Ken Scott video question/s

[Brokennock]

I finally got to sit down and watch the Ken Scott "Recreating the Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch," DVDs. Putting aside the stapler driving me nuts, I do have some questions. One being most prevalent as it will effect one of my next projects.

I see he primarily uses what he calls a thonging chisel, regardless of name I use one now and then, though less and less. For one of my next projects I will need to use one as I need to pre-punch most of my holes so that I can sew from inside a bag. When using one I have always struggled to get all my holes to line up through multiple pieces of leather, often even though I drive the chisel through 2 or three, in theory the holes should line up. He just runs his line of holes along the edges of his pieces, each piece individually, and all his holes seem to line up. What is the trick to this? What am I missing?

Thanks,
Dave

[G. Elsenbeck]

Dave, I will admit to having to watch and/or read the booklet to fully grasp what was going on.  After doing several pouches/projects using the 'diamond' chisels in order to 'line up' all the pieces the key is to pick a 'start' point, say the middle in each of the pieces prior to taking out the chisel.  Then is to choose 'how far from the edge' would you like to have exposed?  I use a scratch awl on all the pieces, then I begin using the chisel from each start point on all the pieces.  Yes, this is time consuming, but after screwing up a couple times when all the sewing is done the front of the pouch is skewed one way or the other.  Taking out the stitches and starting over is much more time consuming than you would think.  Again, spending time on the layout and careful layout of the holes everything lines up as it should regarding how many pieces of leather is involved. 
Arrrrggh, as for the stapler.  Well, if your piece is going to be heavily aged like Ken does, no one will notice the staple holes.  Even on a moderately dark pouch with minimal effort the holes will not be an issue. 
Happy stitching.
Gary

[Mark Elliott]

If i understand your question correctly, I think the key is to hold the chisel (I use diamond chisels) perfectly (as possible) perpendicular to the plane of the leather, and do not remove the chisel until you have gone all the way through all the layers of leather.  I also use a creaser to to mark a line for my stitches on the top piece of leather.   Additionally,  I use a chisel with as many tines as possible to keep the line as straight as possible.   I also place the first tine of the chisel in the last hole punched.  It is also critical to make sure the leather doesn't move.   I will punch holes at the corners first and tie/tack the layers of leather together so that they won't move.  Ken uses a stapler for this.  I cannot bring myself to do that.  I do use as much white glue as possible to keep things from moving.  Gluing parts together prior to stitching makes things much, much easier.  The white glue dissolves and washes away quickly in warm water.   Don't glue pieces together that are supposed to be free such as the front and back of a bag.   That would be too much glue to wash off.  For the most part, I only glue parts that are to stay stitched together like bindings, welts, linings, and straps.

[Brokennock]

I haven't tried gluing things, yet, I use mini binder clips to hold things together.

I already line up a set of holes with the last set by putting a tone in the last hole of the previous set.

I do prefer to mark my stitch spacing with a wheel and poke holes as I go. But, for an upcoming project where I need to pre punch holes, and find them easily, I think the chisels will be better. I think I will punch each piece separately. As my patterns are all based off a common center line I think I will mark that center point on the bottom edge of each piece and work out from there, alternating sides for each punch, rather than around from an end. If I start with a tine on the center mark and the rest to the right, I'll punch my next set of holes to the left, starting with one tine in the hole at the center line, and repeat alternating sides. This should give me an equal amount of holes all the way around, and be repeatable on each piece.