whitIL

I have an original cap box from the Civil War era. It is about 3 1/2" wide, about 3 1/4" tall, and 1 3/8" deep. --Whit

California, north of San Francisco.

Thanks again for all the discussion and ideas about how I can make smaller holes so that I can make smaller stitches by hand. I learned a lot from the things that people suggested. I ended up doing what WyomingSlick suggested. I got some #1 Glovers Needles (John James and Tandy seem to be about the same size). Eventually I will make a wood handle for the needle/awl, but right now my lathe has a bowl mounted that I'm not ready to unmount. Instead of a real handle, I put the glover's needle in a pin vise that I had sitting around. A wood handle would be better since every once in awhile the pin vise lets the needle slip back a little bit. I'm including some pictures so people can see what I did, and I've included as much information about tools and threads as I have. I sewed a test piece with white thread to hold a magnet in place. Beside that I used the next smallest thread I have to sew a few stitches for comparison. I didn't have that thread in white, so the comparison is not as exact as I would like. I don't know much about the white thread, I got it in a leather store. It had no brand name. It is on a big spool and I think it must be intended for use on a leather sewing machine. I'm using it to sew by hand. --Whit

Thanks to all the people who took the time to respond and make suggestions. It is wonderful to have a place where so many people will share and help. As the discussion developed I realized that I don't even know how to measure the width of a diamond shaped awl. I can measure my Tandy awl several different ways. I don't see any awls mentioned above that are significantly smaller than what I have (depending on how you measure). I have to admit that some of them look a lot nicer. I'm going to take some time to think it over and perhaps buy one or two of the awls people have mentioned. Simon from GoodsJapan wrote to me, "Generally very fine stitching holes are recommended against as such holes have the effect of weakening leather to the point that it can tear off at the stitch line easily, like a cheque being torn off along the perforated line". That makes sense to me, yet I see watchbands that have much smaller holes than I can make. Are those all sewn with a machine? Why don't they tear like a perforated check? Can a leather sewing machine sew with many different size needles and threads? There is so much I don't know. --Whit

Hello-- I'm sewing by hand and fairly new at it. Sometimes I would like to sew something that doesn't require much strength and that I would prefer to not draw attention to with standard size stitches. A couple of examples might make this clearer. To make a magnetic closure I recently sewed a small magnet between some 6-7 oz leather and a very thin piece of leather. The thin leather was on the inside, but the stitches came through the front and I would rather have had something more subtle. Another example would be a watch band where the leather is thin and the scale is small. To solve my problem I've been looking for a thin awl that I could use. I tried filing down a Tandy small awl, but it was hard to keep the shape true and worse, as the awl got thinner, it got weaker so that I had trouble pushing it through the 6-7 oz leather along with the very thin piece of leather without bending the awl. I'm surprised that diamond awls don't come in a substantial variety of thicknesses (especially small). How do people sewing by hand get small holes. I could drill small holes, but then they wouldn't be diamond shaped. Is that not important for small leather that doesn't require a lot of strength? Am I missing something obvious like SmallAwlsAreUs.com? Thanks. --Whit

camano ridge--Thanks. I don't know if I will make more of these or not. If I do, I will keep in mind your suggestions about getting more authentic finials. I used a Sam Browne stud. --Whit

I made a replica of a Civil War cap box. These were used to hold the percussion caps that created the spark that lit the gunpowder that fired the gun. The fur inside was used to keep the caps from bouncing around or bouncing out. http://www.whitanderson.com/cw/capbox/front_4590.jpg http://www.whitanderson.com/cw/capbox/back__4592.jpg http://www.whitanderson.com/cw/capbox/open__4593.jpg --Whit

Troy I and Dwight-- Thanks for the ideas. I see that the surface that presses the outside of the leather must be perfectly smooth, and at least as big as the leather surface. I might try Masonite or something that is perfectly smooth and that I can cut to the exact size I want. I hadn't thought about forming the leather around the inside mold by hand. I had an inside mold, but for some reason thought I needed to clamp the cased leather around the mold. Thanks. --Whit

I'm pretty new to leather working and I'm leaving unwanted marks when I'm forming the leather. I'm making a glasses case to go on my belt. The back piece will curve over the top and become the front flap. Last night I cased the leather and clamped it. I used a board with one rounded edge to get the shape I want. I used 3/4" x 3/4" x 10" strips of wood to spread the pressure and to keep the ends of the clamps from leaving a mark. This morning I took off the clamps and found the leather is the right shape, but the strips of wood left distinct marks on the leather. http://www.whitanderson.com/leather/images/00Top_4585.jpg http://www.whitanderson.com/leather/images/00_Bottom_4582.jpg I'm not looking for a way to save this piece. I want to know what you do to avoid the problem in the first place. When you clamp a piece of leather into a shape like this, how do you avoid clamping marks. Thanks for any solutions or ideas. --Whit

Thank you all for posting your replies and ideas. It's great to have some people with more experience share their ideas. I think I'll take some scrap and give several of them a try. Depending on how that works I'll see what I do next. --Whit

I'm sort of embarrassed to post this picture, but if I don't, how am I going to learn. I saw a picture online of a luggage tag that I liked. I tried to make something like the one I saw. The luggage tag has a flap to hide the address, with a snap to reveal the address when needed. I thought I should finish the edges of the flap. I tried to use Bob Park's method <http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18101>. Unfortunately I made a mess when I got down towards the bottom of the cut for the flap. It is very difficult to work on the flap there without getting stuff on the face of the leather. I'm not trying to save this project, just wondering if people have ideas about how to avoid this on the next one. Is there a tool to use in tight spaces, a way to protect the face of the tag while working, ??? I've thought about cutting the flap all the way to the end, finishing the edges of the flap, then sewing it back in place when I sew up the project. Maybe I should not finish the edges of the flap. Thanks. --Whit