Possibles pouch advice needed please (picture mid-weight)

[mick miller]

Hello all,

I recently caught the leather working bug, mainly as it's too cold and damp to sit outside whittling or flint knapping, and also because I wanted a few sheaths for laplanders, mora's, sharpening stones and the like.

I figured I set myself a bit of a task for post chrimbo and try and knock up a possibles pouch, the result isn't too bad, although I could really do with some advice when it comes to the stitching as I found that quite hard. I also wet moulded the main part, without a form as I'm pretty crap at accurate woodworking and lack any real 'mans tools' in that department, just a plastic tenon saw and a cheapo workmate. So I used an old case I had to hand and moulded the leather round that.

Here are the photos of my handiwork; this shows the pouch size and the loop and tongue with snap closure fastening (you can just make out the double fastened dangler loops at the back);

This is what I can squeeze in, length of cord, lighter, flint, steel, charcloth assortment, 2 largish cramp balls.

And this is a close up of the double snap fastened loop, seems plenty strong enough to me and allows me drop items off the belt without having to keep taking the belt off (I didn't have any brass 'D's so nickel had to do).

Now the dye and polish hides a multitude of sins! The biggest problem I had was that the wet moulding meant that the shape wasn't very uniform. That may have been due to the crappy mould material I used. However, my first question(s) would be;

1) Is it easier/ better to cut a flat template from measured dimensions rather that using a wet mould for this kind of thing? Is there a 'best' method to follow?

Next I had real problems stitching it together, I have a home-made lacing pony, knocked up out of 3 flooring offcuts and a couple of gate hinges, it's a bit Heath Robinson but works a treat for sheaths and the like. This project I created real problems holding the work due to the odd shape.

I think If I had a decent form to work to it would have been easier. So second question is;

2). Any tips for working with oddly shaped work? Should I take the time to get a wooden form made up (my mates a mean chippy!).

Thirdly, my stitching always seems to vanish from view, especially on knife sheaths, I never get that clear defined look that some of you achieve. I use a groove cutter and a stitching wheel to mark it all out but the threads always disappear into the leather by the time I'm done. So lastly,

3). Am I pulling too tight? Could the stitching wheel be marking too close? Any tips for getting that lovely clear stitching?

I guess I'm being a little hard on myself, it's the first time of making a possibles pouch and it is still very useable plus I've only been at it for a few long evenings so I'm not doing too bad I suppose.

Any tips or advice from those clearly quite capable folk on here would be appreciated and most likely save me quite a lot of trial and error!:You_Rock_

 

[Ozhaggishead]

Cool work!!!!!!!!!!!!!Leather craft cool,cool site,we are cool,I am drunk time for bed!!!!!!!

P.S Please respect me in the morning.:twak:

P.P.S Your mornings is my sleep time! :bluThinki

 

[Barney]

That Is a cracking pouch, you should be very pleased with that. I am only a beginner like yourself so any advice/tips should be treated as such.

There are several ways to form a Pouch shape not all are wet molded. Personally I have not wet molded a possibles pouch yet but they are the most appealing to me. This is my fav http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Product/431-Ray-Mears-Leather-First-Aid-Pouch/

With regard to the stitching the same thing was happening to me, my mate told me I was pulling to tight and looking back perhaps I was, however it all changed for me when I changed over to tiger thread (1mm) and only punched every other hole on the stitching wheel pattern.

If your mates a chippy tell him what you want and fill yer boots mate, your LUCKY!

 

[jojo]

Nothing wrong with that pouch, mate. If you follow the link to my blog in my signature, there is a (sort of) tutorial , on making a wet moulded pouch, not quite finished yet but the essentials are there. As to stitching, a thicker thread does help, but I think its a question of experimenting with different threads, overstitch wheels, or you can even use a fork to give you the spacing of the holes. I don't use a pony personally, just hand hold the pieces I work on, I had made one but didn't get on with it that much (maybe it was a carp one )

 

[mick miller]

Thanks for your comments and help so far.

Jojo & Barney - I'll try the every other dot approach, I hadn't even thought of trying that. I'll also try tightening down a little less and see if that helps.

Barney - I have heard of tiger thread and was planning on giving it a try on the next order, I've read that it doesn't rot like linen does. Question is, will it take the dye or won't it?

Jojo - there's some lovelies on that blog isn't there! Nice tutorial on the wet moulding too. That looks like just the job, a male and female part to the mould / form would help keep everything regular shaped and manageable, to say mine was wobbly when I removed the tacks it is an understatement, that made the stitching job really, really hard.

Ozhaggishead - No worries!

My friend is on his way over this evening so I'll see what wonders he can work form wise after I've bribed him with food & alcohol!

Thanks for your kind comments, my photography and dyeing does hide a multitude of errors though! Any other tips gratefully appreciated!

P.S. That woodlore pouch is a beauty isn't it?

 

[Kerne]

I guess I'm being a little hard on myself

Definitely! This is a cracking piece of work - especially for your first piece.

I made myself a pony:

But find that I don't use it much now - I felt it gripped the leather too tightly at times and sometimes marked the leather. I might remodel it one day but most of the time I sew without it.

Good luck with your next project!

 

[mick miller]

Thanks for your advice and encouragement Kerne, yet another little project on the go today which is a holder for a tool that set builders use, apparently such a device is in high demand but hard to find?

 

[rancid badger]

That's a nice neat little job, nothing wrong with it for a fourth attempt, never mind first!
I used to use a pony as well but now just sew with the job in hand.I always pull the threads till I feel them just starting to threaten to cut into my fingers
I haven't done any fully wet formed pouches yet, just wet moulding on sheaths etc.

I use a No.6 stitch wheel and in this case; 70lb. artificial sinew.

I quite often double stitch as well, particularly on loops and always at the end of seams.

cheers
Steve

 

[rancid badger]

Definitely! This is a cracking piece of work - especially for your first piece.

I made myself a pony:

But find that I don't use it much now - I felt it gripped the leather too tightly at times and sometimes marked the leather. I might remodel it one day but most of the time I sew without it.

Good luck with your next project!

Lovely piece of work that Kerne, I reckon you could sell those
cheers
Steve

 

[jdlenton]

not pulling the stitching too tight always helps, but a really good way to tidy your stitching up after completing it it to run you stitch wheel back over the thread this works wonders and producing nice curves on each stitch. might not work so well if you are missing every other hole though !

 

[Kepis]

Like the others have said re stitching, i dont use a pony, and per RB i pull the thread taut to the point i feel it's going to cheesewire my fingers, all of my leather work is sewn with the saddle stitch and then the end of the stitch line or any point of stress is double stitched for security. Once stitched i run the overstitch wheel over the thread line to define the stitching

Hth?

 

[mick miller]

Sorry for the delay in responding, the New Year celebrations got slightly in the way. Thank you all for your responses, in summary then;

• It's okay to pull the stitching down quite tightly although I could try using artificial sinew or tiger thread.
• Run the overstitch wheel over again when it's all sewn up to neaten everything up.
• Space the stitches out further by using every other mark or by using a dining fork to mark wider spaces.


I think I'll try these out on a few scraps and see what works for me. Currently I'm using linen thread I'd like to ytry the tiger thread, any ideas where it can be bought from in the UK? I tried consulting the oracle, Google, but it didn't reveal anything this time.

 

[Mike Ameling]

Nice work.

One little "tip" that I often use is to ... glue ... my leather pieces together before stitching. This helps hold everything in place after I have gotten it all lined up properly. Rubber cement tends to work better, but lately I've been just using super-glue. And you don't necessarily need to glue the whole seam, just in enough places to hold it all together and keep it from shifting. It's kind of like pinning cloth together when sewing. Plus the glue usually won't show up in the finished project - unless you use too much.

I don't use a Stitching Pony. They just don't work well with the types of stitching I do. I also had that ... cutting my fingers ... problem when pulling the stitching tight enough. I solved that by using a couple wraps of duct tape around my finger - instant armor!

Here's a pic of a mid/late 1800's Carpetbag I stitched up. The leather work is pretty simple and without any tooling/forming, but it did get tricky stitching it to the top of the carpet and around that metal rim.

Just a thought to share. Take it as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[mick miller]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that, I have been using a latex to glue the bits together and your right, it really helps.

Did you notice one of your fire steels in the photo next to the attractively mauve lighter?:You_Rock_

 

[Mike Ameling]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for that, I have been using a latex to glue the bits together and your right, it really helps.

Did you notice one of your fire steels in the photo next to the attractively mauve lighter?:You_Rock_

No, I had not noticed that. I was too busy ooogling the leather work!

Thanks
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands