Leather Covered Canteen Tutorial

[MADMAX22]

Very cool, thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort.

[carr52]

Not sure what to say. Except that has to be one of the best tutorials I've seen. Oh, and I love the super secret letter circle thingy. Fantastic Timbo. Now I want to try it. Got so many things on the want to list now but thats a gotta try thing. My nephew will love it. Thanks.

Tom

[Hammerhead]

good job

[larrupin]

Not bad for a Neosho Boy! .

Seriously that is an awesome tutorial and I can pretty much guarantee my son and I will be trying at least one of those. I showed it to him last night and he thought it would be a must have for our cowboy gun cart.

Thanks for all that time and effort Timbo!

Vaya con Dios,

Larrupin'

[UKRay]

Great tutorial, Timbo - I'm looking forward to making one of these!

Ray

[Ian]

Excellent tutorial and finished product. Everything was interesting and clear, but I especially liked your method for doing the circular lettering. Thanks for posting this.

[sdkid]

Thanks from me too. This was a great tutorial and is something I have been wanting to try. Thanks again.

[Marietje]

Dear Timbo, very great tutorial. This is the next project I will make. I do have a question though. I'm Dutch and understand most of it, but what I do not understand is putting the tape on (the back I assume). Why is that and when do you take it of again. Is it to keep the leather in shape until finished stamping? And you make the piece wet while the tape is on and then start tooling? I do not know if I understand this part correctly, sorry.

Furthermore, the 2 wooden pieces when working on the cirkels. What are they used for? Sorry I do not understand this part, but some English words are used that are not familiar to me.

Another question I have is if there is a standard to measure the width of the circel. What if I can only get a bigger or smaller canteen? How do I then find out what size I should make/cut out?

I already downloaded and read the whole piece and am looking forward to start.

Thank you for this great tutorial and greetings from The Netherlands

Edited March 29, 2009 by Marietje

[Timbo]

Dear Timbo, very great tutorial. This is the next project I will make. I do have a question though. I'm Dutch and understand most of it, but what I do not understand is putting the tape on (the back I assume). Why is that and when do you take it of again. Is it to keep the leather in shape until finished stamping? And you make the piece wet while the tape is on and then start tooling? I do not know if I understand this part correctly, sorry. The tape is put on before the tooling is begun and left on thru the whole tooling process, the purpose of the tape is to keep the leather from stretching during the tooling. It is put on before getting the leather wet and is taken off when the leather is just about dry. With alot of big tooling, like on the backside, the leather will stretch to the point of being too big for the project without the tape in place.

Furthermore, the 2 wooden pieces when working on the cirkels. What are they used for? Sorry I do not understand this part, but some English words are used that are not familiar to me. The little wooden tools are used to round up the bead between the 2 closest swivel knife circles. instead of it just being flat on top this moved the leather up in the center and causes it to look like a nice rounded bead.

Another question I have is if there is a standard to measure the width of the circel. What if I can only get a bigger or smaller canteen? How do I then find out what size I should make/cut out? The best way to measure the canteen is with a flexible tape measure, one like they use for dress making and alterations. Always allow more than you think you'll need, you can trim it off later. But it sure is hard to put back on!!!

I already downloaded and read the whole piece and am looking forward to start.

Thank you for this great tutorial and greetings from The Netherlands

Hope the above in red will help you get started on your project!!!!

Tim

[Timbo]

I'm glad everyone is liking the tutorial and feel free to ask any more questions if you have them.

I tried to make the tutorial encompass more than just the basics, which is why I've included the tooling and sewing parts to the degree that I did. I wanted to show everything so that no matter the persons skill level, every part was covered. Hopefully people new to the craft will learn how alot of things are done and maybe the old timers can pick up something too.

I have learned so much from this site over the years that I wanted to put something up and give back a little as well.

And everyone who reads this and builds a canteen HAS to post up pics of it when you are done. I can't wait to see what you guys can do!!!

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND CUDO'S!!!!! They are mucho appreciated!!!

The Neosho boy...........

Tim