MagiKelly

It’s great to hear people still find this helpful. I still feel like a bit of a fraud as one of the least experienced leather workers but having a tutorial on here

That looks so much easier than the way I was doing it with the tool where you cut a hole in the leather and work from the centre out. Also looks like I could use this with smaller offcuts for short lengths of lace.

Thanks for saving another of my tutorials

Thanks for doing this. It’s much appriaciated.

If I could edit the original [post I could attach the images, however, I am trying to get them reloaded to their original location so they just show again.

I don’t think adding the pictures directly was an option way back when I posted this. I’ll go have a look and see if I have a link to it on my canoe forum with pictures.

I feel your pain. Working the leather round the corners is a nightmare and takes ages to get it right. Things that help are making sure the corners on the form are rounded . Using thinner leather helps but may not be suitable for the project and of course using Veg Tanned leather. Every time I do it I get to a stage where I am certain I won’t be able to get it to work and every time it works out in the end after a lot of searing.

As always I need to give the disclaimer that I'm not the best person to be answering but I would say 2mm leather sounds a bit thin. It does need to be veg tanned leather but for moulding I tend to use quite thick leather. Probably 3.5mm or thicker. It certainly shouldn't need soaking for 2 hours. A few minutes should be plenty, although when you take it out the water you might want to let it soak in for 5 or 10 minutes. The leather is never stretchy like rubber, it is pretty stiff still. That's part of the reason I rounded all my corners and edges but it was still a testing process. Starting with a shape that is shallower may help to get the feel for it.

Thanks. I eventually got round to the journal tutorial. You can find it here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=63818&hl=

Hi Bob, yes the gouging will weaken the leather but I think because the leather is so thick and over engineered it should be okay. There is no strain on the leather it is just the flexing which should not wear it out. Of course only time will tell but so far there is no sign of failure or stretching.

I posted this tutorial on BushcraftUK as well. During the discussions my old tutorial from 2007 was mentioned. It is interesting to see what has changed since then. http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23987 The biggest changes are the tooling and dyeing.

So there you are all done. Hopefully you now have something looking like this. I hope this has helped. Any questions let me know. If you manage to make a book I'd love to see pictures of it on this book.

With the leather trimmed away from the second side we can fit the insert and the pen to see how it looks. With this book I've managed to end up with pretty straight edges. If you have not then sanding with rough sandpaper can help straighten up edges. Either way i still give the edges a light sanding to loosen up fibres for finishing the edges. I paint / soak the edges with tragacanth gum. Then I buff the edge with some cotton or linen. You can get wooden edge finishing tools for this but again I have had no luck with them. I have friends who use an electric buffing wheel with great success but I do not have one so it is manual labour for me. Still the result is worth it. We are really on the home straight now. Get yourself some carnauba wax / creme. Rub it well into the leather. Front, back, under the thin leather on the inside and everywhere else. I used way too much of the carnauba creme. Still it does not do any harm it is just wasteful. Let it soak in and dry overnight or for a day then polish it. I use a soft buffing brush for this. I find if I keep going back and polishing the book again every few hours or when I am passing for a few days it builds up a really deep shine. You may find you need to use a rule or piece of stiff card to separate the thin leather from the thick leather inside the cover. I slide a rule up and down in here every so often over a day or so to loosen up the leather and get it ready for the insert to be fitted.

With the press studs fitted clip the closure on. Have the insert in place and line up the closure at the back. I mark the position with a pencil. And then again clamp in the stitching pony and stitch in position. Starting to take shape now. Time to stitch the thin leather on the inside of the covers now. I cut these bits of leather well oversized. No point in taking the risk of them being too small . Again clamp in the stitching pony and stitch like the wind :D And a different viewpoint just for a bit of variation. Smile for the camera One side all done. View of the inside. I trim the excess away using tin snips but scissors will do, as will trimming with a knife. Now time to stitch the other side. For this section you will need to rig up something to hold the closure out the way while you stitch the long edge. All stitched and ready for the leather on the second side to be trimmed.