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Friday, December 4, 2009

Sewing the leather cower for a wooden scabbard

Someone asked me how I "attach" the leather to the scabbards that I make. So I thought that I would post some pictures to expalin it.
It's pretty straight forward, but pictures always help.



I use some pretty supptle leather for these scabbards.
This is calfskin and just about 0.6-0.8 mm thick. It is very streatchy and soft.



First I glue some leather strips on to the core. These will appear as raised areas after the core has been covered and they will help the belt to stay in place, and make sure it won't slide down.



In the next three pictures you can se how the leather is fitted to the tip of the core. This way of doing it gives a pretty tight fit.
The leather is also soaked in water before being sewn to the scabbard. This makes it more streachy and therefore reduces the danger of tearing the leather when sewing it togeather. When the leather dries it will shrink and make the fit even tighter. This way you can avoid using any glue at all!



First you fold up the tip.



Then the sides.



... And you start sewing!
As you can see I cut the leather to size as I go along. Then i don't risk takeing off to much.



Sew all the way to the top, fold down the upper rim and stich it in to place.



Tie some string around the leather risers to streach the covering into the corners.



Let it dry for a day and it's ready to be fitted with a belt!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A recommendation

For those of you who are interested in carpentry.
I just found this book on different techniques for making joints in wood. It has a lot of pictures and descriptions of various techniques.

Woodwork joints