Practical Leatherwork: Cutting, Sewing, Finishing & Repair

by Carsten Bothe

Overview

Leather is a strong and versatile material, and indispensable when you’re working, hunting, or exploring outdoors. Hunter and outdoor professional Carsten Bothe offers the ultimate beginner’s guide for this useful hobby. These photo-rich, step-by-step instructions prove that anyone can learn the techniques of cutting, sewing, and finishing to make, or repair, your essential leather items. You’ll learn how to make a seam, to wet-form, to apply button studs and rivets, and everything else needed to master the basics. Five useful projects—good looking, and able to be put to practical use—help you put what you’ve learned into practice: make your own belt, dog leash, belt bag, knife sheath, and leather holster. Whether you are a hunter, reenactor, knife maker, scout, horseback rider, or bushcraft fan, or you use leather in other ways, here is your guide to a new skill.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764357442
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/28/2019
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Carsten Bothe is an outdoor professional, a hunter, and a certified biologist who lives and works as a freelance journalist in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Table of Contents

Foreword 3

Leather-Crafting Materials 7

Workplace and Materials 7

The Workplace 8

The Leather 10

Tanning and Types of Leather 10

How Do You Find Good Leather? 10

The Thread 13

Natural and Man-Made Materials 13

Twisted and Braided Thread 13

Preparing the Thread 16

The Tools 21

Cobbler's Knife 22

Round Knife 22

Cobbler's Hammer 23

Wing Divider 23

Edge Beveler 23

Stitching Groover 24

Grooving Tool 24

Needles 25

Lacing-Stitching Pony 26

Bone Folder 26

Spokeshave for Leather 26

Awls 27

Stitching Wheel (Stitching Interval Marker) 28

Glue 28

Drive Punches / Punch Pliers 29

Chamfer Tool 30

Buckles 33

Materials for Buckles 34

Simple Buckles 34

Roller Buckles 34

Double-Bar Buckles 34

Plate Buckles or Conchos 35

Fundamentals 37

Snap Fasteners and Rivets 37

Mounting Snap Fasteners 38

Button Studs (a.k.a. Button or Round-Head Rivets) 39

Setting Rivets 40

Marking and Cutting Out Leather 43

Marking Leather 44

Cutting Out Leather 45

A Simple Seam 47

What Makes a Good Seam 48

Fastening the Leather for Sewing 49

How to Pierce the Holes 50

Sewing 51

Trimming a Seam 56

Binding Threads 57

Sewing Leather Straps Together 59

Projects 63

Sewing a Belt 63

Finishing an Edge 64

What Makes a Good Belt 67

Sewing on a Buckle 71

Setting a Rivet for a Pack Strap 76

Sewing a Dog Leash 79

Finishing the Dog Leash 84

Sewing a Belt Bag 87

Sewing a Knife Sheath 93

Sewing a Quiver-Style Sheath 94

Sheath for a Bowie Knife 100

Sewing a Leather Holster 103

What Really Matters 104

Measuring 106

Sewing 108

Wet-Forming 111