Making my own straps

[Alan H]

Turns out there's a Tandy Leather Store a few miles north of me.
For sixteen bucks I got a very thick 1-inch wide rawhide strip about 40 inches long, a bottle of black leather dye, and four very substantial steel buckles. They also have brass buckles.

I already own a leather punch for different sizes holes, so I now have the raw materials for about 10 more straps. The leather is really thick.... 'way thicker than any of the other stuff I've used.

http://www.tandyleather.com/

Looks like they have an online store, too.

[JimB]

Yeah, I downloaded their calendar. I've got to learn how to do tooling. At least that's what I think it's called. I want to "carve" patterns into leather.
I imagine I should find a book to tell me how to do that.

[Alan H]

Note that they stock rabbit pelts. The smaller pelts are, get this....$3.99. The larger ones are $11

You want to make a dress sporran? I'm tempted, for down the line, someday....after the grey stewart kilt, the skirts in the Lindsay tartan for some lady friends, and the plum wood handle sgian dubh.

On the Tandy website, look for the instructions on how to tool this incredible targe cover...

http://www.tandyleather.com/Projects.asp

[bunchdescendant]

Alan-

You do know that rawhide will do funny things when wetted and dried? Rawhide has not been through the tanning process yet.

I suggest you try dyeing a test sample first before you cut and make any kilt belts.

Using one of the Tandy belt blanks is probably a better choice. I used their tooling leather blank #4033-08 and cut/punched/dyed my own. $11.99 for 8 1/2" X 11" piece.

http://www.tandyleather.com/products.asp?number=4033-08

Kinda expensive but better that buying a whole tooling side The thickness was right-a belt blank needs to be skived (thinned) to get the thickness right.

Said straps on my first canvas kilt:



I have been doing for a while now-it's a bad of an addiction as kilts are. If I could just convince the SO that I need a leather kilt......

I also have some nice Bison hide in black that might make some nice belts with a liner sewn to the back of them......hmm.....

BTW, I hope nobody notices the stitching isn't exactly straight-the SO's Singer Fashion Mate doesn't like me very much......

Ray

[Fearnest]

Yeah, I downloaded their calendar. I've got to learn how to do tooling. At least that's what I think it's called. I want to "carve" patterns into leather.
I imagine I should find a book to tell me how to do that.

A great booklet (at a great cost - around $3.50) is the Boy Scouts of America's "Leatherwork" Merit Badge Pamphlet. You can pick it up at your local scout office (locator available at http://www.scouting.org/councils/ ). It covers the tools and techniques for tooling leather - transferring patterns, cutting, etc. It's probably going to answer 99% of your questions, and has been recently revised with the assistance of the Leather Factory.

[turpin]

Alan, Your best bet for straps will either be Latigo leather, which tandy carries in various widths, or english bridle leather, which can get pricey, i think. I bought a pair of 5/8 inch by 72" long reins (8-9 oz weight, approx.) at a rural hardware store. They will make great sporran straps.

[Tartan Hiker]

I'm guessing that what Alan meant was plain veg-tanned tooling leather, not real "raw" hide. Dyed and oiled these should hold up just fine even when wet.

Bill

Oh, and another good way to learn tooling is to order the Tandy Beginning Tooling kit. Excellent instruction book and all the tools needed to get started, all at a good price.

[Alan H]

I got a 1-inch belt blank...I'm a total leather novice, so I probably messed up my terminology. It smells "different" but it's making *great* kilt straps.

[Alan H]

Alan, Your best bet for straps will either be Latigo leather, which tandy carries in various widths, or english bridle leather, which can get pricey, i think. I bought a pair of 5/8 inch by 72" long reins (8-9 oz weight, approx.) at a rural hardware store. They will make great sporran straps.

They had latigo belt blanks in the store,but I wanted to dye them black. The latigo,with it's rich mahogany-brown color was handsome, but not what I wanted *THIS* time. However, I've a mind to change over the straps on my MacNaughton kilt to brown with brass hardware and the latigo will be perfect for that.