Beaverslayer

Very nice scabboard, there sure is a lot of basket weaving. Very nice. Ken

Great looking there Jim, love the design. Ken

I like the black and white look as well. The knife pic on the right side, if that was a black and white also maybe a bit more pronounced, I think that would look a bit better. Also, when you click the pictures, maybe have them pop up on a seperate page rather than the way you've done it, and have anexplanation that goes with it. Good Luck Ken

Keith in no way should you be embarrased, the work you do is exceptional and you should be very proud of it. Just the little extras that you do like the inside design, makes your belts special. I for one am honored to be able to actually look at this type of work here on this forum. Thank you for sharing with us, and being a member of the forum. Ken

To layout the holes for this seam, we want to start from the centre of the back. Place a mark at centre, then start 1/8" from there, then every 1/4" from there on out. Only mark holes until you are 1/2" away from the edge, this gives us room for when we attach the liner later, and these laces will not get in the way. Now, as you can see in the picture, I did not punch the first mark, this is because there would be to many holes right there. You want to have 3 hole in a row in the centre and also on each end. Punch the holes 3/8" apart so the seam is not that wide. Here we are also going to use the thinner lace that we've cut. This is always the case when we are doing something on the liner, as it is a closer stitch and we don't want a big bulky seam. Cut your lace 7 times the length of the seam to be laced. On the backside, starting in the middle, and also in the middle hole, you want to glue the tail down just like we have previously, making sure that it will be held in place by one of the following stitches. Then lace outwards to the edge just like all the other seams. Now when you reach the end of the seam, run the lace through the middle hole that you punched. Now run the tail under one of the stitches and glue the tail down, cut off the excess and your done. Start again in the middle and lace outwards to finish the other side. When your done, be sure to roll the laced seam from the backside of the piece. Here's what it should look like finished.

Now, on the underside of the suede, apply a bead of glue 1/2" wide all across the flat side. Then lay your nylon onto the glued area, and roll very good with your roller. Any extra nylon that is sticking up past the glued area, just snip ot off, for a clean line. Then using your painters tape, make an area 1/2" wide above the nylon liner, and apply glue to this area. Now, fold the nylon over onto the suede, using those dashed lines we made earlier as your folding reference, and press down and then roll very well. Here's what it should look like. On the exposed strip of suede at the bottom, apply glue to this area as shown. Now, fold the nylon back over the glued suede and press it down and roll again very well Now take one of your 1 1/8" wide sude strips cut to length, and use it as a guide to show you where you have to apply the painters tape to make the next glue area. Line the bottom of the strip up with where the fold is in the suede, then apply your tape at this width, as shown in the picture. Then apply glue to both the area and the strip, press down firmly and roll the seam. This will help to protect the nylon when you punch the holes to lace this area. You should now have a well sealed nylon back liner, just like this picture.

Okay, now we are going to tackle the liner. This is a bit harder as the material we use is not as easy to wrk with as the heavy leather is. You will need to puchase some Nylon Mesh material, this is the stuff they make sports jerseys out of. The reason we want to use this, is to give the back of the vest some breathing room. This will help to keep it a bit cooler to wear. You also need your pigskin suede. You will want to make a template for this part. What you need to do is to take the template you have for the shoulder piece and copy it. Then, as shown in the picture, make it square at the bottom. From the centre of the template, it is 4" down to the squared off bottom. Then place on the suede, and mark your pattern out. At the bottom, we want an additional 1/2", I know, why not make the pattern this 1/2" already, well I use this for other items as well, and it has to be 4" for them, so I just add to do this part. Along the bottom of the template, just make a dashed line so you can use this for reference later. Mark the suede side of this as well, not the underside. Cut the piece out, and we are ready for the next step. Lay your nylon mesh out, and using the template that you have for the back of the vest, and also the template you have for the shoulder piece, lay them as if you were assembling them together. Now lay the new liner templet on top and aling it with the other templates. Where the flat bottom lays on the back template, draw a line. We will use this as our marker for the top of the mesh lining. As you see in the picture, have the line on your template about 1/2" down from the straight edge of your mesh. As it is hard to mark this nylon with a gel pen, I use my roller knife to cut it. Don't worry about being exact, as we will be trimming it at a later time, just get the basic shape. Heres what you should end up with.

Here's a picture of the finished Gusset.

Great looking seat, brings back memories of my first job way back in the day. I also was an ironworker for a year. Nice lacing as well, very well done. Ken

Who say's we are we are teasing Wolvie, I'm serious, I just ordered in a big enough clump of coal to make a vest outta.... Ken

An "Excelent Idea" Shirley. I love the way you use the "Buy A Ticket" I think this will be a great item for thier raffle, should raise a lot of bucks, and for such a worthy cause. Ken

I'm pretty sure with a few well placed electrical devices we could get some info outta ya....LOL It's stuff like this that makes you shake your head for not paying more attention in math class. I'm with Bill, I've spent a fair bit of money on things just to tear em apart, I've got a "Long Riders" coat that I payed $350.00 for, and still have not found the time to make it out of leather...one day soon. Ken

I have to admit, this is one thing that I have given up on in life. I tried, and tried and tried some more. Spent almost 8 hours one day, and to no avail. Always got confused or something, then looking back over the weave I'd see 3 or 4 places where it was stamped wrong. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I have given up on this type of design. I do love the look of it, but we all have to know our limitations and go from there. This way if someone ever asks if I can do a basket weave on something for them, I can tell then "No" I'm no good at it, and not have to worry about saying yes, and screwing up something that a customer is waiting for. Great of you to show how this is done dbar, I know a lot of people will refer to this to learn. Thanks. Ken

Welcome from a fellow Canadian Richard, glad to have you here. Must be nice to head south for the winters, I know what the weather is like in Quebec during the long months of winter. Hope to see some of your work soon. Ken

I can't stop looking at it either, that is one VERY beautiful looking rig. Is it the photography, or is it really that color? if so, what color is that? Ken

Hi every one, just remembered something that should have been mentioned in "Post 53" damned me and my old memory. The length of the lace you want to have when doing a 1/4" spaced lace, is 7 times the length of the seam. Sorry about just remembering this now. Thanks so far for all the compliments as well. Oh yes, has anyone been counting the holes that we are punching? Because we will be testing you all a bit later on. Ken

We now have to put a "Finished" edge on these pieces. This will give the "cut" edge of the leather that will be showing, a real nice clean edge, and a very proffessional look to it. First you want to mark all along the edge 1/2" in, follow the cueve as best you can. Then sand this 1/2" area and clean the residue. Now cut some strips of your suede 1 1/4" wide. Cut strips from this about 1 " longer than the edge of your gusset edges. Now apply a bead of glue that covers the 1/2" wide area on the gusset, and a thin bead about 1/8" on the "Suede" side of your strips. Starting on the left side, press the strip down onto the gusset, you'll have to play with it a bit to get it in the right place, you only want to attach it by the 1/8" that you've glued on the strip. Work your way along to the curve, and tweek it to go around. Now, apply glue the exposed area, leave about 3/8" unglued as you will need this to hold onto and you don't want the glue to get on your fingers and make a mess. Once this is tacky, gently fold the strip over, looking to make sure you're not folding it past the glue area on the gusset. Press this down and roll with your oller. Now, flip the piece over and apply glue to the rest of the strip and the area on the gusset that the strip will be pressed onto. If you put too much glue on the gusset, this is no big deal, as it will not be seen when we are finished. Fold the strip over snug to the edge, you can feel it with your fingers as you are folding it. Roll this real goo, and then snip the excess off the ends. And there you have it, a nice finished edge. If you want, you may want to practice this procedure on some scrap before hand. We have a WHOLE lot of this to do later on.

We are going to change lace here on this piece as well. The reason for this, is that we have been using a 4/5 oz leather for the rest of the vest, which makes a fairly heavy lace. We want to use a 2/3 oz garment leather to make the lace we will use here, and on another part of the lining. The 4/5 oz lace is just a bit to bulky to use in such a short stitch, and it will not look or feel right. So start your lacing just as you did on the front pockets, glue down the tail, and the first loop on the backside. Lace all the way to the end, then on your last stitch go back through the hole shown in the picture. On the backside, 3 or 4 loops up, run your lace through the loop. When it's close to the end, place some glue on the lace and gusset and pull tight. Press down and roll. Then cut the tail off leaving just a bit sticking out. Here's what the tail should look like when done. Continue onto the other side and lace the same way. Also remember that you want to have the lace to have a "Mirror" image of the one you just did, so this entails lacing the other direction that you may be used too. Some people have a hard time with lacing left to right, but with practice it can be done quite easily.

We want to use a diferent hole spacing on this area as there tends to be extra strain put on this as the wearer puts on and takes off the vest. We will be spacing the holes 1/4" apart and 3/8" wide seam. Start your marking 1/8" above the edge of the gusset, then every 1/4" thereafter until you've reached the end. Then again 1/8" past the bottom of the gusset. When you punch these holes, keep them 3/8" wide, this will make a real nice tight lace and give this area some good strength.

Sand the area that is marked off, and also the outer edge of the inbetween piece, or gusset. You should sand it about 1/4" wide on all edges. Next, apply a bead of glue to all the sanded areas, be sure to clean the dusted leather away before glueing. Now, align the gusset with your marks, and press together, being careful again not to stretch the leather. Once in place use your roller and seal the bond.

Okay, here we go with the side adjustment parts. First off cut the pieces required from your garment leather, be sure you make a "Right" & "Left" hand side. You don't want all the pieces the same, once you've marked one, flip your template and mark another. If possible, you want to lay this out on a gridded cutting board, it just makes it a whole lot easier to line it up. On the left side (shorter side) you want to measure in 1 1/8" and place a mark. On the right side, you want to measure in 1 1/4" and place a mark. Now, laying it out as shown in the picture, line the bottom of the curved part up with one of the lines on your cutting board, do this with both pieces. Then measure down from the highest point of the left side piece 1" and place a mark. Now you have the location for the top left corner of the inbetween piece, as shown with the piece of white paper. Once you have the template in place, mark all along the edge, and a small mark at the tyop and bottom. This is what they should look liked marked.

Kieth, that is about the nicest lace job I have ever seen, that alone is worth a few grand. The belt is in a word "Gorgeous" thank you for sharing the pictures and details of this with us. It's refreshing to know that there are people out there that are willing to pay for the "Custom" made items that we all strive to make and sell. Ken

Welcome to the forum Laura, I'm also an Albertan, mind you a Flames fan though. You'll find that everyone here is very helpful and friendly, glad to have you here. Ken

Wolvie, just you wait and see the lump of cow flesh I plan on sending you....LOL Hey, have you got that vest done yet????? Ken

Noticed on your list that Tina' name is missing from the start, there may be some confussion as to who the last person sends to. Glad to hear Shirley will be getting a special something from home, she deserves it after the special seat she made for the Marines. Shows she has a BIG English heart. Ken