I was never a big fan of artificially aging leather, either in my Shoemakinmg and Muzzleloading OR in my Cowboy Action Gunleather. The idea of this piece is giving leather authentic looking appearance rather than off the shelf industrial appearance…not making it look beat up and old.
It is a different story when one can add patina and character to a piece and make it look as if aged without compromising the leather. That’s a question of preference on the part of the owner.
So let’s start with that hunting bag you gotta make for your dandy new rifle.
Start with the same thought process behind the personae that got you into the gun in the first place. In the case of this rifle, I am finding little bits of documentation about hunters at Fort William Henry and Edward in the 1750’s who used transitional and Jaeger hunting rifles and were periodically escorted by militia or rangers. Next, spend some time trying to assess what is going to be carried in the bag where you vary your focus on authenticity. I’ll want this bag to have some character rather than having that off-the-shelf look that comes with retail leather. It’ll be for trail walks, so it will hold only the stuff I need to shoot. It’ll be a kinda-sorta Lem Lyons belt bag that’s a little wider with an internal and external pouch. Simple round moon flap. So, start here…
Read Your Leather. We will be using 4-5 ounce veg-tan cowhide. For a more refined look, you gotta pay a higher price. For a rougher, well worn look select the economy grades. Spread your leather out and swipe over it with a moistened ( NOT SOAKED) sponge. Broad, quick moving circular strokes will show you all the blemishes, grains, streaks and any irregularities that you will play on.
Let’s work on two areas;
COLOR and TEXTUREYou’ll need the following;
A sponge cut up into one inch squares, wool daubers and a piece of sheepskin
A chunk of rag, preferably terry cloth
Rubber gloves that seem to come out of the woodwork with COVID
A jug of Neatsfoot Oil ( pure)
Brown or Black Dye and dye thinner
A Bouncer ( mine is a uniformally smooth ceramic doorknob. A glass jar with no ridges is good) for rubbing and a buffing brush.
60-70% of the look we want is going to be in how the color plays on the eye. The rest out to 100% is the texture and…most importantly…how the bag would wear and erode some of the finish. I can’t tell you the best way to dye leather or finish it, and there are a lot of guys out there who do as good or better a job than I do.
Here are several pouches by members of this forum who have clearly demonstrated their high levels of talent over and over again. Each one shows the character and there is not a shred of off-the-shelf or industrial look any of them.
Here is the back of the Texas Pouch for Ron Clark posted by TCAlbert
Here is one by Marcruger
And, finally, here is one by Sligobill AKA Eric Ewing.
Each of these pouches leads the eye into their detail. The coloring is irregular without being haphazard or streaky…kind of like that which has been on a pouch over the years but was done before factorization took over with currying and tanning leather uniformally .
Each of them have irregularities in their surface, such as happens to even the best pouches with regular use over the years.
The character seems to be built into them. How they did this is their business. All we want to do here is set some springboard techniques that you can play with and modify, It all starts with picking our your leather. When you read the leather, look for pits, streaks and darker places where the water got sucked in because of porous grain. You feature them by planning your pattern over them.
COLORI like to dye before I assemble and will thin the dye to about half so I can re-apply and concentrate on areas I wish
I will load the piece up with neatsfoot oil before I apply the dye. I Pile the stuff on there with a sponge or a chunk of sheepskin.
To try this, dye while the leather is still wet from the neatsfoot, with circular motions. Put on a second coat almost immediately, rubbing in one direction only. Then put on a third coat rubbing at 90 degrees. Let it dry. Throw on another light coat of neatsfoot oil and buff with the shoe brush. Patience, Grasshopper, Patience. Spend some time here. This is when you use a bouncer. If you are not putting any texture in the surface of the leather, a ceramic, smooth mug or jar with no ridges will be a good tool to rub the surface with. Smooth strokes in one direction. The door knob type bouncer is better in a circular motion. The key here is a firm touch and to wet the leather, preferably with a moist sponge over the whole surface. When water on dyed leather dries it will always leave the color of the die uneven…not streaky
TEXTURELook at the back of this original bag submitted by Elnathan in Antique Accoutrements
To get this kind of look, and still not beat up the leather, moisten the leather. TCAlbert shows a great example. The easiest way to do that for scattered texture changes is to wet the leather when you turn it inside out. For more uneven surface area, treat the leather BEFORE you assemble the pouch. You don’t need to soak it, but you want the flower side pliable. Now crumple, knead, twist and compact it until the flower side is no longer smooth and uniform. You might also try friction rubbing it against itself as if you were grinding soap into a washcloth. If you haven’t dyed it do so now, while it is still wet. Work all or some of the piece depending on the look you want to achieve.
When it dries, go after it with your bouncer or jar or mug. Throw another coat of oil on if you want, and brush it when it is dry. You can even bounce it again.
What you will end up with will look something like this;
If you are going to line the bag ( you better sit down for this piece of technical rocket science) use dirty cloth. Oil, grease, powder stains; anything that would go in and out of a bag over the years.
Here I rolled the edges of the flap, the trick being to have the flesh side of the leather to show. Dirty it up with, say, a dry dye applicator, a dried out oil rag or smooth it a little where the hand or arm or powderhorn would rub against it with usage.
When you are ready to stitch up your pouch do the same with any thread that will show
Time and sun will darken this pouch. I can be sure that it will either exude character or really ugly…
Last thought for the day…
Look close enough at my bag and you can pick up on the fact that I took the cheezy way out and stitched around the roll with my Singer Patcher. Then I faked a repair with some more black thread, a shallow V gouge so as not to cut the leather, and the same black thread as if a repair on the bag flap was needed. The problem with going too far like that is you gotta take the time to explain in to somebody looking at the piece.
That’s the edge of the envelope on these techniques because they are all subjective. Follow the people cited in this post long enough and you will see some high quality work that is worth its weight in gold without any of these techniques. It is hard to go through Contemporary Accoutrements without seeing the craftsmen/artists mentioned here along with James Rogers, Mark Elliot and the like who submit work without always inducing the worn look; and they have plenty of character in and of themselves.
Hope this stuff helps
Don't shoot yore eye out, kid
Capgun
