Leather Handles On Canvas Military Surplus Bags...

[captain]

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this.

I am launching a clothing brand later this year, and I really wanted to incorporate some leather work.

I am very new to leather so I won't be able to do as much as I wanted.

However, I am going to be doing some custom military bags. I will be using 1970s surplus military aviator kit bags.

I would like to wrap/re-enforce the canvas handles with leather, just something subtle.

I don't have a sewing machine and I would ideally like to be able to do this without one.

Essentially I just want the leathers to be leather.

What would be the best way to do this? What would be the best weight leather? I want to use a natural leather (no chromium dies, etc)

I would love any help you guys can give with this!

Here is a photo of a bag similar to what I will be using

Edited June 24, 2013 by captain

[Tree Reaper]

I would go with 8-10 oz. Latigo leather.

A sewing awl would most likely work well for you.

You could also add rivets if you wanted extra holding strength.

Kevin

[captain]

I would go with 8-10 oz. Latigo leather.

A sewing awl would most likely work well for you.

You could also add rivets if you wanted extra holding strength.

Kevin

Thanks!

Would the best way to do it be to wrap the leather around the handle and then sew it all the way through the handle or just on one side?

I'm sorry...I am very very new to this and I am just trying to see if I can even do a job like this.

Thanks!

[DoubleC]

Either way would work and you could use lace if you wrapped them. I would do either way on the under side where the crease of the fingers fit over them. Cheryl

[Mike Craw]

Hey Captain! If you are really new to leather work, you need to check out some books by Al Stohlman at Tandy Leather. To say that Al "wrote the book" would be an understatement. He wrote a ton of them, and he's probably the first leather teacher most of us on this site ever had. He wrote a three-volume set called "The Art of Making Leather Cases" which would serve you well. Vol. 1 has most of the basics of working with leather and directions with drawings on how to make a bunch of small cases. Vol. 2 gets into larger cases and covers the construction of 20 different leather handles with several variations of some of them. All of the questions you have asked so far are covered and the drawings will make some of the answers you've gotten more clear. Hope this helps, Mike

[captain]

Hey Captain! If you are really new to leather work, you need to check out some books by Al Stohlman at Tandy Leather. To say that Al "wrote the book" would be an understatement. He wrote a ton of them, and he's probably the first leather teacher most of us on this site ever had. He wrote a three-volume set called "The Art of Making Leather Cases" which would serve you well. Vol. 1 has most of the basics of working with leather and directions with drawings on how to make a bunch of small cases. Vol. 2 gets into larger cases and covers the construction of 20 different leather handles with several variations of some of them. All of the questions you have asked so far are covered and the drawings will make some of the answers you've gotten more clear. Hope this helps, Mike

Perfect. I will start there.

Thanks!

[WScott]

Good call Mike...he beat me to it

I would add to look for the Hand stitching book by Stohlman as well to give a better background on all methods of stitching and lacing.

The books build on each other and cross reference to one another

Good luck , Scott