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Bark tanned salmon skin leather now a wallet

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Dennis Daigger:
Do any of you leather-working folks have experience sewing tanned salmon skins?

I bark tanned these salmon skins with willow and alder bark for 6 days, squeezed them to remove as much water as possible, slathered them with neatsfoot oil and then worked them over a board until they were soft and dry. The resulting leather is .020-.025" thick and is very strong. Years ago there was a commercial enterprise in Juneau that tanned salmon skins and made purses, wallets and other small pieces. They were beautiful and I have wanted to try this for some time and finally got around to it.

My question really centers on techniques for sewing thin leather. The linen thread, the awl width and the needles I used on the other items seem too large for sewing thin leather. Any suggestions?

Here are photos of each side of the leather.
Dennis

rich pierce:

--- Quote from: tooguns on May 10, 2022, 03:33:49 PM ---The fish? Never heard of it.

--- End quote ---

If you never heard of it, how do you know a salmon is a fish? 🤔

Plenty of YouTube videos on salmon leather.

D. Taylor Sapergia:
Glover's needle and fine thread.

Dennis Daigger:

--- Quote from: D. Taylor Sapergia on May 10, 2022, 08:19:50 PM ---Glover's needle and fine thread.

--- End quote ---
Thanks, Taylor. Are the glover's needles used in a pair like saddle stitching? If so, how do you prevent the thread from the first pass being cut by the second needle? I have some 35/3 linen thread coming so have that part covered.
Dennis

Marcruger:
Hi Dennis, I have modified pointed needles for my use in saddle stitching by grinding the point back and rounding it.  Not optimum, but serviceable. I do not have any experience with Salmon leather. God bless, Marc

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