How To Repair Tear In Vinyl Convertible Top With Loctite

How to Repair a Leather Tool Chugalug

Updated: Jun. 03, 2022

Clasp a few more years out of a trusty, comfortable belt

FH00JUN_REPBEL_01-2 Family unit Handyman

When a skillful leather tool belt starts to fall autonomously, don't throw information technology abroad. With basic leatherworking tools y'all can easily ready holes and tears and get more than productive years out of it.

Using the leatherwork tools

Photograph 1: Working with an awl

Repair ripped tool belt pockets with a leather-stitching awl. For new seams, avoid breaking the needle by pushing the awl straight through the leather layers instead of rocking it back and forth. For repairing seams, push the awl directly through the old seam holes.

Photograph 2: Lock stitches

Create lock stitches on the underside of your seam by sending the original leader thread (made past the first stitch) through each loop of subsequent stitches. Sewing with a needle and thread requires yous to work from each side of a seam. Lock stitching allows the awl to operate from the topside of a seam, like a sewing machine, and so the needle doesn't accept to maneuver inside tight pockets.

Photo 3: Rivets

Reinforce pocket seams with a mitt rivet tool afterward you've sewn them. Select either a i/eight-in. drill bit or 16d blast and brand a hole for the rivet adjacent to the pocket seam. Open up the handles of the rivet tool, load a ane/eight-in. medium rivet, push the tip of the rivet through all the layers of leather deep into the hole and squeeze the tool handles several times until you lot hear a snap. The tip will mushroom out to compression the rivet effectually the leather. Remove the snapped-off rivet shank from the tool.

When I bought my tool belt, Reagan was in his 2nd term, "Magnum P.I." was king and I had a 34-in. waist. Fourth dimension marches on, and my comfortable old tool belt now has nails leaking from the rips in the primary pouch and my utility knife poking out of its compartment. Sound familiar? It's time to invest well-nigh an hr and a few bucks in materials to fix it.

The sewing machines at shoe repair shops could fix the seam on the edge of your principal smash purse, but they can't get to those seams farther in from the border. Handstitched repairs are expensive, so buy the leather-stitching awl shown hither and exercise all the repairs yourself (Photo 1). This tool is easy to larn to use and its sturdy needles and heavy waxed thread are also perfect for repairing boots, sheet convertible tops and heavy vinyl tarps.

The building blocks for sewing with a stitching awl are the "lock stitches" visible on the underside of the seam (Photo 2). Lock stitches work best when an underside is either in a tight pocket or in the middle of a broad area of material where you can't easily maneuver a regular sewing needle through the seam.

Once you learn how to use the awl, y'all can sew nigh 12 to 15 seam inches per hour. When stitching "interior" pocket seams over the master nail bag, avoid sewing the chief pocketbook closed by putting your hand within to carve up information technology from where the awl is stitching the pocket seam above.

One time y'all've repaired the pocket stitches, reinforce the seams using a hand rivet tool (Photo three). For large pockets, install several rivets spaced ane/ii to ane in. apart.

CAUTION!

Piercing the layers of leather requires steady force on the awl; keep the hand that'southward within the pouch articulate of the needle as it all of a sudden plunges through the seam.