Hello Fred, Wednesday, March 31, 2004, 6:45:48 PM, you wrote: <snip> FS> I'm having a bit of trouble understanding just what you have in mind for FS> cutting leather (above). Why do you want to leave that glue and bit of FS> leather attached? Wouldn't it make sense to make the cut you describe _and FS> also_ cut away the glue and remaining leather, in order to leave space for FS> the excess leather that is being pulled around, and allow it to be glued FS> directly to shank wood? That's what I've done in the past, the couple times FS> I've done this, and it seemed like a good method. FS> I agree stretching the leather is preferable to bolstering in most cases. FS> If anything, it takes only marginally more time, and the results are more FS> controllable. Oh, no magic there! If you can do it and get by with it, by all means, shoot (or cut) for the core wood as close to the shank as possible! It all depends on how much wicking (leaching) is present from the factory knuckle wrap gluing (results of the knuckle strips being placed in the caul with excess glue, and not to be confused with gluing core wood into shanks). While I don't remember the brand-name, I've had the cutting to the shank method backfire on me when the original glue line was unusually high, and was tenaciously holding to both the knuckle leather -and- the cloth core. Trying to separate things cleanly was not easy or pleasant (hind-sight being the reason I now test with a few samples done one at a time). Your samples will dictate any variations in cutting method. But if you have to leave a small piece of leather because of the factory glue, the newly glued piece seems to feather into itself -- not quite as nicely as flange bushing cloth, but close enough. Hope that explains a little better. -- Regards, Jim mailto:harvey@greenwood.net
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