Greetings , Newbie ( sort of) question about Bracers

[ormus1]

Hello everyone, first of all Im not officially a newbie. I did sign up a while back but, do to the crazy economy of the past year or so, my life has had to change several times before I could focus on doing leather work again. My main leather work has been leather mugs and scroll tubes. So my apologies for never posting or participating. My question is this; Im about to attempt my first set of bracers for a friend. I noticed that on some bracers they have what appears to be a "rolled" edge that is sewn down. This edge appears to provide comfort ( I assume) since it is softer that the surrounding leather. Are there any patterns or perhaps does anyone know how this is done?

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to posting and participating in the group.

Dominic

[TomSwede]

Hi and welcome!!

Tell me bout crazy economy and I won't laugh my socks off..aww just gotta deal with it and move on but soon I'm out of what is in stock and who knows what will happen then??

Anyways, I've made a few bracers and I never do rolled edges. To me it is mostly to keep it simple and shorten making time. It does look very nice and comfy. What I often do is to pinch the bottom edge outwards a bit to accomodate and allow for hands movement without getting in the way and irritate. I allways wetform my bracers and thats when I do the little curl on the bottom edge. Off course the edges is beveled and slicked so that they are nice and smooth aswell (alltough very hard).

Good luck with your bracers either way you choose to go and good to have you back!!!

Tom

[RuehlLeatherWorks]

I've made quite a few pair of bracers and I, too, have never put rolled edging on them. I know what you're talking about though, and for the most part, it seems like there's actually two pieces of leather; one piece of tooling leather for the main part, and then a piece of softer leather like deerhide for the underside. The deerhide would be cut about 1/2 inch larger than the main bracer, and then rolled over the outer edge and sewn into place.

This process is entirely unnecessary if you properly finish the tooling leather. If you are getting into making bracers, an edge beveler and bone folder will become your best friends. Also, some beeswax cakes make for a nice, polished, durable, outer edge on the bracers.

For some examples, check out www.ruehlleatherworks.deviantart.com This is my online portfolio. If you have any questions about how I did anything on there, feel free to ask.

[ormus1]

Thanks to you both. I do like the "traditional" look of the bracers with out the rolled edge, however I may still have to go with it ( the customer is always right). Thanks again for the tips and info.

[TomSwede]

Thanks to you both. I do like the "traditional" look of the bracers with out the rolled edge, however I may still have to go with it ( the customer is always right). Thanks again for the tips and info.

Right about that!! Customer asks..customer gets!!

My customers for bracers have never asked for rolled edges, stitching, braiding or lining to the inside, as a matter of fact they often request natural uncoloured inside and a few also have been specific about not having burnished and good looking edges. Those typically prefer a rawer look wich also excludes eyelets for the stringing holes.

Tom

[RuehlLeatherWorks]

Yeah, most of my customers want an unfinished underside too. Mostly to prevent "color bleed" when things start to get sweaty!

[ormus1]

Here are photos of my first set of bracers, that I made for a friend of mine ( and customer ):

[AndyL1]

Those are fantastic! I love the coloring and the cut out negative space. Good job dude. Now I need to go make myself a new set.

Cheers,

Andy

[hivemind]

I allways wetform my bracers and thats when I do the little curl on the bottom edge. Off course the edges is beveled and slicked so that they are nice and smooth aswell (alltough very hard).

This process is entirely unnecessary if you properly finish the tooling leather. If you are getting into making bracers, an edge beveler and bone folder will become your best friends. Also, some beeswax cakes make for a nice, polished, durable, outer edge on the bracers.

^^^ What they said.

Also, I'd highly recommend against strapping the bracers, in favor of lacing them. Strapped ones just never seem to sit comfortably on the arm, always sliding down and pinching or irritating the wrist. Once a pair of laced ones has gotten some sweat into them and molded to the arm, they're comfy as can be.

Edited July 14, 2009 by hivemind

[vreedonsett]

Hello everyone, first of all Im not officially a newbie. I did sign up a while back but, do to the crazy economy of the past year or so, my life has had to change several times before I could focus on doing leather work again. My main leather work has been leather mugs and scroll tubes. So my apologies for never posting or participating. My question is this; Im about to attempt my first set of bracers for a friend. I noticed that on some bracers they have what appears to be a "rolled" edge that is sewn down. This edge appears to provide comfort ( I assume) since it is softer that the surrounding leather. Are there any patterns or perhaps does anyone know how this is done?

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to posting and participating in the group.

Dominic

i have done many bracers and here is an easy way to do it, what you get is very thin leather and a piece of rope, you place the rope in the middle of the leather (allowing for there to be extra) and sew ithe rope into the leather, then using the "extra" part of the leatehr you sew that onto the bracer/vanbracer/greave or what not... i myself do not like to use it, however its what the customer wants

hope that helps

mike