Making a sand bag for silversmithing

[UKRay]

My wife is chasing me to make her a flat, round, leather silversmith's sandbag but before I started work I thought I'd ask if anyone had made one before and could give me any tips? The bag will be used to form silver into jewellery, conchos etc.

Any thoughts about type of leather to use, construction, filling and finishing would be gratefully received! Thanks, Ray

Edited July 7, 2008 by UKRay

[Skipknives]

i don't know how they are made but it would seem to me that the inside would besealed with a flexable glue/sealer.

Mayge a barge glue so when the bag is repeatadly swatted it won't puff a sand powder through the pores of the leather??

P.S. been giving it some thought,,what would it be like if you lined the inside with a vinal that didn't have pores??

Edited July 7, 2008 by Skipknives

[whinewine]

My wife is chasing me to make her a flat, round, leather silversmith's sandbag but before I started work I thought I'd ask if anyone had made one before and could give me any tips? The bag will be used to form silver into jewellery, conchos etc.

Any thoughts about type of leather to use, construction, filling and finishing would be gratefully received! Thanks, Ray

If you go to any good gun shop/gunsmithing place, they will probably carry shooting rests for target practice/sighting in your rifle. Some are fancy (aluminum, clamps, high tech, etc) & some are very basic, made of heavy cowhide splits that you fill with sand yourself. Look over a set of these to get an idea of construction methods. I don't believe they are lined with anything, as they need to be very flexible to take on the shape of what you are fitting into them (the various rifle barrels & stocks) & they are of a heavy enough weight that you don't need to worry about sand coming out.

(Of course, since you're in the UK, your choices of gunsmiths/gun shops are probably quite limited- how very stupid of me...). In that case, google things like: gun rests, shooting rests, sandbag, or google gun shops, gunsmiths, gunsmithing supplies, shooting supplies & the like, then check out those websites for the rests. I'm sure you'll find some useful data from which you can develop the appropriate sandbag for your wife.

I do hope this can help a little bit.

russ

Edited July 7, 2008 by whinewine

[steveh]

I made one from 5-6 chap leather about 10 inch diameter, filled it with number 8 shot.

[ferret]

Made one of these years ago for shaping armour and it's still surviving so I must have done something right. Construction is fairly simple, just cut 2 circles of 2mm leather (anything with a smooth grain), evo-stick the edges leaving a gap to put the sand in then sew it up. Builders sand may be a bit too gritty for jewelry so go for silver sand. fill it up then ram it down and add more sand. When you can't get any more sand in glue the gap and stitch it up. Finish of with beeswax.

[Billy P]

I don't know, but you might be able to do what a lot of people do. Make up most of the bag/pad, but leave about a quarter of it open. Put in a heavy weight freezerbag, or make a bag with one of the vacunm sealers, if you have one. Put the sand, rice, shot, or whatever you chose to use in the heavy plastic and sew it inside the leather pouch. It might work for you that way, hope so anyway. Billy P

[PSBond]

Here's how I made mine:

2 circles of 7-8 Oz leather (er... 3-3.5mm?), diameter as applicable. (around 10" was not a bad size for general silver work, engraving and the like). Stamp name on before assembly!

I glued up the perimeter 1/2" or so, leaving a gap of about 1 1/2" for filling. 2 parallel lines of stitching (mine were grooved first with a compass race, nice but not all that neccessary) about 5-6mm apart, probably 6mm in from the edge, staggered start (probably not needed, but good practice I felt); leave the gap unstitched for now. Case the leather, bag it & pop it in the fridge overnight; remove the following day and fill. I used silver sand from B&Q - BUT (and this bit will make life much easier) - dry it in the oven first. Trying to stuff these with damp sand is a PITA... Tuck a funnel into the gap between the discs, pour the sand in and pack it in as densely as you want (less densely packed makes for a good surface for forming metals into). A stick can be handy to poke in the sand when it sticks in the funnel. Finally, finish the stitching, trim the threads and let it all dry out properly; I gave mine a very light coat of neatsfoot oil which seems OK, but others work just as well without the oil (and perhaps some of the metal chips don't catch as much on the surface as a result).

HTH!

[UKRay]

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions guys. The finished result can be seen below:

[Luke Hatley]

Hey Cuz..... you did good........That ole black Monster did a fine sewing job.............

I know that Val will be glad.......

[ferret]

Looks good, now you'll have to post pics of what your wife makes on it