Covering A Desert Canteen With Leather & Lacing It - Aligning Holes

[Marietje]

I have this desert canteen and want to cover it with leather, lacing the pieces together, but need some advice (I've read Timbo's tutorial, but this canteen is of totally different shape).

1. Size is 18cm diameter (appr. 7"), 6cm thick (appr. 2.4"), 58cm circumference (appr. 22.8").

How much do I add for the seam? Is 1cm (0.4") enough?

2. Need to punch holes for lacing. I have 0.3mm of kangaroo leather and 0.5mm of normal leather lace. Which one is best to use (I know kangaroo is stronger, but maybe too thin?)

3. Holes for the rectangle piece (for the side) and the round piece (front & back) need to be the same amount, but how do I get that aligned? Can I use a chisel for the impression and then punch holes on the locations? But a chisel is straight, so how do I do it then on the round pieces?

Tried making a drawing on the computer and print, but the front/back pieces are giving me issues....

Want to do double loup or Mexican round braid lacing

Would appreciate any advice and help.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Marietje

[Tree Reaper]

If I was attempting that I would consider wet molding the leather to a mold or to the canteen in two pieces.

Do you want a single seam or two separate seams on the outer edges?

[Beaverslayer]

Marietje,

To start with, I would use the kangaroo lace, as it's strength is far superior to the other option and you will not accidentally break it while lacing the sides together.

Secondly, take some "poster board" and trace the circumference of your canteen onto it, then add 6mm to the circle for lacing seam. Now measure the new circumference. Once you have this done, then draw out the side panel piece on the poster board, using the "new" circumference of the circle as your length measurement. For the width of this piece, add 6mm to the width of what your canteens width is, again for lacing seam.

You will have to make cutouts for the strap tabs on your side panel template as well as the fill/drinking spout.

Personally, I would recommend using a round hole punch, not the slot chisel punches, as a round hole is less likely to "split open" if you pull to hard on your lace.

Now, use a ruler and measure and mark along the side piece template 3mm apart, as you are getting close to where your start point is, measure between the start point and where your last mark is. If it does not divide evenly by 3mm, then just make a few adjustments to the last holes, such as one or two marks may be a bit over 3mm. Now, you can use this to mark your holes on the side piece.

When doing something like this, I will always put marks as reference points on the template, and then as I'm marking the leather, I will transfer those reference points to it. You can then use them to align your pieces.

Once you have all your templates marked for hole location, use your round punch and punch out all the holes. The you can lay the template down onto your leather, mark all the holes onto it and then punch them out.

To assemble them together, you can use short pieces of kangaroo lace, align the reference points, and then slip a piece of lace through a hole on the front piece, as well as the side piece, and tie it up. Continue to do this about every 10 or so holes. Once you have the front tied, you can then do the same on the backside.

Now you will have it all ready to lace. As you get to the little ties, just cut them out and continue lacing. Should you need a break from lacing, you can set it down for weeks if you like, and it will still be all lined up ready to go again.

Hope I explained it well enough for you to understand. Oh yes, your holes should be just a tad smaller than 3mm so they don't show once the canteen is complete.

[Marietje]

Thanks a lot Beaverslayer! Laying out the sequence to work is helping me a lot and I will do as you have told. I thought of the tab straps and drinking spout indeed, that will be no issue.

Some work to go from now and will start working on the template.

Thanks!

@Tree Reaper: I don't think molding is going to look nice on this canteen, as it has sharp edges. Thanks for the idea though.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Marietje

[shtoink]

Secondly, take some "poster board" and trace the circumference of your canteen onto it, then add 6mm to the circle for lacing seam. Now measure the new circumference. Once you have this done, then draw out the side panel piece on the poster board, using the "new" circumference of the circle as your length measurement. For the width of this piece, add 6mm to the width of what your canteens width is, again for lacing seam.

Would you mind a little more clarification on this? I can see the tracing of the canteen, but do you mean increasing the radius of the traced circle by 6mm for the final pattern?

Wouldn't it be easier to measure the diameter of the canteen, then add 12mm (or about 1/2") to that measurement, and then multiply by pi (3.14 and some change) to get the circumference of the new circle you want? I am just thinking of the difficulty of trying to measure the circumference of a drawn circle directly. I ask because I can see measuring the circumference from the canteen being done easily,but it just seems rather fiddly to try to hold a tape measure and get to to match a drawn circle to get a measurement that way.

[Beaverslayer]

shtoink,

I know it sounds a bit hard to do, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite simple. Once you have traced the diameter of the canteen, all you do is take a ruler and every 1/4" to 1/2" you make a mark 6mm from the drawn circle. Once you have completely gone around the circle, you can then connect all the marks, giving you the desired template. Yes you could measure the radius, multiply by pi squared and all that, then take a compass and draw out the circle, but by the time you have taken the measurement, go to the computer room, Google radius conversion calculator, do all the math conversions on the calculator, go back to the work shop, find the compass (and hopefully it's an accurate one) adjust it to the right radius, then draw your circle, my process is done, and your ready to move on.

To determine the circumference of your template, all you do is make a reference mark on the edge, then holding it like a wheel on it's edge place it so the reference point is at the beginning of a ruler, roll it along the ruler until the reference point comes around. This way you will get an exact mark on your ruler to use for your side measurement, rather than some number off a calculator or computer that is 13.364792". we know where the 13" mark is, but where in the heck is .364792 on my ruler?

Once you have all the hole marks on the round template marked out, you can again roll the round template along side the straight one and mark those holes.

It may sound fiddly and even a bit hoaky, but it works quite well.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Beaverslayer

[Marietje]

I have one additional question: I noticed the belly of the canteen is a little thicker than de aluminum side. Will all fit around the canteen? Will the circumference be big enough to get it attached to the side piece or should I add additional seam mm's in this case? So I mean, when looking to the canteen from the side, the belly sticks out a little, I think about 10mm on each side?

Can I put it together when dry or should I wet it? And I was thinking: Do I put it together partly and push the canteen in? Or can I first put the side piece (rectangle with drink hole/cutout for straps) around it and then lace the front/back piece to it?

[Beaverslayer]

Well 10mm on each side is a bit of a distance. Once you have your circle template drawn and cut out, lay it over the canteen and see how it lines up with the edges of the canteen. If there is any gap between the template and the sides of the canteen, then you will have to add to your template.

Seeing as your canteen has this bowed out belly, then I would suggest that you do case the circle pieces of leather before assembly. It will then help to form it around this belly.

when it comes time to tie it all together, tie each circle to the side piece about half way around, then slide your canteen into the "pocket". Once you have it in place you can continue to tie the rest of it together, then start to lace.

[camano ridge]

Check out this thread at CASCITY.com http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,45157.msg561239.html#msg561239 one of the forum members there did one and has pictures. Also if you do a search on leatherworkers.net there is a leather covered canteen tutorial, it is a different style canteen but will give you some insight. One of the leathercrafter and saddlers journals has a pattern and step by step for covering a canteen like yours, when I go down to the shop I will see if I can find wich month and year it is.

[Marietje]

@Camano Ridge: thanks for the link, it's exactly the same canteen and he moulded the leather around it beautifully. Wonder how he did that and I'm going to ask

The tutorial on this forum is fully read (see my first post) and sure gave me some insight, but it's not the same way of working with this canteen I think. I you can find out where to get the step by step sheets, that would be great. Of course I can start and experiment, but I really would like to avoid any stupid mistakes. As it's my 1st one, it will probably be hard enough to get it done already

Thanks you all!!

[Marietje]

Btw: belly 'thickness' is 1" more over the total (compared to side aluminum), so 1/2" on each side. Is it possible to mould the leather and keep the same circumference? (which is 19.2cm incl. 0.6mm seam). If not, I will make it bigger.

edit: just heard on the CityCas forum that he added 1" to the diameter of the canteen to get it molded....

Edited November 4, 2012 by Marietje