A beginning buckskinner should try a hunting bag kit to get started, and a more seasoned buckskinner should do at least one to show some customizing skills. This post will use some techniques and skills to make your kit unique. Here's what we'll start out with;
This is a shoulder bag , but i want to convert it to a belt bag because I shoot out of the bag at the range; the last vestige of my wilderness days because I am too old.
When I'm through, this is what it is going to look like:
It's not that long a path to go down. The kit is reasonably well put together. The only thing I trashed were the needles. They were common sewing needles and not appropriate for leatherwork.
The second thing I changed was the buckle, because the kit calls for a shoulder strap. I wanted a belt bag. I traded out the 1 and 1/2 inch buckle for a one inch buckle to secure the front flap;
I want it compact and efficient, maybe a lot like a hunters bag, so the first thing I did was take my ruler ( cork backed) and round knife and trimmed off some of the height of the front piece.
The round knife, when dangerously sharp, is better for cutting a straight line against the side of the ruler because the shape of the blade adds cutting surface against the leather.
Since the bag flap was now too long once the front was trimmed, I cut some off, rounded the newly cut flap, and used the surplus cut from the flap to put a pouch on the front of the bag. You can see it sewn in in some of the upcoming shots.
It is always most useful to center the parts of the bag by folding each one longitudinally in half . More on this in this step;
Take a look at the white hash marks on the bag's gusset. In this kit, the shoulder strap was converted to the bag gusset and the two belt loops for my bag. The gusset is held in place by a bunch of butterfly clips. The top hash mark on the left shows where the shoulder strap/gusset will be trimmed. The two lower hash marks are the start points where I tapered the tops of the gusset to bring the front of the bag closer to the back of the bag. That practice makes it easier for the flap to more completely cover the bags throat.
It also helps to keep stuff in the bag.
Take a look at how and where the butterfly clips hold the gusset and front of the bag together. See that one dead center on the bottom of the bag? Normally you don't put one there for a good reason. If your going to use a pricking iron to punch the stitching holes along the edges, then place the back of the bag, the gusset and the front of the bag firmly held in position with the butterfly clips. Dead center on the bottom of the bag, send the pricking iron through all three pieces. It is the best first half I know of to make sure everything lines up properly. From the first set of slits you just made, every subsequent slit will line up.
When I assembled the front of the bag, inclusive of the pocket and buckle, I did so here inside out. ON the back seam of the bag, however, I have taken to stitch a plaing flat seam that is not turned inside out. Over the years I have found that the bag is roomier because space is not taken up by the inside-out folding.
This is where the second half of lining up everything properly is; get a bunch of finishing nails, start with hole number one. and line up every tenth hole before stitching
When you stitch with slits punched by a pricking iron, try using a fid to widen the holes. Fids started out as tools in the navy where sails and netting needed to be woven and knitted together. Cobblers and Leather artisans used them to widen holes.
Oil tanned leather tends to obscure awl holes and the fid will help keep the stitching even.
Now comes it the part where we get crazy. As the picture shows, I decided I wanted charges rather than carrying a powder horn. There is plenty of documentation for cartridges or charges or Apostles and blocks, but I've never seen ant sewn into a bag such as I am making. So, If you want a more traditional bag....adios...
Now, then, charges and loops.
I made a bunch of charges our of 1/2 inch copper tubing ( very expensive in the eighteenth century) and 1/2 inch PCV piping ( yeah, right...) with half inch wood screw plugs glued into the base. With my divider I set it to the width of the tube. With my moon knife I cut a strip of 6-7 ounce leather about an inch wide and walked off ten charge locations with my white pen. The white pen does wonders when working with dark leather.
PLacing a charge tube in position on the srtrip, I took some 4-5 ounce leather and pinned the tube to the strip. The butterfly's show this arrangement ;
I set the divider and went to work on the 4-5 ounce leather and marked off ten positions. I punched the holes on the lines shown in the picture.
John Bianchi, in his outstanding video on gunbelts, showed me how to do this for .45 cal bullets, but the same holds for these chargers. The secret and key to doing this right is shown in the pieces below;
See how the white lines form pyramids on the 7-8 ounce strip?
Now, read this part a couple of times until you can visualize the technique.
Start on the left by mating the two strips of leather. Starting at the bottom of this little seam. stitch up the seam and back down the same. Then tack the left leg of the pyramid, every other hole. When you get to the top of the vertical lines, fold and stitch a loop down and then up the seam. Now tack DOWN the right leg of the pyramid. When you get to the bottom, repeat this process until all ten loops are formed.
Soak the loops so thry are pliable and insert the charges. It helps to pin this arrangement with a dead weight.
I prefer the loops glued and tacked on the outside of the front of the bag...
but the more subtle way of doing it is to tack inside of the bag on the back wall...
Regardless of what type of bag you want the kit to become, some of these techniques and a lot of patience will help you avoid turning a fifty dollar kit into a twenty dollar bag.
Its up to you, and I hope this helps.
Don't shoot yore eye out, kid
The Capgun Kid
