One of the simple pleasures of leatherwork is that it can involve quite a lot of hitting things with hammers. Rivets, hole punches, eyelets, press studs and sometimes the leather (see 'A New Trick' below) all need the loving attention of what my father-in-law used to call the Manchester Spanner.
Most of the tools to close eyelets, rivets and press studs come with little coin-sized anvils to put under the item. They are usually flat on one side and concave on the other, the concave side used to preserve the shape of the domed top of a press stud for example. However, they can be a little small and fiddly, and although useful for putting inside things like scabbards and tubes I prefer to use a larger anvil plate.
The anvil plate I use is simply a thick plate of metal about 4" square. Using it means I don't have to keep lining up the rivet with the little round anvils, so it is faster, and also avoids another problem with the smaller anvils in that they can easily move. The rivet head then ends up on the edge of the anvil and you put a crease across the rivet head, mark the leather, or both.
There are a few tricks to using a hammer:
General: Two or three solid, controlled blows are better than a dozen light ones. If you don't hit rivets and studs hard enough they will never close and you can be there all day.
- Rivets: When the rivet is fully closed the sound the hammer makes changes from a 'bright' noise to a 'flat' one.
- Hole Punches: Again, solid, controlled blows. Too soft a blow will only partly cut the leather and compress the rest, making it even harder to punch through.
- Eyelets: I used to used a pair of eyelet pliers but have recently returned to using a hammer and the special eyelet anvil. The hammer/anvil closes the eyelet in a much neater way.
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This entry is where I will post information about the state of the order book and other delivery-related news. Leather can be unforgiving at times. Make a mistake at the wrong point of the process and the piece you are working on can be spoiled. There are a few simple rules you can follow to make sure you make as few mistakes as possible. These are some of mine. Working with the slightly thicker leather (3.5 to 4mm), has been really good, and I like the little bit of extra stiffness and weight the armour has. I think belts area great place to start learning how to work with leather. There are several useful techniques involved in making a belt that apply fairly universally, and the tools you need will form the basis of your main kit. When I first started out I thought mail was the way to go - I was intrigued by the process of making it, and the result had the same functional beauty of any object uncompromisingly designed for a specific purpose. Having made a couple of hauberks (short-sleeved shirts), and a coif for myself I began to understand the impracticalities. This entry is where I will post any news on the web site - changes, and new items etc. One of the things that differentiates good quality leatherwork from the rest is the level of finish, and part of this is edge finishing. Unfinished edges, like you see on many belts, are square-cut and although leather cannot fray, the corners will wear and the fibres rough up. It's not easy keeping to schedule with the demands of a day job. Delivery dates can slip all too easily and although most people seem to understand that craftsmen such as myself often have other jobs too I don't like disappointing them. My hide supplier has recently started a new line of slightly thicker cow hides 3.5 - 4.0 mm thick. This extra weight is great for moulded armour, giving that little extra stiffness and solidity. It means I'll need to buy in more hides as this is just a little too heavy for belts, but it is going to be worth it for the extra quality. |
AuthorDave Gullen, leather craftsman, writer, and grower of tree ferns. Archives
November 2008
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