How to Shorten a Nato / Zulu Watch Band

[jt-]

How to Shorten a Nato / Zulu Watch Band: http://youtu.be/Cx31V1_pQKQ

Came across this, thought it was genius and that it may prove useful to folks with smaller wrists.

[vman]

Sorry, but this guy is doing this wrong.

1. Put the strap on a cutting board & align the edge of a coin across the strap so you can make the cut.
2. Use an X-acto knife with a fresh blade to make the cut.
3. Heat up a piece of metal, then use the metal to treat the edges of the strap.

This approach offers you a much better cut and reduces your chances of injury.

[jt-]

Not that I've tried either approach, but would the heated metal offer the cleaner edge? I was wondering if the lighter would leave a "burned" edge. Tough to tell from the video.

[Maxfli]

Originally Posted by vman

Sorry, but this guy is doing this wrong.

1. Put the strap on a cutting board & align the edge of a coin across the strap so you can make the cut.
2. Use an X-acto knife with a fresh blade to make the cut.
3. Heat up a piece of metal, then use the metal to treat the edges of the strap.

Originally Posted by jt-

Not that I've tried either approach, but would the heated metal offer the cleaner edge? I was wondering if the lighter would leave a "burned" edge.

I'm with vman on steps 1 and 2, but as JT suggests, I use a match or lighter to seal the edge. Perfect results every time.

[jt-]

Perhaps following vman's method, for step 3 you could just heat up that exacto blade until it's red hot and use it to touch up the frayed ends? Good ideas guys!

[vman]

I've spent quite some time treating my burns, so I tend to not put open flames to anything that can catch on fire. If you have never had burning plastic on your skin or the experience of separating that plastic from the skin post facto, you won't understand :-)

Getting an x-acto knife red hot and then putting smearing the edge would work. Alternatively, you can put the edge of the strap between two coins, so only a bit of the edge sticks out. Then circle the part that sticks out with an open flame.