If you scan down the threads in this section, you can see where we looked at putting together a kit to make a bag last month. This piece will fill in the holes for some techniques, again using a kit. If you’ve read the first piece, so much the better. If not, you’ll need a note from your mother.
The title captures the techniques covered here. The kit is another low end package from Crazy Crow. If you craft it well it will become a high end pouch. That’s what I like about their products and the vendors who wholesale them. This kit is probably oil tanned cow, or maybe buffalo, or still maybe hides off some guys herd in South America. Whatever.
It has a medium…”temper”… which means it is in between stiff and floppy. The dye runs only so deep into the surface, hence the white appearance on the edge of the leather.
You get to choose between a practical bag, an authentic bag, a copy of some long deceased souls bag…or...also whatever.
Because this kit appears mostly oil tanned, it offers an opportunity for even and accurate marking and work.
Fold the piece you are working on by evenly folding edge to edge halving like so;
The oil tanning will leave a line that will eventually disappear when the pouch is done. The picture on the instructions for the kit shows the recommended flap cuts. You cannot get them even unless you have a centerline. In my case, I tend to favor a shorter front flap, so I made the pattern by outlining the original flap and cutting off a lot of the end of the flap about three inches down.
I like to re-purpose the excess I chopped off on the front of my pouch as a small sewn in pouch to hold loading blocks.
In this case, we are going to tack rather than stitch and we are going to use a welt in between the pieces being fastened. The advantage to using a tool commonly referred to as a pricking iron is that holes are always evenly spaced…especially if you routinely put the end prong into the last hole you punched as you move on. Some guys use pricking irons to mark holes while others punch the holes all the way through. The eveness keeps your tacking line from looking irregular and wonkey.
Off the shelf tools range from heavier and well spaced for thicker leather ( on the left) to smaller for thinner leather gauges ( on the right). The iron in the middle has the prongs angled and I am told that is usually for stitching rather than tacking.
I tend to use a metal hammer because I am willing to beat the snot out of my irons and make sure the holes go all the way through multiple layers. When they get too worn I’ll go buy new ones. Note the white pen. This is almost indispensable when using darker colored leather.
One of the most important things to do is to get seams lining up in the right place evenly. line the pieces up to make your punch on the front, twice on opposite sides of the gusset and the back of the pouch centering everything in your first set of holes. Line ‘em up and mark center with the white pen so that they will match when you start putting the whole shebang together.
Here are two tips taught to me by some experts at making hunting bags.
The gusset is like a floor in the pouch. The first tip is to skive, Or taper, the edges of it. Once made thinner, the gusset will tend to fold faster than the wall of the pouch and offers an even look.
The second; When making the welt, punch all the holes first and only then cut the strip. That way you can gauge how wide the welt is.
“Tacking” is defined as using one needle at one end of the thread and going out and back in along a seam. “Stitching” always uses two needles on opposite ends of the thread. Since punches slit/holes on oil tanned tend to be hard to see because the leather closes up around the hole, it’s a good idea to use a fid to line up the holes.
For this project, we are going to use artificial sinew because the tacking is not going to be visible and the stuff is east to work with. To avoid the bulk of where the thread is secured at the harness needle eye, I like to taper the sinew. I’ll pin the end on a bench and scrape it for about four inches with a scraping knife. This is a tactile thing you gotta gain a feel for so I can’t offer anything more than trial and error.
Twist and wax the sinew firmly. Don’t take any prisoners here. About half way down the taper, in the twist, poke the needle backwards from the end through the sinew twice. Push the tapered end through the eye and thread the sinew through. Pull it down over itself to lock it in the needle. That bulge on the eye of the needle in untapered thread that resists going through the hole you punched and necessitates pliers is pretty much gone here.
ALWAYS start in the middle of the bottom of the bag, lining up the white marks you made so everything lines up. Work your way to the end of the gusset and then back again toward the center where you started. Keep the sinew taught. Of course you’ll tack inside out and turn it right side when through. You head out toward the end of the gusset and then back toward the middle for each of what becomes four sections of tacked and welted seam to secure everything. It’s a good idea to place this mess on the surface of your work bench so as to assert control.
The value of the welt is that it hides the seam ( that's why you pull the sinew tight) and sometimes asserts evenness along the fold.
Take a look
Slap my face and call me vain, but I decided to add a decorative scalloping across the top of the pouch. Maybe I just needed to boost my spirits because the NY Mets pitching is so bad…I dunno… Anyway, you can do this by securing an off the shelf tool that is most often used to round strap ends. Mine is about ¾ inch . Cut a strip of leather about an inch wide. Scribe a line lengthwise about 3/8 inch from the edge, place the prong end of the tool on the line and bang away until you create a strip looking something like this;
On the face of the bag ( sewn with my trusty Chinese Patching Machine) place it evenly and sew like the wind!!
Because I only make compact belt bags which may or may not be the epitome of authentic, I can butcher the piece provided in the kit as a shoulder strap to make belt loops and accessory loops and even patch knife sheaths.
I like my starter and embarrassing, yet terribly efficient, fake ivory primer on the outside of the bag. They will get tacked just above where the gusset stopped on either side of the pouch
Because it’s oil tanned, I did not finish this bag. Were I to do so, I’d probably use Hubards Shoe Grease. The label promises pine tar, beeswax and a dash of oil. It avoids synthetics and buffs well on oil tan. My kind of slop.
Inside the pouch, not seen here, is the same rack of ten charges in their loops as was shown in the previous post. Because the starter and primer are on the outside I have plenty of room for tools, patches, lube, bug juice and M&M’s . So, now I am done. All that remains is to build the smoothbore that will go with the pouch.
Knock yore selfs out.
Greg Geiger
AKA
The Capgun Kid
P.S. I was only kidding about the note from your mother.
As much as I loved mine, as far as I know she remains deceased and belongs to The Lord now. Anybody need prayers for theirs?
