Dog Lead

[Mablung]

Decided my dog needed a new lead, so I made her one out of a 3/4” latigo strap I found at Tandy. I think I was down a total of $20, give or take some cents, on the materials. It has some flaws, such as how I negotiated stitching the curve on the end of the handle loop, but overall I like it. Far classier than the nylon leash I had been using. 

[Aven]

Nicely done.  Classic color combo.

Now I feel like I have been neglecting my dogo.  I'm going to have to put a collar and leash on the project list.

[Mablung]

Thanks. I kept gravitating toward the antique brass, thought about doing something else just because I use the antique brass a lot, but am glad I went with my initial instincts. My dog needs a good collar as well; just haven’t gotten there yet. I’ll probably dye it with the mahogany gel antique I’ve got (as long as I can seal it adequately) to match the color (at least sort of). 

[DieselTech]

Looks good. Nice work. Color combo looks great together. 

[pikefish]

nice work! now make that collar, lol

ive been doing a simple braid instead of stiching, tough and looks cool too. easy to undo if needed. just food for your thoughts

[Mablung]

41 minutes ago, pikefish said:

nice work! now make that collar, lol

ive been doing a simple braid instead of stiching, tough and looks cool too. easy to undo if needed. just food for your thoughts

Thanks!  Yeah, just gotta find the time to make it.  Got a lot of projects in mind, but also a lot of pressure at work right now.

That braid looks very neat.  How do you do it?  Haven't gotten into braiding yet.

[Aven]

Pikefish,  those look great. I really like the black with red stitching.   What does the other end look like?

[pikefish]

Mablung, the story of my life...

I copied a bloke from YouTube,

first go takes a few swear words but after a few easy, just make sure you cut slits big enough if small bloody hard to pull through and bash into alignment.

 

Aven, heres a pic, big job doing these by hand...

Edited June 6 by pikefish
added content

[Mulesaw]

@Mablung

Looking good, I like the combination of antiqued brass and the colours of the leather and the thread.

Sewing straight across a strap weakens it by some degree, on horse tack I try my best to avoid that, either by only sewing lenghtwise or by making a pointed end on the back side, so the stitching also becomes pointed. 
Depending on how much your dog pulls I doubt it is gonna cause any problems, but if you get tasked with making a dog lead for a Newfoundland or something of a similar size, it might break. Some of my earliest halters for horses broke in places where I had sew across a strap, but again it all depends on how much the object on the other end pulls :-)

Brgds Jonas

[Mablung]

6 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

@Mablung

Looking good, I like the combination of antiqued brass and the colours of the leather and the thread.

Sewing straight across a strap weakens it by some degree, on horse tack I try my best to avoid that, either by only sewing lenghtwise or by making a pointed end on the back side, so the stitching also becomes pointed. 
Depending on how much your dog pulls I doubt it is gonna cause any problems, but if you get tasked with making a dog lead for a Newfoundland or something of a similar size, it might break. Some of my earliest halters for horses broke in places where I had sew across a strap, but again it all depends on how much the object on the other end pulls :-)

Brgds Jonas

Thanks!  And good idea on bringing the stitching to a point---I attempted to make the end stitching curved to avoid some of those stressors, but didn't quite succeed.  A point would be better than a curve anyway.  My dog isn't too bad about pulling, now that I no longer walk her with a harness but with what is essentially a head halter for dogs; much smoother walks now.  She's a fairly lightweight Siberian Husky/German Shepherd mix, so I don't have the enormous weight of a Newfoundland or similar animal to deal with.