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How To Remove A Patch From Leather Without Damaging The Leather

March 17, 2017 by Margaret Filed Under: DIY Projects, Gearing Up

How to remove a patch from leather without damaging the leather.

 

What do you do when you buy a new vest of a jacket and don’t want to give up your favorite patches or maybe you want to take a patch off that no longer has any meaning? You remove it, of course, oh but wait we’re talking about leather. Here’s the thing, if you’re careful and you take your time you can remove a patch without damaging your leather!

In order to remove the patch, you’re going to need a few very basic sewing tools. These tools can be purchased at most fabric or craft stores or online. To make it a little easier for you I’ve linked to my favorite brands for you below in the supplies and tools section.

Supplies/Tools:

  • Small Seam Ripper 
  • Large Seam Ripper 
  • Snips can sometimes be used instead of a seam ripper 
  • Leather Cleaning Wax Conditioner 
  • The jacket or leather item that has the patch you want to remove

How to Remove A Patch

You want to begin by locating the patch you want to remove. Then turn the clothing over or inside out. You’ll need to locate the stitching on the underside for that patch. Next, take either the seam ripper or snips and slip it under one of the stitches and cut/snip it. Work your way around the entire patch until it comes off.

Once you’ve removed the patch pull out any cut threads that are still in the stitch holes. Once all the threads are gone I suggest rubbing the area lightly with some leather cleaner/wax. This will condition the area and help the leather recover from having the patch removed. You will sometimes see small stitching holes left behind. The leather conditioner often helps close these holes up or at the very least make them less noticeable.

Pretty simple wasn’t it! Now you can buy that new vest and confidently move patches over to it or remove those patches you no longer want.

 

 

How To Remove A Patch From Leather Without Damaging The Leather

How to Change the Oil on a Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe

August 4, 2015 by Margaret Filed Under: DIY Projects, Maintenance, Safety, Videos

How to change the oil on a Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe

I can’t believe I am sharing a post on how to change the oil on a motorcycle! I love helping Scott work on the bikes but I don’t typically do much of the actual wrenching. I usually keep him company, pass tools to him and throw stuff away. The thing is the more I watched him work on the bikes the more I wanted to give it a try. After a few subtle hints he asked me if I wanted to do my next oil change. Even though I was a little nervous about it I said yes. Since then I have done my last three oil changes! I have also started doing more of the small maintenance type things on mine. You can view more of those post under the motorcycle maintenance tab.

I know I’m not the only one out there looking to get to know their motorcycle better and save a little cash so we decided to record me doing it.

Remember you don’t have to be a master mechanic or even be mechanically inclined. You just have to be willing to learn and try!

Changing the Oil and Oil Filter

Ride motorcycle until engine is at normal operating temperature.

Oil filter is located on an oil filter mount in front of the engine on the left side.

  1. Loosen oil filler cap and remove.
  2. Remove engine oil drain plug with O-ring. Allow oil to completely drain into a suitable container.
en Caution

Use an oil filter wrench for filter removal. This tool can prevent damage to crankshaft position sensor and/or sensor cable.

    1.  Remove the oil filter using the OIL FILTER WRENCH  . Clean the oil filter mount flange of any old gasket material (surface should be smooth and free of any debris or old gasket material).
    2. Inspect O-ring for tears or damage. Replace if required. Wipe any foreign material from plug.
    3. Install O-ring and drain plug and tighten to torque specifications found in your owners manual.
    4.  Apply a thin film of oil to gasket contact surface on mounting plate, gasket and new oil filter.
    5. Screw filter onto adapter until gasket contacts plate surface, then apply another three-quarter to one full turn.
    6. Refer to your owners manual for the correct amount of oil needed to fill your make and model.
    7. Install the filler cap.
    8. Start engine and carefully check for oil leaks around drain plug and oil filter.
    9. Check engine oil level. Install filler cap.
en Caution

Do not overfill oil tank. Doing so can result in oil carryover to the air cleaner leading to equipment damage and/or equipment malfunction.

 

 

 

How To change the oil on a Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe

Rain Gear Mishap: Cleaning Frogg Toggs Goo off a Muffler

August 2, 2014 by Margaret Filed Under: Cleaning, DIY Projects, Gearing Up, Road Trips, Safety

CleaningPipes

Rain, I don’t think there is a rider out there that likes riding it. We do our best to avoid it but sometimes you can’t. That was the case when we took an 11 day trip to ride The Blue Ridge Parkway.IMG_3686

Scott and I spent months planning our trip to The Blue Ridge Parkway so when rain started showing up in the upcoming forecast we decided to take our chances and go with it. The one thing that Scott has been telling me to buy since buying my motorcycle is rain gear. Did I listen? No! Finally about two weeks before the trip I began looking for some.

We went to several shops over a two week period and couldn’t find any sets in my size. I noticed at one motorcycle shop they sold Frogg Toggs and it was fairly inexpensive, just not in a ladies small.  I looked it up online and found out that Cabala’s carried the pants.   We drove out and found it in stock for less than $25. I noticed it didn’t have a heat shield but neither did the set at the cycle shop so I assumed it would be fine.  I was never able to find a jacket that fit well so I went with a runners rain jacket that had Velcro over the zipper area and at the wrist.

IMG_3851

As you may have guessed by the title of this post and first image things din’t exactly work out with the pants. Frogg Toggs pants are slightly loose to make it easier to get them on over your pants, that also means they stick out when you sit down. My exhaust pipe comes out at just the right angle that when I put my feet down at a stop the pants hit right against the pipe.

I noticed my right leg was getting wet but I wasn’t sure why and since it was raining I didn’t want to take my attention off the road to figure out why. When we stopped at our hotel and I took my pants off I saw the large hole in my pants. It didn’t take long for me to see why that heat shield is so important regardless of what cycle shops carry.

IMG_4633

There wasn’t really much I could do. Scott suggested duct tape until we could find a place to buy another pair but I decided not to worry about it. I figured it was on the inside of my leg and surely it wasn’t going to rain much more. I really wasn’t upset about it until we got ready to leave for dinner and I saw my bike. That hole you see, well the missing fabric was burnt onto my muffler. I wanted to cry. All I could imagine was having to ride my bike around with black goo stuck to it FOREVER!

We went ahead and grabbed some dinner and while we were in there the bikes cooled down. When we came out I decided to see if I could get it off. Much to my surprise a large portion of it lifted up in a solid piece. There was still a lot of little smears all over the pipe but at least it wasn’t as noticeable or as smelly when the bike heated up.

IMG_4259

We got home from our trip and I thought I would be able to get it off with a good wash but no such luck. We tried goo off, chrome cleaner and a few other non abrasive products. I Googled cleaning it off online and found lots of people with the same complaint but not many answers. Most just scrubbed and then left it. A few talked about steel wool but I was worried about scratching my chrome. I finally decided that I would just have to deal with it and hope that over time it would burn off.

Then last week while I was cleaning my iron I got the idea to try it on my pipes. Dritz Iron Off Hot Iron Cleaner  is made for cleaning residue off of a hot iron. Since I knew it would remove synthetic fabric from an iron why not my muffler? Dritz Iron Off Hot Iron Cleaner is formulated to be used on a hot iron so the first thing I had to do was heat up my pipes. I turned the bike on and let it idle for a few minutes and then shut it down.

I applied a small amount of the cleaner to a clean dry towel and rubbed it in an area that couldn’t really be seen to make sure it wasn’t going to discolor the pipe or cause pitting.  Since the muffler is hot you have to be careful! It wiped off and didn’t cause any issues in that spot so I began applying it to the blackened area.  At first I didn’t think it was working but then I noticed small amounts of black residue on the towel. I reapplied it several times in each area, rubbing it with a small amount of pressure and after about 5 minutes it was clean!

IMG_4654

For around $5.00 I got all the residue off, my pipes look great and I won’t have to smell the black goo residue burning any more!

I have done some rain gear research since this happened and found out the Frogg Toggs does offer a Frogg Toggs Smokin Toad Heat Kit that you can apply to the gear to hopefully avoid this problem. Frogg Toggs does not offer rain gear with it already applied regardless of where you buy it. The other option is to purchase  Motorcycle Rain Gear. It is made from fabric that is able to tolerate the heat from the exhaust pipe and most will have a heat shield on the inner thigh area.

Button Removal and Replacement on Leather

April 2, 2014 by Margaret Filed Under: DIY Projects, Gearing Up, Repairs

Introimage3

For the last month or so my husband has been having a problem with the snaps on the leather vest he wears while riding his motorcycle. In windy conditions the vest was often forced open because the inner spring inside the snap was no longer secure. Can you imagine riding down the road with a piece of leather flapping behind you, not enjoyable.

We considered a few different options including just replacing the vest but finally settled on replacing the snaps. I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to remove the old snaps but considering a dry cleaner charges $25 per snap I figured we should give it shot! Not to mention the fact that Scott’s vest is full of patches and most have meaning behind them. We knew we could remove the patches but once you do they don’t look right when placed on another item. The other reason was his vest is worn in and comfortable, something that doesn’t happen overnight with leather.

buffaloThe first thing we had to do was locate the buttons. He has buffalo nickel buttons and he wanted to keep the same style. I found several places online to order them from including one that is local, Tandy Leather. We gave them a call and found out they keep those particular ones in stock, score! We also had to purchase a  punch set tool and anvil.

IMG_2484

Supplies and Tools Needed:

Snaps
Snap Tool and Anvil
3M Rubber Tape
Rubber Mallet
Drill with a metal drill bit

The video will  show you how to to remove the old snap and then how to replace it with new ones.  The steps are the same regardless of the snap style or what you are putting them on. If you are replacing them on light weight fabric you may find it easier to use the Dritz Heavy Duty Snap Fastener Plier Kit.

If you are unable to view the embedded video, you can click here to watch >> Replacing the Snaps on a Leather Vest << on YouTube.

Was replacing them the right choice? Well, the buttons were $3 each, we needed 4 and the punch tool and anvil was $6. For $18 dollars plus tax we were able to purchase everything needed, compare that to around $120-$200 for a new vest. It only took about 20 minutes for all 4 snaps and we learned something new. Oh, and Scott got to keep his broken in vest so yeah I would say it was worth it.

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