chuck123wapati

yes you can veg tan it but it still will be a thin leather so may still be to soft for your purpose. here is a link to some good info.https://braintan.com/barktan/1basics.htm

https://archive.org/details/leatherwork00wils/page/n3/mode/2up

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58293 this is on 18th century williamsburg this one has some interesting info on the laws in effect for leather work.http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48588/48588-h/48588-h.htm

https://b-ok.cc/book/5407613/192e68 main site =https://b-ok.cc/s/leather craft

https://archive.org/stream/cuirdorhangingsi00csel?ref=ol#page/24/mode/2up?ref=ol . Some cool stuff here although many books on leathercraft aren't shown its a great reference on the books out there that were written. https://openlibrary.org/search?subject=leatherwork

I like your personal style of tooling. Its very clean.

wow those are really nice! dont know how i missed this post.

great for a Rothschild family reunion lol. Awesome needle work and attention to detail!

buy good ones you wont be disappointed and you can resell them if you decide. I was given a set of the cheapo Chinese made ones and they bend or break off, and are not polished so are a real pain to get back out of heavy leather.

Have you looked online for denim vest patterns? I've never made one from leather but i don't know why the patterns would be to much different.

wow those are awesome! Beautiful in every way!

never posted from an I pad but I do know your picture cant be to big, I have to resize all mine smaller than 1.46 mb or they wont post

The original slings weren't that thick 1/4". They are just one layer of heavy veg tan leather. I have replaced the leather on a couple of them and they wont stretch unless you pull a truck or something with them maybe. I see someone has already given you the thickness of the originals. Just my thoughts on this project, the original 1907s were built to fit every body type and every rifle type so they were perforated with holes from one end to the other. If you really want to reduce the stretch then I would suggest building it with his custom length in mind, much fewer holes, and also you would be able to form the leather at the sling swivels this would do what he wants. Thicker leather will not bend tightly at the sling swivels and is the most common problem with these slings, they dry and break the leather from bending at the swivels and imo is where the "stretch" or actually slack comes from. you can see in the picture posted by Steven1 the leather at the front swivel is is bent as tight as it can get when not used but when a guy really gets the sling around his arm and ready for use he has to pull this slack out and keep it out while aiming that is where his "stretch " is. I have used these for years on all my rifles, my dad a wwII vet wouldn't use anything else and taught me the same lol they are the best again IMO. Good luck with your project and shoot use some pics!

The original slings weren't that thick 1/4". They are just one layer of heavy veg tan leather. I have replaced the leather on a couple of them and they wont stretch unless you pull a truck or something with them maybe.

Here is one of my favorites, I made this about 30 years ago and it was one of my first forging attempts also lol. Made from square stock it has no real temper and will bend if used wrong. I carried it for years in my possibles bag and made many things and repairs while in the woods with it. Not diamond shaped more square but sharper than heck and makes a nice hole for some sinew. I use it now mostly for enlarging/ stretching my punched holes when sewing. Funny thing when I decided to take the picture I got out my old bag to add to the pic and found two more spares I had completely forgotten about made at the same time but not finished. I guess its been pretty good as I have never had to use the replacements lol.

those are great lookin holsters! Great basket weave as well as the double stitching.

beautiful work! Where have I seen that belt design?...... now I remember Clint Eastwood! Great job!!

drill a small hole in the center of one end and screw into it a woodscrew, cut off the head of the screw and chuck it up in a hand drill. then spin the wood piece against a belt sander. spin it in the opposite direction of rotation than the sander.

A very interesting question! The different cultures also have to be taken into consideration, Life on the "frontier" was a myriad of peoples all with their own leather working processes, Indian, French, English, etc all had different techniques for working leather. As well stature played a part rich folks got imported leather goods poor folk made their own. I always use a character model when doing era related projects, was my guy a poor French trader, if so he may have some American Indian clothing as well as French, or an English aristocrat coming to find adventure who may have all new English made attire. As for finding the answer to burnishing I think you have to narrow down what cultures leather processes you intend to copy and look at museum pieces for your answers. BUT if the info is so hard to find then who will know if your wrong and burnishing is basically doing what time does to leather , wears the edges and makes it rounder and smoother.

Use it to line knife sheaths, holsters and slings or make gloves or hats maybe. I had a jacket one time made of pigskin its tough stuff I laid down my bike on the street and slid for probably 40 yards on my stomach, ground off the snaps but no damage to the leather shredded my denim pants

spidey would be proud!! Very cool

That is nice!!!!!!

great job!

Nice work is that concrete countertop?

Great looking and a good option for some spare canvas I have laying around.