Leather Fly Rod cases

[stelhrse]

Good evening folks. I am wanting to do leather fly rod tube covers. I would be using a pvc tube. The cover and ends would be leather. I'm trying to figure out a few things and thought I would post here for help. For my questions, I was thinking of using 4-5 oz leather as I want to carve and tool the leather. Is this too heavy? Another question is how to do the seam where the cover material meets on the tube. Does the leather need to be cut very precise for a clean joint or is there another way to do this?  Sewing this joint would be great but I have no idea how to do something like that. I've looked for info through Google and youtube but there's not much out there. Any help or advise you could provide would be much appreciate. Thank you all in advance. 

 

[johnnydb]

I'm working on something much smaller for pens for my wife's purse.  

But I'm using a strip of heavy belly that I've wet formed instead of PVC tubing.  That way I could line it with cloth.  

I'm using baseball stitching for the exterior seams.  And making sure that I cut everything extremely square and straight.  I messed up a few stitches...but otherwise it's looking good at this point.  

[Akube]

Good Morning from another Coloradoan.  I have done probably 15 leather covered tubes for fly rods.  4/5 works just fine and is what I use also.  I have tooled quite a few of the cases and the thinner leather does tend to stretch a bit so make sure that you tape the back.  I don't use a butt seam but rather sew the two pieces together and end up with a seam that is proud of the case. I happen to use thin walled aluminum but pvc will certainly work. I sew the leather directly on the tube without glue using rubber bands and clamps to hold the leather in place.  I will be at the flyfishing show this next weekend with some tubes. Please feel free to stop by if you decide to attend. Also I will attempt to attach a couple pics if they don't show up there are several in my profile.   Alan

[stelhrse]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate them. Akube,  beautiful work!!  I'm getting back into fly fishing and thought this type of leather gear would be fun. I plan to attend the Denver Fly Show this Friday, the 11th. I'd love to stop by, say hello and take a look at your excellent work. If you let me know your booth number, I'll look you up. If you wish, you can pm me if that works better. Thank you again for your responses and sharing your work.