really soft.  But it is pretty comfortable to wear, and I was excited to be wearing something I actually made myself.  I had actually used the glove as a kid in Taiwan (notice that it's made in Taiwan) 20 some years ago so there's some added sentimental value.

After the first strap, I decided that I want to try more stitching around the strap, so I got a couple more tools and some remnant leather from a local leather shop and ended up with this:



To be honest it turned out much better than I thought it would.  For whatever reason the stitching was actually straight!  I figured for my first try it would be pretty sloppy, but I guess when you got the right tools (in this case stitching hole puncher), it takes care of itself.

So now that I gained some confidence, I went to the next project, another baseball glove strap made from a Kirby Puckett model glove I got from ebay.  Puckett was my favorite baseball player growing up and I thought it would be cool to wear a strap with his signature on it.  For this one I planned to stitch around the various baseball glove letterings.  Here's the result:




The stitching didn't look as tidy as the last strap, perhaps because I didn't take enough care punching holes straight, but I'm still pretty happy with the results.  This one is stiffer than the first strap I made because I used a stiffer backing leather, but it may have been a little too thick overall.  It does seem to wear fine on my wrist though:



Anyway, it's been a lot of fun making these straps.  The tools only cost about as much as a good custom strap, so I figure I'm ahead already since I have 3 new straps and a lot of fun making them.dog smile.gif One thing I know is that I'll definitely be making more straps.  They are fun little projects and it's pretty rewarding to be wearing a strap made by myself.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Wed Sep 15th, 2010 02:57 pm
  PM Quote Reply
2nd Post
Paladin
3T WIS


Joined: Tue Mar 3rd, 2009
Location: Northeast, Florida USA
Posts: 2425
Status: 
Offline
Pretty Spiffy! Thumbsup3.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Wed Sep 15th, 2010 05:09 pm
  PM Quote Reply
3rd Post
Janner
3T WIS


Joined: Wed Jul 29th, 2009
Location: Plymouth, United Kingdom
Posts: 334
Status: 
Offline
Well done, those straps look great.Thumbsup3.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Wed Sep 15th, 2010 07:32 pm
  PM Quote Reply
4th Post
bigrustypig
3T WIS


Joined: Sat Apr 11th, 2009
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 7504
Status: 
Offline
I liked the 2nd one you made, GX. I think you can also blacken the edges to make them more...hip.

Big Congrats!

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Thu Sep 16th, 2010 02:29 am
  PM Quote Reply
5th Post
Graham
3T WIS


Joined: Sun Sep 21st, 2008
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Posts: 2724
Status: 
Offline
Some really nice work there!Thumbsup3.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Thu Sep 16th, 2010 11:28 am
  PM Quote Reply
6th Post
GX9901
3T WIS


Joined: Sun Jul 12th, 2009
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota USA
Posts: 230
Status: 
Offline
Thanks guys!  I know these are far from what the pros can do, but for me it's been very enjoyable and certainly gives me a new appreciation to the work done by good strap makers.

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Fri Sep 17th, 2010 05:24 am
  PM Quote Reply
7th Post
ndburley
3T WIS


Joined: Fri Jan 29th, 2010
Location: Plymouth , United Kingdom
Posts: 1790
Status: 
Offline
Impressive, They are all good efforts and I would be proud if I had made them.

Thumbsup3.gif
Make some more....what other materials can you have a go at?...soft plastic floor tiles?...I would be turning the house upside down to use anything as an experiment.....maybe I will.

homerthinks.gif

Again brilliant!! If those are your first efforts you will be an expert in a month maybe thumbsup.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Fri Sep 17th, 2010 06:58 pm
  PM Quote Reply
8th Post
KenC
Admin


Joined: Sun Sep 4th, 2005
Location: Florida &, Arizona USA
Posts: 11288
Status: 
Offline
BRAVO!  bravo.gif

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

 Posted: Mon Sep 20th, 2010 06:09 pm
  PM Quote Reply
9th Post
blueradish
3T WIS


Joined: Wed Mar 10th, 2010
Location: Canada
Posts: 127
Status: 
Offline
Very nice. I like really thick straps, I have some that are 6-7mm. A good thick hand made strap really has presence on the wrist IMHO

Back To Top PM Quote Reply  

 Posted: Tue Sep 21st, 2010 02:26 pm
  PM Quote Reply
10th Post
stew77
Admin


Joined: Thu Mar 26th, 2009
Location: Colorado USA
Posts: 10247
Status: 
Offline
Very cool baseball straps GX!!!!

Bravo!...I think they look great especially for your first attempt!!thumbsup.gif

...that PAM312 is no slouch either!!wowzer.gif, and would probably look great strapped to bailing twine for that matter...gorgeous piece. 

Back To Top PM Quote Reply

Current time is 05:29 am  
TimeTechTalk.com > Time Tech Talk > Straps and Watch Accessories > When you become too addicted to aftermarket straps... Top



Lead Theme By: Di @ UltraBB
UltraBB 1.17 Copyright © 2007-2012 Data 1 Systems
Page processed in 0.0903 seconds (27% database + 73% PHP). 25 queries executed.