fishing rod tube like in the Stohlman book

[olandrea]

Hi, I try to make a fishing rod tube like in the Stohlman book with edge against edge joint seam. I have all the tools I need, but have problems to find the right curved awl. I have one with diamond blade but is is much to big for this work and I can't find a very thin one. The lether I'm using is 3,5mm thick, the thread is 5 cord and size 4 harness needles. Could some one please help me to find the right curved awl for this job? And is a curve awl with dimond blade the right awl for this kind of work.

Thanks Olaf

[whinewine]

Hi, I try to make a fishing rod tube like in the Stohlman book with edge against edge joint seam. I have all the tools I need, but have problems to find the right curved awl. I have one with diamond blade but is is much to big for this work and I can't find a very thin one. The lether I'm using is 3,5mm thick, the thread is 5 cord and size 4 harness needles. Could some one please help me to find the right curved awl for this job? And is a curve awl with dimond blade the right awl for this kind of work.

Thanks Olaf

Here is a suggestion: first, lay our your stitches with an overstitch wheel, or marker, making sure they are absolutely even and match up on both sides (across from each other)... Then use a straight awl to do the holes at an angle, so they will match up together at the edge/seam. Then, if using enough cord, you can loosely stitch up until you reach the top... then beginning at the bottom, you can use a modeling spoon to begin to pull the stitches tight (this is the easy way with using 2 straight harness needles). You could also use curved harness needles after making the awl holes.

[olandrea]

Thanks for your sugestion. If I use a straight awl for this kind of work it should have a diamond blade?

Olaf

[whinewine]

Thanks for your sugestion. If I use a straight awl for this kind of work it should have a diamond blade?

Olaf

I myself use an old diamond shaped blade that tandy used to sell back in the '70s. I'm not sure what they sell today. I know they have fixed-blade osbornes, but their replaceable blades I believe are leaf-shaped, rather than the old style tapered-to-a-point diamond blades. I don't particularly like to do very complex, angle-type hand-sewing things, so if I can make my life easy & find shortcuts that work for me, I'll do it. People will not pay for the extra time involved in doing something complex. Al Stohlman was a master of the craft. People who know WILL pay extra for the Stohlman name ... they won't pay extra for the olandrea name , nor will they pay extra for mine. They will, however, pay for something that is reasonably priced and a good value. I have stuff for display that is complex, and, perhaps 'wow!', but is not for sale, because it shows simply what I am capable of doing (& not what the average person is willing to fork out, $$$-wise). It's, shall we say, advertising.

[Mike Phelps]

I made my own curved awl blade for doing edge to edge seams. Tried making one like in AS's book, but evidently the needles I used weren't high enough quality. I have one of those four in one tools with the large and small leaf shaped awls, scratch awl and lacing fid. I wanted the awl to be narrower than the smaller leaf awl so I took the fid haft and curved it like Al did the needle in his book then shaped it into a leaf shape with small half round files then round hones finally stropping it on leather glued to a dowel coated with rogue. I've attached a couple of pictures of the tool I made and one of the seam on a pool cue case which was the first time I'd tried edge to edge seams.

When I made the holes I ran the awl through with it tilted at an angle as they should be. Then saddle stitched. I'm a big fan of saddle stitching.

[Kevin King]

If you have a core to wrap, you could do what I do on a purse I make. I Just cut the leather too short, make my holes straight through (no angle), then saddle stitch to draw the two sides together.

[whinewine]

If you have a core to wrap, you could do what I do on a purse I make. I Just cut the leather too short, make my holes straight through (no angle), then saddle stitch to draw the two sides together.

Kevin: your method is how I would normally sew up an edge-to-edge joint... it's nice, it's easy & it's probably stronger than an Al Stohlman seam (unless the item going in & out of the sewn container would abrade the stitches on the inside. But Olaf was trying to emulate Stohlman's fishing rod tube's construction (so that the fishing rod itself would not see any stitches on the inside when it went into its new home), & I was trying to make life easy, assuming Olaf wished to emulate a Stohlman edge-to-edge stitch. Personally, I feel that that particular stitch is inherently more weak if subject to stress, as it is going through only half the thickness of leather, rather than the full thickness.

When I make can koozies, I use your method & go through the full thickness (they have a liner placed in them anyway); when I make shotglasses, I do the same. They can be sealed so the liquid doesn't run out through the holes.

[olandrea]

What I forgot to tell you is that the lather will be stitched over a 2" alu tube. I hope my rod tube will look like your pool cue case.Olaf

[Mike Phelps]

olandrea, When I stitched up the pool cue case I used a 2"X4" for a mold. On all the edges of the mold I put a nice smooth 1" radius with rasp and sandpaper. I used heavy saddle skirting[the cheap stuff that Tandy puts on sale] because I wanted it stiff enough to stand up to lots and abuse without any additional stiffeners. No external pockets because I wanted to keep exterior lines smooth so it wouldn't get hung up on anything and less area to get bumped.

There are all sorts of design considerations to make when undertaking a project. The biggest one is by the "false economist". It goes something like "why should I spend as much or more for cue, quiver, rifle, bow, guitar case than what it's holding is worth" the answer is simple, because when you step up to the table, firing line, stage is your equipment going to be pristine, your arrows true, in tune. Take a bit of pride in you equipment and what your about to do.