Small Leather Things
Entry into leather workings
Leather is one of the oldest and most durable materials humans worked with. Just because of curiosity I made some small things from leather. This also enriched my experience.
I started with some leather snippets and create tiny key fobs. The simplest is just a piece of leather with a hole to put a key ring into. The more sophisticated is a loop wrapped around such a ring. Cutting the small parts was the first skill I had to develop. That is why I chose the thicker pieces. A scalpel with a short angled blade is acceptable. I didn't want to buy a special knife.
The next technique was sewing. I decided to make a wrist band from two pieces. Planned was a seam around both to improve strength. At the end I only sew around the more stressed lower part. For this piece I used more tools. Hole punches were already available like the carpenter's chiles I used for rounding and cutting. My first order were hole punches with 2 and 6 blades as well as dedicated saddler's needles.
Regarding the needles I had to study experiment and correct a bit. I use two needles and sew the classic saddler's stitch. Both are being pushed against each other through the same hole. One thread is always wrapped around one of the needles on the same side I prefer the right side. It happend quite often to me when using sharp needles that the stitch went through one of the threads. This blocks the thread and it cannot be pulled through. In rare cases I accidentially stitched through the loop at the needle's eye. This causes the same blocked thread.
Darning needles broke in thicker leather. I ripped off the eye after a few stitches. The stretched eye cannot take this stress for long. They are sufficiently blunt. After a lot of searching I found a seller of saddler needles. A set of 25 wrapped in paper will be all I need for the rest of my life. Book binder needles are an alternative. But the must be sanded down to become blunt. Brute force like cutting or hammering is not a good idea. Durable needles are made from spring steel that will break and cannot be bent.
The last level I had to reach was a pair of leather bracers. Made from thick raw leather I had to color them and punch a pattern. Such a bracer has much surface to be dyed. First tries on similar remainders showed it is not that easy to get an even tone. I didn't manage to get it perfect. Neither sponge nor brush made application easy. But for my first dying job the result is satisfying. Now there are more projects on the list:
- Leather tab and finger protector for long bow archery
- broad belt with two straps, middle ages accessory
- Quiver for the back with rain cap
- belt bag for small parts, middle ages accessory